95 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon from Casa Piena is done in a very different style from the past. The combination of a cooler vintage and picking at lower sugars yields a vibrant, energetic Cabernet Sauvignon. Floral and savory notes give the 2018 a striking aromatic top register to play off the red-toned fruit. This silky, mid-weight Cabernet represents a pretty big stylistic departure. I hope to have a chance to revist the 2018 in a number of years to see how it has aged. Readers will find a Cabernet of grace and finesse.

98 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

"This is powerful and very rich with blueberries, flowers and hints of spices. Full body with velvety tannins and ripe fruits. Very beautiful and generous but not overdone. Superb. "

97 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"I'm not sure how anyone can resist a wine like the 2009 Amarone della Valpolicellla Monte Lodoletta. It would be impossible to exaggerate the enormity of this wine. Romano Dal Forno has his critics, of course: Some people find his wines exaggerated and too big to drink. They have a point, but you can not doubt the sheer quality of winemaking that goes behind this monumental wine. Dal Forno's Amarone is a message of optimism that speaks to the infinite possibilities that can be achieved with a simple fruit like the grape. The decadent and layered bouquet offers slow pulses of black fruit, tar, teriyaki, mesquite and prune. The wine wraps like a thick blanket over the palate. This beautiful bottle should be aged ten more years."

95 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

"The 2009 Amarone della Valpolicella is one of the most sexy, open-knit young Dal Forno Amarones I can remember tasting. An enticing mélange of mocha, black cherry, bittersweet chocolate and leather captivates the senses. Incredibly open today, the 2009 can be enjoyed with minimal cellaring or aged for twenty years, perhaps beyond. Although the 2009 doesn't quite reach the heights of the truly epic vintages here, it comes very close and will provide considerable pleasure sooner than many of those wines. I don't think I have ever tasted a young Dal Forno Amarone with this much allure."

92 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Gooseberries, lime zest, lemongrass and mango pits on the nose. Deliciously fruity and bright but not loud, with a medium body and wonderful freshness to balance. From organically grown grapes. Drink now. Glass stopper.

97 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Exquisite aromas of lavender, cigar ash and Spanish cedar with dried citrus follow through to a medium body and a solid palate with powerful, ultrafine and linear tannins. The muscle and long finish are so beautiful. Give it two or three years but already a solid wine. Drink after 2028.

93 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2020 Pinot Noir Knox Alexander is a barrel selection of Santa Maria sites, mostly from Bien Nacido, that spent two years in 100% new French oak. This is an especially floral, lifted style with a fair amount of stems and plenty of Santa Maria savoriness. It's an eccentric wine, but all the elements are nicely balanced. Orange peel, mint, star anise and bright acids linger on the delicate yet persistent finish.

95 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Wild-strawberry, blackberry and blueberry aromas with some spices and herbs. It’s full-bodied with a balance of firm yet elegant tannins. The savory mid-palate leads to a clean finale with serious length. Hard not to drink this now, but it needs four or five years to show its true excellence. Second wine of Angelus. Try after 2025.

94 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

An excellent vintage at this St Emilion First Growth, but the main wine is nowhere near ready to approach. I suggest looking instead at the second wine, Le Carillon d'Angélus. Expect stewed spiced plums, raspbery and black cherry fleshy fruits, and a ton of smoked earth, liqourice and slate. Still young at three years old, this will deliver already with a good few hours in a carafe but there is no rush to open. 50% new oak. The first vintage that includes the newly-expanded vineyard footprint, with plots in St Christophe de Bardes and a large area near Cheval Blanc and Figeac.

93 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

I loved the 2018 Carillon D'Angélus. This Merlot-dominated blend (there's 15% Cabernet Franc) offers a healthy ruby/purple color as well as a complex, smoky bouquet of ripe black fruits, graphite, tobacco, and a kiss of earth. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and beautifully balanced, it has a sexy, seamless texture, polished tannins, and the class to drink nicely for 15 years or more.

93 Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The eponymous 2023 Branco, a 50/50 blend of Arinto and Roupeiro from dry-farmed vines planted in 2008 on granite soils, finished fermenting in 2,000-liter Austrian foudres, where it matured for 12 months with the lees. It comes in with a serious and elegant profile, good ripeness, 13% alcohol and very good freshness. It's balanced, fresh, very clean, elegant and tasty. It should develop nicely in bottle. 5,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in October 2024.

99 Kerin O'Keefe - kerinokeefe.com

Guido Porro nailed the 2021 vintage as all the firm's Barolos demonstrate, especially the compelling Vigna Rionda. Still youthfully austere with racy tension, the structured, elegant palate delivers red cherry, strawberry compote, nutmeg and licorice set against a backbone of close-grained, velvety tannins. Bright acidity keeps it balanced and energized. An incredible showing. Drink 2036–2051.

97 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2021 Barolo Vignarionda is a total knockout. Crushed rose petal, kirsch, mint, blood orange, sweet spice and candy are all beautifully lifted. This is the first Porro Rionda that captures the haunting inner perfume, the sweetness, the finesse that are all at the heart of what makes Rionda one of the very top sites in Barolo. Readers will find a wine of beguiling complexity and class.

90 Wine Spectator

Offers a lovely mix of ripe peach, apricot and orange blossom notes that are effusive, juicy and decidedly drinkable on a plump frame. Details of ripe pear, melon and dried ginger linger on the finish effortlessly alongside a hint of white tea. Chenin Blanc and Viognier. Drink now. 180,000 cases made.

94-96 Antonio Galloni - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The 2010 Nuits St. Georges Les Vaucrains is one of the more delicate wines next to some of the other 2010s. It shows gorgeous fleshiness in its layers of dark red fruit, spices and flowers. The Vaucrains is all about textural elegance and volume. The sensual finish makes this very hard to spit. Today the Vaucrains comes across as silkier and more finessed than the St. Georges, suggesting it may come around a bit earlier. That may also just be wishful thinking on my part. We will see. This is another breathtaking wine from the Chevillon brothers.

96 John Gilman - View from the Cellar

The 2010 Chevillon Vaucrains is another brilliant wine in the making. The deep, youthful and very sappy nose soars from the glass in a blaze of black cherries, pomegranate, nutskins, incipient notes of game, a stunningly complex base of soil, woodsmoke, fresh herbs and new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and complex, with a great core of fruit, seamless balance, substantial and very fine-grained tannins and magical length and grip on the still very primary finish. A great, great wine.

94 Allen Meadows - Burghound

"This is fantastically complex with a kaleidoscopically broad-ranging nose of markedly ripe dark berry fruit, earth and sauvage hints. The palate impression is classic Vaucrains with its rich, full-bodied, intense and overtly robust flavors that culminate in a hugely long yet quite finely balanced finish. This is indisputably a big wine but one that stops short of being forbidding as the copious dry extract buffers the explicitly firm supporting tannins. Still, this strikingly good effort is clearly going to require an extended cellar snooze. In a word, marvelous."

91 Yohan Castaing - Robert Parker's the Wine Advocate

A blend of 50% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 15% Meunier, the 2018 Extra-Brut displays a bright, perfumed bouquet with aromas of blanched almond, fresh bread, spring flower, menthol and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, elegant and seamless, it’s vinous with bright acids and a lingering, saline finish. Il should age well over the next five to eight years.

98 Kerin O'Keefe - kerinokeefe.com

Showing structure, class, finesse and focus, the gorgeous 2019 Vigna Rionda from Guido Porro is a show stopper. On the delicious palate, notes of cinnamon, star anise, truffle and saline accent a juicy raspberry core. Firm, refined tannins and bright acidity keep balanced and energized. Drink 2029–2049.

91 Decanter

A captivating nose full of rich, heady scents - deep ripe black fruit with lovely clarity and purity to the aromas. Cystalline but definitely intensely perfumed and black fruited. Smooth and supple on the palate with good persistence and finesse. A blend of 50/50 Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot this has quite an intense flavour of bramble berries, cherries and ripe strawberries but with perfectly integrated tannins. This has a sense of class. Let it breathe and serve slightly chilled. Surprisingly accessible now but will continue to age. Hedonistic flavours but with a light touch and juicy acidity with a chalky slightly warming finish alongside mint, liquorice and tobacco spice. Clearly well made. Aged for 12 months, 25% new oak, 75% one year.