Search results for: 'romagna cuvee'

99 Points! A blend of 45% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Estate Cuvée is another outstanding wine from L'Aventure in the challenging 2020 vintage, offering singular concentration and elegance. Deep ruby-purple, it has a pure core of cassis and slowly unfolding accents of licorice, cured meats, tobacco leaves, cedar and truffle. Full-bodied, juicy and alluring, it floods the mouth with layers of blue fruit, floral perfume and spice. It is supported by powdery tannins and boasts a tremendously long, detailed finish. - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com

99 Points! A blend of 45% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Estate Cuvée is another outstanding wine from L'Aventure in the challenging 2020 vintage, offering singular concentration and elegance. Deep ruby-purple, it has a pure core of cassis and slowly unfolding accents of licorice, cured meats, tobacco leaves, cedar and truffle. Full-bodied, juicy and alluring, it floods the mouth with layers of blue fruit, floral perfume and spice. It is supported by powdery tannins and boasts a tremendously long, detailed finish. - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com

94 Points! A combination of Wente and Calera clones, the 2022 Chardonnay Cuvée Susan Hyde Vineyard features scents of crushed stone, struck flint and a hint of pencil shavings, in addition to fruity notes of melon, pear and pineapple. It's medium to full-bodied in the mouth, plump and even a bit custardy-oily, then finishes long and creamy. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

94 Points! Coming from the Pisoni and Soberanes vineyards, the 2023 Chardonnay Estate Cuvée reveals classic aromas of buttered apple, spice, and sappy, floral, and honeyed, nutty nuances. Medium-bodied and round on the palate, it has a layered mouthfeel, integrated acidity, and a clean, lengthy finish. Drink over the coming 4-6 years. - Jeb Dunnuck

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

From 100+ year-old Grenache vines in Bas de La Crau...

97 Points! The 2022 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvee Speciale is on another level, with a blockbuster perfume of ripe black cherries, melted licorice, jus de viande, lavender, and roasted garrigue. A rich, opulent style of Châteauneuf du Pape, it brings full-bodied richness while staying graceful, weightless, and flawlessly balanced, with ripe tannins and incredible length. This tour de force 2022 should be snatched up by savvy readers and enjoyed over the coming 15 years or so. - Jeb Dunnuck

99 Points! The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee is just about pure perfection and another example of Napa Valley magic. All Cabernet Sauvignon brought up in 80% new French oak, it offers an incredible bouquet of pure cassis and blackberry fruits as well as textbook Pauillac-like notes of graphite, tobacco, toasted spices, and chalky minerality. Rich, full-bodied, and powerful, it’s one of those wines that somehow marries incredible intensity and richness with no sensation of weight or heaviness, perfect balance, and a layered, multi-dimensional style that’s hard to describe. It shows more tannins and chocolaty oak with air and needs to be forgotten for 4-6 years, and it will be a 40+-year wine. It’s heavenly juice. - Jeb Dunnuck

98+ Points! Altogether much more serious than Lail's Blueprint bottling (and priced accordingly), the 2019 J. Daniel Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon comes primarily from the Vine Hill Ranch, Dutch Canyon (Heimark) and Steltzner Vineyards. Marked by deep, seductive scents of cassis and rich loam, accented by hints of cedar and dried sage, it's full-bodied, concentrated and rich, finishing long, velvety, seamless and elegant. Pretty special stuff. - Joe Czerwinski robertparker.com

94 Points! The 2023 Pinot Noir Cuvee Alyce pours a deep ruby color and is layered with aromas of leather, baked cherries, truffle, and crushed flowers. The palate is rounded, with a medium-bodied frame, a silky texture, ripe tannins, and an elegant, ripe finish. It has a more supple and pliant feel and is approachable now or over the coming 10 years. - Audrey Frick, jebdunnuck.com

98 Points! The tiny production 2019 Cornas Cuvée Jana is another gorgeous wine. More up-front and opulent than either the 2018 or 2016, it has a mass of blueberry and black cherry-like fruits as well as smoked game, bouquet garni, ground pepper, and iron. It hits the palate with a lush, opulent attack and has a terrific mid-palate, before the tannins build and clamp down on the finish, showing more loamy earth and mineral notes. It certainly displays the richer, ripe style of the vintage and has moderate acidity, yet the purity of fruit is spot on, it's beautifully balanced, and it’s going to keep for 25+ years in cold cellars. - Jeb Dunnuck

97 Points! Showing greater nuance and complexity on the nose, the 2019 Cornas Jana—named for Michel's daughter and sourced from Les Côtes and Chaillot—is a big step up from Michel's basic Cornas. Hints of violets, mint and crushed stone accent deep cassis and blueberry fruit, while the full-bodied palate is concentrated, rich and tannic, with a long, long, finish. Although not unenjoyable now, it's a Cornas for the cellar, with at least a decade of improvement possible. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

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! 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

93-95+ Points! The 2020 Mercurey 1er Cru Clos de Champs Martin Cuvée Carline unwinds in the glass with a deep bouquet of wild berries, vine smoke, raw cocoa, cloves, anise and peonies. Medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's layered and complete, with a tightly wound core of vibrant fruit framed by beautifully refined tannins and concluding with a long, saline finish. Less demonstrative than its 2019 and 2018 predecessors, I suspect it will emerge as the finest of the trilogy in the fulness of time, but it will require patience. - William Kelley, robertparker.com

94 Points! A blockbuster in a showy, rich style, with bolts of iron grounding a lush stream of chocolate, cherry and blackberry. Mesquite and sandalwood smoke notes linger through the smooth finish, which is flecked with spices, herbs and salt. A long bolt of graphite adds to the well-built feel. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. - Wine Spectator

93+ Points! Aged in demi-muids, the 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Etienne Gonnet is drawn exclusively from la Crau, a blend of 70% Grenache and 15% each Mourvèdre and Syrah. The nose is toasty and cedary but balanced by scents of red raspberries and strawberries, while the mouth is full-bodied and supple, finishing smooth, sexy and long. It's already approachable, but the wood should integrate nicely over the next several years. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

94 Points! A more modern-styled cuvée from 100% galets roulés terroir, the 2023 Châteauneuf Du Pape Barberini is based on 60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 15% Mourvèdre. It was partially destemmed, vinified in concrete, and aged 15 months in 60% new French oak, 20% foudre, and 20% concrete. It brings more intensity in its notes of bright blackberries, Provençal garrigue, spicy wood, and pepper. This beautifully balanced, medium to full-bodied, elegant 2023 has ripe, polished tannins, no hard edges, and a gorgeous finish. With 416 cases produced, it will benefit from just a few years of bottle age and keep for 10-15 years in cold cellars. - Jeb Dunnuck

93 Points! A juicy, open version, with impressive purity and style. Fine-grained tannins keep a firm grip on the notes of wild raspberry, strappy cherry and apple wood smoke, while focused mineral density stretches from beginning to end. Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah. - Wine Spectator

95 Points! Fabulous aromas of honeysuckle, lavender, stone and menthol. Full-bodied, lightly off dry, spicy and powerful. Very long and rich. What potential. Fabulous gewurz. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! The 2013 Gewurztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre comes from predominately Keuper marl-limestone soils in Hunawihr (Muhlforst area) and Ribeauvillé (Trottacker) which give this age worthy wine a full and powerful style. Nobly clear and elegant on the deep and concentrated but super subtle nose where ripe bright fruit aromas with a dash of lemon juice are displayed. Round, piquant and very elegant on the palate, this is an intense, complex, lovely mineral and extremely well defined wine with a stimulating vibrancy and a nice tannin grip which, in combination with the minerality, gives not just tension and power but also a very long and salty Gewurztraminer with mandarin flavors and flowers in the very persistent aftertaste...Produced from old vines from the former wine estate of the Lords of Ribeaupierre, the grapes are selected and harvested at the peak of their ripeness. It is a wine with flowery and spicy aromas and a dry personality, and yet so rich and so fruity that it almost hints at sweetness … a mere illusion...In youth, the roundness and viscosity can mask its typical dryness as well as the underlying finesse which is the Trimbach trademark. - Stephan Reinhardt, roobertparker.com

94 Points! Showing apricots, peaches and sage, this is layered and savory. On the palate, it’s vibrant and refined with silky texture, crisp acidity and a long finish. From organically and biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! Like a stallion out of the gate, this shows an initial explosion of power, in the form of mouthwatering flavors and fine texture, before quickly settling into an elegant gait. The racy acidity is seamlessly knit, buoying the lacy mousse and flavors of cassis, toasted brioche and tangerine, with accents of candied ginger, hazelnut and fleur de sel lingering on the long, creamy finish. Drink now through 2035. - Wine Spectator

94 Points! At once juicy, concentrated and refined, this is stunning wine that is intended for more or less everyday drinking. A wealth of stone fruit and fresh almond aromas, plus a touch of mandarin oranges. Stunning balance and finesse at the very long, silky finish. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! Everything that a vintage Blanc de Blancs should be: exquisite vertical tension on the finely beaded mousse, seamless acidity and a gorgeous flavour profile of honeyed brioche and lemon confit with a lick of apple crumble. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! Stunning honeycomb aroma, but also a slew of stone fruit and delicate, exotic aromas fill out this very complex composition. Enormous concentration and quite some power, but not even the slightest hint of heaviness or opulence. The fine tannins and graceful acidity are the secret to this, yet they are never obvious, and even at the finish it remains very silky and super-fine. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com