2000 - 2009 Wine

Winemaker Description 

Brick red deep covered. Clean on the nose with spicy aromas, toasts and dried fruits. Well structured, savory, ample and well balanced. Pleasent finish and harmonized flavors. Complex retronasal, in which we find balsamics and good oak. Finishes elegantly.

Expert Review - Vintage 2008

97 Points Wine Spectator:  Like a stallion out of the gate, this shows an initial explosion of power, in the form of mouthwatering flavors and fine texture, before quickly settling into an elegant gait. The racy acidity is seamlessly knit, buoying the lacy mousse and flavors of cassis, toasted brioche and tangerine, with accents of candied ginger, hazelnut and fleur de sel lingering on the long, creamy finish. Drink now through 2035.

96 Points Wine Enthusiast:  The new release of this producer's prestige cuvée comes in its usual beautifully sculpted bottle. The Champagne, from a great vintage in the region, is just approaching maturity still showing minerality from the high amount of Chardonnay in the blend. Nutty flavors are creeping in, keeping the great texture adding complexity. Drink this very fine wine now although it will also age further.

96 Points Decanter: Rare Champagne boasts an illustrious past, with its first vintage having been presented to Marie Antoinette in 1785. The wine is produced in very limited quantities and is restricted to exceptional years, with only 11 vintages being declared over the past four decades of production. 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir from selected grand cru vineyards. Simon Field MW: Gentle bead, lovely evolved notes of hazelnut, even a hint of praline, enrobed and ennobled by firm acidity and a persuasive finish. Alan Bednarski: Great, pure wine with still-fresh zesty flavours, delicate palate and sweet yeast notes, with a long flavourful finish of ripe melon. Tim Hall: A challenging, pressing start, wanting to overwhelm with shimmering and sharp attack, but shows intensity on the palate to match. Lovely lemon-apple notes and tempered texture.

96 Points Jeb Dunnuck: The 2008 Champagne Rare is luxurious with aromas of graham cracker, honeysuckle, quince, and orange zest. It is round and opulent, with a fine and pillowy mousse, and retains freshness throughout, with apricot and yellow flowers. It is impressive and long, and fully luxurious. Drinking well now, it is sure to hold its own for years to come. Drink 2022-2044.

93 Points Wine Advocate:  The newly released 2008 Brut Cuvée Rare is very promising, unwinding in the glass with a youthfully reserved nose of citrus oil, crisp green apple, freshly baked bread, iodine and oyster shell, as well as some rather herbaceous characteristics that depress my score a little, even if I suspect that they will resolve with a bit more bottle age. Medium to full-bodied, incisive and tightly wound, if the 2006 vintage was gourmand and demonstrative, the 2008 is slower to show all its cards. Built around racy acids and complemented by a pillowy mousse, this rendition of Cuvée Rare will reward a few years more on cork.

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2006

Wine Spectator 96 Points | This has lovely flavors of apricot, dried tangerine, pineapple and papaya rushing along, supported by hazelnut, frangipane and coconut notes. Despite the depth, it's very, very pure, with filigreed acidity carrying the long, long finish. Drink now through 2037. 7,500 cases made. 

Wine Advocate 95 Points | Served from an ex-chateau bottle. The 2006 Chateau d Yquem has a slightly reticent bouquet at first that unfolds in the glass. There aromas are well-behaved at first, but then start having some fun with lovely scents of dried honey, dried quince, marzipan and beeswax. Delving further into the aromatics there is a hint of spice and white pepper. The palate is extremely well-balanced with a viscous opening. There is great harmony and composure here - certainly not as voluminous or ravishing as the 2009 - but a controlled and very focused Yquem with a slight saltiness coming through toward the finish. The edginess is absorbing and it should play out nicely with bottle age. This could be the dark horse between the 2001 and 2009. Drink now-2050. Tasted March 2014. 

Winemaker Description 

Made from 100% Macabeu, this rare dessert wine spent 21 years in barrel before being bottled. The slow oxidation in barrel gives this wine its characteristic amber color, as well as complex notes of fig, date, toasted hazelnut, and caramel. Best served at room temperature, try this on its own after dinner, or alongside cheese, pastry, or chocolate cake. Once opened, the wine can be enjoyed for several months. 

Jean-Hubert Verdaguer and his wife, Brigitte, helm Domaine de Rancy in the Roussillon, one of only a handful of quality wineries still producing exceptional Rivesaltes in the old Ambré style.

This unique type of fortified wine is a Vin Doux Naturel, in which a pure spirit is added during fermentation to stop conversion of sugar into alcohol. These are complex and incredibly versatile dessert wines, typically 16% to 20% alcohol with 85-100 grams of residual sugar, and acidity varying between 6% and 8%.

The grapes – 100% Macabeau – come from organically-farmed vineyards. It is the addition of neutral grape spirits that prevents them from obtaining organic certification on their Vin Doux Naturels.

They are hand-picked late in the season, pressed, fermented, and fortified in tank. Only the best wine is chosen for barrel-aging, and it remains in barrel for up to 60 years. The wines are bottled as needed, unfined and unfiltered, and the wine is best served at room temperature to fully appreciate the intense, complex aromas that develop in the glass.

Expert Rating

Vinous Stephen Tanzer writes 93 Points | (from 63-year-old vines in the center of the vineyard; aged in a combination of old barriques and new larger casks) Sweet aromas of redcurrant, cherry, smoke and mint, all lifted by high notes of orange peel, rose petal and minerals. Concentrated, vibrant and gripping, with a silky quality and noteworthy precision to the flavors of red fruits, spices and minerals. Harmonious acidity gives a juicy, sappy quality and real elegance to this densely packed Barbaresco. Here the tannins are considerably finer than those of the normale, and the long, juicy, gripping finish leaves behind a captivating floral perfume. A beauty. 

This is from a massale selection, including a bit of the lighter, floral rose clone of nebbiolo while the rest of the vineyard features five different clones. 

Winemaker Description

The 2008 Rare Rosé is Piper-Heidsieck's second ever prestige cuvée rosé — an extremely premium and rare offering 11 years in the making. The legendary eye of Régis Camus saw a rare opportunity in the 2008 Champagne vintage, a beautifully complex and eccentric year. It is an audacious wine, born of intuition, vision, and aspiration — the very definition of Rosé. Following an attack that is both elegant and generous, the velvety texture unfurls to offer minerality and subtlety. The exuberant vitality of dark fruits and citrus is followed by vibrancy, smoky notes of star anise and violets.

Expert Reviews

Jeb Dunnuck 98 Points | The 2008 Champagne Rare Rosé is straight-up sensational. Only the second time they've produced this cuvée, it offers a deep, full-bodied, powerful yet chiseled and laser-focused style carrying loads of wild strawberry fruit as well as notes of orange blossom, spice, and crushed rocks. Backward, austere, yet simply loaded with potential, it needs a solid 4–5 years of bottle age and will drink brilliantly for two decades or more.

Wine Spectator 97 Points | A vibrant Champagne, ballet-slipper pink in color, featuring intense flavors of nectarine, ripe raspberry, grilled nut, espresso and graphite, with a touch of dried sage, all riding the finely detailed mousse. Like a ballerina, this offers power in a graceful form. A beautiful skein of spice unravels on the lasting finish. Drink now through 2033.

Food Pairings

Best enjoyed with lobster, langoustine, seared duck breast, wagyu beef, and aged hard cheeses. A world-class prestige Champagne for the most special occasions.

Product Details

Bottle Size: 750ml
Vintage: 2008
Region: Champagne, France
Appellation: Champagne AOC
Style: Brut Rosé Vintage Champagne
Producer: Piper-Heidsieck
Cuvée: Rare Rosé — Prestige Cuvée

Dom Pérignon Rosé Plénitude 2 (P2) — Champagne 2000

Dom Pérignon Pénitude 2 is not simply an aged Champagne — it is a fundamentally different wine. After close to 15 years in the darkness of the cellar, the expansion of energy reaches its peak and the wine rises to an apex of essential, radiant vitality that the first release (P1) cannot achieve. The 2000 Rosé P2 is among the most extraordinary expressions of this philosophy: a 70% Pinot Noir-dominant blend with a beefy 20% red wine addition, harvested in a warm, generous vintage and then given nearly a quarter century of cellar aging to reach this moment of perfect maturity. Vinous awarded it 96 points. Wine Advocate and Decanter each gave it 94. This is a bottle for a singular occasion.

The color is a deep, luminous rosé with amber hints that speak to its age. The nose is hauntingly beautiful: kirsch, blood orange, dried white flowers, mint, iodine, oyster shell, and gentle spice. On the palate, it is medium to full-bodied, ample and elegantly textural, with a rich, savory core of distinctly Burgundian character, a fine mousse, and a long, saline finish of extraordinary length and complexity. Fully mature and drinking magnificently today — and will continue to reward over the next decade.

Vinous 96 — “Hauntingly beautiful and ethereal in the way only fine, aged Rosé can be. Kirsch, orange peel, white flowers, mint and gentle touches of spice… beautifully balanced and harmonious. A beguiling, complex Champagne.”

Wine Advocate 94 — “Sapid, gastronomic… ample and elegantly textural, with a rich and open-knit core of distinctly savory fruit, a fine but youthfully boisterous mousse and a long, saline finish. Almost Burgundian-styled.”

Decanter 94 — “An aromatic treat… an autumnal rosé of real interest and subtlety. Jellied plum, poached strawberry, cooked cream and oyster-shell brightness.”

• Producer: Dom Pérignon, Épernay, Champagne, France
• Vintage: 2000
• Cuvee: Rosé Plénitude 2 (P2) — ~15 years on lees before disgorgement
• Blend: 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay (incl. 20% red wine addition)
• Appellation: Champagne AOC
• Size: 750ml
• Tasting Notes: Kirsch, blood orange, dried white flowers, mint, iodine, oyster shell, jellied plum, saline finish
• Cellar Potential: Fully mature; drink now through 2035+
• Best Paired With: Lobster, langoustine, aged Parmesan, foie gras, roasted squab, black truffle

A 96-point Champagne 24 years in the making — Dom Pérignon Rosé P2 2000 is the benchmark for what aged prestige Champagne can be.

Winemaker Description

Since its 175th anniversary, Pol Roger has decided to offer a very limited range of older vintages from its iconic cuvées. After the original disgorgement, these bottles were then returned to the famously deep and cool Pol Roger cellars for additional extended maturation where they have rested undisturbed until their release.

Blanc de Blancs 2002 is a champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay selected from the finest Crus of the Côte des Blancs: Oiry, Chouilly, Cramant, Avize and Oger. Produced in limited quantities, this cuvée has matured for 10 years prior to disgorgement.

This is a thoroughbred, elegant sparkler. With its delicate acidity, apple and grapefruit flavors, and tense, steely texture, it is an extremely well-balanced wine. Although it is ready to drink now, it could certainly age in bottle for many years.

Wine Enthusiast 95 Points | This is a thoroughbred, elegant sparkler. With its delicate acidity, apple and grapefruit flavors, and tense, steely texture, it is an extremely well-balanced wine. Although it is ready to drink now, it could certainly age in bottle for many years.

Wine Spectator 93 Points | Firm, with a toasty base mixing with flavors of quince paste, pastry, dried apricot, raw almond and a hint of lemon curd. There's a clean-cut note of minerally salinity throughout, accompanied by a fine bead and a lingering finish. Drink now through 2022. 100 cases imported.

Bottle Size: 750ml | Region: Champagne, France

Expert Review - Vintage 2009 

Antonio Galloni writes | The estate's 2009 Taffe Ta' (100% Colorino) is striking. Blackberry jam, cloves, menthol, licorice and melted road tar seem to jump from the glass. Rich, layered, and impeccably balanced throughout, the Taffe Ta' is simply stunning in this vintage.

Winemaker Description

The Wine Advocate | The 2011 Hickinbotham Grenache is medium garnet-purple in color with an intensely scented nose of black raspberries, black cherries and violets as well as touches of cinnamon stick and rose hips.

Winemaker Description

Produced from a small walled vineyard close to the Lanson winery in Reims, this is a splendid wine. Its richness is balanced by the intense freshness and minerality of the Chardonnay, with apple and citrus flavors that still in the background. Now mature, this wine is ready to drink.

Expert Reviews

Wine Enthusiast 97 Points | Produced from a small walled vineyard close to the Lanson winery in Reims, this is a splendid wine. Its richness is balanced by the intense freshness and minerality of the Chardonnay, with apple and citrus flavors that still in the background. Now mature, this wine is ready to drink.

Wine Advocate 94 Points | Disgorged in July 2016 with only three grams per liter dosage, the 2007 Brut Blanc de Blancs Clos Lanson is showing very well indeed, unwinding in the glass with notes of dried white flowers, citrus oil, toasted brioche, oyster shell and smoke. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and vibrant, with a racy spine of acidity, good concentration and chalky structuring extract. This is quite a tightly knit, tensile wine, despite the warm mesoclimate and two years on cork, which suggests it will enjoy a long future.

Vinous 93 Points | Clos Lanson's 2007 Brut Blanc de Blancs is a very pretty, soft Champagne that can be enjoyed with minimal cellaring. Bright citrus and floral notes, along with soft contours, give much of its immediacy and sheer allure. Understated and classy, the 2007 will drink well for a number of years, but it is also remarkably giving and enjoyable today for a relatively young Blanc de Blancs. Although it is not super-complex, the 2007 offers quite a bit of freshness and character. An open bottle was still in great shape when I re-tasted it a few days later. Disgorged: July 2016.

Wine Spectator 93 Points | Fragrant, featuring lime blossom and ground spice notes, this fine and creamy Champagne offers a broad range of lemon parfait, chopped hazelnut, spun honey and dried cherry flavors, underscored by chalky minerality. Elegant and well-knit, with a firm, focused finish. Disgorged July 2016. Drink now through 2030. 665 cases made.

Winemaker Description

Created as a tribute to Louise Pommery, Cuvée Louise is an absolutely pure wine which quintessentially conveys the wine-making expertise of the Pommery champagne house. 

The wine has a yellow, slightly golden color with an exceptional brightness and limpidity. The effervescence is fine and delicate.

This 2005 is marked by floral notes in all their complexity. Owing to the long aging, notes of linden, hawthorn and vineyard peach. With its high purity, the bouquet is delicately blended with buttery notes. After aeration, the Pinot Noir expresses itself and the wine gains aromas of roasted hazelnuts and mild tobacco.

This wine is like a caress, its texture is velvety and creamy. The attack is frank, without asperity and imbalance. With incredible harmony and minerality, the heart of the tasting is intensive and structured. The finale, with the gentleness of honey and lemon, comes to punctuate this wine and provides the vintage with signature delicate flavor, noble bitterness and structure.

Expert Reviews

97 Points James Suckling | Grilled bread with flowers, pears and apples. Lots of perfumes. Lavender and some herbs and nutmeg. The palate is tight and solid with fine phenolics and a long, intense finish. Pure and extremely linear and lively. Sophisticated and thought-provoking.

92 Points Wine Spectator | A fresh and lacy Champagne, with a pleasing, creamy range of golden apple, blanched almond and lemon pound cake underscored by a streak of minerally saline and brine.

92 Points Wine & Spirits | A ghost of chardonnays past, this tastes like white grapefruit without the acidity, as if a grapefruit could age past its acidity and still remain fresh. From three estate parcels— chardonnay from Avize and Cramant, pinot noir from Aÿ—this is an elegant Champagne at a peak moment of maturity, flinty and airy with a deep leesy savor.

Expert Reviews

92 Points Connoisseurs Guide | The most complex of the Stag's Leap lot, this fascinating effort is simply brimming with ripe cherries and very rich oak and shows intriguing touches of leather, coffee, cocoa and caramel throughout its length. It is fairly full and broad on the palate with fine balance and a mannerly, well-polished feel, and, if a slight touch of last-minute tannin jumps up at its finish, there is no doubt that a few years in bottle with smooth things out completely. 

91 Points Int'l Wine Cellar | Bright, full ruby-red. Aromas of dark raspberry, dark chocolate and cola. Bigger and broader than the Fay but with less obvious early sweetness. Very ripe, spicy flavors of dark chocolate, espresso and coffee offer noteworthy depth. Spreads out horizontally to coat the palate on the back end, finishing with dusty, fine, building tannins 

90 Points Wine Enthusiast | There’s a fruity, blackberry and cherry core, with a coffee and dill herbaceousness and plenty of oak. It’s soft, but should develop well, and could eventually surprise. Try holding until 2010. 

Winemaker Description

Bruno Clair set up an eponymous estate in France established in 1979 with vineyard holdings spread all over the area.  Half of the vines are a century old. Bruno Clair, a true vigneron, has the expertise needed to reinvent this area better than anyone and his Marsannay wines are very elegant and long-lasting. His respect for the terroir and the stylistic precision of his wines makes him one of the best producers in Burgundy.

This textbook En la Rue de Vergy is one of the rare white wines of the Côte de Nuits. It is complex, perfectly balanced, and well-structured with very clean tannins and crisp acidity and a long finish. The intense, rich palette presents lemon, grapefruit, oak, vanilla, yellow apple, almonds, and white melon flavors with herbal, floral, and mineral nuances. It's a nice accompaniment to paella.

Expert Reviews

Vinous Josh Raynolds 92+ Points | Dark purple. Complex, highly perfumed bouquet of red berries, cherry pit, incense and dried flowers. Spicy raspberry and cherry flavors show a refreshingly bitter quality and are given depth by a note of licorice. Packs a serious punch but there's a surprisingly lithe quality to this wine too. The finish clings with impressive tenacity and repeats the cherry and floral notes. I'd let this wine rest for at least another three years or so. By the way, the 2007 Calvario has put on weight in the last year but also possesses superb energy; I rated it 94 in August. - Vinous 92+

Wine Advocate Neal Martin writes 90 Points | The 2008 Calvario is a blend of 90% Tempranillo, 9% Garnacha and 2% Graciano aged for 18 months in new French Allier oak. The nose offers broody blackberry and briary at first, leisurely unwinding to reveal black olive and violet aromas, with the oak well-knitted into the fruit profile. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, sturdy tannins complemented by the fleshy black fruit laced with just a pinch of white pepper towards the much more elegant finish. It deserves a couple of years in bottle. (2008).

Decanter Sarah Jane Evans MW writes 93 Points |  A wine that smells of luxury and plenty of attention, showing the right balance between oak and fruit and a balancing acidity; expressive and charming, solidly built. Impressive, with tightly crafted tannins, and it should improve over time. Drinking 2019 -2023.

Expert Reviews

Wine Spectator 90 Points | This red shows some depth to the black cherry, black currant, iron and tobacco aromas and flavors. There is a hint of tar, and the firm structure is well-integrated. Drink now through 2032.  — Bruce Sanderson

Wine Enthusiast 92 Points | This blend opens with ripe aromas that recall blueberry and strawberry jam, followed by notes of spice, chocolate and moist tobacco. The finish is soft and velvety, and it comes with a touch of plush richness. This is complex and balanced.

Decanter 91 Points | Sweet wood nuances lead with cinnamon, clove and a touch of vanilla eventually ceding to wild cherry and wet soil. On the palate, forest berries are laced with chocolate. The fruit is concentrated and plush with ripe, powdery tannins giving effortless support. This is its usual sophisticated and polished self, with lots of juiciness. Yields are a low 30 hL/ha and ageing is in a combination of French oak tonneaux and barriques, 10% new. Give this another year for the wood to integrate.  Drinking 2022 -2027 — Michaela Morris

Jancis Robinson 17.5 Points | Greve in Chianti. 100% Sangiovese.  The grapes were destemmed but not crushed and fermented in stainless steel as well as oak casks where it also went through MLF. Aged in barriques and tonneaux for up to 14 months. Certified vegan and organic.

Walter Speller | Medium to deep crimson. Gorgeous nose of cherry and with the scent of cigar box. Luscious juicy fruit on the palate and silky tannins that make their mark. Beautiful balance and elegant and concentrated at the same time. Amazing length and focus. Drinking 2021 -2028.

Vinous 93 Points | The 2018 Chianti Classico is classy, polished and exceptionally beautiful. Like so many wines in 2018, the Chianti Classico is aromatic and gracious in feel, more finesse than power. Silky tannins wrap around a core of bright Sangiovese fruit. From start to finish, the 2018 is all class.  Drinking 2020 -2033.

Winemaker Description

Eye: Deep dark ruby colour with mauve tints. 

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2007

Wine Spectator 95 Points | This has gorgeous espresso and roasted mesquite aromatics, followed by dense but velvety-textured plum sauce, blackberry paste and cassis flavors. Best from 2012 through 2025.

Stephen Tanzer 96 Points | Opaque ruby. Boysenberry, blueberry and smoky Indian spices on the expansive, heady nose, with a sexy floral quality that gains strength with air. Deep, sappy and palate-staining dark fruit compote flavors show unlikely energy and become spicier and smokier with air. A strikingly expressive, potent and compellingly fragrant wine that finishes with superb clarity and floral-driven persistence. 

Winemaker Description 

Castello dei Rampolla d'Alceo is a premium, proprietary blend of Cabernet and Petit Verdot grapes exclusively from the renowned Panzano in Chianti region of Tuscany. This organic and biodynamic red is sure to tantalize your taste buds with its complex bouquet and flavor profile.

Expert Reviews - VIntage 2009

Vinous 96 Points | The 2009 d'Alceo comes across as much more classic in style and structure than the 2008. According to Luca di Napoli, the trick to 2009 was harvesting on the early side. Freshly cut flowers, sweet red berries, plums, mint and licorice all take shape in the glass Over the last few months, the 2009 d'Alceo has softened a bit, releasing expressive, floral aromatics, brighter shades of fruit and striking inner perfume, but it remains quite vibrant in the context of a vintage in which so many wines are quite a bit riper in style. The 2009 is a wonderfully deep, resonant d'Alceo that should offer a wide drinking window starting in a few years. It certainly looks like Rampolla nailed the vintage.  Drinking 2019 - 2039.

Antonio Galloni, 96+ | My absolute favorite wine of 2022 was a bottle of the Castello dei Rampolla 2006 d'Alceo that I had the good fortune to drink at dinner during a work event in Tuscany last year. I remember the wine vividly, and if I were to review it again, it would certainly merit a perfect score. With that profound inspiration in mind, I feel especially optimistic toward this outstanding group of new releases from Maurizia di Napoli and her talented team. This historic estate has farmed according to organic and biodynamic methods since 1994, making it one of the first in Italy to do so. In truth, I have found some inconsistencies along the way over the many years I have reviewed and adored these wines. Such is the magic of artisanal winemaking. But thanks to that memory of that 2006 d'Alceo, I remain in awe of Castello dei Rampolla today.