Wines

92 Points! The 2021 Dogliani Superiore Siri D'Jermu takes on a bit more pigment and pours a rich purple. It is flush with fresh herbs, black plum, and menthol and is full-bodied but not heavy, with notes of black cherry, turned soil, and cracked pepper. It is more structured as well, with ripe tannins. Drink 2024-2030. - Audrey Frick, jebdunnuck.com

93 Points! The Duemani 2021 Cabernet Franc CiFRA is an entry-level wine that punches above its weight class (and its price point). This organic and biodynamic wine reveals dark, purplish fruit with a soft texture and velvety quality. It is layered with fresh blackberry, plum and tobacco, but the energy of the primary fruit is what stands out in this classic vintage. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

Founded directly above the San Andreas Fault, DeRose Vineyards is located in one of the most active earthquake areasin the World. Furthermore, it is one of only a few wineries anywhere to have a major fissure dissecting its wine cellars. DeRose has vineyards on both sides of the infamous fault. Soils east of the break contain fragmented granite and crumbled sandstone while those on the west side are mostly granite and limestone. Some blocks lie precisely above the line, their tilled surfaces concealing the fissure far below. Cabernet Franc grows east of the fault in loosely packed loam where the drainage is excellent.

A temperamental grape variety in many locations, Cabernet Franc thrives on the DeRose estate, creating heavily extracted wines with wonderful viscosity. Winemaker Pat DeRose prunes each vine in the winter and later exposes the grapes to beneficial sunlight with careful leaf removal. Clusters are thinned after veraison to attain proper vine balance.

95 Points! The 2021 Dominio de Anza Selección de Parcelas goes back to the elegance, perfume and refinement of the wines from 2018 and 2019—floral and clean. It comes from multiple places in different villages, all vinified separately in a year he found to be marked by the rain during the harvest. This has very good freshness. He used more full clusters this year, and the élevage was in 500-liter barrels and oak foudres. It's very attractive and easy to drink. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

92 Points! Based on 81% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Malbec, the 2021 Cabernet Franc sports a vivid purple hue to go with impressive aromatics of cassis, black raspberries, spring flowers, and chocolaty oak. It's medium-bodied and has a supple, elegant mouthfeel, fine tannins, and a great finish. A beautiful wine, it might even be better in another year or two as it integrates its oak. Regardless, it's a terrific value that I'd happily drink any time over the coming 8-10 years. - Jeb Dunnuck

92 Points! A rich and fruity cabernet franc with creamy berries, vanilla and sweet oak spices on the nose. Medium body with plush tannins. Creamy berries and mocha on the palate with dried herbs and cedar in the finish. Try after 2025. - JamesSuckling.com

From the importer: Originating from vines planted on clay and chalk (tuffeau) soil, this wine offers the distinctive character of Cabernet Franc: deep and bright ruby color, fine aromas of red fruits (red current, cherry) and floral subtleties (violet, iris), fine and velvety tannin, with a fresh and balanced finish. Best served below room temperature (14 to 16º C), Clos des Cordeliers Cuvée Tradition is at its prime when young and is the perfect companion for cold meats, roasted meats, grilled fish and cheese.

From the importer: The most important wine of the estate, the Dolcetto for the top wine is sourced from parcels found in prime positions, as well as the oldest vines of the estate.  The 7-year wait from harvest to release reflects the importance of the “San Fereolo” to Nicoletta, who carefully tends the wine through its 3 years in large barrel before a 3-4 year hibernation in the bottle cellar.  Our spring 2015 tasting of each vintage from 2001 to 2008 revealed a consistent vein of dense, warm fruit, which spoke of the Langhe source.  Fresh mineral notes, mint, licorice and savory elements permeated each expression, while a lively freshness was alive in every wine, including the 14-year old 2001 vintage.

From the importer: Nicoletta Bocca is known as a maverick for her ultra-long aged Langhe cuvées, among the finest in the entire region. “Valdibà” is her youthful expression of the Dogliani DOCG, made all in steel cuve, which shows in the fresh brightness of the wine. Nicoletta considers this to be classical Dolcetto, striking all of the notes one would expect from the variety, with a confident tannic backbone. From southeast and northwest-facing vines in the Barracone and San Fereolo vineyards in the Valdibà subsection of Dogliani.

92 Points! The 2021 O Estranxeiro is a Mencía from the village of A Cova, different plots fermented in concrete, chestnut and oak and matured in those components for seven months. It has a medium-bodied palate and a moderate 12.5% alcohol and mellow acidity. It has a soft texture and a juicy mouthfeel, with clean and precise flavors, not terribly complex but very pleasant. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! Sweet tobacco, currants and white pepper here, with a red-chili note. Medium-to full-bodied with seamless, ripe tannins on the palate. Flavorful, yet elegant. Extremely well made. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

A star is born! From the importer: Daniele’s Dolcetto style is led by sweet, bright, and rich floral aromas of an expansive and sunny field of flowers in bloom after a spring rain. Red fruit charges second, though not blaring fruit like a lower-altitude sandy soil Fleurie or Morgon. Spice is third: think Brouilly/Côte de Brouilly/Marsannay. The fourth, which seems an inevitable part of every Dolcetto, is its earthy, savory components that begin their journey in the caboose but saunter their way to first-class. Their west-facing, eye-watering, hazy Piemontese sunset, high-altitude Dolcetto vineyard buffers the cool Alpine gusts before they charge over Novello and down into the belly of Barolo. We often speak of the predominance of soil elements in the terroir, but this mountain-fresh Zephyrian wind imparts the tension Daniele captures in the latest version of Dolcetto. On day two, it loses nothing. Rather it gains in suppleness and filigree texture, remaining as good, if not better, than its stunning first hours open.

Sourced from 2.2 hectares in different vineyards in Serralunga d’Alba, at altitudes of 370-400m. The oldest vines date back to 1965, while the youngest were planted in 2006.

93 Points! Against all odds, the 2020 Cabernet Franc, from a warm and dry year, feels fresher and more harmonious than the two other vintages I tasted next to it, the cooler 2019 and 2021. It contains some 10% Malbec that fermented together with the Cabernet Franc, which feels very integrated and softened the tannins that feel velvety but without losing grip. It spent 15 months in ancient oak foudres, and the oak feels very integrated. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93 Points! There's a little more ripeness and concentration in the 2020 Parajes, which matured in well-seasoned (at least fourth use) barriques and a 5,000-liter oak foudre. It's a little rounder and creamier, a more powerful wine (it was bottled 15 days before I tasted it) with a nice Bierzo character. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The 2018 Cabernet Franc Family, aged in 25% new oak (Vicard and Mercurey cooperages) for 18 months, easily possesses the finest nose of the three Cabernet Francs that I tasted from Raats, with soaring red berry fruit laced with bell pepper, powdered dark chocolate and gravel. The fresh, vibrant palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins, fine acidity and a very precise and sustained finish. This is an outstanding Cabernet Franc. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

Benoît et Celine Blet cultivate 10 hectares of biodynamically farmed vineyards in Oiron (département Deux-Sèvres in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, about 50 kilometers south of Saumur) that are planted with Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc and Gamay de Bouze. The domaine was founded in 2004, and I am always blown away by the huge personality of the wines that will be even finer and more complex after some years in the bottle. This is one of my favorite Loire producers, but unfortunately, I have never managed to visit the domaine. - Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com

97 Points! I love the 2021 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana, where they use the westernmost part of the vineyard with more sand in the soils, mostly north facing. It's a wine with a floral nose that is aromatic and perfumed, elegant but with clout, with concentration and power. They have been picking earlier and earlier, lowering the alcohol, and they feel more comfortable below 13%; they removed the rusticity and extraction, and the wine is more elegant than ever. It reminds me of the 2018, with similar a profile of freshness. They produced around 5,000 liters from the one+ hectare they have here. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com