Search results for: 'paraje note valley red white'

96 Points! The 2019 Bel Canto is more Cabernet Franc-dominated and includes 17% Merlot. While it doesn't match the 2018, it's a beauty offering impressive redcurrant and spiced plum fruits, notes of spicy oak, dried flowers, and leafy herbs, medium to full body, a pure, seamless, gorgeous texture, and ultra-fine tannins. It's just a stunning Cabernet Franc from Washington State that offers incredible pleasure today given its balance and texture yet will evolve for 20+ years. 290 cases. - Jeb Dunnuck

91 Points! The 2022 Sauvignon Blanc—it includes 20% Sémillon—was mostly fermented and aged in stainless steel, with 25% going into oak. The result is a gently grassy-herbal wine loaded with grapefruit and nectarine-tinged fruit, plus hints of fig and melon. It's medium-bodied, plump and creamy on the mid-palate, then long and silky on the finish. It's nicely complex and composed. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

Claire Ducrocq Weinkauf, a French native grew up in Auvergne; the land of Volcanoes and fabulous cheeses. Inspired by the power of a Mouton Rothschild, she earned a wine degree in Chile and then embarked for France to work harvest in St Emilion and the Côte du Rhône. While working in South America, she met Paul Hobbs and got a job first at Viña Cobos in Mendoza then in California. Her Claire de Lune Consulting focuses on helping fantastic producers including Matthiasson Wines, Anomaly Vineyards, Morlet Family Estate, Cowhorn Winery and more to grow their businesses. Claire lives in Calistoga with husband Aron Weinkauf-Winemaker at Spottswoode Winery and their two children.

100 Points! One of the legendary Dominus, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is unquestionably in the same league as the 2018, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2010, and 1991, and to my mind, wine simply doesn't get any better. Sporting a dense purple hue as well as an incredible perfume of blackcurrants, crushed stone, cedar pencil, smoke tobacco, and baking spices, it s rich, full-bodied, and voluptuously textured, with ripe yet building tannins. It reminds me slightly of the 2010 (maybe the 2013), and I suspect it will have a similar evolution. Hide bottles for 7-8 years, and it will evolve gracefully for 30+ years. Hats off to the team of Christian Moueix and director Tod Mostero. - Jeb Dunnuck

100 Points! The 2021 Dominus, 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, is opaque purple-black in color. It needs a lot of coaxing to lure out scents of freshly crushed blackcurrants, blackberry preserves, stewed plums, and boysenberries giving way to subtle nuances of violets, licorice, and tar plus a touch of cedar in the background. The full-bodied palate is taut with densely laden, muscular black fruits framed by a firm grainy texture and well-played tension, finishing on a lingering ferrous note. A stunning vinous record of time and place, this is a 50-year+ Napa Cabernet to be experienced across generations. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, TWI

100 Points! Lail's 2021 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon blends lots from several high-end vineyards, including Heimark (Calistoga), Vine Hill Ranch (Oakville) and Steltzner (Stags Leap), plus Lail's own Mole Hill on Howell Mountain. It's an exciting wine, starting from the pulse-quickening aromas of raspberries and black cherries tinged with dark chocolate. In the mouth, this full-bodied beauty is richly concentrated, with a sensuous texture somewhere between silky and velvety, while the softly dusty finish shows terrific length and a spine-tingling hint of licorice. To reduce this wine to deceptively simple yet hard-to-pin-down words, it's complex, harmonious and elegant, yet it's enough of its place that it could only come from Napa Valley. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

98+ Points Jeb Dunnuck's Wine of the Year! One of the finest wines in the vintage, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Dutch Henry Canyon area in Calistoga, Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville, and Stelzner in Stags Leap (which was added in 2018). It spent 20 months in 75% new French oak. Still tight and inward, it has sensational purity in its currant, mulberry, truffly earth, graphite, and leather aromatics. These carry to a full-bodied, rich, incredibly concentrated 2021 that has the vintage’s fresher, focused style, ripe tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and evolve for a quarter of a century. - Jeb Dunnuck

96 Points! Funky and woody on the nose, the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon still has elements of dried red cherry and black raspberry reduction with cinnamon-covered currants on the nose. I am sensing some bottle variance, but the full-bodied wine goes on to show a delightful structure that should hold together for a few more years in the bottle. Ultimately, the wine ends with a tannic edge over the long conclusion, ending with mature flavors of stewed fruit compote with an element of old oak and pine bark. - Anthony Mueller, robertparker.com

99 Points! Remarkably pure and fresh. Pristine black cherry and blackberry, layered with beautiful violet aromas. Everything builds with precision and focus, supported by gorgeously firm, taut, mineral-rich tannins that bring energy and drive. The wine is compact and tightly wound at this youthful stage, its intensity truly emblematic of the vintage. - Decanter Magazine

94 Points! Ripe, fresh and focused, with a lovely beam of red currant plum coulis that stretches out alongside hints of savory, violet, tobacco and singed cedar. Finishes with a late twang of iron. Nicely done. - Wine Spectator

Only $49.98 at checkout!

99 Points! The 2022 Red Wine Life And Death is Grenache-dominated yet includes 22% Syrah, 13% each of Mourvèdre and Graciano, and 8.5% Petite Sirah, all of which was fermented with 25% whole clusters and brought up in 70% new oak. It offers a sensational perfume of black raspberry and black cherry fruits intermixed with camphor, lavender, white flowers, and peppery, almost garrigue-like nuances. With full-bodied richness, remarkable purity, and a massive, yet somehow elegant, seamless mouthfeel as well as incredible length, it's a masterpiece of a Rhône-like blend from California's Central Coast that could come from nowhere else. The fruit sourcing here is a mix of Bien Nacido, Stolpman, Alta Mesa, Sanger, and Rancho Boa Vista, and the marriage of richness, purity, and finesse is something to behold. This beauty will evolve for 15-20 years if well stored. - Jeb Dunnuck

Les Deux Tours is produced by Baron Patrick de Ladoucette in the Loire Valley on soils that are mainly limestone with some parcels of flint clay. Patrick is sometimes referred to as "The King of the Loire Valley" for his contribution to the worldwide recognition and acclaim of this appellation. Les Deux Tours wines originate from a terroir that is known as the “Valley of the Kings,” which is located along the Loire River, the longest waterway in France.

96+ Points! The 2020 Field Of Fire Chardonnay is flinty and spiced, layered with curry leaf, tobacco, brine, preserved citrus rind and hints of crushed nuts. In the mouth, the wine is rich and undulating and saturating. The fruit is wrapped around a core of scintillating acidity—it really penetrates the palate and touches the soul. It plays a defibrillation role within the fruit. We all have different preferences in wine, but I am absolutely turned on by the fruit and acid interplay here. Thrilling. Detailed. Rich. - Erin Larkin, robertparker.com

94 Points! The 2023 Chardonnay Cuvée Anne comes from several vineyards, including Justice, Koosah, Sojeau, Witness Tree and X Novo. It was barrel-fermented and matured in 45% new, 350- and 500-liter French oak for 12 months, plus an additional four months in stainless steel. It has alluring aromas of golden apple, nectarine, beeswax, hazelnut, flint and holiday spice. The medium-bodied palate is silky and mouthwatering with waves of ripe, spicy fruit, and it has a very long finish. - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com

A long time Kermit Lynch winery that has alwasy brght the goods. 100% Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc from clay and Kimmeridgian limestone soils.

98 Points! More iron, red fruits, tobacco, and obvious minerality emerge from the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Stones No. 1, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a site on Pritchard Hill (Montagna). Aged 22 months in new barrels, it’s full-bodied, rich, and powerful, with serious tannins as well as concentration. It needs to be forgotten for 7-8 years if possible. This is serious, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon. - Jeb Dunnuck