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Strutting Peacocks: Raymond-Lafon 1979-2021
France: Bordeaux featured Verticals and Retrospectives, France: Bordeaux Verticals and Retrospectives featured, featured
, Mar 2025
This vertical tasting focused on recent vintages, with several older bottles dating back to the 1979 vintage. Raymond-Lafon can produce exemplary Sauternes that equal the elite.
New Zealand Whites: Never Gonna Give You Up
New Zealand, featured
, Mar 2025
An island nation at the bottom of the earth renowned for its native flightless bird as well as "Flight of the Conchords," New Zealand has made a name for itself around the world for its light-filled interpretations of Sauvignon Blanc. As Marlborough looks back on half a century of Sauvignon, it seems the country has a complicated relationship with its star performer.
Cellar Favorite: 1995 Ridge Monte Bello
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites
, Mar 2025
A wine of suave sophistication and supreme textural finesse, the 1995 Monte Bello is almost shockingly primary and fresh as a daisy.
Remembering Don Bryant
Vinous Remembers
, Mar 2025
The wine world lost a visionary when Donald L. Bryant Jr. passed away on March 1 at age 82 from natural causes. Bryant was a force to be reckoned with, someone who knew exactly what he wanted to achieve and a man of action who pursued his vision with extraordinary drive.
Vinous Table: Comice, Paris, France
Vinous Table, France
, Mar 2025
When I asked Vinous readers for their Paris dining suggestions, Comice popped up on many lists. Naturally, I was eager to check it out. This recent dinner was nothing short of spectacular.
Behind the Red Curtain: Penfolds Special Bins from the Vault
Australia Featured, Australia, featured
, Mar 2025
Winemaker trials are key to the pursuit of exceptional wine. Small batches can allow creativity to flourish. The genesis of truly fine wine at Penfolds began in the 1940s with a program of wines that became known as Special Bins. A rare tasting of Penfolds Special Bins stretching back to the 1950s offered a glimpse deep into the historic past and showcased modern Australian benchmarks.
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: The Lightness of Being
France: Burgundy, featured
, Mar 2025
I admit I approached the 2022s from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti with some trepidation. Given reports of extreme, record-setting warm and dry weather, I feared a repeat of 2020, a year in which the wines were unusually dark and concentrated. Those concerns were quickly allayed as soon as I started tasting the 2022s. The wines are absolutely brilliant. Elegant and poised, the 2022s are not only captivating, but they also offer that most elusive of all qualities in fine wine: the ability to convey the essence of site.
The Murakami Wine: Royal Tokaji Essencia 1993-2017
Hungary, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured
, Mar 2025
If Haruki Murakami’s books featured wine instead of whiskey, the protagonist would drink Tokaji Essencia then suffer an existential crisis, pondering whether it is “wine” at all. Maybe this remarkable vertical tasting of every vintage of Essencia ever produced by Royal Tokaji helps answer that question...
Cellar Favorite: 2019 Niepoort Charme Tinto Douro
Portugal, cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites
, Mar 2025
I have long been an admirer and drinker of Dirk Niepoort’s wines, both fortified and unfortified. A 2019 Charme Tinto Douro was drinking beautifully when I cracked open a bottle recently.
Vinous Table: Osip, Bruton, UK
Vinous Table
, Mar 2025
Osip will become one of the UK’s most sought-after tables. With its sense of innovation and outside-the-box thinking, this was one of the most impressive meals I’ve had in the last couple of years.