94-96 Point Wines:

Quite expressive and exotic, with red plums, blackberries and iodine, as well as dried herbs and nori, quite fragrant spices and currants. The palate has a sleek, dense and long feel, with impressive fruit intensity, delivered... Read More

Black cherries, dark loam and cassis appear on the nose of Dalla Valle's 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, joined by hints of cedar and vanilla. It's medium to full-bodied, firm, tannic and sturdy but essentially ripe, with... Read More

Pale straw in color. Gravels, smoke and flint wash over a ripe grapefruit and citrus spectrum of fruit characters. Orange blossom and daphne also complement the citrus core, along with toast and oatmeal characters from the long... Read More

Pale straw. Pure and bright perfume with an array of citrus covering grapefruit, lemon, lime and mandarin. Subtle gravelly tones help to weave another layer of complexity around the fruit. Juicy and fresh upfront, the riper fruit... Read More

An unusually complete offering given the challenges of the vintage, Beauregard's 2021 Chateauneuf du Pape Boisrenard delivers waves of black raspberries accented by black olives and hints of garrigue. Full-bodied, rich and... Read More

Concentrated but not weighty, this has an ethereal quality to its attractive licorice, cherry pie and fragrant incense notes, shored up with chalky tannins and a dusting of graphite that offsets the warmth. Beautifully textured,... Read More

In the flush of its youth, Laurène sparkles like a bright ruby. Cherry, mulberry, blackcurrant, and spices all harmonize into a beautifully aromatic bouquet. An overall graceful character is balanced by a firm structure... Read More

Deep, shimmering ruby. Expansive, mineral- and spice-accented red and dark berry preserve, incense, cola and garrigue qualities on the finely detailed nose. Palate-staining cherry pie, raspberry, boysenberry, floral pastille and... Read More

A heavenly wine, with a beautiful earthiness rippling through decadent flavors of poached pear, stewed apple, honeycomb, pastry and spiced fig. Stealth power underscores the up-front fruit, with steely mineral, refreshing lemon... Read More

This cuvée replaces the three historical red cuvées of the domaine (Classique, Auguste Favier and Charles Giraud). Quite introverted for now, seems to have everything required but needs time to knit together. Freshness,... Read More

Fragrant, rich and graceful, this is a ravishingly beautiful Chateauneuf. The forest berry and wildflower aromas are hedonistic and very precise. The interplay of super-fine tannins and fruit on the full-bodied palate is spot... Read More

Tasted from the concrete tank, the 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Imperiale is reassuringly on form, with intricate herbal nuances overlaid on ripe purple raspberries and black cherries. Full-bodied, silky and plush, with soft... Read More

Cherry with a good layer. Perfume of blue flowers (violets), ripe black plum, pink pepper, reminiscent of tomato and balsamic notes.

I also tasted the 2017 Pingus, which had a tough competition with the bottled 2016 and a barrel sample of the 2018 (and the fermenting 2019, but that doesn't really count). 2017 was a weird vintage for the zone, as the year... Read More

An excellent wine, even if not a great Dominus, the 2020 Dominus delivers waves of dark fruit—think predominantly cassis. A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, it's full-bodied and richly textured,... Read More

Gorgeous, with a beguilingly creamy mouthfeel that lets waves of date, fig, persimmon, golden raisin, toffee and praline glide along while notes of ginger and juniper flash underneath. Manages to be viscous and light-footed at... Read More

The NV 40 Year Old Very Old Tawny Porto is a field blend coming in with 127 grams per liter of residual sugar. It was bottled in 2018 with a bar-top cork. While this continues to some extent the dry, stern and powerful feel of... Read More

The Erdener Treppchen vineyard is so steep that, long ago, stone steps were built into the hillside to help workers reach the vines. The iron-infused, red slate soil produces wines that are muscular and complex, with an intense... Read More

This is a meaty, powerful wine made in a dense, full-bodied style that possesses underlying grace. Black fruit dominates around a secondary tier of currant, clove and iron, the oak is present and yet behaved and well-integrated.... Read More

Despite weighing in at under 14% alcohol (13.84% to be precise), the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain comes across as full-bodied and expansive on the palate, redolent of pine needles, blueberries and cherries. Possessing... Read More

A late-release Chateauneuf, with aromatic beauty. Shows lovely signs of evolution, with woodsy, dried leaf and earth notes. Dried currant and red fruit flavors are layered with singed garrigue and perfumed violet details. Sweet... Read More

Sourced from Gualtallary's Adrianna Vineyard, the 2022 Cabernet Franc contains 10% Malbec and underwent a 60-day maceration and aged for 15 months in a mix of foudre, barrique and tank. Opening with a dark-fruited, floral... Read More

A consistently impressive chardonnay that highlights purity and saline minerality. Salted lemons, sliced apples, seashells and stones drizzled with a touch of oak spice. Full-bodied yet tense and lightly saline on the palate,... Read More

El Enemigo Semillón is light, creamy, and refreshing. It displays aromas of tropical fruit, spice, honey, acacia flowers, and vanilla. The rich palate boasts flavors of lemon, apricot, toasted nuts, and minerality.... Read More

This wine sources its fruit from across three hectares on clay limestone soils. The Elvio Cogno 2021 Barolo Cascina Nuova is the most accessible wine in the family's portfolio, and indeed, the intensity threshold is a little... Read More