Search results for: 'needs red'

99 Points! A blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot, the 2005 Dominus is deep garnet in color, with a touch of brick. It needs a lot of shaking to release notes of baked blackcurrants, fruitcake, and blueberry compote, plus hints of baking chocolate, licorice, dried mint, and pencil lead, plus a waft of wood smoke. The concentrated, hedonically styled, full-bodied palate is jam-packed with layers of black and blue fruit preserves, framed by wonderfully ripe, grainy tannins and well-integrated acidity, finishing very long, profound, and shimmery. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

98 Points! This blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot (note that rarely is any Merlot utilized at the historic Napanook Estate in Yountville). The alcohol, by California standards, is a relatively modest 14.1%. Blending the best of French savoir faire with the brilliant fruit purity and ripeness of Napa Valley, Moueix has turned in another tour de force that seems far superior today than it did when it was first released. This is one of the vintage’s greatest wines. Dense purple and youthful, with a glorious nose of earth, blackcurrants, sweet black cherries and incense, the oak is pushed way in the background, as it is in all of the Moueix wines, and the result is a wine of terroir, of great originality and authenticity. This full-bodied classic from Dominus can be drunk now, but really won’t hit its prime for another 4-5 years and last at least another two decades or more. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

99 Points! The 2019 Estate Red is another magical wine from winemaker Sam Kaplan. Based on 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot, and the rest Merlot and Malbec, all from the estate on Howell Mountain, it offers up a dense purple hue to go with stunningly pure cassis and darker currant fruits, full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannins, and a complex, nuanced style in its leafy herbs, flowers, scorched earth, and classy oak aromas and flavors. It’s brilliant any way you look at it. Hide bottles for 4-5 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following three decades. - Jeb Dunnuck

99 Points! A wine that flirts with perfection is the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Stones No. 2, which is all Cabernet Sauvignon from Pritchard Hill. It has a more Mountain vibe in its structure and minerality and gives up lots of red and black fruits, iron, tobacco, and savory, almost bloody aromas and flavors. A monster on the palate, it’s full-bodied, deep, and incredibly concentrated, yet stays balanced, has incredible purity and freshness, and a great, great finish. It needs bottle age, but it’s brilliant juice. - Jeb Dunnuck

98 Points! The Grand Vin 2018 Château Haut-Bailly checks in as 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. It spent 18 months in 60% new French oak. This is a beautiful, classic expression of this terroir, and its dense purple hue is followed by gorgeous black cherry and cassis fruits interwoven with ample tobacco leaf, cedary herbs, earth, truffle, and floral nuances. While 2018 was a hot, dry year (at the end of the season anyway), this shows a mix of cooler-climate, vibrant aromatics paired with a rich, concentrated, fresh style on the palate. It has plenty of tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. A beautiful, elegant 2018, it's going to need 5-7 years of bottle age and keep for 3-4 decades. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com

99 Points!  Complex and expressive nose, offering red and dark fruit, spices and pepper with wood and mushroom undertones. Fresh mussel shell and a hint of ink, too. Full-bodied with a fine texture and great balance between the acidity and the controlled, tannic structure. Very long finish. Goes on and on. Tiny production, 21 hectoliters per hectare. Try after 2025. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com Learn More

99 Points! The 2021 EE Red Wine is ripe and powerful, with smoky red and black fruits as well as lots of background oak, graphite, espresso, and dark chocolate-like aromas and flavors that develop beautifully with time in the glass. Deep, rich, full-bodied, and concentrated on the palate, it has plenty of background oak, the building tannins of the vintage, and a great finish. A gorgeous wine, it will benefit from 3-4 years in the cellar and evolve for 25-30 years in cold cellars. The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Cabernet Franc brought up in new barrels. - Jeb Dunnuck

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

100 Points! The 2018 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion is a rock star of a wine and is based on a unique blend of 37% Cabernet Franc, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 29% Merlot that was brought up in 80% new French oak. Offering a deep ruby/purple color as well as a thrilling bouquet of blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, chocolate, violets, damp earth, and truffle, it hits the palate with a full-bodied yet almost understated, building style that carries ripe, supple tannins, gorgeous amounts of smoky black fruits, and an endearing, layered, multi-dimensional texture that keeps you coming back to the glass. A dead ringer for a great vintage of Haut-Brion, it is far from unapproachable today yet needs 7-8 years of bottle age for the fireworks to develop and will have 50-years or more of longevity! Hats off to Guillaume Pouthier for a magical, seamless, singular beauty! - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com

98 Points!  Even without knowing any of the story behind the bottle, you would be hard-pressed to pass this wine by. It has obvious intensity but as you sit with it the softness and approachability of the tannins becomes apparent, helped by the inviting floral edge to the nose, adding peony and violet lift. The black fruits running through the palate are tight but silky and seductive - this has a higher Cab count than usual because the Merlots were more affected by the challenges of the vintage. The palate pulses, switching between richness and delicacy, feeling expertly handled. You get the feeling that you can relax - they've got everything covered! It will inevitably close down in a few years, but until then you could almost go for it with a good carafe. - Decanter

100 Points! A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, the 2019 La Joie is deep garnet-purple in color. It has a wonderfully flashy and flamboyant nose of blackcurrant cordial, redcurrant jelly, plum preserves, and potpourri with hints of chocolate mint, tilled soil, chalk dust, and forest floor. The medium to full-bodied palate is very taut and muscular with tons of bright, crunchy black fruits and wonderful tension, finishing with tons of earthy nuances. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, TheWineIndependent

99 Points! Composed of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and the remainder of Petit Verdot, the 2019 La Joie is compact and unfolds more slowly in the glass. The nose is rich with graphite, sage oil, and black plum. The palate is full of kirsch, fresh leather, currant, and tobacco, with fine tannins that go for ages, along with the fruit and well-balanced acidity. - Jeb Dunnuck

99 Points! Fabulous aromas of blueberries, blackcurrants, sage and mint. Lead pencil and graphite, too. Full body and ultra-fine tannins that are slowly transformed to ripe and beautiful fruit. Super polished and textured. Great finish. - JamesSuckling.com

100 Points! Gorgeous aromas of dark plums and violets. Orange peel, too. Some crushed stone. Bark. Stems. Iron shavings. Full-bodied, but very tight and compacted. The tannins are all here making it very structured, yet they are polished and melted together. Needs years to show all of its greatness. Incredible polish and structure. - James Suckling

100 Points! This has grip and poise, it edges forward with slate textured tannins, not givin too much away at first, but sit with it, because the future brilliance of this Margaux is there to be seen if you take your time. It displays a seriousness of intent that sets it apart in expression from vintages like the 2018, and has dense and powerful red and black fruits along with supple and plentiful tannins that have no intention of relinquishing their hold for decades to come. Gingerbread, liqourice root, grilled sandalwood, red peppers, mint leaf and peony flowers add waves of complexity as it widens and softens through the mid palate, along with raspberry puree and edges of patisserie cream. A Margaux for the ages. - Jane Anson

98 Points! Great aromas of blackcurrants, black truffles, blueberries, lead pencil and hints of cedar. Full-bodied and powerful with fantastic tannin backbone giving it great length and power. Muscular. Toned. Flexing. This needs time. Best after 2028. - JamesSuckling.com

97+ Points!  The 2020 Palmer, composed of 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot, is deep garnet-purple in color. It is completely shut down on the nose to begin, needing a lot of patient coaxing to bring out scents of preserved cherries, creme de cassis, blueberry compote, and cedar chest, followed by wafts of lilacs, clove oil, and fertile loam. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers mouth-coating black fruit preserves layers with a rock-solid, grainy texture and just enough freshness, finishing long with loads of savory and earthy nuances. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent

98 Points! An irresistible wine from Palmer in 2020, sumptuous and voluptuous, open and appealing yet with all the elements so very carefully set in their place. Rich and evocative on the nose, dark and brooding with softly perfumed violet and rose aromas but it’s the texture that captivates on the palate with soft and seductive velvety tannins that immediately expand in the mouth giving power but also refinement. Mouthwatering and juicy but rich at the same time, so approachable you could drink this right now and just marvel in its nuance, structure and ease - and the oak integration is seamless. I love the liquorice bite and chalky sensation alongside vibrant black fruit though a sense of heat and menthol, liquorice freshness at the finish reminds you this is a serious wine that is built to last. This really carries the Margaux beauty and charm. A long life ahead but once opened this will disappear out of the bottle instantaneously. - Decanter Magazine

98 Points! One of my favorite wines (although it's hard to find), La Violette makes a rich, sexy, yet always elegant and seamless style of Pomerol. Their 2019 Château La Violette is deep purple-hued and offers an incredible perfume of blue fruits, iron, tobacco, spice box, flowers, and loamy earth. Full-bodied on the palate, it shows the pure, elegant style of the vintage, has beautiful tannins, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. There's lots of creamy background oak that needs time to integrate, but this is another remarkable release from this team. Give it a few years and enjoy over the following 20-25. - Jeb Dunnuck

95 Points! The 2019 La Violette offers typical ravishing scents of blueberry, crème de cassis and violet (of course), modern yet irresistible and well-defined, and better than in previous years. The palate is medium-bodied, fleshy yet balanced, with supple tannins, copious, lightly spiced red fruit and a pure, concentrated finish. A delicious Pomerol that offers hedonic pleasure. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

98-99 Points! A superb red for the vintage with so much character, singing Lafleur like a world-class opera singer. So spicy and floral, showing tobacco, cherries and redcurrants. Some milk chocolate and truffles. Complex with seductive tannins and creamy acidity. Wonderful length. Reminds me of the 1978. A blend of 45% merlot and 55% bouchet (cabernet franc). - JamesSuckling.com

95-97 Points! Deep garnet-purple colored. Needs a lot of shaking to unlock notes of fresh red cherries, black raspberries, and blackberries, opening out to hints of lilac, Sichuan pepper, underbrush, and fertile loam. The medium-bodied palate delivers a firm frame of grainy tannins and just enough freshness to support the tightly knit red and black berry layers, finishing on a lingering fragrant earth note. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent

94-96 Points! The 2024 Château Lafleur is classic in every way, offering a gorgeous perfume of black raspberries, gravelly earth, and spring flowers that evolves toward more violet and mineral-driven notes with air. Medium-bodied, with a layered, rounded mouthfeel, it's not massive but shines for its precision, ripe, polished tannins, and gorgeous finish. This is a wine that gains in nuance the longer it sits in the glass, and these subtle, graceful 2024s from the Guinaudeau family feel like a throwback to the 1980s, made with remarkable purity and precision. - Jeb Dunnuck

*Pre Arrival - Jan 2027 

99 Points! Blackberries, blueberries, raspberry kir, sweet tobacco and black truffle. Full bodied with chewy tannins and superb texture and length. Extremely poised and powerful. Finishes with so much fresh leather and blueberries. Goes on for minutes. Try after 2023. - JamesSuckling.com

98+ Points! A solid step up, the 2016 Les Pavots comes from vines planted in 1989 and is a mix of two separate sites in Knights Valley. This straight-up phenomenal Cabernet offers a powerful nose of ripe black fruits, tobacco leaf, chocolate, and spring flowers, and it has a Margaux-like complexity and elegance. Full-bodied on the palate, it has a multi-dimensional, seamless texture, building tannins, and a great, great finish. It’s a baby of a wine that needs 4-5 years of bottle age, but it will probably merit a triple-digit score in 7-8 years and keep for three decades. - Jeb Dunnuck

99 Points, Dunnuck's #19 Wine of the Year! Another wine I underrated on release, the 2020 Château Haut-Bailly is just about pure perfection, and whereas the 2018 is closer in style to the 2009, this plays things a little closer to its vest and is reminiscent of the 2010. Full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful, it nevertheless cuts a focused, precise path across the palate and brings incredible purity in its darker fruits, smoked tobacco, cedar pencil, and Asian spice-driven aromas and flavors. The tannin quality here is off the charts, and this beauty has everything you could want from wine. It needs a solid 4-6 years (if not longer) to hit the early stages of its prime drinking window, and it's going to evolve for 50+ years. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com

99 Points! A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Haut-Bailly is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs a bit of swirling to coax out notions of black cherry compote, blackcurrant pastilles, and blackberry preserves, giving way to fragrant wafts of violets, dark chocolate, cardamom, and sassafras, with a touch of Indian spices. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in poise, delivering tightly wrapped black fruit, exotic spice and floral layers, with a super-plush texture and seamless acidity, finishing very long with loads of mineral sparks and tons of energy. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent

100 Points! Although it emerges from a similar terroir and the same winemaking team, the 2018 Château La Mission Haut-Brion is a dramatically different wine than the Haut-Brion and has a more concentrated, dense, powerful style that is all potential at this point. Dense purple-hued, with lots of crème de cassis, black cherries, smoked meats, lead pencil, graphite, and crushed stone aromatics, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a concentrated mid-palate, masses of ripe tannins, integrated acidity, and one hell of a finish. This blockbuster, backward, monster of a La Mission Haut-Brion needs to be forgotten for a good decade (or more) but is going to be just about immortal. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com

99 Points! The 2018 La Mission Haut-Brion is a blend of 53.5% Merlot, 42.9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3.6% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple colored, it emerges from the glass with a first wave of stewed black and red plums, mulberries and black raspberries scents, followed by pronounced notions of warm cassis, clove oil, violets and chocolate box, with hints of cast-iron pan, pencil lead and forest floor coming through after a few minutes. The medium to full-bodied palate shimmers with energy, delivering layers of red and black fruits with earthy and mineral sparks and a texture so satiny you need to remember to look for it, finishing with amazing vibrancy. This is so wonderfully evocative and singular, and yet it feels like its holding something back. It makes for an impressive glass right now, but give it a good 5 years in bottle to allow further nuances to emerge and expect it to seriously reward those who can wait a good 12-15 years, when it should really hit its stride. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

97 Points! Dried tropical fruits like mangoes and green papaya, with lemons and green apples. Limes, too. Full-bodied yet tight and compacted with great length and persistence. Muscular yet fresh. 66% sauvignon blanc and 34% semillon. Drinkable but needs five or six years to soften. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com

96 Points! Ripe and expressive on the nose, aromatically complex with notes of carmalised lemons, honey, peach and wet stones. Clarity and precision from the start, such a well defined palate with striking high acidity, crisp and sharp citrus fruits and a salty undertone. Soft spicing comes in towards the finish suggesting this needs more time and will have a long life ahead but the nuanced bitterness, freshness and lift are all so appealing. Excellent weight and balance too with a bright and long finished - a gourmet style with plenty to like. - Decanter Magazine

96 Points!  The 2020 Château Cos D'Estournel Blanc, a blend of 66% Sauvignon Blanc and 34% Semillon, brings another level of density as well as complexity. Honeyed pineapple, melon, crushed stone, and spicy, savory herbs notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a beautifully layered, elegant mouthfeel and a great finish. It's a gem of a white and ranks with the crème de la crème of the vintage. It should keep for 10-15 years. - Jeb Dunnuck

98+ Points! Helms vineyard consists of five acres on gravelly loam, right on the northern edge of the Rutherford bench, planted in 1997 and 1998 to Cabernet Sauvignon clones See and 337. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Helms Vineyard is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and was aged for 21 months in French oak barrels, 100% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it rolls out of the glass with seductive scents of Morello cherries, blackcurrant pastilles and mulberries with hints of chocolate mint, violets and forest floor, plus a waft of cinnamon toast. Full-bodied, the palate has an ethereal weight, dancing with bright, vibrant black and blue fruits and a lively line of freshness, textured with beautifully ripe, velvety tannins, finishing long and mineral laced. Wow. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

99 Points! Sweet white chocolate with currant, plum and subtle hazelnut on the nose. Some other spices, such as nutmeg and cloves. Floral. Full-bodied with extremely fine tannins that go on and on. Beautiful center plate that is dense yet polished and fine and continues on. Exceptional. Fantastic finish. Drinkable now, but needs four or five years to show it’s true greatness. - JamesSuckling.com

98-99 Points!  This is incredibly classic in style with so much currant, lead pencil, crushed stone and sweet tobacco. It’s full-bodied with minerally, stoney and powerful tannins. It goes on and one. Real Las Cases here. Solid as a rock. Progresses to violet, graphite and licorice at the end. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com

96-98 Points!  The 2020 Léoville Las Cases is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 8% Merlot, aging in 80% new French oak barriques, weighing in with an alcohol of 13.68%, a pH of 3.8 and an IPT (tannins index) of 79. The Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested from the 21st to the 27th of September, the Merlot from the 12th to the 15th of September and the Cabernet Franc on the 18th and 19th of September. With an opaque purple-black color, it slowly unfurls to reveal beguiling notes of fresh blackcurrants, Morello cherries, candied violets and dark chocolate, giving way to an undercurrent of crushed rocks, unsmoked cigars, clove oil and fragrant earth. The medium-bodied palate is a powerhouse of energy, delivering tightly wound red and black fruits, mineral and floral layers, supported by fantastic tension and incredibly ripe, silt-like tannins. The finish has jaw-dropping fragrance and depth. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate