Wine List

Rating

99

Release Price

NA

Drink Date

2009 - 2047

Reviewed by

Jeb Dunnuck

Issue Date

28th Feb 2017

Source

229, The Wine Advocate

More tight and reserved than the open-knit Le Meal Blanc, the 2006 Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree offers a heavenly bouquet of caramelized orchard fruits, celery seed, buttered hazelnuts, orange blossom and white flowers. Just crazy good on the palate, with full-bodied richness and a seamless, unctuous texture, it has incredible purity, precision and length, with this liquid rock-like minerality on the finish. It's just about as good as it gets, and while it's drinking great today, it should keep for 2-3 decades.

Rating

94

Release Price

$180 - 250

Drink Date

NA

Reviewed by

 Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Issue Date

28th Feb 2011

Source

193, The Wine Advocate

It is an amazing achievement. Even better is the 2008 Ermitage l’Ermite (449 cases). Not as concentrated as Le Pavillon, it reveals a powdered rock character in its ink, graphite, earth, blueberry and black currant-scented bouquet. Displaying medium to full body as well as great purity, it is another amazing accomplishment from Michel Chapoutier. Interestingly, in 2008, Chapoutier decided to cut back on the new oak for all of his top cuvees (utilizing 25% versus the normal 100%).  

A stunner, sporting tropical mango and papaya notes that glide along beautifully, while heather honey, pineapple chutney and toasted coconut flavors fill in through the finish. Delivers an amazing mouthfeel that is both creamy and intense, with a pretty inner floral brightness that contrasts with the fruit. Best from 2020 through 2045. 6,665 cases made.

Score: 98 James Molesworth, WineSpectator.com, February 2017

The 2014 d'Yquem has a complex bouquet with buttered toast, almond, honey and peach skin aromas. It opens with greater zeal than its peers, there is more immediacy here. The palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity, a finely tuned and satisfying Sauternes with style and grace, evincing great tension and mineral drive towards the finish. Superb. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2020 - 2055

Score: 97 Neal Martin, vinous.com, March 2018

Very subtle Yquem on the nose with dried pineapple, lemons, green apples and hints of botrytis. The palate grabs you by the arms and shows you superb concentration of spices, dried fruit, phenolics and incredible energy. Nothing is like this from Sauternes this vintage! Drink whenever you like. Spellbinding.

Score: 98 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, February 2017

A crazy combination of botrytis, dried fruits and freshness. It's not the sweetest Yquem but it has an extraordinary depth of fruit and freshness. It goes on for minutes. Spicy and intense. A stunning young wine. A brightness and fabulous depth of fruit.

Score: 97/98 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, March 2015

The 2014 d'Yquem is a wine of restraint above all else. Candied lemon, orange peel, apricot jam, graphite and almond are some of the many threads in a rich fabric that envelops all the senses. A wine of contrasts, the 2014 is at times delicate, while in other moments it is more powerful. Although striking, the 2014 falls just short of being profound. In exchange, readers will find an Yquem that will give up its charms on the earlier side.

Score: 95 Antonio Galloni, vinous.com, February 2017

Bright gold with a green note. Intense freshness on the nose. Fabulous nose of richness and freshness. The residual sugar is not high but the balance is great. Lime and pears and great richness and almost like a fruit juice, it's so refreshing yet dense and sweet. 13.35%
Drink 2020-2050

Score: 19 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2015

The greatest sweet wine of Bordeaux and without doubt one of the world's most famous wines. There is no denying outstanding quality is consistently maintained here but pricing in some recent vintages has been too high. The 2013 was not sold en primeur and the 2012 vintage was not produced. This vintage will also not be released en Primeur but held back until 2016.

  Farr Vintners, March 2015

Floral fragrant the nose is quite light with tangerine freshness the palate richer sweet fruit apricot and candied peel. The honeyed sweetness on the mid palate is balanced by freshness at the back stylish and fragrant this is not a heavyweight but has elegance and charm. 2016-35

Score: 93/97 Derek Smedley MW, April 2015

In a very good to excellent year for Sauternes, this was the outstanding wine, as it often is. Picked in four selections between September 5th and October 30th, it had 100% botrytis infection. Exotic, honeyed yet gloriously refreshing, with notes of lemon tart and nutmeg spice, it lingers tantalisingly on the palate.

Score: 97 Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com, April 2015

Score: 97 Decanter Magazine, April 2015

The thickest, most unctuous, full-bodied and sexy white of the vintage is the 2014 Ermitage de l’Orée. Coming all from the sedimentary soils of the Les Murets and aged mostly in demi-muids (only 15% new), it offers a sensational perfume of caramelized peaches, campfire, honeysuckle and white flowers that literally come soaring from the glass. Possessing uncommon density, a stacked mid-palate, loads of sweet fruit and a blockbuster finish, this hedonistic effort can be drunk with incredibly pleasure today, or cellared for a decade or more. It will have three or more decades of overall longevity.

Score: 98+ Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate (222), December 2015