95 Wine Enthusiast

This is structured, complex, dense and lengthy, a celebration of dark berry fruit that is layered and velvety smooth on the palate. Tobacco, oak and dried herb accent it with ease, complementing and contrasting in myriad ways and landing on a sophisticated finish.

95 Wine Enthusiast

This is structured, complex, dense and lengthy, a celebration of dark berry fruit that is ayered and velvety smooth on the palate. Tobacco, oak and dried herb accent it with ease, complementing and contrasting in myriad ways and landing on a sophisticated finish.

100 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The 2018 Château Larcis Ducasse checks in as 89% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc that comes from a gorgeous hillside terroir on the Côte Pavie, located between Château Pavie and Château Bellefont-Belcier. Aged 18 months in 60% new barrels, it offers a truly sensational bouquet of ripe blackcurrants, espresso roast, scorched earth, bloody meat, chocolate, iron, and bouquet garni. A massive, super-rich Saint-Emilion with a dense, concentrated, layered mouthfeel, it has building yet sweet tannins and incredible purity of fruit. Reminding me of the 2005 shortly after release, this heavenly juice offers astonishing richness and depth while staying flawlessly balanced and elegant. Sadly, there are less than 3,000 cases produced, but this monumental, legendary wine won't hit maturity for a good 8-10 years and will have 40-50 years of longevity if well stored. Hats off to Nicolas Thienpont and consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt for producing one of the wines of the vintage as well as one of the greatest young Bordeaux I've ever tasted.

95 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

One of three single-vineyard wines released by Le Ragnaie, the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Casanovina Montosoli reveals fresh and saturated fruit flavors of dark cherry, pressed blueberry and mild spice. You feel the soft richness of ripe fruit. You also feel a distinctive mineral signature with chalky crushed stone that adds to the dryness and powdery tannins of this wine. Despite all that, there is a lingering sweet cherry note on the close. It needs a few more years to flesh out. The wine ages in both cement and large oak botte.

97+ Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The best vintages of Solaia are 1990, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and now 2013. Marchesi Antinori's 2013 Solaia is a profound and meaningful wine that is based mostly on Cabernet Sauvignon with Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc in supporting roles. It sports a dark and thick texture with plump fruit and spice, grilled herb and black pepper. The bouquet is intense and layered with the kind of complexity that is best admired as the wine shifts and evolves in the glass. The textual impact is also impressive—you feel the inherent power and the structure, but these elements are never overdone. The best is yet to come; this Solaia is built for long cellar aging.

95 Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The next bottling after the number 93 is the NV La Bota de Manzanilla 113, which has strong green olive and brine aromas, but it's going for a fresher style and profile, austere and dry and still aged seven years or so under flor. The palate is super dry and long. This is the follow-up to edition 93 that started this new path of more freshness and drinkability but respecting the authenticity of the wines. This is a bit tight, possibly because of the recent bottling. 5,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2022."

93 Luca Maroni - Annuario dei Migliori Vini Italiani

The pure Monastrell 2016 Elo was produced with vines from Yecla at 770 meters in altitude on limestone-rich soils. It's the fruit of a single ungrafted plot that was planted in 1973. 2016 was a rainier year, more continental than the Mediterranean 2015. The clusters fermented in stainless steel pools for 28 days, and the bunches were foot trodden twice per day. The wine matured in 500-liter French oak barrels for one year and a further year in bottle. It's ripe without excess and shows varietal aromas, a bit of tree bark, wild berries and aromatic herbs. The palate is medium to full-bodied and reveals fine, slightly grainy tannins. 2,300 bottles were filled in January 2019.

95 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Captivating aromas of roses, cherries, strawberries and fresh oranges. Medium to full body with extremely fine tannins that run the length of the wine. Succulent and extremely long and persistent. Such class. Drinkable but better in two or three years.

94 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

In a heavy glass bottle, the 2019 Barolo Cannubi shows notes of dried fruit and redcurrant over a mid-weight, dark ruby appearance. This expression from the celebrated Cannubi cru (with its classic mix of sand, loam and clay) also shows a mineral-driven side with rusty nail and baked clay. There are savory hints of black licorice and crushed rose as well. The effect is long, polished and drying in this bigger production of 35,000 bottles.

91 Wine Enthusiast

Appealing aromas of peach, melon, lemon and lavender water are joined by the clean scent of laundry drying on the clothesline. Then an illuminating burst of acidity guides flavors like peaches, green apples and fresh-grated ginger. This wine is destined to cut through fat, so menu pan accordingly.

93 Tastings.com (Beverage Testing Institute)

Silvery salmon orange pink color. Vibrant aromas of fresh cranberry sauce with a tangy, fruity sweet medium-to-full body and a long honeyed cranberry, green apple skin, and delicate spice finish. A delicious, very approachable cranberry wine with great intensity and purity of flavor. (tasted on Dec-09-2013)