92 Wine Spectator

"This vibrant version is finely knit and elegant, with floral, toast and smoke aromas on the nose and flavors of creme de casis and lemon curd riding the lacy mousse."

91+ John Gilman - View from the Cellar

"The current offering of Louis Roederer Brut Premier is an excellent wine on both the nose and palate, and though it is delicious right out of the blocks, a bit of bottle age will certainly be rewarded here. The youthfully pure bouquet jumps from the glass in a vibrant blend of apple, lemon, stony minerality, warm bread and citrus zest in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, young and nascently complex, with a fine core, tiny, pinpoint bubbles, brisk acids and a very long, balanced finish that shows just a whisper of leesiness from battonage. Fine, fine juice that is going to age quite well and will be even better with a year or two in the cellar to allow the wine to fully blossom. 2014-2030." (08/13)

91 Wine Spectator

"A smoky note of minerality complements the flavors of dried cherry and black currant, almond financier and gumdrop in this refined, creamy version. The delicate yet persistent acidity is well-integrated, leading to a mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2018. 50,000 cases imported. -AN" (Reviewed 11/13)

90 Wine Enthusiast

The nose opens umami, sanguine and earthy, with damp soil, pepper and mixed wild herbs, then presents sweet, tiny wild berries crushed underfoot. The palate first leans into the fruit, with sweet, ripe blackberries and blueberries, before finishing off with earth and pepper.

93 Joaquín Hidalgo - Vinous Media

"The 2025 Blanco, a blend of Viura, Garnacha Blanca and Malvasía from Rioja, opens with lively primary aromatics of nardos, pear and soft herbs alongside a hint of melon. On the palate, it is energetic, combining elevated freshness with a delicate chalky texture and a creamy undertone that adds breadth. The interplay between energy and richness gives the wine clarity and drive through the finish. A particularly successful vintage for this bottling, it offers excellent value among Rioja whites."

100 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The 2021 Maya Proprietary Red Wine is a classic 60/40 split of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc that spent 24 months in 80% new French oak. Ripe red, blue, and black fruit, graphite, liquid flowers, and a liquid rock-like minerality all shine in this quintessential, layered, regal, majestic 2021. It has awesome purity, full-bodied richness, flawlessly polished tannins, and a great finish. This is a legend in the making, and Napa Valley simply doesn’t get any better. It will take a solid decade for this to hit maturity, and it should have 30+ years of prime drinking thereafter.

100 Joe Czerwinski - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Simply a wonderful wine, the 2021 Maya oozes class, with deep, complex aromas of violets and cassis, earthy loam and hints of tobacco and mint. It's just medium to full-bodied, cool, silky and finessed. Supremely elegant but concentrated, just reined in, restrained. She's the "perfect" girl, the one so special a younger me would be afraid to ask out. The current me is married, so... I'll just sit here and drink it in. Readers should drink it in too. All of it, from the upfront fruit to the lingering, savory finish. While approachable now, this wine should continue to drink well for two decades or more.

99 Jonathan Cristaldi - Decanter Magazine

It comes from the Maya blocks on the house's southern side combined with Cabernet Franc that abuts the Peter Michael Au Paradis vineyard. A wonderfully dark, opaque ruby colour in the glass leads to fragrant boysenberry and kirsch notes, cedarwood, and rose petals. Full-bodied with super firm and structured tannins that have a pixelated density that would make the latest iPhone jealous. The finish is very long, and even for all the wine's compactness and weight on the palate, there is a lightness to this wine that is striking. Maya Dalla Valle, the daughter of founder Naoko Dalla Valle, is the winemaker with Andy Erickson and Michel Rolland consulting, while Edgar Alfaro manages the vineyards.

99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

The 2021 Maya, 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-purple in color. It sails out with graceful notes of violets, fresh blackberries, and blackcurrant pastilles giving way to wafts of pencil shavings and underbrush. The full-bodied palate is an exercise in elegance, with fine-grained tannins and a lively backbone, finishing long and fragrant.

99 Markus Del Monego MW - Tasting Book

Volcanic soil, a lot of sun due to the western exposure of the vineyard and the cooling breezes from the San Pablo Bay create a unique terroir for Maya. This results in a gorgeous wine with dark purple colour, violet hue and black core. The nose is complex, rich and elegant with an aroma reminiscent of juicy plums, blackberries and hints of Crème de Cassis, complemented by fine floral tones, violets and wisteria, hints of aromatic herbs, mint and a whiff of blackcurrant leaf. In the background refined toasting, dark chocolate and a hint of graphite. On the palate well balanced and structured with silky tannins and a complex approach, the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon an the freshness of Cabernet Franc blend in a perfect way. A stunning wine with great aromatic depth and length

98+ Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2021 Maya is young, but so promising. A wine of density and stature, the 2021 offers striking vertical depth, with bright acids and plenty of tannin. All the elements are so well balanced. Intense red fruit, blood orange, cinnamon, new leather and cedar all meld together, but it is the whole rather than the sum of parts that is most impressive here. A blast of vibrant fruit explodes through to the finish. Unforgettable.

93 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2021 Pinot Noir Isabelle is a blend of multiple sites in the Au Bon Climat portfolio, taken from the best lots in the winery. It spent 23 months in 100% new oak, long by California standards. It offers tons of aromatic, floral and spice character, but I find the fruit a bit dried out and marked by sweet oak. Nonetheless, the Isabelle is a pretty distinctive wine.

89 Jasper Morris, MW - Inside Burgundy

Pale lemon colour, with a fine weight of orchard fruit including some plums. This has the generous sucrosity of many a white wine of 2023 on the palate, matched by a good mineral thread of acidity, while finishing once more on ample white fruit. Delicious early. Drink from 2025-2028. Tasted Nov 2024.

97 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

"This is incredibly fresh and vivid with orange peel, orange blossoms, cherries and hints of rose stem. Medium-bodied with a sleek and racy palate of creamy, fine tannins and a energetic length and purity. Crunchy. 100% whole cluster. From vineyards planted in 1955. Drink or hold."

99+ Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

The 2022 Maya is composed of 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is the first time since 1989 that more Cabernet Franc than Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Deep garnet-purple colored, it needs a fair bit of shaking to wake up notes of fresh boysenberries, wild blueberries, and red currants, giving way to an undercurrent of pencil shavings, garrigue, licorice, red roses, and iron ore. The full-bodied palate is very tightly wound with many layers of bright black, blue, and red berry flavors intertwined with minerally nuances and supported with a rock sold structure of firm, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing on a lingering ferrous note. The Cabernet Franc really shines through here and it is so, so good!

98 Jonathan Cristaldi - Decanter Magazine

Another corker of a wine from Dalla Valle. Liquorice, mint, aniseed and dark fruit with a smokey edge - very seductive and beguiling. This is pulsing with life and, despite the clear concentration and pretty strong muscular frame, it has an excellent personality. This is not for the faint hearted, it’s extremely spiced and bitter with dark chocolate, liquorice, aniseed and clove spice although countered by blue and black berry fruit, wispy florality and slate-edged minerality. The vintage is speaking but still, in terms of power, presentation, style, precision and overall impact this is hard not to love! Just brilliant. Director Maya Dalla Valle, winemakers Naoko Dalla Valle and Andy Erickson.

97 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

Moving to the 2022 Maya, it's the first year since 1989 that has this cuvée includes more Cabernet Franc than Cabernet Sauvignon. (It's 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 20 months in 75% new barrels.) A fabulous nose of darker currants, leafy herbs, violets, camphor, new leather, and flower notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a layered, polished mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a brilliant finish.

97 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2022 Maya is a rare Maya that is Cabernet Franc-driven, the first since 1989 with a similar blend. Pliant and layered, the 2022 is sublime. Dark cherry, plum, new leather, licorice and espresso all build in the glass. A remarkable wine, Maya may very well turn out to be one of the wines of the vintage. It is certainly one of my favorites at this stage and a clear front-runner.

97 Jim Gordon - JamesSuckling.com

An intricate, supple, luscious wine that's silky, full-bodied and elegant yet age-worthy. Aromas of blackcurrants, dark chocolate and spearmint, then flavors of blueberries, black cherries, violets and creme de cassis. Tightly structured but still generous, this red blend is known for long-term aging. Made from 55% cabernet franc and 45% cabernet sauvignon grapes that were biodynamically grown. Drinkable now, but best from 2030.

96+ Joe Czerwinski - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Dalla Valle's 2022 Maya is a blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, dominated on the nose by scents of dark chocolate and black cherries, plus vaguely leafy notions and hints of dried spices. Tannic and taut, in obvious need of cellaring, this medium to full-bodied wine's tannins are not as deep or richly textural as they can be (as in the 2021, for example), but they remain impressive; and the finish exhibits superb length. The winery's Cabernet Sauvignon is more flattering to taste now, while the Maya may surpass it in time.

96 Wine Spectator

This brims with succulent blackberry, boysenberry and mulberry fruit flavors that are coiled with energy, while singed mesquite, blood orange zest, black tea and dried anise accents add fuel on the lengthy finish. Rock solid. Best from 2026 through 2038. 1,000 cases made.

92 Wine Spectator

"A minerally style, with hints of smoke and gravel underscoring the crunchy pear, fresh tarragon, grapefruit zest and lentil notes. This is chiseled, with good drive and length, including a zesty feel on the white pepper–laced finish. Drink now through 2034. 24,160 cases made, 1,200 cases imported. -AN"

90 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

"A smoky sauvignon blanc full of intense asparagus. Tingling on the palate with zesty acidity and a brief finish. A bit too New Zealand in style. Drink now."

97 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The Domenico Clerico 2020 Barolo Ginestra Ciabot Mentin shows really great balance in terms of the oak integration. For the first time, the estate has decided to use large oak casks (removing the barrique entirely), and the results are extraordinary. There is a lot of dark fruit, like cranberry and currant, that holds tight and defines the wine throughout. There is black tea and spice, but these tones work with the fruit not against it. It finishes smooth, with glossy tannins, pretty acidity and a much brighter and lighter overall personality. Only 5,000 bottles were made."

96 Kerin O'Keefe - kerinokeefe.com

The wine that initially put Domenico Clerico on the map with its debut 1982 vintage, the compelling 2020 Ciabot Mentin has aromas of ripe red berry, blood orange, menthol and oak-driven spice. The aromas carry over to the savory, enveloping palate along with licorice notes while tightly woven, close-grained tannins provide support. Drink 2028–2035. Abv: 14.5%

96 Decanter

Year by year, Ciabot Mentin shines for its remarkable consistency. This 2020 starts a bit closed, with restrained blood orange, but then an exquisite mix of red cherry, violet, leafy lightness and liquorice depth reveals itself. Graphite dominates the palate, along with a hint of yellow fruits, sustained by lifted acidity and velvety, elegant, super-polished tannins. Aldo Fiordelli

96 Wine Spectator

This red is pure and elegant, with rose, cherry, raspberry and mineral aromas and flavors fused to a firm, vibrant structure. Shows fine intensity and verve, with a long, detailed aftertaste of fruit, mineral and spice notes. Best from 2027 through 2046.

95 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Bright ruby color suggesting youth. It has an extremely floral nose of fresh roses, violets, pomegranate, cherry fruit and soft spices. The medium-bodied palate is soft with velvety tannins, refreshing acidity, a bit of vibrancy and a polished finish. A really enjoyable wine, but it needs 10 years of cellaring to develop its potential of complexity. Drink from 2034.