Wines

100 Points! The 2023 Chardonnay Estate is a unicorn wine, with the acids naturally occurring with ease in this cool, long, extended growing season that the wine world is rightfully excited about, producing wines of tremendous elegance and balance, sourced entirely from Monte Bello Estate. The minerality is off the charts, exuberantly defining the wine after a barrel fermentation of nine months on the lees in 85% American and 15% French oak, 15% of it new. Gorgeously lengthy and bright, winemaker John Olney recommends that for primary fruit, it's best to drink through the first 7-8 years; for fans of later-aging wines, wait 20 years. I adore this wine. - Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com

100 Points! If sunshine could be bottled it would be this. Aromas of fresh succulent stone fruit, a hint of yeast, citrus blossoms and notes of quince on the nose. The mousse is creamy and light with baked red apples, blood orange zest, white grapefruit, sticky caramel and layered salinity with a mouthwatering finish. It will bring a smile to your lips. - Wine Enthusiast, Aug. 2025

97 Points! Pretty, delicate aromas of salt, herbs and pine forest. A compelling wine that really speaks of place, with fine bubbles that coat the palate before resolving in a finish of citrus oil and resinous herbs. Very fresh, layered, vibrant and medium- to full-bodied, with some wonderful chalkiness at the end. - JamesSuckling.com, Dec. 2025

96 Points! A young, potent wine, the 2019 Brut L'Ermitage is shaping up to be the greatest wine ever made at Roederer Estate. The aromatics are beguiling, but the 2019 is going to need a number of years to settle down. Readers will have to be patient. The 2019 is seriously impressive, but it needs time. ... Superb. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous, June 2025

100 Points! Even better (as well as a perfect wine), the 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Collection Charles Giraud checks in as a nominal blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvèdre that was brought up in demi-muids. It reveals a deep purple color as well as heavenly notes of blackberry and currant fruits intermixed with loads of cured meats, spice box, Asian spices, and a distinct loamy soil and minerality. Always more structured and powerful than the Reserve Auguste Favier release (no doubt due to the Mourvèdre component), it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, building yet polished tannins, flawless balance, and a great, great finish. Pure perfection in a glass, it’s as good as wine gets. Give bottles 2-4 years and enjoy over the following two decades. Hats off to winemaker Isabelle Ferrando for yet another thrilling wine! - Jeb Dunnuck

100 Points! A perfumed and enchanting wine that seduces you with its pure aromas of plums, peaches, cedar, sandalwood and roses. Medium-bodied with ultra-fine tannins that caress your palate and give a long and beautiful finish. Extremely silky and polished. Crunchy. A great wine that’s a benchmark for the vintage. One of the best ever. - JamesSuckling.com

100 Points! Complex aromas of walnut, dark fruit, stone, oyster shell, chalk and dried fruits. This shows fabulous intensity and balance with layer upon layer of fruit and polished tannins. Builds on the palate. It goes on for minutes. - JamesSuckling.com

95+ Points! Made from the estate's oldest vines, the 2010 Brunello di Montalcino is a bold and powerful wine that shows enormous precision and grit. On the Brunello scale, this expression from Siro Pacenti offers more dark fruit, plum, spice, tar and smoke. The wine reveals beautiful density and an important mouthfeel that hits the palate with seductive determination. This wine is holding up beautifully since I tasted it last and has even improved in terms of its complexity and overall elegance. It still has a long way to go. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com, 2019

100 Points! The finest wine ever made by proprietors Daniel and Florence Cathiard, the 2009 Smith-Haut-Lafitte exhibits an opaque blue/purple color in addition to a glorious nose of acacia flowers, licorice, charcoal, blueberries, black raspberries, lead pencil shavings and incense. This massive, extraordinarily rich, unctuously textured wine may be the most concentrated effort produced to date, although the 2000, 2005 and 2010 are nearly as prodigious. A gorgeous expression of Pessac-Leognan with sweet tannin, emerging charm and delicacy, and considerable power, depth, richness and authority, it should age effortlessly for 30-40+ years. Bravo! - Robert M. Parker, Jr. , robertparker.com, December 2011  

100 Points! Absolutely pure gold and reminding me of the 2009 (or is it the 2010?), the 2020 Château Smith Haut Lafitte sports a dense purple hue to go with incredible aromatics of blackberries, blueberries, scorched earth, wood smoke, and acacia flowers. One of the most concentrated, rich, and sexy wines in the vintage, this massive and extraordinarily opulent 2020 shows the vintage's pure, elegant profile yet backs it up with sensational levels of fruit and texture. Based on 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it already offers pleasure given its wealth of fruit, but it deserves 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 40-50 years. Not enough can be said about the quality of these wines. Bravo to Florence and Daniel Cathiard, as well as to director Fabien Teitgen, for another incredible achievement. - jeb Dunnuck

99 Points! Extremely fresh and deep in the nose with raspberry and blackcurrant character, as well as stone, fresh green tobacco and ink. Full-bodied with a dense center palate and gorgeous fine yet steely tannins. It calms down at the end with berries, citrus and some lavender. Salty at the end. Very minerally. Flinty. - JamesSuckling.com

98 Points! Vivid dark purple in the glass, but a remarkable clarity too. Fragrant black cherries, plums, cassis and perfumed aromas with blueberries, balsamic touches and white pepper. Rich, round, grippy and captivating, slightly plush but also tight, where you get a soft chalky, wet stone grip with lively acidity balanced by strict and spiced liquorice-touched fruit. You feel the leanness here but it's so well defined with clarity and precision. A sleeping giant right now, definitely not yet fully expressing itself but slowly grows to a long finish. There's something so utterly seductive about this wine, it's overt, forward, upfront, confident and powerful no doubt, this will need a while before it should be opened, but it’s a shining thoroughbred. Refined and purposeful. There’s a bit of magic in this bottle. - Decanter Magazine

100 Points! In 2002 very small yields produced only about 3,000 cases at 14.7% natural alcohol and a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Cabernet Franc. This wine is going from strength to strength since I first tasted it prior to bottling. Now a perfect wine, the incredible perfume of blueberries, black raspberries and cassis, along with white flowers and camphor is extraordinarily fragrant and intense. That is easily matched by the magnificent full-bodied richness and compellingly layered mouthfeel of this wine that is rich, full-bodied and a still youthful vintage that remains capable of another 25-30 years of cellaring. This is a dramatic vintage for Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and it is always fascinating to taste a top winery’s 2001 and 2002 next to each other because they are both such great years. However, the 2002s tend to be the more flamboyant wines, and the 2001s the more structured and broodingly backward. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com, 2016

100 Points! The 2022 Lamella Shiraz has a little secret held within, and it's one not noted on the label. Within this cuvée, is just two barrels of fruit from the Stonegarden Vineyard, the original Lamella Vineyard, before the current Huttonvale Farm. Stonegarden was planted in the Eden Valley in the middle 1800s and is a historic site. The wine rises with Chinotto and blood orange, black tea and pressed flowers. It is, in its quiet way, kaleidoscopic and mottled ... it does not stay still, it gently moves across the palate like sunlight over the course of a day. The long finish speaks of raspberry pip and sandalwood, pomegranate, Boscobel rose and even the softest suggestion of scraped vanilla pod. If you have the benefit of time, I would recommend tasting this on both day one and day two. As I see it, day two has all of the complexity of day one, with the added seamlessness and silk that only time can bring. This is the most alluring Lamella I can recall ever tasting on release, despite many previous releases' flirtation with perfection. 100% whole bunch. 14.9% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax. - Erin Larkiin, robertparker.com

100 Points! Another absolutely perfect wine in this incredible vintage, the 2020 Château Tertre Roteboeuf comes from a tiny hillside vineyard (5.6 hectares) and is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc raised all in new Radoux barrels. This show-stopping wine has everything and reveals a dense purple hue, incredible aromatics of cassis, vanilla bean, burning embers, graphite, and smoke tobacco, full-bodied richness, flawless integration of its tannins and acidity, and a massive finish. The finest wine I've ever tasted from this address, it's not going to hit maturity for another 7-8 years and will be a 30+-year wine. Hats off to the team of François Mitjavile for another singular, sexy, absolutely off-the-charts wine. - Jeb Dunnuck

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100 Points! Fragrant notes of sage, black pepper, nori, and rose petals rise from the glass, leading into a wine of superb density and remarkable fruit clarity. On the palate, it’s perfectly balanced, with the finest tannins—like moon dust laced with cocoa powder—framing a gorgeously textured red wine that sends you off daydreaming. Its ethereal presence and ephemeral textures captivate and draw you in, with bursts of grapefruit zest and blood orange acidity, all sprinkled with pink Himalayan sea salt. The finish goes on for days. I could go on about this wine—it’s perfect. It will resonate differently with each person who encounters it, but it is absolutely riveting, contemplative, and belongs in the pantheon of the world’s great wines. - Jonathan Cristaldi

98 Points! So much energy and salt, anchoring forest fruit, boysenberries and crushed violets against a tug of earth. Mineral, filigreed and refined, this is capable of aging for decades yet provides tremendous short-term pleasure. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! Within a remarkable set of wines, the 2023 Pinot Noir Radian Vineyard gets my nod as the most multidimensional wine in The Hilt's portfolio. While several wines in the lineup display oceanic, kelp and nori-like aromas, none render them with the exceptional purity and vivid nature displayed here. The palate continues this purity, combining outrageous density with a spry, silken texture, seamlessly slingshotting into a vibrant, staining and succulent finish that lingers endlessly, thanks to extraordinarily refined tannins and the site's ubiquitous soaring salinity. This is a reference point for the region and one that I am tremendously excited to follow in the cellar. - Matthew Luczy, robertparker.com

96+ Points! The 2023 Pinot Noir Radian Vineyard is explosive, expressive and deeply serious. It builds all the way from the first sip until long after it leaves the palate. Sneaky, integrated acids keep the train moving, but this is an inward, mineral-drenched wine with a brooding, youthful edge. Inky red fruit, spice, crushed rocks and lavender flesh out in a complex expression that will need considerable time to fill in completely. That said, it will certainly be worth the wait. - Billy Norris, Vinous

100 Points! Aged five years in oak and another five in bottle, the 2016 Unico is made from a blend of estate parcels, the blend decided after one year in barrel. The producer believes that vintages that end in the number 6 tend to be exceptional, producing its top three years since 2000. This is no exception. Plush, with underlying grip, the wine is 96% Tempranillo with 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, an explosive, full-bodied exploration of dense red fruit, tension, and intensity that’s juicy, tense, and energetic. There’s a tremendous amount of elegance and power vying for equal attention. These wines live up to every inch of hype and acclaim. It’s drinking beautifully already and should sing easily another 40-50 years. - Virginie Boone, robertparker.com

99 Points! The 2016 Único was perfumed and elegant, showcasing a very good vintage in the region. Winemaker Gonzalo Iturriaga started in 2015—a powerful year—and he remembers 2016 as a very balanced year, with higher yields and finer-boned wines. The winter was mild, and there was a cooler than average spring and a warm summer. September was dry, which provided healthy grapes and balanced ripening. The harvest started the 22nd of September and finished the 11th of October. The bottled wine is 96% Tinto Fino and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon with 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.82 and 4.8 grams of acidity. It has the old Vega perfume, intoxicating, complex and nuanced, full of personality and a very energetic palate, vibrant and fresh, not lacking power but with lots of elegance. The wine is released 10 years after the harvest, combining time in new and used American and French oak barrels and 20,000-liter oak vats, and it obviously spends plenty of time in bottle. This is a monumental vintage of Único. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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

100 Points! The 2019 Le Désir is just as stunning as the first time I tasted it from bottle. It's pure and layered, with alluring scents of Morello cherries, dried mushrooms, cigars, sage and aniseed wafting from the glass. The palate strikes a fine balance of concentrated fruit, loads of powdery tannins, and energetic bursts of fresh acidity. It has a deep core of concentrated, perfumed fruit with the first faint touches of umami character and a long finish driven by floral and iron tones. I can't get enough of this wine. - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com

100 Points, #6 Wine of the Year! Intense graphite with fresh lavender, thyme, rosemary and blackcurrant notes. Hints of decadence. Iodine and mussel undertones. Full-bodied with superb intensity and silky tannins that grow on the palate, showing great length that goes on for minutes. Truly great depth. 77% cabernet franc and 23% cabernet sauvignon. Best ever. - JamesSuckling.com

100 Points! Intense garnet red in colour. A wonderfully balanced and refined nose, combined with notes of ripe fruit, chocolate, tobacco and liquorice. On the palate, silky tannins and precise maturity. A truly memorable wine. - Gilbert & Gaillard

99 Points! What a perfume: deep, rich and complex. Minerals are chiseled into the opulent, minty blackberries, black licorice and tamarind with a touch of balsamic. Judicious oak, integrated sandalwood and dark chocolate as well. Full-bodied with a lot of refined, small-grained tannins. A persistent finish that lingers and goes on and on. 79% cabernet franc and 21% cabernet sauvignon. Concentrated, but will soften more in two or three years. - JamesSuckling.com