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
| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Bordeaux | 3 | 96-97 (JS) | د.إ929.00 | |||||
James Suckling (96-97)The polish and intensity of this wine is beautiful for the vintage, with blackcurrant, lead pencil and light chocolate character. It’s medium- to full-bodied with well-integrated fruit and tannins, and a long finish. Velvet texture. Excellent potential. Fermented from selected yeast from the various parcels. 58% cabernet sauvignon, 39% merlot, 1.5% petit verdot, and 1.5% cabernet franc. Let’s see which is better in the end, 2022 or 2023. |
|||||||||
|
|
Burgundy | 5 | - | د.إ5,515.00 | |||||
|
The Philippe Pacalet Aloxe Corton 1er Cru 2017 is an artisanal gem from the famed cellars of Philippe Pacalet, a Paris-born vintner known for his meticulous, no-compromise approach to winemaking. Hailing from the notable Aloxe Corton village in Burgundy's historic Côte de Beaune, this vintage beckons with its intense ruby hue and complex bouquet, reflecting the terroir's unique climate and limestone-rich soil. Philippe's natural, biodynamic intervention highlights an authentic expression of the Pinot Noir grape, backed by the indigenous yeasts that foster an impeccably balanced palate. The 2017 batch has been aged on lees for about 16 months in French oak, adding elusive nuances to its robust profile. Emanating a beautiful harmony of dark fruit and spices, this premier cru evolves with a persistent, elegantly tannic finish. The Philippe Pacalet Aloxe Corton 1er Cru 2017 serves as a testament to contemporary vinification bound by traditional savoir-faire. |
|||||||||
|
|
Burgundy | 1 | - | د.إ10,285.00 | |||||
|
Experience the finesse of Philippe Pacalet Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Sentiers 2022, a quintessential expression of Burgundy's renowned terroir. Cultivated in the esteemed Les Sentiers vineyard, this Pinot Noir is meticulously hand-harvested to ensure optimal ripeness. Under the stewardship of producer Philippe Pacalet, known for his commitment to biodynamic practices, the grapes undergo gentle fermentation and are aged in a selection of French oak barrels, enhancing the wine's complexity and structure. The 2022 vintage presents a vibrant bouquet of red berries, subtle floral notes, and enticing spice. On the palate, it offers a harmonious balance of silky tannins and refreshing acidity, culminating in a long, elegant finish. Ideal for discerning connoisseurs seeking a distinctive and refined wine, Philippe Pacalet Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Sentiers 2022 exemplifies the pinnacle of Burgundian craftsmanship. |
|||||||||
|
|
Burgundy | 3 | 94 (DC) | د.إ14,221.00 | |||||
Decanter (94)During COVID, the Pacalet family worked the eighty-year-old vines themselves in the Corton-Bressandes plot they rent. The east-facing site, almost directly on the bedrock, has delivered a powerful but elegant wine in 2022, with ripe blackberry fruit coloured with hints of earth, smoke, and leather. This wine is lush and wine, but there is an essential sturdiness to the tannins and fresh acidity that is still very 'Corton' – an excellent introduction to the Pacalet style. |
|||||||||
|
|
Burgundy | 2 | - | د.إ4,250.00 | |||||
|
Indulge in the exquisite experience of sipping the Philippe Pacalet Gevrey-Chambertin 2017, a remarkable expression of fine French winemaking. Made in the heart of Burgundy, this red embodies the terroir-driven ethos of famed winemaker Philippe Pacalet, who meticulously uses minimal intervention to yield the grapes' purest expressions. This vintage, comprised entirely of Pinot Noir, emanates a beautiful bouquet of ripe red fruits, spice, and forest floor. The wine is vinified with indigenous yeasts, unfiltered, then aged for 16 months in old oak barrels, capturing the essence of the Gevrey-Chambertin climats. Its seamless blend of depth, balance and structure offer a lingering finish, synonymous with the Pacalet style. The Philippe Pacalet Gevrey-Chambertin 2017, with its organic, biodynamic credentials, is a testament to the passage of time and meticulous care invested in each bottle. Secure a bottle or two and savour the artisanal legacy this fine wine delivers. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | - | د.إ2,875.00 | |||||
|
To celebrate the unbelievable milestone of half a millennium crafting some of the world’s most exceptional sparkling wines, the legendary Maison have released a highly exclusive collectors’ case of which a mere 500 were made. Containing two different vintages of the Cuvée 1522, itself commemorating the foundation of Philipponnat, this wine is always composed of strictly Grand Cru fruit with the majority fermented in oak casks with no malolactic fermentation to provide rounded richness with total weightlessness. The village of Aÿ, home to the Philipponnat family for 16 generations, is clearly visible in the stunning label of Cuvée 1522. A testament to both terroir and vintage, the particular examples in this collection are the even rarer L.V. or Long Vieillissement (Long Aging) expressions kept back at the winery for added time on lees and extra maturity in perfect conditions. A bottle each of the 2000 and 2002, both exceptional vintages, are included in this beautiful case and are sure to be incredible wines neither of which are available to purchase individually on the market. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 93 (WA) | د.إ2,105.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (93)Disgorged in September 2018 with 4.5 grams per liter dosage, the 2008 Extra Brut Grand Blanc is composed of vins clairs matured in barrel with blocked malolactic and vins clairs matured in tank that were allowed to complete malolactic. Exhibiting aromas of lemon oil, warm bread, hazelnut cream, wet stones and smoke, it's medium to full-bodied, ample and nicely concentrated, with a racy spine of acidity, a fine mousse and delicately chalky structure, concluding with a long and pure finish. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 96 (VN) | د.إ4,600.00 | |||||
Vinous (96)The 2006 Clos des Goisses is stellar, but it is also going to need quite a bit of time to come into its own. Powerful and ample in the best of the Goisses style, the 2006 hits the palate with serious intensity. Orchard fruits, lemon oil, white flowers and almonds are some of the many notes that open up in the glass, but, as is often the case with young Goisses, it is the wine's gravitas that is front and center. Even with all of its overtness, though, the 2006 retains striking, crystalline purity. I imagine the 2006 will reward Champagne lovers with many decades of truly exceptional drinking. The only thing the 2006 needs is time. The question is: How much? |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 98 (VN) | د.إ5,055.00 | |||||
Vinous (98)The 2008 Clos des Goisses is just as impressive today as it has always been. Rich, dense and explosive, the 2008 exists in three dimensions, with remarkable textural depth and vertical intensity to burn. Clos des Goisses is notoriously slow to develop. Readers who can be patient will be treated to a spectacular Champagne. The blend is 55% Chardonnay and 45% Pinot Noir, which makes the 2008 a rare Clos des Goisses that favors Chardonnay. About 75% of the lots were fermented in oak. Disgorged April 2017. Dosage is 4.25 grams per liter. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 98 (WE) | د.إ4,165.00 | |||||
Wine Enthusiast (98)This single vineyard, one of the steepest in Champagne, produces fabulous wines. Richness restrained by the minerality from the terroir is balanced by the structured Pinot Noir fruits that bring touches of toast, spice and white fruits. Drink through 2025 at least. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 99 (WE) | د.إ2,145.00 | |||||
Wine Enthusiast (99)The new release of this Champagne is impressively stylish. It comes from a vertiginous vineyard facing north across the Marne river, the soil producing a wine with intense minerality and texture that demands time to soften. So, the blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is set for further aging. Ideally, wait for this magnificent wine until 2025. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 4 | 97+ (WI) | د.إ2,285.00 | |||||
The Wine Independent (97+)The Philipponnat Clos des Goisses 14 is a classic, somewhat yesteryear style of Clos des Goisses that is a blend of 71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay coming from 14 different small parcels each vinified separately with only the best, ripest elements included in the final blend. None of the wines underwent malolactic to retain freshness and it was finished Extra Brut with a 4.5 gram per liter dosage. Ethereal, floral notes of white viburnum waft over layers of ripe red apple, lemon butter biscuits, almond nougat, clover honey and toast then flow into a medium to full-bodied palate infused with a high-gloss, vibrant acidity shining a Klieg light of freshness on pure red berry fruit and citrus intensity. There is an ease of elegance throughout, and incredible length on the creamy finish. 20,000 bottles. Disgorged in March 2023 and finished with a 4.5 grams per liter dosage. 19984 Bottles produced. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 98+ (WA) | د.إ6,795.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (98+)Disgorged in March 2019, the 2008 Extra Brut Clos des Goisses Juste Rosé is a fabulous forthcoming release from Philipponnat, opening in the glass with aromas of rose petals, warm bread, red berries, papaya and spices. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and layered, with an incisive spine of acidity, excellent concentration and a tight-knit core, concluding with a long, intense and chalky finish. This is still a very youthful, tensile rosé and patience will be required of anyone hoping to drink it at its peak of maturity. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 96 (WE) | د.إ1,990.00 | |||||
Wine Enthusiast (96)This grand cru wine is named in celebration of the date of the Philipponnat family's arrival in the village of Aÿ. It is a mature blend of 70% Pinot Noir with Chardonnay, proportions that are typical of this producer on the Montagne de Reims. Rich, lightly toasty with green-apple and pear flavors, the wine is ready to drink. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 96 (WE) | د.إ1,855.00 | |||||
Wine Enthusiast (96)This grand cru wine is named in celebration of the date of the Philipponnat family's arrival in the village of Aÿ. It is a mature blend of 70% Pinot Noir with Chardonnay, proportions that are typical of this producer on the Montagne de Reims. Rich, lightly toasty with green-apple and pear flavors, the wine is ready to drink. |
|||||||||
|
|
Champagne | 1 | 18 (JR) | د.إ2,160.00 | |||||
Jancis Robinson (18)Full bottle 1,697 g. From vineyards including the historic plots at Le Léon in Aÿ, complemented by Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger. Red wines from Mareuil. 72% Pinot Noir and 28% Chardonnay. Dosage 4.5 g/l, eight years sur latte, disgorged March 2019. 5,212 bottles. Long and racy. Bitter orange oils and raspberry-leaf tea, more than a little minty but with the cool-hit lift and bite of wasabi powder, fine-ground chalk and river pebbles, cumin powder, white pepper. Enormously complex but clenched as tight as a fist. White raspberries, grapefruit, redcurrants. Precision, finger-nail-pressed origami folds, so sharp the fruit has paper cuts. Exciting. Exacting. Tense yet creamy. Spice defines the finish and brings it to a close that feels like an unfinished poem. So you take another sip. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 97 (WA) | د.إ12,140.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (97)The 2000 Château Pichon Baron is just getting better and better and better. Perhaps the magnum format played its part, but nevertheless...just...wow. This is a millennial Left Bank with the keys to the top drawer. It has an incredibly precise, mineral-driven bouquet with intense black fruit infused with cedar and graphite scents. It just reeks of Pauillac in an almost uncompromising, yet compelling manner. The palate is structured, stylish and effortless, extraordinarily pure and unerringly youthful. This is a Pichon Baron saying, You ain't seen nothing yet. You could broach this now if you wanted, but the clever people will wisely bunker this for another decade and gloat from 2025 onward. Tasted January 2016. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 96 (WSM) | د.إ8,455.00 | |||||
Wine & Spirit Magazine (96)Baron was trapped in its oak en primeur, seeming flashy, luscious and soft. Now bottled and shipped, it has the unremitting tannic power of the vintage, balanced by unrelenting purity of fruit that somehow manages to anesthetize the monstrous tannin, to soften the extremely dry, mineral-bound finish into a caress. The wine may be bombastic, but it's also succulent and as sweet as a ripe black raspberry. It's easy to imagine this wine 50 years from now, in impeccable condition. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 99 (DC) | د.إ6,805.00 | |||||
Decanter (99)Yet another nose with standout freshness, even delicacy, but still quite youthful, mingling black fruit, spices, and spring flowers. A bit massive and still tightly wound on the palate, the wine has impressive tannic density and power but also finesse, apparent in the airborne, minty finish. Its terroir expression will need some time to come fully to the fore, but this is a superb wine. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 99 (DC) | د.إ3,285.00 | |||||
Decanter (99)Yet another nose with standout freshness, even delicacy, but still quite youthful, mingling black fruit, spices, and spring flowers. A bit massive and still tightly wound on the palate, the wine has impressive tannic density and power but also finesse, apparent in the airborne, minty finish. Its terroir expression will need some time to come fully to the fore, but this is a superb wine. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 99 (JS) | د.إ3,590.00 | |||||
James Suckling (99)The concentration and largesse of the 2016 Pichon Baron is apparent from the get-go with incredibly alluring, ripe and expansive fruit aromas in the blackberry, dark-cherry, mulberry and plum zone. Espresso and cedar, as well as a slate-like, stony mineral edge add complexity. The palate has incredible depth, drive and detail. Fine and plush tannins stretch the palate in every direction. So fresh and vivacious, this is the greatest Pichon Baron since 1989 and has a long future. Try from 2024. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 6 | 96 (WI) | د.إ2,665.00 | |||||
The Wine Independent (96)Made from 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot, the 2017 Pichon Baron is deep garnet in color. It races out of the glass with super-charged scents of warm black and red currants, mulberries, and Morello cherries, plus suggestions of Ceylon tea, rose oil, and Sichuan pepper. The medium-bodied palate is so fine and elegant, with a gorgeous backbone of freshness and densely pixilated tannins, finishing long and fragrant. This is very impressive. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (WE) | د.إ2,840.00 | |||||
Wine Enthusiast (100)This great estate in southern Pauillac, facing the Latour vineyard, is at the top of its game. In this release, the tannins are as impressive and dense as the black fruits. Together they form a harmonious ensemble, richly structured, concentrated from the many old vines in the blend, and very ageworthy. Drink from 2027 |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 2 | 100 (WE) | د.إ2,785.00 | |||||
Wine Enthusiast (100)As always, it is the Cabernet Sauvignon that sings. It brings an impressive structure to the wine, rich tannins and powerful black fruits. The wine is set for aging. It shows all the power and the open quality of the vintage. Drink from 2027. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 97-98 (JS) | د.إ2,685.00 | |||||
James Suckling (97-98)This young Bordeaux is totally seamless with fine, velvet-like tannins that are integrated and refined. Underlying freshness and verve. It’s full-bodied, linear and long with a compact palate. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 96 (VN) | د.إ2,160.00 | |||||
Vinous (96)Dark and brooding in bearing, the 2021 Pichon Baron is a somber, mysterious wine. It is every bit as impressive as it was en primeur. Graphite, leather, spice, mocha and dried herbs meld together in a wine of power, precision and contemporary classicism. It's one of my early favorites in this vintage. I won't be too surprised if it turns out even better than this note suggests. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 6 | 97 (VN (AG)) | د.إ2,860.00 | |||||
Vinous - Antonio Galloni (97)The 2023 Pichon Baron is a gorgeous, statuesque beauty, just as it was en primeur. Soaring aromatic top notes meld into a core of dark-hued fruit, gravel and new leather. This builds beautifully with time in the glass, showing notable resonance that really explodes on the back end. More than anything else, I am impressed with the precision and vertical energy that have become such an integral part of the wines here in recent years. |
|||||||||
|
|
Bordeaux | 3 | 93 (VN (AG)) | د.إ1,010.00 | |||||
Vinous - Antonio Galloni (93)The 2023 Réserve de la Comtesse is superb. In some recent vintages, I have felt the Réserve was a bit too serious for a second wine. That is not at all the case with the 2023, a wine of sublime elegance and finesse. Floral top notes meld into a core of dark red/purplish fruit, pomegranate, blood orange and cinnamon. This is the Réserve with the highest amount of Cabernet Sauvignon ever. |
|||||||||
