Search results for: 'monte'

93 Points! A vivid blend of wildflowers, yellow apples and ground ginger forms a captivating bouquet as the 2021 Soave Classico Monte Grande blossoms in the glass. This is round and supple, with cooling minerality and fresh acidity, adding wonderful lift as ripe pit-fruits and minty herbal tones resonate. A tinge of lime and a salty flourish add lovely punctuation as the 2021 finishes long and staining yet graceful and floral. What a darling. - Eric Guido, Vinous

93 Points! A restrained wine with complex, layered aromas of smoke, minerals and peat with touches of Mirabelle plums and lemon leaves. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate, with sweet fruit, zesty acidity and a vibrant, savory finish. - JamesSuckling.com

98 Points! Aged in 100% new oak, the 2022 Monte Bello blends 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, selected from 18 of 21 lots by blind tasting. After assemblage, the wine spent 21 more months in barrel. The vineyard starts at 1,600 feet and goes up to 2,700 feet at top, and is spread out across 4 different ranches, Klein, Rousten, Torre and Perrone, the wines getting more tightknit and ageable as the vines move up the mountain. By the end of harvest, Monte Bello is split into 55 different blocks, which are then picked and fermented separately. Year after year, this is a “wow” wine, herbal, lightly spiced in oak, with a lovely creamy, velvety texture and a backbone of well-resolved tannin supporting a medium-bodied, balanced spirit of mountain garrigue. These wines typically age 20-25 years or more. - Jeb Dunnuck

97 Points! The limestone soils, and the short distance to the Pacific Ocean as well as the seriously high elevation, (ranging from 1600-2700ft) means that the Santa Cruz Mountains, produce a very different Cabernet than much of California. The 2022, drought vintage, a third straight year, meant tannic, tiny fruit on the Montebello estate. The wine was fully destemmed and only pumped over half as often as a typical vintage for Montebello. Its a tightly wound iteration in its youth with 100% new American oak for 20 months. Expressive on the nose, with taut black fruits, fresh pine needles and mineral notes of wet clay and roasted herbs. The palate is fresh and medium weight, (13.8%abv) with so much lively freshness in its youthful exuberance. Salty ocean notes open the palate chasing taut early season blackberries and plum skins. The palate opens overtime revealing dried mint, and alpine meadow herbs that buoy the fruit expression and carry this masterfully made wine toward its zenith, but… don’t touch it for another 10 years for the best result. - Decanter Magazine

91 Points! Sour-cherry, currant, orange-zest and red-tea aromas. It’s medium-bodied with sleek tannins. Fresh and juicy with a spiced finish. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

Michel Goubard’s family has grown wine in the village of Saint-Désert and Mont-Avril since the 17th century, and his sons, Pierre-François and Vincent, proudly continue the tradition of quality at this venerated Côte Chalonnaise domaine situated on Mont-Avril. Mont-Avril is the named Lieu Dits for the estate, originally planted in the early 1900s. Restored and replanted in 1990.

The “Heartbeat of the Maletto Mountain” is 95% Nebbiolo, and 5% Ner d’Ala (a native variety sparsely cultivated in the Canavese, in Val d’Aosta and in the Pinerolese area). 70% of the grapes come from organically farmed, rented vineyards in the Canavese area, 30% from small parcels in Carema. Fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel vats, with 20% of whole clusters. Aged in stainless steel vats for about 10 months. This is a lively, juicy and delicious red, brimming with ripe wild berry, licorice and mountain herbs. It shows all the tension of alpine Nebbiolos, without sacrificing complexity and elegance. Only 2000 bottles produced.

96 Points! One of the great dry white wines of the Loire. This dry chenin blanc is rich and concentrated, but also graceful and delicate. Full-bodied but so elegant and precise, with a wet stone minerality that builds in a spectacular manner in the very long, refined finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! The 2023 Vouvray Sec Le Mont is precise, upright and flinty. It's less immediately charming than the styles we've seen in recent warmer vintages, but it was only tasted three weeks after bottling—this is one to revisit. There's just the right amount of juicy, peachy flesh within this light-bodied yet concentrated wine. It has the potential to charm but does so without showing off. Flinty and tightly sewn together, it has curves in the right places, but you're just going to have to wait for it to take shape. - Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous Media

97 Points! Disgorged this year with 0.6 grams per liter dosage, the 2016 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Monts Ferrés unwinds in the glass with aromas of crisp nashi pear, yellow stone fruit, mirabelle plum, buttery pastry, honeycomb and oyster shell. Full-bodied, pure and seamless, it's deep, enveloping and vinous, with a tensile spine of acidity, an ultra-refined mousse and a long, saline finish. Produced from a parcel in Vertus that was farmed organically and biodynamically, this is one of two lieu-dit bottlings produced by Charles Doyard before his untimely passing in 2017. - William Kelley, robertparker.com

94 Points! The 2022 Châteauneuf Du Pape is pretty and elegant, with a perfumed, red-fruited, spicy, mineral-laced style. It’s one of the more elegant wines I've tasted from Thierry and is medium to full-bodied and has a beautiful sense of elegance, ample tannins, and outstanding length. While it's not massively concentrated, it has a certain tension and vibrancy that makes me think it will age beautifully. I followed this bottle for multiple days, and it gained depth and richness with time in the glass, so don't be afraid to give it some air if drinking any time soon. The blend is 75% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 9% Mourvèdre, and the rest a mix of permitted varieties from a mix of terroirs; it was partially destemmed and aged 20 months in a mix of foudre, demi-muids, and concrete tanks. - Jeb Dunnuck

94 Points! This has the structure and bitter-edged minerality to carry its weight and ripeness, with beeswax and white tea notes that overlay crunchy orchard fruit and pink grapefruit with peppery spice notes woven in. A lot of savory detail and acidity makes this superbalanced and very food-friendly. Drink now through 2035. - Wine Spectator

From La Ferme du Mont’s Premiere Côte, mostly on the Courthezon stretch to the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail. Fermented without sulfur to produce fine tannins while preserving its original freshness. Full-bodied, ripe red fruit, spices and wild herbs (garrigues).

94 Points! The 2007 Valpolicella Superiore from the celebrated Monte Lodoletta vineyard is rock-tight with a midnight black appearance and aromas that emerge with fierce determination. The fascinating aromatic medley includes dark spice, prune, Spanish cedar, tar, black licorice, balsam herb and blackberry tart. The mouthfeel is plush and rich with super-tight tannins that grip nervously to the finish. It has only started its bottle evolution and requires more time to soften and develop. Drink 2017-2035. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com, 2013

97 Points! The old vine cuvée that incorporates more stems with the goal of longer aging potential, the 2023 Châteauneuf Du Pape La Cuvée Du Papet is deep ruby-hued and offers ripe red and black berry fruits, black olive, pepper, and crushed stone-like minerality. Based on 80% Grenache with 10% each Syrah and Mourvèdre from the La Crau, Bois Dauphin, and Montalivet lieux-dits, it was partially destemmed and aged in a mix of large foudres, demi-muids, and clay jars. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it shows the vintage's more polished style with ripe underlying tannins and outstanding length. It's very much in the forward, charming style of the vintage yet still has plenty of structure. With roughly 1,000 cases produced, give it 3-4 years of cellaring and enjoy over the following two decades. It's certainly up there with the crème de la crème of the vintage. - Jeb Dunnuck

100 Points! The 2023 Chardonnay Estate is a unicorn wine, with the acids naturally occurring with ease in this cool, long, extended growing season that the wine world is rightfully excited about, producing wines of tremendous elegance and balance, sourced entirely from Monte Bello Estate. The minerality is off the charts, exuberantly defining the wine after a barrel fermentation of nine months on the lees in 85% American and 15% French oak, 15% of it new. Gorgeously lengthy and bright, winemaker John Olney recommends that for primary fruit, it's best to drink through the first 7-8 years; for fans of later-aging wines, wait 20 years. I adore this wine. - Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com

95+ Points! Made with mostly Sangiovese plus tiny parts Canaiolo and Colorino, the 2021 Montevertine reveals a very tight textural approach with pinpoint aromas of blue currant, iris root and red rose. The wine takes a moment or two to open, but it does succeed in showing its full bouquet in little time. Montevertine remains elegantly tight and streamlined in terms of mouthfeel. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

95+ Points! The 2021 Montevertine is shaping up to be majestic. It presents a mind-boggling display of explosive aromatics, vibrant fruit and driving structure. The purity of the flavors is stunning. I tasted the 2021 from a single cask of the blended wine following the first racking. This is the first vintage that includes a new parcel in Radda located at the far end of town. Rich, dense and very potent. The 2021 is embryonic but also incredibly promising. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media