Wines

97 Points! Transparent and minerally, showing dark-cherry and forest-floor aromas with some ink and blood undertones. Medium-bodied with beautiful integration and excellent length that goes on for minutes. Firm tannins. Vivid. From ungrafted vines planted in the 1970s. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! This wine is expressive and bright, a part of the 00's assemblage series, crafted from different sites in the Willamette Valley. Aromas of woodland berries and pine boughs offer a fresh contrast to the forest floor and red cherries. Ripe red strawberries, and mint leaf on the forepalate, finishing with layered darker fruits, rich forest floor and salty ocean minerality. - Decanter Magazine

Learn More

Pack contains: 2 Bottles 2016 Cos d’Estournel + 1 Bottle 2016 Pagodes de Cos

100 Points | James Suckling
Reviewed February 2019

This is muscular yet so well defined and toned. Full-bodied with deep and dense fruit on the palate, yet powerful and rich at the same time. So much sandalwood and blackberry character. Chewy and rich at the finish. This is a warm and generous wine, but the alcohol is just over 13 degrees. Not that high. Love the finish. Extravagant. Magical. Try from 2025.

100 Points | Wine Advocate
Reviewed November 2018

Bottled in July 2018, it is deep garnet-purple colored and starts off a little closed and reticent, opening out slowly and seductively to reveal beautiful lilacs, rose hip tea, crushed stones and camphor nuances over a core of crème de cassis, kirsch, wild blueberries and mocha plus wafts of incense and wood smoke. The palate is simply electric, charged with an energy and depth of flavors that seem to defy the elegance and ethereal nature of its medium-bodied weight, featuring super ripe, densely pixelated tannins that firmly frame the myriad of fruit and floral sparks, finishing with epic length. Just. Magic. (LPB)

100 Points | Vinous
Reviewed August 2020

In my last sighted review of the 2016 Cos d’Estournel, I wrote: “I suspect it will close down for a period in its youth.” Perhaps it is already beginning to shut down, because though this wine was deeply impressive, it fell just a notch short of ethereal previous bottles, despite its “pixelated black fruit” on the nose and “sublime balance” on the palate. I tasted the wine twice thereafter, though this time with a 4-6 hour decant, and this revealed the Cos d’Estournel that has amazed since I first tasted it out of barrel. (NM)

100 Points | Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

If the color does not let you know you're in for a treat, the nose is going to knock you over with its floral, smoke, cigar wrapper, black cherry and cassis notes. The purity of fruit here is off the charts. The wine is all about its silk and velvet textures from that point forward. The finish is so expansive, it feels like it keeps on going, moving across an array of flavors long after you've put the wine where it was supposed to go. This is the best wine yet produced by Jean-Guillaume Prats and his team. Bravo!

99 Points | Jeb Dunnuck
Reviewed February 2019

One of the more seamless, pure, elegant versions of this cuvée out there, it boasts a saturated purple color as well as a monster nose of pure crème de cassis, gravelly, rocky minerality, tobacco leaf, crushed violets, and lead pencil shavings. One of those “iron fists in a velvet glove” wines, with full-bodied richness and beautiful structure that’s covered by thrilling levels of fruit and texture, it stays tight, compact, and incredibly focused on the palate. It’s already brilliant given its purity of fruit and balance, but it deserves a decade of bottle age and will keep for 4-5 decades.

Learn More

92 Points! A good value, the 2023 Keola Red offers juicy darker fruits, peppery herbs, and sappy, floral notes. Based on 45% Petite Sirah, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 25% Syrah aged 18 months in 25% new French oak, it's medium to full-bodied, ripe, round, and supple, with no hard edges. This is a pleasure-bent, impeccably made red to drink over the coming 5-6 years. ..As always, Aaron Jackson makes a ripe, powerful style of wine that brings ample fruit and texture while staying nicely balanced. - Jeb Dunnuck

Sourcing:

Petite Sirah - Dusi Vineyards (Templeton Gap District), St Peter of Alcantara (Willow Creek District next door to Pesenti Vineyard)
Syrah - Maison Mason (Willow Creek District next to notable vineyards like Terry Hoage, Paderewski). And Caelesta Vineyard (Templeton Gap)
Cabernet - Old Bailey Vineyard (Adelaida District, oldest vine Cab on the westside, own rooted in 1969 and right next door to HMR Vineyard and planted around the same time).

Learn More

92 Points! Salty and spicy with white-pepper and flinty aromas, this is light-bodied yet very savory and crisp with a polished finish. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

Learn More

97+ Points! Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Sleeping Lady Vineyard is deep garnet-purple in color. It leaps from the glass with blackcurrant jelly, warm plums and mulberries notes plus suggestions of black raspberries, roses, tar, anise and fragrant earth. Full-bodied, the palate is very tight-knit, with firm, ripe, grainy tannins and lively acidity supporting the layers upon layers of nuances, finishing very long and wonderfully minerally. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

Learn More

98 Points! Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon bursts with open-knit, expressive scents of black cherry compote, warm cassis, and cinnamon toast with nuances of clove oil, roses, and dark chocolate. The full-bodied palate is rich, plush, seamless, layered, long, and decadent. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent

97 Points! A gorgeous wine from Chris Phelps, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Sleeping Lady Vineyard sports a dense purple hue as well as awesome aromatics of cassis, violets, flowers, and spicy oak. It’s young and unevolved, with medium to full-bodied richness, silky tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. It ranks with the finest wines I’ve tasted from this vineyard. All Cabernet aged 20 months in 70% new French oak, it has two decades or more of prime drinking ahead of it. - Jeb Dunnuck

Learn More

92 Points! Intense cinnamon spice on the nose, together with vibrant aromas of cherry jelly and pressed flowers. Medium-bodied with a graceful attack, firm light tannins and crisp, brilliant and juicy acidity that packs a punch. Overall it’s crunchy in style. Licorice in the aftertaste. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

Learn More

92 Points! A note of green apple mixes with mint leaf and wet stone hints. It impresses further with its mix of tension and elegance. Brisk acidity and tart orchard fruits contrast its creamy wave of fine bubbles. A saline tinge lingers on along with a Granny Smith resonance that keeps the senses salivating as this finishes with excellent length and freshness. This is a fantatsic value. - Eric Guido, Vinous

Learn More

97 Points! Focused herbal, wild black fruit and tobacco nose. The youthful palate is poised and approachable with a soft texture, high tannins and brisk acidity. It has an intensity of flavour in the mouth and an energetic, impressively long, finish. A very accomplished expression of Graciano. The value here is superb! - Decanter World Wine Awards

Learn More

97–98 Points – James Suckling
“A serious Aile d'Argent with sliced green mangoes, pears and green apples. Full-bodied. Framed with phenolics and minerals. Complex and real. A touch of flint and cedar at the end. Super finish. A blend of 63% Sauvignon Blanc, 29% Sémillon, 7% Sauvignon Gris and 1% Muscadelle.”

94–96 Points – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent
“The 2025 Aile d'Argent pops from the glass with vivacious notes of Bosc pears, white peaches, and pink grapefruit, giving way to hints of honeysuckle, orange peel, and beeswax with a touch of jasmine tea. Medium-bodied, the palate is satiny-textured and crisp with intense orchard fruit flavors and a long, fragrant finish. The blend is 63% Sauvignon Blanc, 29% Sémillon, 7% Sauvignon Gris, and 1% Muscadelle. It has a pH of 3.13 and the alcohol is 13.6%. It is due to age in French oak barrels for 9 months, 45% new. No malolactic was performed this year.”

93–95 Points – Jeb Dunnuck
“A blend of 63% Sauvignon Blanc, 29% Sémillon, 7% Sauvignon Gris, and a splash of Muscadelle, the 2025 Château Mouton Rothschild Aile D'Argent Blanc offers bright green citrus, crushed stone, minty herb, and savory aromatics, with an incredibly mineral-driven character. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, with bright, racy acidity and a clean finish. This exotic, complex, perfumed white is going to benefit from a few years in the cellar and I suspect have a long drinking window.”

 

Learn More

92 Points! A well-spiced Champagne, with a subtle underpinning of roasted hazelnut enriching flavors of poached apricot, cherry glâcée, crystallized honey and tangerine peel. A spine of citrusy acidity and a touch of salinity animate the expressive profile through the creamy finish. Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. Drink now through 2030. - Wine Spectator

Learn More

98 Points! Dense aromas of red cherries, bark, mushrooms and plums follow through to a medium body with tangy acidity and juicy flavors. It’s very long and quite chunky, with velvety tannins and a flavorful finish. Savory and tangy at the end. Drinkable now, but better in three or four years, Try after 2028. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! Proprietor Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini has important holdings in this special cru, and if you're after Montosoli, this is one of the best expressions around. Fruit comes from a five-hectare plot with friable galestro soils at a sweet spot perched at 350 meters above sea level. The Altesino 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Montosoli flaunts an especially sharp profile with enhanced minerality and focus. There is wild cherry and dried currant, but ultimately more impactful are the elegant aromas of crushed stone. These give the wine brightness and vertical lift. The mouthfeel is medium- to full-bodied in texture with fine, powdery tannins that are well integrated. It is matured in Slavonian oak casks. You can cellar this wine longer, but you can also enjoy it in the medium term to take advantage of that pretty fruit freshness. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

97 Points! Balsamic flavors of eucalyptus, tomato leaf and mint mingle with cherry, strawberry and rose in this taut, detailed red. On the elegant side, with midpalate presence and vivid acidity. A layer of chalky tannins lines the finish. - Wine Spectator

Learn More

97 Points! A sophisticated and complex red with blackberries, blueberries, sea shells, terra cotta, crushed stone and sea salt. Medium-bodied, savory and juicy on the palate with a creamy yet firm texture. Opens and softens in the end. - JamesSuckling.com 

96+ Points! From silty soils at the estate Jardín Altamira site, the 2021 Malbec Appellation Altamira is another benchmark example of Altamira's distinctiveness. A broad, expansive and expressive bouquet of crystal-clear purple flower aromas bounds from the glass, supported by a rich yet measured bed of black and purple fruits. The palate is both wide and broad, with a laser-focused, tensile core, releasing into a finish that is equally high and refreshing yet deep and grounded. This is all about flowers and textural breadth, sitting lower in the mouth with a pronounced horizontal richness, juxtaposing the equally fantastic Appellation Gualtallary bottling, which exudes a more vertical, stony profile with a distinctly herbal bouquet. Even while attempting to correct for vintage variation, I find the Altamira wine a touch more complete and three-dimensional, but it really is splitting a hair. - Matthew Luczy, robertparker.com

Learn More

97 Points! A sophisticated and complex red with blackberries, blueberries, sea shells, terra cotta, crushed stone and sea salt. Medium-bodied, savory and juicy on the palate with a creamy yet firm texture. Opens and softens in the end. Drink now or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

96+ Points! From silty soils at the estate Jardín Altamira site, the 2021 Malbec Appellation Altamira is another benchmark example of Altamira's distinctiveness. A broad, expansive and expressive bouquet of crystal-clear purple flower aromas bounds from the glass, supported by a rich yet measured bed of black and purple fruits. The palate is both wide and broad, with a laser-focused, tensile core, releasing into a finish that is equally high and refreshing yet deep and grounded. This is all about flowers and textural breadth, sitting lower in the mouth with a pronounced horizontal richness, juxtaposing the equally fantastic Appellation Gualtallary bottling, which exudes a more vertical, stony profile with a distinctly herbal bouquet. Even while attempting to correct for vintage variation, I find the Altamira wine a touch more complete and three-dimensional, but it really is splitting a hair. - Matthew Luczy, robertparker.com

Learn More

Learn More

Learn More

Learn More

Learn More

92+ Points! Not yet released, Amici's 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon is slightly less flattering than the 2022 but more structured. Slightly herbal, sage-like nuances join black cherries on the nose, while the medium- to full-bodied palate finishes firm and dusty with ripe tannins. It needs a bit of time—buy and drink the 2022 in the meantime—but should represent another great value. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

Learn More

91 Points! Readers looking for a delicious, impeccably made Sauvignon Blanc from Napa could do a lot worse than the 2019 Sauvignon Blanc from Amici. This lightly colored white offers textbook notes of white grapefruit, tart lime, and sappy green herbs to go with a medium-bodied, refreshing, yet beautifully balanced style on the palate. Drink bottles over the coming year or two. - Jeb Dunnuck Learn More