92 Neal Martin - Vinous Media

The 2019 Lacoste-Borie was impressive as a barrel sample sent to my home last spring. Now in bottle, it has a vivacious, quite floral, almost Margaux-like bouquet that bursts from the glass, featuring raspberry, rooibos and black currant aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with good concentration, a little spicier than I remember and a little softer in the finish, yet with good length and admirable harmony. It should drink nicely after a couple of years. 14.3% alcohol.

91 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Strongly scented, showing blackcurrant and black cherry, with touches of raspberry and other red fruits. Juicy but slightly more creamy and chalky. This is quite dense, not heavy but quite concentrated with a core of bright, high-toned fruit that goes from start to finish.

90 William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2019 Lacoste-Borie is a wine of immense charm. Wafting from the glass with aromas of cassis, licorice and sweet spices, loamy soil and cigar wrapper, it’s medium to full-bodied, fleshy and seamless, with ripe tannins, succulent acids and a round, giving profile.

89 Wine Spectator

Bright and silky, this medium-bodied red features flavors of raspberry tart, blood orange peel and wild sage. Well-spiced, persistent finish. Alfrocheiro Preto, Touriga Nacional and Aragoñez. Drink now. 125,000 cases made, 20,000 cases imported.

91 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Juicy and plummy with chocolate and walnut character. Medium body, round tannins and a savory finish. Drink now.

92 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

A barrel selection of the more approachable wines from the St. Delorce, Temperance Hill, and Gemini vineyards, the 2022 Pinot Noir Provocateur is a stellar value. Medium red, it has a lovely nose, with fresh and spicy aromas of wild brambly raspberries, fresh herbs, roses, forest floor, and just a hint of rustic herbs. Medium-bodied, it has a crunchy, mouthwatering texture and a lovely, juicy finish. it has a very fresh feel throughout and retains a lovely, savory flourish. Drink it over the next 5-7 years.

91 Wine Enthusiast

What's not to love about a reasonably priced, screw-capped Pinot Noir with elevated acidity and restrained alcohol? Sweet raspberry and violets are joined by a fresh, clean scent that's either sunshine or lemon. The wine's raspberry flavor is tarter, with notes of cedar and oatcakes adding interest sitting on a chalky texture.

91 Eric Guido - Vinous Media

The 2022 Pinot Noir Provocateur is moody in the glass, with a savory blend of grilled herbs and undergrowth complicating dried black cherries. Red and blue fruits splash across the palate, energized by zesty acidity as chalky minerals collect toward the close. It finishes with a lasting concentration and gentle tannins, leaving a tinge of sour citrus to linger.

92 Wine Enthusiast

"Full body and powerfully fruity flavors make this sweet wine seem extra bold. It smells like toasted almonds and dried meat and tastes like poached peaches. A smooth but lively texture keeps the flavors zinging on the finish. -JG"

95 Wine Advocate - Wine Advocate

The 2017 Vinhas Velhas de Santa Maria (Quinta de Foz de Arouce) is a Baga aged for 12 months in new French barriques. It comes in at 13.8% alcohol. The "Vinhas Velhas" references vines over 80 years old. It's remarkable how graceful this is, while at the same time aggressive, mouth coating and in perception full-bodied. It's beautifully wrought, another fine performance from this winery and João Portugal Ramos's team (his mother-in-law owns the winery). This will acquire more character and shed the wood as it ages, but it certainly has a fair share of character and complexity now. It should age effortlessly for a couple of decades.

94 Wine Enthusiast

This structured wine, pure Baga, is powerful and densely textured. Black fruits, the spice from wood fermentation and aging and a solid feel, give this wine great richness. Drink this fine wine from 2024

99 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

There’s a purity and beauty to this that impresses you the minute you put your nose in the glass. So aromatic. Flowers, graphite, blackcurrants and hints of gunmetal. Medium- to full-bodied with tannins that coat your mouth but give a feeling of fine cashmere. The length and intensity is calm but rather endless. 45% merlot, 40% cabernet sauvignon,10% cabernet franc and 5% petite verdot. From organically grown grapes. Best after 2028.

98-100 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

One of the finest wines to ever pass my lips, the 2022 Château Cos D'Estournel is a monument in the making. Based on 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 1% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, this saturated ruby/purple-hued Saint-Estèphe offers a full-bodied, massive, opulent style as well as perfumed red, blue, and black fruits, ample spice, chocolate, graphite, and lead pencil-like aromatics, a stacked mid-palate, flawless balance, and a monster of a finish. An improved version of the 2009 (if that's possible), this is a legendary wine in the making. Hats off to Michel Reybier and technical director Dominique Arangoïts.

98-100 Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider

Opaque in color, the wine pops from the glass with black fruits, cloves, cinnamon, blackberries, blueberries, purple flowers, almonds, and smoke. The wine coats, bathes, and covers your palate with seemingly endless layers of opulent, black fruits. The cashmere tannins create the impression of velvet as the wine lingers for 60 seconds or more with its waves of black, blue. and red fruits, dark cocoa, licorice, and Asian spice. There is a seamlessness to the finish, as well as lift, and purity. This is a very hedonistic, yet elegant wine. 2022 clearly competes with the best of vintages of Cos ever produced. The wine was made from blending 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot, and 1% Cabernet Franc. 14.04% ABV, 3.79 pH. The yields were 33 hectoliters per hectare. The harvest took place September 7 to September 23. The Grand Vin was produced from 66% of the harvest. The wine is going to approachable early in its life, yet it has the ability to age for decades. Drink from 2028-2060.

97-99+ Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

The 2022 Cos d'Estournel, composed of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, is deep garnet-purple in color. It needs quite a lot of shaking and swirling to unlock fragrant notes of warm cassis, redcurrant jelly, and black raspberries, leading to hints of rose oil, Indian spices, cedar chest, and sandalwood, plus a touch of crushed rocks. The medium to full-bodied palate is very classic, with a solid backbone of firm, ripe tannins and impressive tension to support the taut, muscular black and red fruit layers, finishing very long and with remarkable purity. pH 3.79, TPI 90.

98-99 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Unique structure to this wine and very Cos with all the spices and dark fruits. Tobacco and cedar. It's starts off full-bodied and flavorful, but continues to unfold in an energetic and weightless way. Savory and primary. Al dente grapes here. Exciting and thought-provoking.

95-97 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2022 Cos d’Estournel is stunning. Rich and statuesque in bearing, the 2022 captures all the best this vintage had to offer. A wine of precision and power, the 2022 balances the intensity of the year but without veering into the realm of the exotic, as was the case in vintages such as 2005 and 2009. It marries ripeness and classical rigor in a style that is quite appealing. I imagine the 2022 will need a good 15-20 years to be at its finest. Harvest took place between September 7 and 23, exceptionally early.

97 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

Inky colour with violet edging, this is full of intense damson, incense, baked plum and black chocolate. A huge quantity of tannins but the texture is velvety, giving a creamy edge to the fruits, with contrast and freshness provided by orange zest and slate. Some of the old Merlot vines on gravel were picked early to tame them but generally the vineyard took the vintage in its stride, and almost 75% of production is in the 1st wine. Harvest September 7 to 23, 33hl/h yield, 90IPT, 50% new oak. Potential upscore in bottle.

97 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Fresh and vibrant blackcurrant aromas with milk chocolate, vanilla and floral scents - so aromatic and expressive. Juicy and alive, bright and vibrant on the palate with soft herbal scents surrounding the fruit. The flavours - blackcurrant, black cherry, damson and orange rind - settle vertically but the firm and textured tannins give the focus, structure and tension. It has liquorice and flint edges all the way giving a savoury touch and clear minerality as well as dark chocolate and clove spice. Refined and serious but also there’s such a delicious juicy undercurrent giving life and energy. Confident winemaking on show, this is a real success in delivering a complete and powerful wine with depth but no heaviness. Totally delicious and moreish. A wine you're going to finish! Potential upscore in bottle. Two-third grand vin production. 2.94 total acidity. 3.79pH. 90 IPT. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend.

93-95 William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2022 Cos d'Estournel unwinds in the glass with aromas of sweet berries, plum liqueur and rich spices, followed by a full-bodied, broad-shouldered and muscular palate that's rich and structured, with a ripe core of fruit and chewy tannins. Harvest dates were relatively early this year, and maturation is occurring in only 50% new oak; yet the 2022's chunky, glass-staining style makes it Ducru Beaucaillou's only rival for the title of most extracted second growth of the Médoc.

97 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

"Subtle and complex aromas of cherries and berries with hints of orange blossoms and terra cotta. Medium-to full-bodied with very fine tannins and a long, persistent finish. Structure with finesse. Drink or hold."

96 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The 2019 Carla 6 is all Sangiovese from one of the most talented winemakers in Tuscany. Giampaolo Motta has found his stride with a variety that was not an instinctive choice for a man so passionate about Bordeaux. This classic vintage is the result of a learning process, with choices that, for example, prize the use of tonneaux over barrique. "Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon need barrique, but Sangiovese reveals its identity with bigger barrels," he tells me. He also underlines that, to him, this wine is "made by the soils, not by the vineyard," a distinction that is subtle but important. This medium to full-bodied expression is velvety in texture with wild fruit, dusty mineral and hints of iron ore. This healthy vintage saw an extended maceration lasting 33 days."

96 Falstaff Magazine

Bright, radiant ruby red colour. On the nose offers initially noble savoury notes, cloves, pepper, as well as ripe wild berries, plus fine balsamic hints, seems very compact. On the palate extremely polished, with a punchy and elegant course, juicy, slightly salty aftertaste, shows nice feel and long finish, with drive on the finish.

93 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

"An open and fragrant Brunello with raspberries, sour cherries, earth, hints of nori, cloves, cumin and peach stones on the nose. Full-bodied with firm yet velvety tannins. Polished oak spice beautifully complementing the fruit. Try from 2023."

92 Eric Guido - Vinous Media

"Podere La Vigna found a lovely balance from the vintage. Uniquely spicy and exotic from the first tilt of the glass, the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino opens up with notes of white pepper, rose petals, crushed rocks and dried black cherry. It’s rich and supple on the palate, with a balsamic tinge to its dark red berries and sweet inner herbal tones. The 2018 finishes structured, yet not achingly so, with a pleasant inner sweetness and a minty freshness that lingers incredibly long."

95 Wine Spectator

This bright, fruity version is intricate and supple in texture, boasting cherry, raspberry, plum, mineral and eucalyptus flavors. Vibrant and well-delineated, with terrific precision and balance as this builds to a lingering aftertaste. Best from 2026 through 2043.