The 2023 Dominus is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot. Opaque purple-black in color, it slowly unfurls to reveal a powerful core of blackcurrant jelly, ripe black plums, and fresh blueberries, followed by hints of menthol, crushed rocks, dried sage, black truffles, and black olives. The full-bodied palate is both generous and energetic, displaying an impressive array of savory and earthy nuances among the dense black fruit layers and a rock-solid frame of grainy tannins and beautiful tension, finishing with epic length.

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. Drink 2027-2050.

The 2018 Champagne Starck Brut Nature Rosé pours a pale salmon color, and coming from this early-ripening vintage, it’s very fruity upfront, with ripe red berries, orange, grapefruit, and refreshing spice. Twenty percent of the blend includes cold-soaked Pinot Noir, and the result is a gorgeous, medium-bodied wine with more richness in its texture; the Pinot adds another dimension, and the mousse is more integrated into the wine. It has a more approachable nature than the Blanc edition of the Starck and is going to drink well now or over the coming 10-15 years.

The 2018 Champagne Starck Brut Nature exhibits notes of lemon and citrus oils, but the stone fruit has a silkiness, not the tannic side you sometimes see. It also has hints of savory toast, but it remains very elegant. This 2018 is the first vintage that included a small amount of Pinot Blanc to add more depth to the mid-palate. Medium to full-bodied, it has a fleshy texture without being too bitter. With the extended time on lees, the Pinot Blanc is almost more perceptible in the blend – and if it isn’t now, it will be – because it complements the style with that ideal, almost aesthetic almond or fresh hazelnut character. It brings an oily, not overly fleshy quality, and none of the oxidative side you sometimes get from Pinot Blanc. Disgorged in October 2024, the second batch is scheduled for disgorgement this coming October for release next year

The NV Champagne Collection 246 is fantastic and has refreshing nerve, with more citrus, pure lemon curd, white grapefruit, and white peach. Medium-bodied, it floats through the palate, with a refined mousse and fantastic fresh acidity.