Offre Wine in Black 'Sélection 94+ points'

The 2025 Chardonnay Proyecto Hermanas comes from La Carrera. It opens with soft herbal, lime and acacia aromas, while the variety's nutty character stays discreetly in the background. This is a primary, straightforward and lively expression, offering tension and a chalky texture.

Un sauvignon blanc doté d’une précision fraîche et d’une signature inimitable : juteux, minéral et magnifiquement concentré. Ce vin montre combien l’œnologie chilienne peut être élégante et diversifiée. Une vive recommandation !

The 2024 Sauvignon Blanc Amayna Cordón Huinca from Leyda Valley shows restrained citrus, herbal notes, light green chili, fennel, field herbs and a delicate hint of flint. Taut and silky, with elevated freshness and a saline edge, it is developed, precise and textured. Time in bottle will add depth and character.

Bordeaux is rarely acclaimed as a source of great-value Sauvignon, because the varietal message in this part of the world is often obscured rather than validated by origin, and because many Bordeaux whites are based on the blends traditional in Pessac-Léognan and Graves. This was the only single-variety Sauvignon amongst our Value Best In Show wines this year and its grassy freshness, purity and poise make it a terrific winner. Our judges felt, though, that origin was indeed a part of its appeal palpable via the soft grain of its faintly oak-infused aromas, and the vinous drive and length of its palate. At this price, don't look for complexity or concentration, but there is a class to the fruit which is rare at this level and which will provide much drinking pleasure for Sauvignon fans.

A blend of the 2015 and 2016 vintages, the NV Côtes du Rhône S M checks in as the same equal parts Grenache and Syrah raised in tank and barrel. A huge nose of cassis, ground black pepper, garrigue, and olive tapenade gives way to a ripe, rounded, medium to full-bodied effort that has good acidity, building tannin, a seamless, light texture, and a great finish. It's a singular wine that has a big kiss of Northern Rhône Syrah with a touch of the rounded, sexy, opulent style of the south. It's going to drink nicely for a decade.

A blend of 50% Syrah from the Northern Rhône with 50% Grenache from the Southern Rhône, the NV Vin de France SM Second Edition is a fascinating wine, combining smoky, peppery, herbal notes with ripe black cherries. Full-bodied, plush and velvety, Vignon allows that it's "more 2016 than 2015" in style, but no matter how you characterize it, it's a lovely, complex wine.

A graceful and perfumed wine with aromas of of violets, roses, peonies, wild strawberries, restrained orange zest and subtle pepper. Soft and smooth, with a light to medium body and a very savory, lavish, almost hoppy finish. Drink now.

The third vintage that I tasted next to the previous ones was the 2021 Transatlántica, cropped from a cooler year with a big snowstorm (Filomena), but the rest of the season was warm and dry. They used 50% full clusters for the fermentation in concrete with indigenous yeasts and matured the wine in 2,000-liter oak vats for around 14 months. It has similar parameters as the other vintages I tasted next to it, with good ripeness and around 14.5% alcohol and very good freshness, denoted by the low pH (3.3). It feels very young and vibrant, with very fine tannins. The difference with the other vintages here is the quality of the tannins, which are finer and more elegant, making it approachable. It has a combination of flowers, fruit, spice and rocks, with fine granularity. It comes from slate soils. 3,800 bottles were filled in December 2022.