Wines

97 Points! Taking lots of air to show at its best, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a brilliant, classic, age-worthy wine from this great estate. It certainly shows the more structured, vibrant style of the 2018 vintage with lively acids, yet it has utterly classic Cabernet crème de cassis and almost blue fruits as well as Bordeaux-like notes of lead pencil, cedarwood, tobacco, and assorted floral nuances. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it brings rock-solid intensity, perfectly ripe yet building, firm tannins, and again, the vintage's freshness, purity, and elegance. It reminds me of a top Saint-Julien and classic, old school, structured Cabernet that will reward bottle age. It needs 7-8 years to hit maturity (it's approachable today with a healthy decant), and I have no doubt this will be a 30- to 40-year wine. - Jeb Dunnuck

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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

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96 Points! Here's an exciting new submission from Vietti. The 2018 Barolo Cerequio is lovely, sporting a broad and enriched bouquet that paints a panoramic vision of this MGA that straddles the villages of La Morra and Barolo. Despite that wide vision, this wine also excels at showing pinpoint details of wild cherry, crushed stone and black licorice. Cerequio is a wine of latitude and depth. Tight tannins help to stitch it together into a comprehensive whole. Only 4,925 bottles were made in this inaugural release. Congratulations. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

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97+ Points! This is one of my sweetheart wines from Castiglione Falletto. The Vietti 2018 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is beautifully etched and sharp with an especially delineated quality that is uncommon in this vintage. Fruit comes from a small 8,000-square-meter parcel, and like the other wines in this cru series from Vietti, it ages in oak casks for two years. The wine's texture is beautifully smooth and polished thanks to the carefully integrated tannins. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

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97 Points! Really vibrant, with bramble-laced blueberry, blackberry and raspberry compote flavors driving along, while mouthwatering anise, violet and fruitcake accents add detail and sparkle throughout. Finish sports a gorgeous late kick of fruit and spice. Best from 2030 through 2050. - Wine Spectator

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97 Points! Beautiful aromas of currants, blackberries and flowers follow through to a full body with ultra fine tannins that are polished and so long and persistent. Linear and very, very fine, yet structured. Try after 2025, but already very impressive to taste. - JamesSuckling.com

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100 Points! In comparison to the La Mouline, the 2018 Côte Rôtie La Turque shows a darker, more Côte Brune-like character (which is where this is from) in its broody black fruits, scorched earth, smoked meats, graphite, and exotic flowers. As with the other single vineyards in 2018, the purity of fruit is off the charts, it's full-bodied, has incredible tannins, perfect balance, and a finish that won't quit. It shows that classic 2018 ripeness with no sensation of weight or heaviness. It too has some up-front appeal but won't hit maturity for another 7-8 years, if not a decade, and is a 30-year-wine. - Jeb Dunnuck

98-100 Points! Does the scale go higher than 100? Guigal's 2018 Cote Rotie La Turque is a sure candidate for perfection down the road. With more concentration and richness than the aromatic 2017, it seamlessly blends grilled cherries, espresso, black olives and even exotic hints of black truffle into a full-bodied, powerhouse that should drink well for at least two decades. Tasting at Guigal is always one of the highlights of my Northern Rhône trip. Because of the family's breadth of production and hallmark long élevage, it provides a chance to look at several vintages together, along with commentary from the knowledgeable patriarch, Marcel Guigal. This year, I was joined by Marcel, his son Philippe and Jacques Desvernois, hired away from Jaboulet in the summer of 2018, for a five-hour marathon in the chilly cellar beneath the company's headquarters in Ampuis. Despite the cool temperatures, there were smiles all around at the quality of the samples on the table. "Global warming has been fabulous for the Northern Rhône," said Marcel at one point. - Wine Advocate

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98-100 Points! The 2018 Cote Rotie La Mouline is immensely seductive, offering up enticing notes of floral potpourri and red berries on the nose. Those strawberries and raspberries persist onto the full-bodied palate and through the long, lush finish, buoyed by supple, creamy-textured tannins. This is the most complete, compelling vintage of La Mouline I've tasted. - Wine Advocate

99 Points! Just about pure perfection as well as a desert Island wine, the 2018 Côte Rôtie La Mouline comes from a tiny parcel in the Côte Blonde lieu-dit and spent four years in new barrels. Incredible notes of black raspberries, spring flowers, bacon fat, smoked game, violets, and pepper all emerge on the nose. These carry to a full-bodied, round, supple, sexy Côte Rôtie offering ultra-fine tannins, an insane level of purity, no hard edges, and a monster of a finish. As with the other 2018s here, it leads with its fruit and has a supple, ethereal style on the palate... - Jeb Dunnuck

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98+ Points! Just about pure perfection as well as a desert Island wine, the 2018 Côte Rôtie La Mouline comes from a tiny parcel in the Côte Blonde lieu-dit and spent four years in new barrels. Incredible notes of black raspberries, spring flowers, bacon fat, smoked game, violets, and pepper all emerge on the nose. These carry to a full-bodied, round, supple, sexy Côte Rôtie offering ultra-fine tannins, an insane level of purity, no hard edges, and a monster of a finish. As with the other 2018s here, it leads with its fruit and has a supple, ethereal style on the palate. - Jeb Dunnuck

98-100 Points!  Subtle hints of fresh pea shoots accent characteristic dark notes of roasted meat, espresso and black olives in the full-bodied 2018 Cote Rotie La Landonne. Rich, concentrated and velvety-textured, with ample length and plenty of ripe tannins on the finish, it should benefit from a decade or more of bottle age—once it gets there. It's a brooding beast of a Cote Rotie that serious collectors will want to have in their cellars. - Wine Advocate

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97+ Points! The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Featuring a deep garnet-purple color, it sashays out of the glass with gregarious notions of baked plums, warm cassis and blueberry compote with suggestions of kirsch, dusty soil and Indian spices. The palate is full-bodied and laden with bright, lively, energetic black fruits, supported with firm, super ripe tannins and finishing on a persistent exotic spice note.  - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

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97 Points! Intense aromas of black fruit, cocoa powder, black olives, dried violets, tar and cigar box. Some black peppercorn, too. It’s full-bodied with firm, chalky tannins. Incredible intensity and purity of fruit with gorgeous breadth and depth. Superb, new-wave Napa red. 80% cabernet sauvignon, the rest mostly cabernet franc with a hit of petit verdot. Try from 2025. - JamesSuckling.com

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99 Points! Coming from 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc brought up in 60% new French oak, the 2018 Château Pape Clement from Bernard Magrez is a gorgeous wine that's performing even better from bottle than barrel, which is always a good sign. Deep ruby/purple, with stunning crème de cassis and blackberry fruits as well as kaleidoscope-like notes of graphite, scorched earth, smoke, violets, and spring flowers, it offers full-bodied richness yet stays light on its feet, graceful, and almost ethereal on the palate, with integrated acidity and building yet seamless tannins. The Cabernet Sauvignon really sings at this point, and there's almost a Médoc-like regalness here. Reminding me of a slightly more elegant 2005 (it also has similarities to the 2016), it will benefit from 4-6 years in the cellar and keep for 30+ years. - Jeb Dunnuck

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97 Points! This is really fine with such polished and manicured fruit and tannins that deliver a thoroughly refined and beautiful palate with sweet dark fruit, from currants to blackberries. Long, long finish. Hard not to drink now. But one for the cellar. Try after 2025. - JamesSuckling.com

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WS Top 100 2021 #45

97 Points! Juicy and muscular, with a ball of plum paste, warmed fig compote and black currant reduction flavors that need time to unwind. Ample graphite- and bramble-accented grip underscores the fruit on the finish, while a ganache note finds room to strut its stuff in the end. Should be one of the longer-lived wines of the vintage. Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Cão, Sousão and Tinta Roriz. Best from 2030 through 2055. - Wine Spectator

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97 Points! The site-specific 2018 Malbec Appellation Gualtallary comes from specific soils, two plots that they believe transmit the maximum expression of limestone to Malbec, giving a structured wine with fine-grained tannins but a little wild. The vines are on stony and gravelly soils with a high percentage of limestone and sand with around 3% clay at 1,300 meters in altitude. The grapes fermented in small concrete vats with indigenous yeasts at some 25 degrees Celsius for 15 days. It matured in untoasted 3,500-liter French oak foudres for 18 months and no less than 12 months in bottle. This comes from sandy soils and very low yields that give it chalkier tannins and a savage way. This has a slightly rustic touch, vertical and with some lightness. There's always a fresh touch of aromatic herbs (thyme and rockrose), with a textured palate and very tasty and clean flavors in the finish. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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Thomas Rivers Brown in the house! 97 Points! The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Lakeview Vineyard is fabulous. Silky and elegant, the Lakeview captures a striking contrast of brightness, structure and depth. Here, the flavors are distinctly red-fruited leaning. In 2018, the Lakeview has tremendous freshness, something that has not often been the case with these wines. Blood orange, mocha, chocolate, spice and cedar linger effortlessly. The 2018 is a total stunner. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media Learn More

100 Points! This great estate in southern Pauillac, facing the Latour vineyard, is at the top of its game. In this release, the tannins are as impressive and dense as the black fruits. Together they form a harmonious ensemble, richly structured, concentrated from the many old vines in the blend, and very ageworthy. - Wine Enthusiast

97+ Points! A beautiful, majestic Pauillac that reminds me a little of the 2000, the 2018 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron checks in as 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Merlot that was brought up in 80% new French oak. It shows the estate's more pure Cabernet, focused, elegant style yet offers full-bodied richness and serious depth of fruit as well as awesome notes of crème de cassis, graphite, lead pencil shavings, tobacco, and wet stone-like minerality. With building tannins, a fresh, focused texture, and a great finish, it's not for those looking for instant gratification, and I suspect it will need a solid decade or more of cellaring, but it will evolve for 50 years or more. It's a profound 2018. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com

 

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97+ Points! Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 La Mondotte strolls nonchalantly out of the glass with expressive scents of plum preserves, blueberry compote and chocolate-covered cherries, followed by suggestions of candied violets, licorice, hoisin and black truffles with a waft of ground cloves. It's medium to full-bodied with seriously impressive tension and wonderfully ripe, velvety tannins supporting the generous black fruit preserves layers, finishing with amazing length and loads of panache. It will require a good 4-5 years to unlock some of its finer nuances, then drink this powerhouse over the next 25+ years. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

98 Points! Blackberry, plum, mushroom and wood undertones. It’s full-bodied with firm, ripe tannins. Savory and fleshy texture on the palate. Well balanced. Flavorful finish with length. Such polish and composure for a young wine. So classy! Try after 2026. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com

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