Cellar Raids: Day Two

Probably the finest Beaune vineyard, in the 19th century it was seen as a Tête de Cuvée, the top level of the côte’s wines. ⅔ of the vines here are over 55-60 years old. Blood orange and dark fruit, there’s so much to this. Lovely fruit, and the tannin builds on the crunchy finish, which is fresh withamazing elegance. Expressive and long.

The nose is reticent at first, but with time and aeration, aromas of pure blackcurrant, violets, cocoa bean and smoke emerge. On the palate this is a wine of grand stature. There is a ripe sweetness and multilayered depth to the fruit which offsets the fine and insistent grip of the tannin. This wine is classically Haut-Brion in its broad and powerful nature, alongside a lightness of touch, elegance and precision. There is a hidden depth to this wine, with just a touch of nuance and detail evident at this young stage. The incredibly long finish is an early testament to the potential that this will evolve into great wine with time.

Juicy and fine boned, with notes of orange and a hint of ripe beef tomato, the 2018 Barbera is a lovely wine. It's drinking well out the gate, but will age nicely, too.

Achleiten is one of Prager’s most recognised vineyard sites, with this cuvée coming from a parcel that is largely gneiss, with the vines planted in the 50s on the lower terraces at around 220 metres. This wine is often the most open and floral of all of the Prager wines with classic white pepper notes supported by crushed stone and lime.

With over 70 terraces of vines in the highly regarded Achleiten vineyard in Weissenkirchen, this vineyard is extremely diverse with plantings over 60 years old. This wine always displays an attractive white blossom aroma with hints of citrus and pear. The palate has a weight and silkiness as well as having a steely character and crisp acidity that provides a linear profile.

Rangen de Thann is the most southerly of the Alsace Grands Crus, and the quality of its wines has been documented as far back as the 12th century. Olivier Humbrecht's immaculate vineyard work in its volcanic soils combined with low yields make this 2021 a wine of sensational freshness, inspite of the fact it's one of the parcels to be picked latest. It has a breadth of lime and papaya fruit on the nose witha silky texture on the palate. There is so much tension and power in this grand cru; it will age brilliantly. This magnificent slope rises up behind the village of Niedermorschwihr. It’s extremely steep, and produces wines of superb power and scintillating tension from its sedimentary volcanic soils. Zind Humbrecht only released this wine for the first time in 2019. The parcel was bought in 2010 and replanted after a few fallow years, in 2013. High density planting (9000 vines/hectare) and the steepness of the slope here have pushed the young vines to produce something really quite extraordinary. Indeed, Olivier admits, he hadn’t been planning on releasing a wine from this site so soon, but was so astonished with the quality and character of the wines from 2019 onwards that he felt compelled to do so. 3.5g/l residual sugar (dry)

René Rostaing is one of the most famous and respected of Côte-Rôtie ‘s vignerons. He is all but retired these days, leaving the domaine in the capable hands of his son, Pierre. This 1999 was made during René’s pomp, and shows the ambition and skill of a winemaker at the top of his game.