Made from 100% Syrah aged two years in barrel the 2016 Côte Rôtie Les Grandes Places is a sensational effort from one of the great terroirs in the Côte Brune side of the appellation. Loaded with black and blue... Read More

From 65-year-old vines and vinified in fuders until mid-April this year the 2019 Dhroner Hofberg Riesling Trocken is concentrated and flinty on the detailed complex highly aromatic yet refined and slatey nose. Crystalline and... Read More

The floral perfumed and expressive 2019 Cardia Pombeiras was produced with Mencía from 40-year-old vines on slate soils 0.16 hectares. It fermented with some 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts and matured in used French... Read More

A juicy and nervy red showing a tangy lift of white pepper to the red cherries and strawberries. Tight and dusty tannins thoroughly coat the fruit delivering a tight yet caressing feel to the succulent palate full of juicy berries.... Read More

A hint of dark earth funk to the fresh black cherries blueberries and a hint of savory nori and white pepper character. Very sappy and juicy on the palate with tart black cherries that brighten up the palate with a very appetizing... Read More

A brooding and reticent nose features liqueur-like aromas of poached plum cassis and cool earth. The delicious intense and overtly stony middle weight plus flavors flashed focused power on the firm compact and tightly wound finale.... Read More

Savory peppery perfumed and packed full of the character the 2015 Rosso della Centa a 100% varietal Merlot will keep you coming back to the glass over and over again. Wild strawberries blackberries cloves tobacco and an enriching... Read More

The 2014 Barbaresco Riserva Rose delle Casasse is a powerful ample wine. A blast of dark amarena cherry plum mocha licorice and spice infuse the 2014 with tons of depth and volume. The 2014 is not especially refined in fact it... Read More

The 2017 Barbaresco Rabajà is sure to put a smile on readers’ faces. Ample and generous, the 2017 captures the radiant side of the year, which gives the wine so much appeal and also softens some of the firmness that... Read More

From the 10-acre La Rochelle vineyard this powerful wine offers ripe tannins and solid black fruits seasoned with black pepper. It has a fine future. Drink from 2024. Roger Voss

Notably lighter in colour than Fonteny with a grace and elegance despite the 100% new oak and forthright style. The oak comes through on the vanilla front more than through its tannins. Just a little bit meaty too with good acidity... Read More

The Sérafin vines are in their own little Clos in Les Corbeaux. Rather lighter in colour and again with a slightly meaty nose. A little more delicacy of fruit on the palate even some elegance and floral notes along with a little... Read More

100% new wood. Rich purple just a little bit meaty. There is a wealth of fruit from the start on the palate very clean fills the front of the mouth then continues through to managed wood tannins at the back. Good long clean finish.... Read More

Vibrant mineral-accented blackberry blueberry and violet aromas pick up a spicy topnote with air. Concentrated red and dark berry olive and floral pastille flavors display sharp focus and energetic drive thanks to a spine of smoky... Read More

Cognac Frapin’s fifth Cuvée Rabelais release is both a blend of some of the house’s oldest eaux-de-vie and a celebration of its historic link with 16th-century humanist and writer François Rabelais. It... Read More

The 2018 Merlot Black Vineyard from Colète is terrific. Bright and energetic the 2018 is incredibly appealing. Readers will find an especially savory structured Merlot that is full of cool climate character. Bright acids lend... Read More

The vineyard was purchased in 2003. Old vines here and enough earth to retain the water. The nose displays a light dusting of new oak on top of the same register of pretty red fruit with a touch of tannin to finish though still... Read More

Aromas of fresh black/blue fruits pungent flowers olive and allspice on the incisive nose. Weighty yet lively black currant bitter cherry and violet pastille flavors show fine delineation and take on a smoky mineral nuance on... Read More

Just to the west of town, this Domaine has since 1998 been under the stewardship of brother and sister team of Marie and Francois Giraud, whose lineage in winemaking on their father’s side stretches back six centuries. Their... Read More

Joliet has divided the vineyard into sections which he farms and ferments separately before blending just before bottling. The ferments are done with 100% whole cluste

A breathtaking wine that has all the mineral depth and concentration you associate with a Grand Cru but also a wide spectrum of very fine citrus and berry aromas. Then it splash lands in an explosion of fresh-herb aromas. Drink... Read More

After studying oenology at university Ester Nin settled in Priorat in 2000 began working for Mas Martinet. She now works as viticulturist for Daphne Glorian at Clos i Terraces. But in 2003 she began a side project called Nit de... Read More

The 2017 Carema Etichetta Bianca is airy perfumed and gracious. Sweet dried cherry tobacco cedar mint and licorice are all very nicely lifted. The only thing the 2017 is lacking is a bit of freshness. Even so I imagine it will... Read More

The 2017 Carema Etichetta Nera is laced with wild cherry spice leather cedar and dried herbs. A wine of amplitude and power the 2017 has a lot to offer. I would cellar it for a few years to allow some of the formidable tannins... Read More

An organic and biodynamic wine the 2019 Per Filo is dedicated to Duccio Corsini's son Filippo. The wine reflects a hands-off winemaking style that is without the use of added sulfites or filtering. It reveals a fluid evolution... Read More

The 2016 Dino is 100% Sangiovese done in terra cotta which brings out the wine's perfumed aromatics and bright acid profile. A touch of reduction -typical of wines done in amphora - adds striking character to play off the... Read More

The 2018 Beaune Grèves 1er Cru comes from white sandy soils toward top of the slopes a one-hectare parcel of vines planted in the 1950s and the 1990s. It has a fragrant bouquet of morello cherry crushed strawberry hints... Read More

The 2018 Pommard Clos Blanc 1er Cru comes from the final plot before you reach Les Grands Epenots a 0.35-hectare parcel that was entirely replanted in 1998 from a sélection massale of Pinot Fin. It has quite a complex tertiary... Read More

At first I am shocked by the wine’s sheer richness and concentration. The intensity of the flavors is unreal. Iron smoke tobacco leather game and incense all lend gravitas to this decidedly potent virile Barolo. I find it pretty... Read More

The sum is greater than the parts here. Stunning interaction of the two grapes. The shiraz fills and lightens the cabernet just perfectly. Abundant red and dark berries plums and chocolate. Super fine tannins too. This is blended... Read More

A very ripe nose features notes of poached plum mocha wood toast and a pretty floral top note. The more refined and more tension filled middle weight flavors flash evident minerality on the youthfully austere and sneaky long finish.... Read More

Once again reduction dominates the fruit but not the wood treatment. There is a bit more refinement if less size weight and volume to the middle weight flavors that possess a seductive and velvety mid-palate that contrasts significantly... Read More

The 2017 Carema is a classy elegant wine. This is an especially polished style for the appellation. Wild red cherry dried herbs mint pine licorice and blood orange all flesh out. Pliant and generous the 2017 is very nicely done.... Read More

From ancient partly ungrafted vines the 2020 Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling is white-golden in color and opens with a clear fine and very complex as well as delicate bouquet of ripe fruit and finely weathered blue slate notes. This... Read More

The radiant golden-yellow 2020 Enkircher Batterieberg Riesling comes from 80-year-old ungrafted vines on gray slate and quartzite soils in the steep terraces of the Starkenburg slope and opens with a highly delicate yet also very... Read More

Inky violet color. Displays ripe dark fruit, licorice, olive, potpourri and cracked pepper aromas, plus a smoky mineral flourish that adds an energetic lift. Sappy and broad on the palate, offering appealingly sweet black and... Read More

Opaque ruby. Highly perfumed black and blue fruit floral and exotic spice aromas show excellent clarity and pick up a hint of smokiness with aeration. Sappy and expansive on the palate offering sweet black currant cherry and mulberry... Read More

13% alcohol. 11 barrels only of this Pinot which comes from a vineyard at 1010 feet 3.5 miles from the Pacific, planted in 1998. Greywacke and sandstone soils, 50% whole bunch, used French oak. Rocky soils and this is a warm site,... Read More

Toasted grain and grilled pineapple appear on the nose of the 2020 Hermitage Blanc les Dionnières. Made from 70-year-old vines barrel fermented and with the malolactic fermentation completed this is a rich full-bodied Hermitage... Read More

Coming from a site on the eastern side of the hill the 2019 Hermitage Les Diognieres reveals a dense purple color as well as a beautiful array of cassis and darker berry fruits along with notes of pepper loamy earth and cedary... Read More

Here too discreet but not invisible wood frames spicy aromas of dark cherry plum tea and pretty floral wisps. There is good intensity to the sleek delicious and lightly mineral-inflected flavors that possess the best mid-palate... Read More

The 2015 Taurasi Coste is stunning as it keeps you at the edge of your seat with a beguiling display of ashen stone and animal musk giving way to black currents plum sauce hints of oregano and smoke. This is youthfully lean yet... Read More

A new wine in this range the 2017 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Badiola is a bit more linear than other Gran Seleziones but that is the personality of Radda speaking. Bright red fruit chalk mint and blood orange all open up... Read More

Le Meix Bataille is over on the Volnay side so quite different to Les Duresses. Actually the bouquet suggests a sturdier fruit. More tannins here in the mouth too with a depth of dark strawberry fruit good length.

A ripe and reasonably fresh nose offers up notes of red and dark berries along with plenty of earth and humus nuances. There is slightly better vibrancy to the well detailed and attractively textured middle weight flavors that... Read More

This too is agreeably fresh with more earth influence on the mix of various red berry scents. The succulent even juicy medium weight flavors possess a generous mid-palate texture that contrasts somewhat with the firm rustic and... Read More

A very ripe nose speaks of roasted plum warm earth and anise along with notes of both red and dark raspberry. There is fine verve to the solidly concentrated middle weight flavors that are nicely mineral-driven on the tautly muscular... Read More

Just below Champans. Deep soils but stony – the detritus of erosion. Destemmed.Slightly wild in its black fruit, not the typical aroma of Volnay. Super-dry calcareous texture, chalky and taut. Compact, dry-stony like the... Read More

Picked on 19th August from a biodynamic supplier vinified with 85% whole bunches. Located high on the slope small grapes on limestone. Dark purple colour with a very exciting bouquet you can really get the feel of tiny berries.... Read More

This shows plenty of wild strawberry compote gentian red tulips red plums and spices. Medium to full body pretty acidity and a chewy savory finish. Drink in 2020.

A vaguely exotic though very pretty nose offers up notes of passion fruit melon and lychee along with hints of jasmine tea and white peach. There is excellent intensity to the overtly stony and racy middle weight flavors that... Read More

The 2020 Branco Côrte is all Viosinho aged for seven months in new French oak. It comes in very dry (0.6 grams of residual sugar) and at 13.5% alcohol. Nicely done but somewhat extravagantly priced this is a Viosinho that shows... Read More

Wine & Spirits Magazine
92 Points

A lime-scented wine with sweet notes of buttered almonds and coconut. It’s full and satisfying style of chardonnay, tightened by mineral acidity to finish pure and clean.

Josh Greene, October... Read More

The 2017 Contrada Pianodario Etna Rosso opens slowly focused at first on wild herbs and hints of damp earth. It blossoms with swirling as a dusty display of dried strawberries and rose hips fills the glass. It’s soft even fleshy... Read More

The 2016 Picconero the estate's Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend packs a pretty serious punch. There is plenty of power and density that much is obvious. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the coming years. Today... Read More

Medium-dark golden-tinged straw. Exuberant nose of pineapple almond cake and lime. Enters broad and delicately spicy then juicy and vibrant. Citrusy acidity provides this fleshy tactile wine with clarity and cut. Along with the... Read More

The 2019 Viesslinger Ried Bruck Riesling offers concentrated ripe bright fruit that represents a lot of sun and drought as well as weathered terroir and still juicy refreshing fruit. Dense and elegant on the palate with ripe and... Read More

The 2019 Ried Loibenberg Loibner Riesling Smaragd is deep intense and ripe on the nose but also pure and fresh with notes of crushed stones and tropical yellow stone fruits. Dense and intense on the substantial palate this is... Read More

This youthful finely balanced wine offers a tangy concentrated moderately tannic expression wrapping a rather firm grip around bright cherry and bold black-cherry flavors. With more sipping it reveals subtle cinnamon clove and... Read More