Search results for: 'good like'

Crazy good wine, like a German Roulot! A cuvee of pinot blanc and pinot gris that was wild-fermented and matured sur lie in small oak cooperage.

99 Points! A gorgeous wine, yet one that's going to demand bottle age, the 2019 La Mondotte comes from a tiny vineyard located just beside Pavie Decesse and is always a blend of mostly Merlot with roughly 15-30% Cabernet Franc, brought up in new French oak. Mulled blackcurrants, darker cherries, tobacco leaf, chocolate, lead pencil, and burning ember-like nuances all emerge from this brilliant wine, and it's full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful, with good acidity, building tannins, and a great, great finish. It holds onto the more classic, focused style of the vintage, yet it's a beast of a wine that brings the goods. Hide bottles for a solid 7-8 years or more, count yourself lucky, and it's going to have 30-40 years of longevity. - Jeb Dunnuck

97 Points! This has a fragrant nose of blackberries, red tea, cloves, bark, orange zest and dark chocolate. Sandalwood and tile, too. Full-bodied with chewy yet supple tannins and fresh acidity. Seamless and rich. Long and muscular. Try from 2027. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com

93+ Points! The 2020 Cuvée Las Santas was produced from a number of small plots at higher altitudes and cooler expositions (north), only Garnacha, small plots. It has some Mediterranean, Châteauneuf-like character (cherries in liqueur, Mediterranean herbs) with 14% alcohol, very good acidity and very fine grained tannins. They fermented it with 50% full clusters and matured it in used French oak barrels for nine months. This is the wine they produce in the style they like, a more personal wine from special plots. 1,423 bottles were filled in March 2022.  - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

98 Points! A new red in the "Fincas" single-vineyard range, the 2019 Finca Las Cerrilladas was produced with grapes from Gualtallary and is an intense and aromatic red with the wild profile from Gualtallary. It has 14.5% alcohol and is ripe and juicy, with very good acidity and freshness. It seems to me like there's more consistency in Gualtallary than in Altamira. They have 25 to 30 plots on the property, different soils and exposures, different ways of pruning, too; they deconstruct the property, vinifying everything separately, and then they build the wine through blending, like they do for all the Finca wines. Like the rest of their bottlings, they only use concrete and indigenous yeasts for the fermentation and aging of the wine, but here they use less full clusters, perhaps between 30% to 50%. There's a different tactile sensation from Altamira, and this is firmer, with more severe tannins. Here, the challenge is to avoid over-ripeness, and they have managed nicely. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

The 2022 Roland Lavantureux Bourgogne Tonnerre Blanc is described as having a pale lemon color, with an attractive, restrained nose, and concentrated fruit. It exhibits good acidity, a saline finish, and a Chablis-like character with minerality and a touch of bitterness. The wine is also noted for its finesse, precision, and a long, impressive aftertaste. 

99 Points! The nose is like diving into a pool of violets and discovering a wealth of earthy, spicy nuances. Like a great Cote-Rotie on ice but with only a few similarities such as incredible finesse despite very deep, fine tannins. The finish is like climbing a mountain, going and going until you suddenly realize you’re standing on the peak of Everest. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! I loved the 2022 Château Suduiraut Vieilles Vignes, a gorgeously complex, mineral-laced white that has classic pear and stone fruits, medium to full body, a pure, balanced, incredibly elegant mouthfeel, good concentration, and a great finish. - Jeb Dunnuck

94 Points! Attractive fruit with gooseberries, green mangoes, star fruit and a touch of cream and guavas. Ample and textural with fine phenolics and salinity delivering the perception of freshness and harmony. Drink from 2026. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! Coming from old vines between 45 and 60 years old that are likely to have resisted the heat of the vintage better, this has both complexity and depth of flavour, with juicy white pear, saffron and mandarin zest. Still a richer expression than in fresher years like 2021, but plenty to enjoy, with oyster shell salinity on the finish. 30% in new barrels, 70% from barrels of one vintage. - Jane Anson

Get ready, wine-lovers: this unusual rosy gin is made from a rye base, infused with gin botanicals, and then is “rested” for 18 months in casks that previously held Syrah and Grenache wines. Oddly, the end result is not particularly wine-, whiskey-, nor gin-like. It's a whole other animal, crazily hoppy and malty and oaky, with a mild effervescence and an amaro-like roots-and-herbs presence that winds into a rounded but fleeting dark-fruit quality on the finish. Try dosing with sweet vermouth for a Manhattan-like cocktail. - Wine Enthusiast

95+ Points! This 2019 Langi Shiraz is so aromatic: brooding and dark, spicy and mid-weight, layered with Middle Eastern spices, black and purple fruits, clove, mint, licorice and bone broth. The wine is awesome. It's really balanced and complete. Its the product of a warm season, but it wears it so well. The tannins have an über attractive gravelly aspect that I really like ... chewy but fine. So good! 14.8% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. - Erin Larkin, robertparker.com

The nose on this “Specially Limited” sake is an amazing array of rose water, peach, papaya, sweet rice, nougat, and sugar aromas. It’s not fair! I’m sure when brewery owners taste sake that is not of their own making, they become jealous if they taste a sake like this. It’s simply not fair! How can rice and water taste like the best flavors in your life? Smooth, round, and velvety, this masterpiece is lush and sumptuous. So expressively smooth and layered, that flavors start counting themselves 1. Honey 2. Papaya 3. Maple syrup 4. Mango 5. Lemon sorbet. And on and on. This is more of an experience than a libation, as you feel your way to the soul of this brew. The take away from this sake is that there is a big difference between balance and perfect balance. This sake is a great lesson in rice umami goodness that rests on a seamless fluid which excels in a wine glass.

Region: Fukui Prefecture

Quality Grade: Junmai Daiginjo

Seimaibuai: 35%

Nihonshu-Do: +4.0

Rice: Yamada Nishiki

Alcohol: 16%

Harvested at night, the fruit was rigorously hand sorted prior to partial destemming and then berry selected before open-top fermentation. This blend is a collection of heirloom clones of Pinot Noir like Calera, Swan, Pommard, Martini, Mt. Eden, and Chalone as well as newer French selections like Dijon 777 & 943

Quick to satisfy but often overlooked, the Whiskey Sour is a century-old, no-frills crowd-pleaser that has stood the test of time for good reason - it's simply delicious. The perfect balance of sour & sweet complements the bourbon whiskey beautifully. It's a downright democratic cocktail, equally refreshing wherever it's enjoyed. Some folks like egg whites in their whiskey sour but for the benefit of all we chose to leave that out of the can.

Tasting Notes: Caramelized fruits, vanilla, oak, raw sugar, and tart lemon.

95 Points! Wide, powdery, fine but firm tannins; a lovely density to this. Concentrated and intense, very straight and streamlined. Finessed and focused. Clearly powerful, the energy is apparent, but all the elements are kept quite tight and controlled, so you're not getting so much expansion or nuance necessarily. Still, well worked with clarity to the fruit and tannins. Wet stone, liquorice, toasted caramel all giving elements of wood but integrated and supportive. Feels like a sleeping giant, will be good in time, sleek and stylish. - Georgina Hindle, Decanter Magazine

100 Points! An incredible debut wine, showing beautiful aromas of strawberries, cantaloupe, flint and dried seaweed, as well as iodine and dried flowers. Medium- to full-bodied, with Musigny-like power, a magical flex of tannins and closed, poised fruit. Endless. Nothing like this in California pinot noir. Drinkable now, but wait five years if you have the patience. - JamesSuckling.com

From the winery: If you like big and bold Cabernet, try this. Our benchmark big red wine, with an almost Bordeaux sensibility. Red and and black fruit, big but polished tannin, and a super-long finish. Bring out the steak, the fire-charred foods, and all the braised goodness. 30 months in barrel but still remarkably fresh and full of fruit, guts and vitality.

Grown at 1450’ elevation on red, obsidian-strewn soil resulting from Mt. Konocti’s volcanic upheaval, Aglianico is Prima Materia’s most important bottling, bringing the monster Cabernet experience through this wonderful grape.

96 Points! Very cool, silky and precise in spite of the awesome old-vine depth. In fact, it has a personality that’s gentle and polite. The fine-grained texture on the medium-bodied palate makes you feel like you’re licking the granite soil of the site. I love the delicate spicy aromas and touch of red roses. There’s a dramatic mineral freshness in the emphatically dry finish. Fermented with a good proportion of whole-cluster then matured two-thirds in concrete tank and one-third in used Burgundian barrels. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! Certainly on par with the single parcel releases, the 2022 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes is 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvèdre raised all in larger foudre. It has a gorgeous nose of wild strawberry and raspberry-like fruit intermixed with loads of spice and Provençal goodness. It's medium to full-bodied, has a pure, elegant mouthfeel, sweet tannins, and great finish. It shows the slightly less concentrated style of the vintage yet just shines for its complexity, balance, and length. Drink bottles over the coming 10-12+ years. - Jeb Dunnuck

The 2022 Pernand Vergelesses Blanc Les Cloux has a crisp, flinty bouquet—strict and almost Chablis-like in style. The palate is well defined with a fine bead of acidity and flecks of quince and nectarine, perhaps tapering in slightly toward the finish. This is a classy Pernand-Vergelesses that is likely to represent great value. Tasted at merchants' 2022 Burgundy tastings in London. - Neal Martin, Vinous

93 Points! The 2023 Cuvée Juveniles Blanc is sedate and driven by dry extract; it is wider than it is sweet or intense, and the flavor across the palate draws out long over the finish. This is a classy wine here, with lemongrass, chalk, pear skin and green almond. It has an intense mid-palate with very pretty flavor; it's structured like Chenin Blanc. I like it, a lot. - Erin Larkin, robertparker.com

95 Points! Like this wine’s Chardonnay counterpart of the same name, the 2022 Pinot Noir Warrior Princess comes from Zena Crown Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills of the Willamette Valley. In the glass, it’s a youthful ruby hue and is floral and ripe with notes of framboise, red apple, violets, brown spice, and pine. I love this site, which provides a fresh lift and mouthwatering feel through the palate, with ripe tannins and a linear feel. It retains its good ripeness and is going to age gracefully over the next 10 years. - Audrey Frick, jebdunnuck.com