Search results for: 'paraje de class'

Adjacent to Chassagne 1er Morgeots, just beneath Clos de Tavannes with 40+ year old vines on red clay and chalk soil. 30% whole cluster fermeneted with indigenous yeast, aged in 228L barrels (20% new).

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95 Points! This luscious, dense red is packed with cherry, blackberry, pomegranate and violet flavors. Its tannins are ripe and refined, while the vibrant acidity keeps everything focused. An iron streak weaves through the long, energetic finish. This is approachable now yet will be better in 2–3 years. Best from 2026 through 2045. - Wine Spectator

95 Points! A deep and complex wine with licorice, dried cherries, pomegranates, bergamot and violets on the nose. Soft on the palate, it’s powerful and extracted yet not without grace due to velvety tannins, a full body and tight-knit acidity. Super-tense finish. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.coim

95 Points! The intention with Castello di Monsanto’s Riserva is to make a wine with immediate accessibility as well as serious cellaring potential. Gorgeous and precise from the get-go, the 2021 is profuse in aromas of black pepper, flint and earthy brambles. Equally perfumed, the palate ups the ante with rose, bergamot and graphite. A firm tannic spine and linear acidity are matched by fruit depth galore, all intricately and tightly stitched. My instinct is that this is only going to get better, so I prefer to wait. The solution is to buy a few bottles to enjoy its evolution.

94 Points! The 2021 Chianti Classico Riserva is a wine of pedigree and class. Aromatic, vibrant and delineated, the Riserva captures all the best qualities of the year. Crushed flowers, dark red/purplish fruit, mint, blood orange and pomegranate are some of the many notes that build in the glass. This is a sublime effort. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

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100 Points! Incredible aromas of crushed berries, sweet tobacco and wet earth. So perfumed and gorgeous. Hot stones and cement, too. Full-bodied, dense and powerful with lots of intense tannins and a never ending finish. Juicy and flavorful. A muscular Lafite, not seen for a long time. Classssssss! Try after 2025. - JamesSuckling.com

100 Points! What I love about the 2016 Lafite is that the sweetness of the fruit comes through even at this early stage. Sweet, ripe blackberry and cassis pulse through the palate behind the tight construction of tension and classicism given by high acidity and plenty of tannins. It has ripeness and a sense of promise but, as is often the case with a young Lafite, it's not giving a lot away and we can expect it to age for many decades perfectly comfortably. Extremely accomplished, one to cherish. Matured in 100% new oak. - Decanter Magazine

100 Points! On another level and one of the greatest young Bordeaux I’ve ever tasted, the 2016 Lafite-Rothschild is composed of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot raised in new oak. It takes the classic elegance and class of Lafite and turns the dial up to 11, offering a massive, heavenly array of blackcurrants, cedar pencil, graphite, tobacco, and incense aromas and flavors that soar from the glass. Deep, full-bodied, and flawlessly constructed, with perfectly integrated fruit, acidity, and tannins, this is legendary stuff all the way. It will be drinkable in 7-8 years and keep for 50-75 years or more. Along with Mouton, it’s the wine of the vintage from the Médoc. Hats off to director Eric Kohler. - Jeb Dunnuck

 

 

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92-94 Points! Crème de cassis, graphite, sweet tobacco, and sweet, loamy earth notes all define the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, a nicely textured, layered, pure, seamless barrel sample. - Jeb Dunnuck

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From Finca Aeiroá (1939) – O Barco de Valdeorras – Pure slate soils intermixed with broken quartz, northern orientation – three field blend parcels planted adjacent to each other, primarily Godello with intermixed planting of indigenous red varieties. Northern orientation.

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From select parcels around Meursault. Vines trained Cordon de Royat. Soil worked with a plow. Hand-harvested and sorted in the vineyard with special vibrating table. Gentle pressing. Transfer to fermentation done by gravity. Aged in neutral barrels.

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From 6 parcels in Puligny Lieux-dits: “Les Meix”, “Corvée des Vignes”, “Noyer Bret”, “Les Houlières” with 30+ year old vines. Indigenous yeast fermented and aged in 350L barrels (20% new) for 12 months + 6 months in stainless steel.

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96 Points! This is the best American sparkling wine I've ever tasted. The 2019 vintage base also includes 25% reserve wines from the 2017 and 2018 harvests. This Grand Reserve Chardonnay made from the cool Sta Rita Hills is crafted with a Champagne pedigree, and it shows. This Blanc de Blancs from across renowned Sta Rita Hills vineyards has undeniable Old World charm and sophistication. The aromatics boast ample toasted biscuit notes and great yeasty complexity from the 30 months on lees. The palate has a fantastic depth of fruit, spiced pear, cardamom, nutmeg and bruised apples. There is a subtlety of savoury biscuits and hints of almond cream. Elegant, yet bold and wildly delicious. - Clive Pursehouse, Decanter Magazine

93 Points! The NV Chardonnay Grand Reserve (Sparkling) is compelling, especially in the way it straddles the line between still and sparkling wine. Creamy and resonant in the glass, the Grande Reserve is laced with apricot, white flowers and chamomile. This is a superb showing for the entry-level wine in what will soon be a range of sparklers from Racines. This release is a blend of fruit from Wenzlau, Bentrock, La Rinconada and Sanford & Benedict .... These new releases from Etienne de Montille’s Racines kick off with the first sparkling wine made in collaboration with Rodolphe Péters. The new Grande Reserve, all 2018 in its first release, will gradually become a multi-vintage blend in the style of Péters’s Cuvée de Réserve Champagne. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

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90-92 Points! Blackberries, spicy garrigue, herbes de Provence, and some peppery nuances all emerge from the 2022 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Sinards, a medium-bodied, supple, elegant red with tons of character. - Jeb Dunnuck

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93 Points! So creamy, layered and sunny, this opulent and velvety wine is rich in blueberries, creme de cassis and cocoa. Affordable for a wine so delicious and smooth. Tannins are fine-grained, body is full, finish is long and lingering. - JamesSuckling.com

 

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A harmonious blend of Grande and Petite Champagne eaux-de-vie, this is XO Rare Fine Champagne in all its fullness after twenty years of aging in Limousin oak barrels.

Nose: Date, rose petal, dried fig and apricot
Palate: Ginger, light tabacco notes
Finish: Toffee & Leather

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96 Points! Aromas of dark berries, ash, tar, blackcurrants and lead pencil, following through to a medium to full body, with firm and integrated tannins and a medium, chewy finish. Needs four to six years to soften and come together. Very tight and nicely structured. Try in 2027 and onwards. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com

97+ Points! The flagship from this great château, the 2020 Château Léoville Barton checks in as 85.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14.5% Merlot that saw 60% new French oak. It has fabulous aromatics of crème de cassis, graphite, liquid violets, spring flowers, and background oak. Full-bodied and concentrated on the palate, its purity of fruit is just about off the chart, it has a great mid-palate, and enough tannins to warrant 7-8 years of bottle age. This is another sensational wine from this team that will have 30-40 years of overall longevity. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com

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The finest and most precious eaux-de-vie, made using grapes grown in Grande Champagne – the premier cru of the Cognac region – are carefully blended over the years to create the cognac inside every LOUIS XIII Classic decanter. Provenance and time are the very essence of LOUIS XIII cognac. Each drop represents a finely tuned craft passed down from one generation of Cellar Master to the next. The eaux-de-vie are slowly aged in old Limousin tierçons (traditional aged French oak casks). Every sip is a taste of time. No two of these decanters are the same. Hand-crafted by skilled artisans from the finest European crystal houses, each decanter is individually numbered and unique. The distinctive design, featuring a 20-carat gold neck and 10 distinctive spikes on each side, is inspired by a 16th-century flask uncovered from the site of the Battle of Jarnac, France, and later owned by LOUIS XIII founder, Paul-Émile Rémy Martin. Learn More

92 Points! The NV Brut Réserve is the foundational wine at Bérêche, and the latest release is based on the 2022 vintage, incorporating a 40% perpetual reserve component, uniting the freshness of the northern slopes and the maturity of the hot, dry vintage. Fruit for this wine comes from vineyard sites across the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de Marne, and the Champagne was disgorged in October 2024 with six grams per liter dosage. Bursting from the glass with aromas of nectarine, orange zest and brioche, it's medium- to full-bodied and ample, with considerable density, underpinned by racy acidity and concluding with a chalky finish. The Brut Réserve has seen the most refinements in recent years as it no longer incorporates tailles and now features Chardonnay from Trépail; technically, this means that the pH is lower and the acidity is higher. It’s one of the most reliable entry-level NV bottlings on the market. - Kristaps Karklins, robertparker.com

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A selection from three older-vine plots in Vosne: ‘Aux Raviolles,’ ‘Au Dessus de la Rivere’ and ‘Aux Ormes,’ with a mix of clay and limestone soils, mostly east-facing. Aromas of blackberry, red cherry, minerals. Juicy and spicy; lots of fresh, red/black fruit. 

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This wine comes from the following climats: En Songe, En Jouise, En Billard, En Dérée, Croix des Champs, Sylvie, La Justice, Charreux and two parcels of the clos surrounding their home. Average age of vines from these different parcels is around fifty-five years.

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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).

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PLEASE BE AWARE, THIS IS A PRE-ARRIVAL WINE - YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED SHIPPING FEES UNTIL THE WINE(S) ARRIVE

98 Points! The flagship 2022 Château Calon Ségur checks in as 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It's a massive wine from this château that brings a fabulous nose of darker currants, smoked tobacco, chocolaty oak, graphite, and loamy earth. This full-bodied, deep, unctuous Saint-Estèphe has a round, layered mouthfeel, remarkably pure tannins, and flawless overall balance. It's going to take a decade to shed its baby fat, but this is legit sensational juice! Don’t miss it. - Jeb Dunnuck

96-98 Points! The 2022 Calon-Ségur is another superb wine from this historic Saint-Estèphe third growth that began a comprehensive renaissance the better part of a decade ago. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of cassis and blackberries mingled with hints of fresh mint, burning embers, licorice and violets, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with terrific depth at the core, supple tannins and a long, saline finish. The blend consists of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Vincent Millet observed that "when you tasted the Merlot, you were under the impression that you were tasting Cabernet." - William Kelley, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

96 Points! Deep garnet-purple colored, notes of plum preserves, blueberry compote, and crème de cassis erupt from the glass, leading to hints of Chinese five spice, iron ore, fallen leaves, and dried sage with a hint of rose bud tea. The concentrated full-bodied palate is jam-packed with black fruit and exotic spice layers, supported by velvety tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing long and opulent. Decadent! - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, MW

96 Points! Rich and vibrant on the nose, smells concentrated and alcoholic. Crisp and clean on the palate however with bite to the cherry, plum and blackcurrant fruit alongside a hint of sweet strawberry and herbal raspberry on the mid palate that gives some instant energy before the clear concentration and heft of the wine shows through. Not so much in the texture but in the ripe flavours, cool minty and stone edged tannins and clear liquorice and clove spice. Still taught but detailed with elements of generosity. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 3.65pH. A yield of 26hl/ha. Ageing 17 months, 30% new oak. - Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com

97 Points! Stunning depth and minerality with fine spices, dark olives, ashtray and a hint of white pepper, paprika and iron. Powerful but also really fine, complex and classy, with full body and super-fine-grained tannins. Spot-on balance helps highlight depth and layers. Really long and restrained. Very complete. Already appealing but will improve in the next decade. - JamesSuckling.com

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Davorin Kuchan has been distilling spirits since his early days as a winemaker and eau-de-vie expert back in Croatia. When he established Old World Spirits here on the San Francisco Peninsula (right outside of Belmont), he brought with him the traditions and expertise of old world production methods and used them to formulate West Coast versions of his original spirits. Using a unique finishing process (including granite and active charcoal sedimentation) and an ultra-slow, subsonic, continuous, multi-stage filtering process, Davorin has created a California version of his old St. Blaise vodka; a tribute to the patron saint of Croatia. Based off his eau-de-vie and grappa filtration methods, the idea is to polish and soften the spirit without striping the inherent character. The vodka is proofed with soft California Sierra spring water. The final product is soft, supple, and slightly creamy in texture with accents of sweet fruit in the background. It's one of the most pure and elegant vodkas we've ever tasted.

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94 Points! The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is creamy and intense, yet retains its classic sense of structure. Inky blue and purplish fruit, smoke, licorice, crème de cassis and dark spices build in a powerful, mountain Cabernet Sauvignon loaded with personality. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

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