Wines

From the winery:

La Antigua Clásico is one of Alberto Orte’s most enduring history projects and shows off an unexplored region of DOCa Rioja, the western mountain range of Sierra de la Demanda. Inspired by the style of winemaking that was popular in the first half of the 20th century, Alberto’s winemaking emphasizes freshness and minerality, leading to balanced, long-lived wines. To that end, he has found old vine Garnacha, Tempranillo and Graciano in Sierra de la Demanda, south of the Ebro river in Rioja Alta. The north-facing, high-altitude vineyards receive far less sunshine than those in the valley, resulting in grapes that ripen slowly, showcasing intense flavors of greater balance and focus. This poses quite a risk that only hands-on viticulture can remedy: this area is one of the last to harvest in all of Western Europe, usually in early November! In addition to the cool climate, Sierra de la Demanda’s vineyards are extremely scattered and steep. This terrain is impossible to mechanize, and all vineyard work must be done by hand. The result is a handcrafted wine of precision and elegance – fresh and beautiful to drink now, with built-in longevity. Learn More

98 Points! The gem of the 2014s is the 2014 Pluribus, which comes from a 7-acre site on Spring Mountain. This incredible wine offers a full-bodied, seamless, perfectly balanced profile as well as heavenly notes of black and blue fruits, white chocolate, and licorice. With a world class texture, fine, fine tannin, and a great finish, it’s a tour de force in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that’s as good as anything out there. - Jeb Dunnuck

97+ Points! Very deep purple-black colored, the 2014 Pluribus offers up notions of crushed black plums, black currant cordial and pencil shavings over a meaty core of chargrill and beef drippings plus hints of Chinese five spice and underbrush. Full-bodied and firmly framed with chewy tannins and a lively backbone, it features plenty of earthy and savory layers, finishing long and minerally. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

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98+ Points! The 2014 Vecina displays a deep garnet-purple color and has a broody, baked blueberries, cassis and anise-laced nose with suggestions of garrigue, dusty earth and bay leaves. Full-bodied, rich, spicy and powerful in the mouth, it offers a lot of latent layers and promises great, great things to come with an incredibly long, layered finish. It needs a bit of time but should cellar beautifully for a good 25 years+. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

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94 Points! The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is creamy and intense, yet retains its classic sense of structure. Inky blue and purplish fruit, smoke, licorice, crème de cassis and dark spices build in a powerful, mountain Cabernet Sauvignon loaded with personality. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

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98 Points! Dark fruit with black cherries, blackcurrants, mineral, and slate undertones. Medium to full body. Racy fine tannins. It’s chewy and driven. This is an undeclared Barca Velha. Superb Douro red. Latour of the Douro. A blend of 42% touriga franca, 34% touriga nacional, 13% tinta roriz, and 11% tinto cao. - JamesSuckling.com,

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94 Points! Coming from a vineyard in the Yountville region near the Kapcsandy estate, this wine is a beauty. A vivid expression of black-fruited Cabernet Sauvignon with terrific purity, a multi-dimensional mouthfeel, an opaque purple color and full-bodied power, the tannins are sweet and the wine large-scaled, rich, pure and well-balanced. Give it another 3-4 years of bottle age and drink it over the following two decades. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

$79.98 at checkout, made by Thomas Rivers-Brown!

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Only $79.98 at checkout, made by Thomas Rivers-Brown, vineyard next door to Kapcsandy!

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The 2014 Château Rayas is a jewel of a wine. Mingling fragrant aromas of orange blossom, crushed rose petals, forest strawberry, raspberry jam, white pepper, dried lavender, melted licorice and verbena tea. It is deeply moving and hauntingly elegant as it expands vertically on the palate. The silky tannins are drop-dead-gorgeous and contribute to a divine mouthfeel that concludes with a complex finish.

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The 2014 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réservé Pignan is gorgeous, though readers are well advised to allow it at least five more years in bottle, or else open it a good 12 hours in advance without decanting. Supremely elegant notes of kirsch, stemmy tones and fresh violets mingle with herbal glimmers on the beguiling nose, immediately signaling a red wine crafted by Emmanuel Reynaud. On the palate, hallmark silky tannins and a firm acidic backbone frame the wine, resulting in a refined Pignan that’s quite unlike the broader-shouldered style it can show in warmer vintages. The 2014 is sheer class and finesse, a red Châteauneuf that anyone fortunate enough to taste even once in their lifetime should not pass up.

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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

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94 Points! Offering up an elegant yet bright bouquet, this 2014 Delamotte Blanc de Blancs opens in the glass with orchard fruits, verbena, lemon zest, pastry, and slightly reductive aromas. Chiselled and perfectly balanced, the palate is lively and intense, and expresses clearly the fruit and the straightforward nature of the 2014 vintage. Should age well for a decade or so. - Yohan Castaing, Decanter Magazine

94+ Points! Linear and focused, the bright straw-colored 2014 Champagne Blanc De Blancs is lifted with mineral aromas of chalky earth and flinty notes followed by green apple, powdery floral aromas, and lime candy. Bright and electric on the palate, its long, fresh spine of acidity propels the wine forward, with mouthwatering saline and a mineral-tinged backbone. A wine that commands attention, it has a fine mousse and is focused and long on the palate, with vibrant citrus. It’s going to have significant longevity over the coming 20 years. It saw 6.5 gram per liter dosage. - Audrey Frick, jebdunnuck.com

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91+ Points! Sourced from the upper part of the vineyard, the 2014 Riesling Grand Cru Hengst Samain is rich, ripe and concentrated on the nose, though still closed. Rich, round and intense on the palate, this is a very firmly structured but also finessed Riesling that indicates an enormous ripeness and power; but it should be aged for another couple of years. Picked at the 9th of October, so a week later than the regular Hengst. - Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com

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95 Points! Even more prodigious is the 2014 LMV Salon. Composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Cabernet Franc from the sandy Bale Loam soils of the 110 acres Larkmead possesses, it is a bigger boy at 14.9% alcohol but shows lots of crushed rock and wet gravel minerality, a beautiful, cedary, blackcurrant nose with notes of forest floor, allspice and soy, with more blackberry on the palate as well as some savory herbs and spice. Hints of licorice also make an appearance in this broad, fleshy, juicy and succulent style of wine meant for drinking now and over the next 20 years. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

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Older Muscadet can take on a lot of the same classic characters as older White Burgundy, sometimes even better... ;-)

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97 Points! A smoking good dessert wine, the 2014 Billet Doux offers stunning notes of ripe quince, honeyed peach, toasted bread, and exotic flowers. It brings loads of richness and depth, yet always has a sense of purity and elegance, as well as lightness on the palate. It’s another gorgeous sweet wine from Morlet that will stand up to some of the great Sauternes out there. - Jeb Dunnuck

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