98 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

"Aromas of blackcurrants and black cherries with hints of crushed walnuts, grilled thyme, cocoa powder and graphite. It’s full-bodied with layers of ultra-fine, silky tannins that elegantly coat your palate, allowing the juicy and vibrant fruit to shine. Delicate and pristine, yet compact with lots of energy and power to uncover in the coming years. It lasts for minutes and is delicious now. The purity of fruit is really impressive. 60% cabernet sauvignon, 32% merlot, 4% cabernet franc and 4% petit verdot. 50% new oak 15% old oak and 35% concrete amphorae. Try after 2027."

97+ Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The flagship from this estate, the 2020 Château Pontet-Canet is a beauty based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, and 4% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, brought up in 50% new oak, with 35% in amphora. Deep purple-hued with a great nose of dark currants, plums, tobacco leaf, and truffly earth, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a layered, seamless mouthfeel and a great finish. The higher Merlot content here really shows in its overall sexy, supple, seamless style, and while this already offers pleasure, it's going to be one for the ages as well.

97 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Dark chocolate, bramble tones, not overly floral or fruity with some cedar and cinnamon notes. Lovely high acidity straight away, forward, bright and energetic with lovely crunchy blue fruit on the palate but creamy textured tannins giving a round and complete mouthful. Nothing feels overdone, this is quietly seductive and confident but not at all showing off. I love the minerality and the graphite grip with plum and black cherry and tons of slate, liquorice and menthol freshness. Long finish, slowly expansive, building and growing from start to finish showing an impressive structure overall. Nicely constructed, charming still with the Pauillac touch. A great Pontet - immediately seductive and enjoyable with a long ageing potential.

97 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

Composed of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Pontet-Canet is deep garnet-purple colored. It needs a lot of swirling and aeration to coax out notes of crushed blackcurrants, blueberry compote, and candied violets, leading to suggestions of allspice, fertile loam, kirsch, and dark chocolate with a touch of Indian spices. The medium-bodied palate delivers a firm backbone of grainy tannins with loads of bright, perfumed red and black fruits and seamless acidity, finishing long and fragrant. This is stunning.

97 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

A powerful character to this wine, touch of oyster shell, soy, salinity, but also creamy with energy, lift and precision, and a violet character that you find increasingly in Pontet Canet. Plenty of Pauillac signature in its tannic grip and heft, with cocoa bean and slate. Deft and exceptionally successful. Harvest September 14 to September 30. No second wine, as has been true for the past half-decade at Pontet Canet. First full vintage for Mathieu Bessonnet who replaced the previous long-term director Jean-Michel Comme in 2020. 45% new oak barrels, 15% one year, 40% in amphoras.

97 Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider

With a nose that displays truffle, tobacco leaf, cedar, licorice, and black currants, the wine is soft, fresh, refined, and focuses you on its cassis, blackberry, earth, spice, and peppery herb character. There are no hard edges in the finish, just soft, vibrant currants, herbs, and spice. The wine is a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. 13% ABV, pH 3.8. The wine is aged in 45% new, French oak barrels and amphora. The harvest took place September 14, to September 30. Drink from 2026-2055

94 Decanter

Jason Miller "This is undoubtedly southern stuff: rugged, less straightforward, always moving slightly out of focus, elusive but engaging. Sometimes we write that a wine tastes of lemons because it tastes vaguely like our idea of a lemon, but COS Pithos tastes more like a real, properly ripe southern Italian lemon – leaf attached, ridged and heavy, concealing its thick white inner pith. It unfurls flavours of ripe quince and bitter chicory with the barky, almost medicinal drag of quinine on the palate. It’s clean but wild, primal even; the sort of thing that may cause hesitation as you wonder if this is really what wine should taste like when you’ve only ever had screwcapped Pinot Grigio. The variety in question, known here as Grecanico, is none other than Soave Classico’s Garganega – but there is no way you could tell.” 10.5%

97 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

While billed as an entry level/second wine of the estate, the 2021 Asterisk is anything but, and it's a killer wine. Based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot brought up in a mix of new and used oak, it has a deep ruby hue as well as a classic Sloan nose of meaty red and black fruits, iron, roasted herbs, graphite, and licorice. This Pauillac-like full-bodied, concentrated effort has ample mid-palate depth, supple tannins, and a great finish.

96 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon (Mt. Veeder) is superb. It captures tons of Veeder character in its savory/mineral intensity and dark fruit. Purplish fruit, blood orange, pomegranate, dried herbs, mint and wild flowers all build as this potent, driving, vivid Cabernet builds in the glass. This is lights out.

94 Billy Norris - Vinous Media

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is in its infancy today, but it’s absolutely seductive and sizzling, stacked floor to ceiling with intriguing layers that just need some time to coalesce. Cooling mint, black raspberry, juniper, leather and high-percentage dark chocolate open gradually, unfurling into a soft-textured, caressing, broad wine of sheer class. Oak is very much at the forefront for now, but the juicy freshness and old-school/new-school juxtaposition are really appealing. The 2021 is certainly not short on pure, clear fruit. Give this a couple of years to settle into itself.

91 Wine Enthusiast

Vibrant aromas of juicy red cherries, wild berries and a hint of sun-warmed earth burst from the glass. Bright acidity and supple tannins frame the ripe fruit flavors, with a subtle undercurrent of spice. A joyful expression of organic viticulture from the picturesque Marche hills between sea and land.

91 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Very minerally and aromatic, with candied lemon zest, guavas and gun smoke on the nose. The palate is light- to medium-bodied with electric acidity, underlying power and notes of fresh pineapple, lemon peel and river stones. Fresh and energetic. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

95 Decanter

"Absorbing herbal cassis, tobacco and mocha notes trail from the nose and linger over the stately oak-led structure. Long and engaging and full of well-honed varietal character."

94 Wine Enthusiast

"This is an attractive Sancerre. Aromas of bread dough, muddled bosc pear, and golden apple charm the nose along with orange zest and baby's breath. The palate is well-integrated with orchard fruit shining through supported by crushed stones and chalk-dusted acidity that refreshes. -RS"

91 Eric Guido - Vinous Media

"The 2018 Etna Rosso Contrada Crasà pulls me close with depths of ashen stone, crushed black cherries and dried roses. This is silky and pliant in feel, with mineral-tinged red berries and zesty acidity that build a reverberation of tension with each sip. It leaves a coating of grippy tannins through the finale, while maintaining admirable freshness. As pretty as the Crasà Contrada is today, the best is surely yet to come."

97 Erin Larkin - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2023 Little Branch Grenache is floral and ultra fine—the tannins sit through the middle and the back of the fruit and drag out through the fine finish. The fruit leads with Boscobel rose, green tea, petrichor and wet asphalt (although they may in fact draw from the same thing, they feel necessary to outline individually). I tasted this 2023 alongside the 2022, and the two have clear identities and are different, yet they are cut from the same cloth. The 2022 is silkier and more supple, with great depth and complexity; the 2023 is lacier, more diaphanous and very perfumed, and both are very long. The vineyard DNA is clear, while the vintage conditions have extracted different characters. They are both excellent wines. They are collectible in the extreme, but magnificent to drink today. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

97 James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion

“Such transparency allied with depth, the tannins expansive, authoritative, sandy, refined, natural. Pressed rose, dried cranberry, sour cherry, umeboshi, warm terracotta, mace, freshly ground cinnamon, a hint of musk, the explosive perfume on the palate utterly compelling, the finish relentless. Stunning.”

92 Wine Enthusiast

Black fruit and vanilla aromas set the scene for this dense wine. There are firm tannins in this mature wine, combined with mushroom and spice flavors. Drink now. — Roger Voss

92 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

A well-balanced, seductive and lively red with aromas of forest berries, red currants, warm herbs and some crushed peppercorns. It’s medium-bodied with fine tannins. Juicy berry character with a lift of spices bringing energy and vitality on the palate and onto the tactile finish. Drink now.

91 Wine Enthusiast

Aromas of black cherry, pomegranate, fresh figs and top soil create a nose that's tangy, but with depth. Blackberries headline the palate, while undertones of dark chocolate and more earth provide balance. Tannins are firm yet flexible, and acid is vibrant.

91 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2022 Chianti Classico Berardenga is superb. Rich and deep yet also quite translucent, the 2022 is an archetype of Castelnuovo Berardenga. Black cherry, leather, spice, tobacco, menthol and dried herbs inform this potent, super-classic Chianti Classico. This is beautifully done, especially for the year.

90 Wine Spectator

Walking the line between cherry and berry flavors and earth and iron notes, this red is bright and juicy midpalate, firming up on the long finish. Balanced overall, needing a year to knit together. Best from 2026 through 2033. 22,000 cases made, 6,500 cases imported.

93 Erin Brooks - Robert Parker's the Wine Advocate

The 2023 Chardonnay Wester Reach is blended from several vineyards including Flax, El Diablo and Heintz. Grapes were harvested September 14 to October 14, and the wine was matured for 11 months in 27% new French oak barrels, followed by four months in tank. It has enveloping aromas of peach, lemon peel, custard, toast and matchstick. The full-bodied palate is satiny and mouth-coating with concentrated flavors. It’s balanced by taut acidity and has a long, luxuriously creamy finish. 4,600 cases were made.

94 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

"Every bit as good as the 2019, although in a slightly more concentrated, burly style, the 2020 Château Sociando-Mallet is close to an even split of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a splash of Cabernet Franc, all from vines located just north of Saint-Estèphe. It brings lots of ripeness and richness, with darker currants, plums, leafy tobacco, chocolate, and graphite-like aromatics that build nicely with time in the glass. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied Haut-Médoc revealing a deep, layered mid-palate, ripe, sweet tannins, plenty of concentration, and a great finish. Where the 2019 is silky and elegant, this is more in your face and foursquare, and it's mostly potential at this stage, although it clearly offers pleasure even today with its wealth of fruit. It's going to hit maturity around a decade after the vintage and, I suspect, will keep for 2-3 decades."

93 Neal Martin - Vinous Media

The 2020 Sociando Mallet has retained its impressive aromatics from its showing in barrel with beautifully defined blackberry and raspberry fruit, pressed violet and light cedar aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with firm backbone, a little powdery in texture, fine backbone with ample freshness and tension towards its graphite-infused finish. Bravo!

92+ William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2020 Sociando-Mallet is very attractive, exhibiting aromas of cassis and plums mingled with notions of pencil shavings, loamy soil, tobacco leaf and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with lively acids and powdery tannins, it's a strong effort from a site that always does well in warm vintages. The 2020 is a blend of 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc.