France
The vast and diverse wine regions of France, each with its own unique terroirs, grape varieties, and winemaking techniques, are a treasure trove.
In Bordeaux, the birthplace of some of the world's most iconic wines, esteemed vineyards such as Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux, Château Latour, and Château Haut-Brion produce exceptional red wines, showcasing the art of blending Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. The region is also renowned for its exquisite white wines, with vineyards like Château d'Yquem and Domaine de Chevalier producing legendary sweet wines.
Moving to Burgundy, the vineyards of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leroy, and Domaine Armand Rousseau capture the essence of the region's revered terroir, crafting exquisite red wines from the Pinot Noir grape. Meanwhile, Domaine Leflaive and Domaine Coche-Dury are celebrated for their world-class white wines, predominantly made from Chardonnay.
The Champagne region, known for its sparkling wines, boasts illustrious houses such as Krug, Dom Pérignon, and Moët & Chandon, as well as grower-producers like Pierre Péters and Jacques Selosse. These vineyards create exceptional sparkling wines using the traditional method, offering a symphony of delicate bubbles, elegant flavors, and vibrant acidity.
In the Rhône Valley, iconic vineyards like Chapoutier, E. Guigal, and Château de Beaucastel produce remarkable red wines in the northern appellations of Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, and Cornas, showcasing the elegance and power of Syrah. Further south, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is celebrated for its rich and full-bodied red blends, with Château Rayas and Clos des Papes leading the way.
In Alsace, vineyards such as Domaine Zind-Humbrecht and omaine Trimbach craft exquisite white wines, including Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Gris, expressing the region's unique terroir and varietal character.
These are just a few highlights among the diverse array of wines that France offers. From the Loire Valley's crisp whites and elegant reds to the Languedoc-Roussillon's bold and robust wines, each region presents its own vinous treasures.
France
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Champagne | 2 | 100 (JD) | د.إ4,670.00 | |||||
Jeb Dunnuck (100)The 2016 Champagne Cristal is chalky and pristine, with a crystalline nature and notes of white peach, fresh citrus blossoms, and bright salinity. Tasted for the first time last year, it captures a precise and focused energy that’s unmatched. It boasts the energy and tension of 2002 and the precision of 2008. The wet-stone minerality of fresh chalk texture is profound, opening with medium body, showing pinpoint mousse, and sustaining a weightless energy through the long finish. This is not an obvious wine on opening, but it is by far one of my favorite wines of the year. It is going to require some patience, but it is worth stashing away and should have fantastic longevity. |
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Champagne | 1 | 98 (VN) | د.إ4,670.00 | |||||
Vinous (98)One of the highlights in this tasting, the 2006 Cristal Rosé is simply stunning. A vertical, towering wine, the 2006 Cristal Rosé is a thrill a minute, with a compelling interplay of aromatics and exquisitely layered fruit, all supported by a real feeling of phenolic intensity. While the 2007 is seductive, the 2006 is virile and imposing, with the statuesque lift of a Giacometti sculpture. All the elements meld together in a complete, alluring Champagne that will continue to drink beautifully for many decades. In 2006, the Pinot Noir was already being farmed biodynamically, while the Chardonnay was still under conversion. |
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Champagne | 1 | 100 (WA) | د.إ8,930.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (100)The finest rendition of this cuvée that Lécaillon has produced to date—and, indeed, one of the finest wines produced by any of Champagne's important houses in the last two or three decades—is the 2008 Cristal Rosé, a brilliant wine that derives from a mere four of the 45 plots that are candidates for inclusion in Cristal: two blocks of Pinot Noir from Aÿ, one of Chardonnay from Mesnil and another from Avize, and I suspect that its origin in the crème de la crème of Roederer's Cristal-worthy holdings has even more to do with the extra dimension it possesses above and beyond its white counterpart than the delicate infusion of Pinot Noir phenolics that give it its delicate pink hue. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of wild strawberries, tangerine, warm pastry and crisp green orchard fruit, the 2008 is medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a racy but beautifully integrated spine of acidity, a multidimensional core and a searingly chalky and laser-focused finish. Impeccably balanced and harmonious, this superb wine represents one of the qualitative peaks of this great vintage. It will be seven or eight years until it truly starts to blossom, but its benchmark quality is already glaringly apparent. |
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Champagne | 4 | 97 (VN) | د.إ4,855.00 | |||||
Vinous (97)A wine of sublime delicacy and finesse, the 2009 Cristal Rosé is simply magnificent. The 2009 is surprisingly refined, silky and nuanced for a wine from a warm vintage. The red and floral-infused overtones are quite attractive, but it is the wine's exceptional balance that places it among the best new releases of the year. Over the years, I have had the chance to taste many vintages of Cristal Rosé, a Champagne that needs bottle age to be at its very best. I suspect that will be the case here as well. Don't miss it. |
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Champagne | 1 | 99 (JD) | د.إ3,320.00 | |||||
Jeb Dunnuck (99)Just about as good as it gets, the 2012 Cristal Rosé is a magical effort based on 56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay. It’s a powerful, medium to full-bodied, incredibly textured rosé offering a huge amount of salty, chalky minerality as well as awesome notes of white cherries, orange blossom, caramelized apples, and toasted bread. It shows the ripe, rounded richness of the 2012 vintage yet has bright, racy acidity, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. It opens up nicely with air and will ideally be given 2-4 years of bottle age, and it should evolve for 2-3 decades. |
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Champagne | 1 | 99 (JD) | د.إ4,490.00 | |||||
Jeb Dunnuck (99)Just about as good as it gets, the 2012 Cristal Rosé is a magical effort based on 56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay. It’s a powerful, medium to full-bodied, incredibly textured rosé offering a huge amount of salty, chalky minerality as well as awesome notes of white cherries, orange blossom, caramelized apples, and toasted bread. It shows the ripe, rounded richness of the 2012 vintage yet has bright, racy acidity, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. It opens up nicely with air and will ideally be given 2-4 years of bottle age, and it should evolve for 2-3 decades. |
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Champagne | 1 | 100 (WA) | د.إ4,945.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (100)The 2013 Cristal Rosé from Louis Roederer is one of the most complete wines to be found in Champagne in this vintage, so utterly pure and precise that I would run the risk of exhausting superlatives trying to express its clarity. Displaying a pale hue, it soars from the glass with a bouquet of kaleidoscopic complexity, featuring notes of tangerine zest, raspberry and rose petals mingling with peeled almonds and spices. Enjoyed from magnum, disgorged in February 2024, the wine’s persistent palate offers a bright, vibrant core of fruit, refined mousse and fine-boned structure, with racy and fresh acidity and a long, chalky finish. “With 2013, I was confident from day one, which was not the case with 2008,” recalls Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, and the result in the glass precludes any argument about it—the 2013 Cristal Rosé is a wine that’s structurally complete, deep and multifaceted, even more spectacular than the white 2013 Cristal. When I asked William Kelley why he gave 99 points to 2013 if he rated the 2008 Cristal Rosé with 100, he for a moment insisted to me that it was the other way around. |
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Champagne | 1 | 97 (VN) | د.إ5,095.00 | |||||
Vinous (97)The 2007 Cristal Rosé opens with the most captivating, extraordinary bouquet imaginable. Sweet, exquisite and beautifully layered in the glass, the 2007 is intense yet weightless, with extraordinary overall balance and remarkable finesse. Today, the 2007 Cristal Rosé is a wine of pure seduction. There is little doubt the 2007 is a great Cristal Rosé in the making. This is the first vintage in which all of the fruit was farmed according to biodynamic principles. According to winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, biodynamic farming has brought increased aromatic presence in the fruit and also given the Pinot a bit more intensity than normal, so much so that in 2007 the blend is 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay as opposed to the 60/40 split that has been more typical over the years. In 2007, the fruit was picked in August, which is also unusual, but bud break got off to an early start, so the growing season turned out to be longer than the classic 100-day period that is typical from bud-break to harvest. All of that means the 2007 Cristal Rosé is a much more classic-feeling wine that one might have expected. |
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Champagne | 2 | 93 (VN) | د.إ2,045.00 | |||||
Vinous (93)The 2018 Camille Hommage Le Mesnil-sur-Oger is sourced from Volibarts, a well-exposed parcel in Mesnil that informed the 1961, the last Coteaux Champenois made at Roederer. It was aged in a combination of 60% amphora, 20% new oak and 20% steel. Lemon confit, almond, dried flowers and tropical accents fill out the layers effortlessly. It will drink well right out of the gate. |
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Champagne | 1 | 97 (JS) | د.إ2,075.00 | |||||
James Suckling (97)So expressive on the nose, with cedar, dried lemon, praline, flint, chalk, grapefruit, white apricot and peach stone. So intense. Sharp, but creamy, with beautiful density and a compact mid-palate, yet elegant and refined. Medium body. Crazy length. Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. 1,665 bottles made. Try from 2023. |
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Champagne | 4 | 96 (JS) | د.إ1,800.00 | |||||
James Suckling (96)Just over two-thirds pinot noir (Verzenay) and the balance southeast-facing chardonnay from Chouilly. This has 30% of oak fermentation which has compressed the wine, lending it an air of extreme concentration. The nose is gently spicy, offering peaches and cherries as well as neat autolysis edge. The palate has a powerful, long and assertive feel, with peach and lemon pith, chalky minerals, and some grapefruit. A powerful vintage for Roederer. |
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Rhone | 1 | 95 (JD) | د.إ932.00 | |||||
Jeb Dunnuck (95)The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape is flat-out brilliant, and readers looking for an incredible wine that will drink well for upwards of two decades should back up the truck on this one. Incredible black cherry, Provençal garrigue, pepper, and licorice notes give way to a full-bodied, perfectly balanced, seamless 2019 with ripe tannins, no hard edges, and a great, great finish. You could safely put this up with the crème de la crème in a blind tasting and it would do just fine. The blend is 70% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre, 12% Syrah, and the rest Cinsault, aged mostly in concrete tank, with 12% brought up in old barrels. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 93-96 (BH) | د.إ10,105.00 | |||||
Burghound (93-96)Ripe aromas include those of plum, dark cherry, warm earth and a whisper of the sauvage. The supple, delicious and dense big-bodied flavors flash enormous power and drive that really builds from the mid-palate to the explosively long and sappy finish where the only nit is a hint of warmth. Note that this is very firmly structured and in need of at least a decade of keeping and should reward almost two. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 93-95 (BH) | د.إ10,341.00 | |||||
Burghound (93-95)This too is firmly reduced. There is almost painful intensity to the beautifully delineated and mineral-driven broad-shouldered flavors that possess a highly refined textured before culminating in an almost crisp, moderately austere and wonderfully persistent finale that is quite firmly structured. This is a bit atypical but no less attractive for it and a Bèze that should amply reward a decade plus of cellaring. Lovely. |
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Burgundy | 2 | 91-94 (BH) | د.إ4,075.00 | |||||
Burghound (91-94)A notably fresher nose offers up notes of various red berries along with a plentitude of floral nuances. There is also better energy on the palate of the medium-bodied flavors that exude evident minerality on the saline and lingering if again mildly rustic finish. With that said, this is much better-balanced. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 88-91 (BH) | د.إ7,025.00 | |||||
Burghound (88-91)A somber nose half-heartedly offers up notes of forest floor, earth and leather on the essence of red berry fruit-scented aromas. There is better volume and muscle to the bigger and richer if decidedly grippy and somewhat short finish. This too may lengthen out but today it seems a bit clipped and compact. |
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Burgundy | 1 | - | د.إ6,625.00 | |||||
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Burgundy | 2 | 91-93 (BH) | د.إ2,795.00 | |||||
Burghound (91-93)A ripe yet cool nose reflects notes of black raspberry, poached plum and a lovely violet top note. There is very good volume to the caressing yet muscular medium-bodied flavors that deliver fine length and even better depth. This should be excellent in time. |
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Bordeaux | 1 | 96 (WS) | د.إ7,310.00 | |||||
Wine Spectator (96)Textbook, with mouthfilling and slightly gutsy black currant, fig and blackberry fruit flavors bound together by singed cedar, iron and tobacco notes. Features a tug of loam followed by a second wave of fruit through the finish. This is just starting to stretch out.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. |
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Bordeaux | 1 | 96 (WS) | د.إ6,870.00 | |||||
Wine Spectator (96)Textbook, with mouthfilling and slightly gutsy black currant, fig and blackberry fruit flavors bound together by singed cedar, iron and tobacco notes. Features a tug of loam followed by a second wave of fruit through the finish. This is just starting to stretch out.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. |
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Bordeaux | 1 | 97 (JA) | د.إ4,600.00 | |||||
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (97)Wine of the Year 2022 Inky plum in colour, you can see this is rich and textured even before going anywhere near the nose, which then displays ripe fruit. Gorgeous quality, a wine that is packed full of graphite, pencil lead, waves of violet, cassis, liqourice, and chewy but well defined tannins. Leaps out of the glass and is clear proof that, when it gets it right, the 2014 vintage equals the 2015 in this northern sector of the Médoc. Good value also compared to the 2015 and 2016 - a must buy for me. 70% new oak, Eric Boissenot consultant. |
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Bordeaux | 6 | 98-99 (JS) | د.إ3,750.00 | |||||
James Suckling (98-99)This is really back-ended thanks to a powerful and almost endless finish. Full-bodied, dense and powerful with incredible concentration and length. Round and polished tannins. Layered. This unravels bit by bit. Energetic acidity gives it such superb freshness. This is at the 2010/2009 level. |
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Bordeaux | 1 | 95-96 (JS) | د.إ2,150.00 | |||||
James Suckling (95-96)This is an excellent Lynch that starts off slowly and then drives at the end with dark fruit and hints of hazelnuts. Strong and focused tannins. A beautiful young wine. |
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Bordeaux | 1 | 98+ (JD) | د.إ5,065.00 | |||||
Jeb Dunnuck (98+)One of the finest vintages I've ever tasted from this address, the 2018 Château Lynch-Bages has everything you look for in a great wine: incredible aromatics, richness without weight, perfect balance, and a purity of fruit that's just about off the charts. Dense purple, it reveals a glorious perfume of blackcurrants and blackberry fruits, a deep, unctuous mouthfeel, building tannins, and a complex array of cedar pencil, tobacco, wood smoke, and chocolate. A true blockbuster in every sense, with masses of fruit and tannins as well as moderate acidity, it will probably merit a triple-digit score in a decade and is a 50+-year wine from this team. |
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Bordeaux | 1 | 98+ (JD) | د.إ2,235.00 | |||||
Jeb Dunnuck (98+)One of the finest vintages I've ever tasted from this address, the 2018 Château Lynch-Bages has everything you look for in a great wine: incredible aromatics, richness without weight, perfect balance, and a purity of fruit that's just about off the charts. Dense purple, it reveals a glorious perfume of blackcurrants and blackberry fruits, a deep, unctuous mouthfeel, building tannins, and a complex array of cedar pencil, tobacco, wood smoke, and chocolate. A true blockbuster in every sense, with masses of fruit and tannins as well as moderate acidity, it will probably merit a triple-digit score in a decade and is a 50+-year wine from this team. |
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Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (JD) | د.إ4,835.00 | |||||
Jeb Dunnuck (100)The 2019 Château Lynch-Bages is stunningly good, and it's going to be interesting to compare this to the 2018 over the coming decades. Based on 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, brought up in 75% new French oak, its dense purple hue is followed by an incredible bouquet of pure crème de cassis, freshly sharpened cedar pencil, spring flowers, smoke, and graphite, with an almost liqueur of rocks-like minerality. A massive, incredibly concentrated Lynch-Bages, Jean-Charles has hit a home run in the vintage, and this sensational wine has building, perfect tannins, insane purity, and a finish that won't quit. It has the purity, finesse, balance, and depth to offer pleasure not only today but to evolve for 40 to 50 years. Smart money will hide these for a good 7-8 years, but wow, what a wine. Bravo. |
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