Wines

93 Points! The 2020 Coste della Sesia Ca' du Leria is seriously impressive. Deep, layered aromatics lead into an expansive core of dark red-toned fruit. Readers will find a wine of notable dimension and class. The 2020 opens beautifully with time in the glass. Clerico at his finest. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

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I recently tasted the Massimo Pastoris Canavese Nebbiolo La Cucca 2021 and I can honestly say that it is one of the most compelling Nebbiolos under $30 I’ve ever tasted…ever. The nose jumps out of the glass with flowers, spice, tar, a hint of forest floor, red fruits…too many notes! On the palate the wine has a positively silky texture for Nebbiolo, so polished, so drinkable, impeccably balanced, flaunting the finest Pinot Noir-esque characteristics of this grape without any of the harshness or bitterness that we see from its cousins to the south.

In short? An incredible wine that literally made the hair on my neck stand up….at $26.98 this wine is clearly one of the coolest red wines we have in the store and an absolute ‘must’ tasting (and smelling) experience!

From the importer: The Nebbiolo La Cucca leads with elegance over structure, by design, and when compared to Langhe and Alto Piemonte, it’s more aromatically delicate with finely delineated fruit and florals. The denomination is Canavese, even if it’s on the extreme east of the appellation and bears little resemblance to Canavese reds elsewhere in this extensive DOC...The elegance is accentuated with the use of a combination of medium-sized old wood and cement vats. Both Cristiano and Eugenio believe that morainic soils require this “third way” of making Nebbiolo. While Caluso isn’t ground zero for the world’s attention to Piemonte and Nebbiolo, these wines capture its purest essence, making them formidable in style and craft alone.

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96 Points! Aromas of dark cherries and cedar with a touch of elderberries and a pleasant floral component. The palate is medium- to full-bodied with chalky tannins complemented by elegant concentration that leads to a persistent and elegant finish. Better from 2027. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! Like chiseling through an ashen stone to find a treasure trove of exotic spices, incense and cinnamon-tinged black currants, the 2018 Taurasi Radici makes itself known. This is a soft and generous expression of Radici, with depths of tart black fruit offset by dark chocolate and sour citrus notes. It finishes with tremendous length but without the typically harsh tannins associated with Aglianico in its youth, leaving behind inner earth and herbal tones. The 2018 ends with a salty flourish. This is a much more forward expression of Radici. That said, I expect it will give much pleasure over the medium term. - Eric Guido, Vinous

93 Points! Packaged with its distinctive black label, the Mastroberardino 2018 Taurasi Radici offers impressive complexity with a long succession of aromas that includes dried blackberry, cherry liqueur, tarry smoke, campfire ash, sweet baking spice and cinnamon. The bouquet is also heavy on bramble, rosemary sprig and forest floor. It is all smoothed out by soft tobacco. This wine shows robust fruit weight and equally balanced oak spice. The tannins are well managed and Radici is long in persistency. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

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95 Points! The 2019 Taurasi Radici is impossible to ignore, mixing cloves with incense, crushed stones and dried black cherries. This is saturating and intense, with a silken textural wave that ushers in masses of tart wild berry fruits and spices, all carried by a stream of vibrant acidity. It finishes long and youthfully tense, with a mineral tinge that lingers along with notes of black licorice and a sour cranberry crunch. In 2019, the Taurasi Radici is back to form. - Eric Guido, Vinous Media

95 Points! Vivid dark ruby color, with aromas of blueberry jelly, earth, black truffles, toasted pepper and chocolate. Velvety on the palate, with juicy acidity, a full body and very good fruit concentration. Great complexity and polish in the finish. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

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95 Points, Wine Spectator's #5 Wine of the year 2023! A focused and fragrant red, leading with hints of pencil shavings, violet, tobacco and citrus that accent flavors of blackberry and black cherry fruit. This is refined and supple, fresh with lively acidity, but also shows weight and concentration, with sculpted tannins emerging on the mineral- and spice-laced finish. Drink now through 2036. - Wine Spectator

96 Points! A rich and darkly inviting blend of plum sauce, clove, cocoa and camphor makes the 2016 Taurasi Riserva Radici impossible to ignore. This is pure class, pliant and enveloping on the palate, with silken waves of ripe red and black fruit guided by brisk acidity. Citrus and inner herbal tones add tremendous depth. The 2016’s regal tannins come forward through the close, framing the experience with youthful poise without slowing its momentum, leaving chalky mineral tones and nuances of nectarine to linger. The balance here is something to behold. Bury this beauty deep in the cellar. Eric Guido, Vinous Media

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93 Points! The entry-level white is the 2019 Blanco de la Casa, a blend of 40% Sauvignon Blanc from Gualtallary, 40% Sémillon from La Consulta and 20% Chardonnay from La Carrera, which gives the wine a touch of energy. It comes from a dry and cool vintage that resulted in limited alcohol and good acidity. He wanted to avoid the varietal character and have a blend this year that is really vibrant, with pungent acidity and minerality. All wines fermented with natural yeasts and no acidification. He looks for high-altitude vineyards for the whites. It's sharp and really tasty, bottled unoaked, so it comes through as complex, integrated and textured. It should develop nicely in bottle. 4,000 bottles produced. It was bottled unfiltered in September 2019, and it's a little cloudy, a constant with the whites from the vintage. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com Learn More

99 Points! The purity of fruit and transparency is mind-blowing here with fresh blackberries, white pepper, salt and chalk. It’s crunchy and flawless in its expression of high-altitude malbec. Medium-bodied with ultra-fine tannins and a long and breathtaking finish. Made in concrete and aged 16 months in cask. From a small vineyard at 1,500 meters on the slopes of the Andes. Only 3,000 bottles made. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

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Exciting new project crafted by Thomas Rivers Brown! Fruit coming from Regusci and Hardin Ranch combines to produce a classically 'TRB' dark, slinky, fruit-packed Cab at a great price!

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Matthias Planchon is a talented and determined young winemaker, representing an old line of winemakers in Sancerre. He broke with the family tradition of selling his grapes to negociants or taking them to the Cave Cooperative in Sancerre. He took over the domaine in 2014 and, until 2018, collaborated with Alphonse Mellot by selling him his grapes. Alphonse Mellot confirmed his decision to work with organic and even biodynamic viticulture. The vines are located in Sancerre, with the superb limestone terroir of “Le Paradis” adjacent to the domaine's cellar. In total, the domaine covers 5.5 hectares, part of which is still sold to negoce Alphonse Mellot, leaving only 4,000 bottles of whites and 600 of reds bottled under the domaine's name. The white wines are bright, pure and intense in flavor, and after decanting reveal a rare saltiness and mineral-articulated length on the palate. These are wines built with a vertebrate column, the result of a huge amount of work in the vines to match the vines to the rock. Le Paradis brings the generosity of limestone, embraces the contours of the mouth and unfolds in length. Matthias vinifies 30% of the grapes in barrels of 500-600L, the rest in stainless steel.

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98 Points! This is an incredible Etna white with the depth and intensity of a grand cru Burgundy, showing sliced cooked apples, cream, flint, oyster shells and spices. Full-bodied and layered with super length and finish. Weightless and true. A triumph. A pure carricante grown at 700 meters. Drink now or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! The most mineral-driven of these new releases from Maugeri is the 2023 Etna Bianco Superiore Contrada Praino Frontemare. This is a young winery with enormous promise ahead of it. Grapes for this 3,300-bottle release come from a vineyard site on the east side of the volcano that faces the sea and has steep stone terraces on sandy, mineral-rich soils and yellowish clay. The wine spends eight months on the fine lees (with no malolactic fermentation and no bâtonnage). The result offers salty flavors folded into white pomelo fruit and unripe peach. This beautiful wine is considerably more angular and firm in character. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

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Best. Nascetta. Ever. Young Marengo is a rising star...

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When Jean-Luc Thunevin came out with his first vintage (ok, technically, 2^nd) of Chateau Valandraud in the dreadful 1992 harvest, all of us in the business at the time thought, “Oh yeah right… you expect me to believe this is going to be a great bottle of wine coming from one of the worst vintages in Bordeaux and priced at levels we see from “First Growths”?”  But truth be told, it was the wine of that 1992 vintage and Jean-Luc and the “Garage” movement were immediately on the map.

One of his few value labels based on his fine standing and pioneering principals is… Mauvais Garcon.  Well, he actually calls it “Bad Boy” in other markets but our government wouldn’t let that name fly here in the ole U-S-of-A, so we get Mauvais Garcon (‘Bad Boy’ in French).  The wine is made up of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc and mainly comes from vineyards in Fronsac. And it is ripe, round, warm, supple and resolved. Pop and pour!

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92 Points! Bursting with aromas of pear, white flowers, citrus oil and freshly baked bread, framed by a touch of youthful reduction, the 2021 Montagny 1er Cru Vigne du Soleil is medium to full-bodied, fleshy and concentrated, with lively acids and a long, bright finish. Anyone expecting a qualitative step down in this more challenging vintage won't find one. - William Kelley, robertparker.com

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92 Points! This is very good coastal cabernet, full-weighted while boasting a surfeit of freshness with a slick of salt-crusted bay leaf, tapenade, sage and subtle menthol, all set in relief against the typical dark currant. Dry, lithe and expansive. The tannic carapace is thoroughly impressive. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

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96 Points! The 2022 Red Wine The Meadows is the first special bottling Mayacamas has produced that is not Cabernet Sauvignon. A burst of dark red cherry fruit, rose petal, mocha, licorice and sweet spice are all dialed up. Plush contours wrap it all together in style. The 2022 is not the most complex wine I have ever tasted here, but it is immensely pleasurable. The blend is 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. Sadly production is only 89 cases. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous  

93+ Points! In lieu of a special Cabernet Sauvignon release from the 2022 vintage, Mayacamas has bottled the 2022 Red Wine The Meadows, a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. From a site at 2,000 to 2,100 feet above sea level and influenced by the cool headwaters of Redwood Creek, it delivers polished notes of pencil shavings, crushed stone, black cherries and cassis. In the mouth, it's medium to full-bodied, firm and dusty but with ample length and intensity on the sage-tinged finish.- Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

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94 Points! Black cherry, bark and earth on the nose with some dark-mushroom character. It’s full-bodied with very soft tannins and a juicy, savory finish. Wet-earth and forest-floor character comes through nicely at the finish. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! Featuring black cherry, blueberry, mint, iron and Tuscan scrub flavors, this solid red is built for aging, with ripe fruit returning on the long finish. All the components are there -- this just needs time. Sangiovese and Merlot. - Wine Spectator

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93 Points! This powerful red is dense yet fleshy, evoking cherry, tobacco, iron, earth and wild herb notes. Balanced and fresh, with a lingering aftertaste of fruit, savory Mediterranean herbs and mineral notes. - Wine Spectator

93 Points! Notes of raspberries and cherries with red licorice, dried orange peel and spices. Medium- to full-bodied with meaty structure. Tannins are wide and velvety with a juicy, red-fruited mid-palate. Fresh and crunchy at the end. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

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