The ripe nose of red and dark berry fruit is abundantly laced with earth, spice and floral scents, all of which is trimmed in just enough wood to warrant pointing out. The muscular, intense and impressively scaled flavors possess excellent richness as well as plenty of wonderful tension before terminating in an explosive mineral-inflected finish that is quite firm and youthfully austere. This is an exceptionally serious wine that should age effortlessly for years yet isn´t overtly hard. In sum, this is textbook Malconsorts.

Score: 92-95 Allen Meadow (AM), Bourghound (BH), April 2018

The 2016 Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru Les Malconsorts includes two-thirds whole cluster and 55% new oak. It has a deep color and a very complex bouquet with blackberry, raspberry coulis, iris and touches of woodland, all reticent at first but unfolding with time in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and a fine line of acidity, fresh and vibrant with a gentle but insistent grip on the saline finish. It is a structured Malconsorts that deserves several years in bottle. This is on par with the excellent 2015 Malconsorts.

I tasted the wines of Domaine de Montille at their base on the fringe of Meursault (for more background on the vintage, please refer to the introduction to Château du Puligny-Montrachet). Like many others in 2016, it was a series of ups and downs depending on how the vineyard was affected by frost, hail, oidium and so forth. Certainly there are some wines that just lacked the nerve and terroir expression that I have discerned in recent vintages, yet there are some really quite excellent wines made by Brian Sieve and his team, the standouts in Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Thorey, Clos Vougeot, Pommard Les Rugiens and Les Pezerolles and in Volnay Taillepieds.

Score: 93-95 Neal Martin (NM), The Wine Advocate (WA), December 2017

(vinified with two-thirds whole clusters and aged in 60% new oak; no frost damage here but the yield was just under 40 hectoliters per hectare): Healthy dark red. Explosive aromas of black raspberry, cocoa powder and espresso. Wonderfully sweet and savory, offering very intense yet silky flavors of black raspberry and minerals framed by harmonious acidity. Really outstanding inner-mouth energy and definition here! The resounding finish features firm, chalky tannins and terrific length and lift. This wine comes from vines at the top of this premier cru on hard limestone.

Score: 93-96 Stephen Tanzer (ST), Vinous Media (VM), January 2018