Dave Brookes

Halliday Wine Companion 98 Points

Disgorged November '23. Pale straw with an energetic bead and mousse. Expressive green apple, lemon, grapefruit and white peach fruit tones with hints of soft spice, fresh brioche, clotted cream, sea spray, crushed riverstone, shiitake broth, crushed oyster shell and freshly baked pastries. Wonderfully composed; the aromas transpose neatly over onto the palate, which shows impeccable balance and harmony. A high-tensile, minerally cadence drives things along admirably, finishing dry, pure as snow melt and layered in its spice and autolytic complexity. Such beautifully made wines, they are just a pleasure to drink.

Erin Larkin

The Wine Advocate 95 Points

The 2009 E.J. Carr Late Disgorged Chardonnay Pinot Noir spent around 156 months on the lees (13 years) and aromatically leads with crushed vanilla biscuit, oyster shell, preserved lemon rind, tea cake dusted with icing sugar, sandalwood and fennel seeds. In the mouth, the wine is complex and savory, with toasted brioche and crushed rocks through the finish. This is excellent. It is fresh, complex and savory, with layers of flavor that reveal themselves through the long finish. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Campbell Mattinson

The Wine Front 96 Points

‘These wines,” Ed Carr says, “are now where we planned them to be from a long way back.” This 2009 is the 12th release of a House of Arras Late Disgorged. It’s a 65/35 blend in chardonnay’s favour. Dosage is a minuscule 1.6 g/l. The “normal” Grand Vintage from Arras is released as an eight year old; the Late Disgorged is always 12 years or older. It’s the same blend/wine as the Grand Vintage though, obviously, it’s spent extra time on lees. This 2009 LD spent 13 years on lees. That’s commitment.

The Late Disgorged release is ten percent of the original Grand Vintage production.

There’s a lot of complex development here, and richness, but it still feels so fresh. It displays honey, cream, grapefruit, and earthen/mushroomy characters and then shows yet more honeyed citrus and toasted grapefruit flavours as it pushes out through the finish. A lot happens in the story of this wine, it’s torrid with flavour, but then everything is resolved and sorted as it marshals and marches down the hatch. This is pretty much a brilliant wine.

Ryan Montgomery

James Suckling 97 Points

Golden-straw in appearance. The nose is rich and giving with complex notes of shortbread, green-apple tart, orange blossoms, chalk and oyster shells. The palate is medium-bodied with a generous mouthful of high-tension acidity and a seamlessly beaded mousse, showing notes of gingerbread, grapefruit curd, lemon confit and mandarins. Very well-constructed balance of power and finesse after 13 years in tirage. Disgorged November 2023. Exceptional. Drink or hold.