87 Jasper Morris, MW - Inside Burgundy

Pale lemon yellow. Quite open in bouquet, with a little lemon confit on the nose. Builds very nicely. Middling in weight and complexity but very attractively made. Drink from 2024-2026. Tasted Mar 2025.

90 Wine Enthusiast

Intense aromas of blackberries mixed with a dash of nutmeg on the nose of this structured Cabernet. Well-defined blackberry and cherry flavors meet light notes of bay leaf and dark chocolate on the flavorful palate. The finish is long and offers dried herbs.

100 Peter Moser - Falstaff

Deep dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, subtle brightening on rim. For the first time since 2011, the proportion of Merlot is somewhat higher, the bouquet accordingly more characterised by heart cherries than by the usual cassis de Pauillac, delicate nougat and caramel, fine herbal spice. Powerful, tightly meshed, shows good expression, chocolatey touch, ripe tannins, great complexity, great length and spiciness, a very independent personality, a huge promise for the future, already evident: this wine has everything a world-class wine needs.

99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

Composed of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2019 Pontet-Canet is deep garnet-purple in color. It features notes of prunes, creme de cassis, and wilted roses, followed by suggestions of spice box, iron ore, Ceylon tea, and underbrush. The medium to full-bodied palate is rich, concentrated, and seductive, with a racy backbone and ripe, fine-grained tannins supporting the complex, layered flavors, finishing long and minerally.

99 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

The aromas to this are really amazing, with a potpourri of spices and dried flowers, as well as redcurrants, sweet plums and even some peaches. Full-bodied with layers of ripe fruit and ultra-fine tannins that spread across the palate in an encompassing yet always elegant and pure way. It’s succulent and unadulterated. Like crushed, perfectly ripened grapes. The length is rather endless. The tannins build. Fabulous young red. 35% in amphora and the rest in 50% new oak and 15% one-year oak. 65% cabernet sauvignon and 30% merlot, the rest cabernet franc and petit verdot. From biodynamically grown grapes. Try after 2028, but an absolute joy to taste now.

98 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Such gorgeous aromatics of freshly picked violets, cherries and bramble fruits - pretty and quite delicate. The texture is smooth and succulent, mouth coating but full of soft tannins which have the most delicious black cherry, blackcurrant flesh and liquorice tinge to them - so satisfying. Extremely well balanced and well integrated, this has restrained power, it's not rich or particularly round but straight, direct and layered rather than wide. Really long finish with great freshness and touches of cool blueberries. This is just such a great wine, everything you want and you know there's power there promising a long life. Great winemaking on show. 35% aged in concrete, 50% new oak, 15% in barrels of one year, for 16-18 months. This year there's a new label, the drawing of the house has remained but the font is more elegant and modern. A blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot.

98 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

Particularly successful during En Primeur, and even better now, just bursting out of the glass. Plump and fruit forward, plenty of character, with spiced cedar and smoked earth, violet and iris notes play around the edges, but the focus is on creamy cassis, bilberry, cocoa bean and aniseed. Last vintage with Jean-Michel Comme as technical director, and you really now see the skilled use of amphoras, which added notes of austerity in the early years (they introduced them in 2012) but now showcase the precision of the fruit. 100% 1st wine, with the ageing taking place in a mix of 45% new oak barrels, 15% one year barrels and 40% amphoras.

98 Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

The wine is so perfumed, with ripe tannins set beside the black currant purity. The wine does have weight but the fruit is so refined and vibrant. Tannins give a core for aging, offering the structure and the density of a very fine wine. Organic and biodynamic.

97 Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider

It is the purity of the fruit, along with the soft, silky, polished layers of freshness that matter here. The wine kicks off with an array of flowers, plums, currants and blackberries along with spice, savory herbs, tobacco leaf and a touch of cherry. The wine exudes its red fruit quality with ease, leaving you with an elegant, refined, soft, polished, mid-palate and a long, vibrant, fresh finish that provides you with a gorgeous display of purity in the fruits. Please allow the wine some time for aging before pulling a cork. Drink from 2030-2060.

95 Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2021 A Merced is surprisingly a little higher in alcohol than the 2020 I tasted next to it, despite the much cooler year. It fermented with 50% foot-trodden whole clusters in 1,000-liter oak casks with indigenous yeasts and a long maceration. It matured in used 225-liter French oak barrels for one year. It's a little earthy but also floral and elegant, combining that wild side that seems to be inherent to this place, as I've noticed it in the last few vintages. It's quite expressive and showy, very complete and balanced. 10,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in October 2022.

92-94 Wine Spectator

"This smells like crushed grapes with hints of leaves and earth. Full-bodied and very chewy, medium-sweet, with a mouthpuckering finish. This Port house always overachieves its reputation. Almost 95-100."

100 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The 2021 Cariad is another First Growth Bordeaux look-alike from Colgin. Darker currants, smoked tobacco, graphite, bouquet garni, and some exotic, meaty notions dominate the bouquet, and it's massively concentrated on the palate, with full-bodied richness, a deep, layered mid-palate, polished tannins, and a gorgeous finish. It actually has some upfront appeal due to its incredible balance and texture, yet smart money will still hide these for 5-7 years. It will have 30+ years of overall longevity.

97 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2022 Twilight Pinot Noir slowly emerges from the glass with the most beautiful perfume of rose bud tea and dried lavender, opening out to a core of kirsch, black raspberries, and mulberries, plus hints of underbrush and iron ore. The medium to full-bodied palate is intense with mineral-laced red and black fruit flavors, supported by grainy tannins and lovely freshness, finishing on a persistent ferrous note.

96 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

Lastly, the 2022 Pinot Noir Twilight is one of the riper, more marine influenced wines in the lineup. Ripe red and black fruits, autumn leaves, sea breeze, and subtle baking spice notes all define the aromatics, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a round, layered mouthfeel, and velvety tannins.

92 Wine & Spirits

"Oak-aged base wines give this an architectural power, structuring the lees into scents of fresh croissant and hon-shimeji mushrooms. It’s creamy and full, with enough zesty acidity to keep the velvet texture in check. Pour it with pan-roasted fish finished with chanterelles and cream." (Reviewed 12/12)

91 Allen Meadows - Burghound

"A beautifully pure and elegant nose speaks of citrus, green apple, rose petal and a distinct vinous character. There is plenty of effervescence on the moderately refined flavors that display ample yeastiness on the delicious, complex, dry and lingering finish. This doesn't have quite the delicacy of the best of the vintage wines but this is an excellent NV Brut. This could certainly be enjoyed now but for those who enjoy aging their NV selections, this would be a fine choice as it will probably offer from 2 to 5 years of upside development potential." (1/13)

90-92 Jasper Morris, MW - Inside Burgundy

92 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

A fragrant nose of mulberries, blackcurrants, cedar, dried herbs and dried spices. Full body with chewy tannins and vivid acidity. Vibrant, crunchy and fleshy with plenty of fruits and a flavorful finish. A little hot at the end. Drink from 2023.

99 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Blackcurrants, cassis and graphite on the nose. Pure and fragrant. Full-bodied with superb density and tannins that are so polished. The texture is like touching a silk ball. Its finish is very long and compact with slightly chewy tannins, but it will come together beautifully with time in the bottle. Try after 2028.

97 Joaquín Hidalgo - Vinous Media

The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Don Melchor originates from a vineyard planted in the heart of the Puente Alto region in 1979. This is renowned Cabernet Sauvignon terroir, characterized by the perfect balance of temperatures and poor gravel soils. The 2022 was aged in French oak barrels, with 78% of them being new. Garnet-hued with a purplish sheen, it offers complex aromas of currant, blackberry, ash, mint and a subtle floral tone that can be attributed to the cold vintage. Dry, rich and moderately juicy, the precisely calibrated tannins of Maipo Valley and the clear fruit impart the palate with intensity and agility. This is a more nuanced and energetic edition of Don Melchor, closing with a fairly compact finish.

95 Wine Enthusiast

Puente Alto, located in the highest part of the Maipo Valley, is a renowned appellation for producing some of Chile's finest wines. This elegant Cabernet opens with sweet blackberry aromas and subtle hints of licorice. Sip it slowly allowing its flavorful profile to fully unfold, offering ripe red berries intertwined with delicate oak spices. Energized acidity enhances the wine's structure, carrying through to a finish highlighted by a touch of peppercorn. — Jesica Vargas

95 Wine Spectator

Elegant, nuanced and concentrated, with a loamy-clay cast to the fresh thyme and subtle tuberose aromas, which give way to a rich yet balanced core of blackberry and cassis notes lifted by saline-edged acidity. Wonderfully fresh while moving toward the finish, where the flavors come together and linger harmoniously around well-formed tannins. Drink now through 2040. 17,800 cases made, 3,500 cases imported.

100 California Wine Advisors

"The 2019 DVO (Dalla Valle Ornellaia) is a tour-de-force and wins our vote as ‘most likely to succeed’ new player on Napa’s Cult Cabernet scene! 2019 is only the second public release and is a proprietary blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, demonstrating how well these two grapes blend together when crafted by two brilliant winemakers. Maya Dalla Valle’s eponymous Cult Cabernet blend (also features Cabernet Franc) is one of California’s original five Cult wines and Axel Heinz is world-renowned for his craftsmanship at Italy’s Ornellaia and Massetto. The alluring bouquet shows fresh spring flowers, blueberry, raspberry, a hint of vanilla and subtle pipe tobacco in the background. Those delightful flavors continue and dance across the palate alongside semi-sweet cocoa, dark cherry, baking spices, and graphite. This is pure genius and a profoundly delicious cuvée, not only showcasing the talents of its makers, but the brilliance and freshness of 2019. We recommend decanting (minimum 30 minutes) if you pop a cork prior to 2025. Worthy of 99 points now, this thoroughbred will provide an exhilarating race through 2040 and could very well merit a triple digit score along the way. Bravo! (November 2022)"

99 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

I was blown away by the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon DVO, a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc made as a collaboration between the team at Dalla Valle and Ornellaia. Remarkable notes of red and black currants, spring flowers, lead pencil, loamy earth, and classy oak all emerge from this young yet amazingly balanced, seamless Cabernet. Full-bodied on the palate and perfectly balanced, with silky tannins, it will probably be as good as it gets with 7-8 years of bottle age and is a magical Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that will evolve for 30 years or more.

98 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

This is the second vintage of this new joint project between Ornellaia in Tuscany and Dalla Valle in Napa Valley. This year’s blend is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, and the contributing sites are similar to last year, based around the AVAs of Oakville, Mount Veeder, and Coombsville. Very deep purple-black in color, the 2019 DVO has a wonderfully perfumed nose of lilacs, red roses, and stewed black tea over a core of red currant jelly, black raspberries, plum preserves, and clove oil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a solid line of very fine-grained tannins supporting the rich, perfumed black fruits, contrasted by crunchy red berries that deliver well-knit freshness. It finishes very long and layered. 550 cases were made.

98 Jonathan Cristaldi - Decanter Magazine

Only the second release of this collaboration project between Dalla Valle Vineyards of Napa Valley and Ornellaia of Tuscany. A glass-staining dark ruby colour. Gorgeous red berry fruit aromas, white pepper, lavender, graphite, tobacco and sweet cedar. Full-bodied with immense concentration and exuding sweet black fruit and cassis, fragrant wild herbs, palate-etching pixelated tannins that build and build, layered by fractured slate, cocoa nibs, black olives and a long cedar-kissed finish. A magnificent youthful wine built for long-term cellaring.

98 Kerin O'Keefe - kerinokeefe.com

Rose, violet, perfumed berry and pine forest aromas beguile on the super fragrant Francesco Rinaldi 2019 Cannubi Riserva. Loaded with elegance and utterly delicious, the stunning palate presents succulent red cherry, spiced pomegranate, orange zest, star anise and cinnamon alongside vibrant acidity. Firm but ultra-refined tannins provide support. A great expression of this hallowed site's celebrated elegance and energy, it's also a wonderful representation of the vintage and at the moment is youthfully austere so give it time to bloom into the beauty it will become. Drink 2034–2049

97+ Ian Dagata - Vinous Media

96 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Only made in the best vintages, the Francesco Rinaldi & Figli 2019 Barolo Riserva Cannubi reveals medium-rich concentration with more color intensity than is typical of this vintage. Nebbiolo from 2019 tends to lean into purple and dark fruits and more generous flavors. Fruit comes from the highest part of the Cannubi Boschis block, with sandy soils at 300 meters in elevation. This Riserva is aged in oak for 42 months. Only 3,300 bottles are made from this half-hectare plot.

95 Wine Spectator

Concentrated but not weighty, this has an ethereal quality to its attractive licorice, cherry pie and fragrant incense notes, shored up with chalky tannins and a dusting of graphite that offsets the warmth. Beautifully textured, with bitter plum and mineral notes alternating with holiday spices and apple wood smoke stretching out across the finish. Drink now through 2040. 100 cases made, 35 cases imported.

96 Luis Gutierrez - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The 2021 Laurel, the second wine from Clos Erasmus was produced with grapes from younger vines, between five and 40 years old, and is a blend of 80% Garnacha, 11% Syrah and 9% Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes were cooled down for 24 hours before sorting and destemming and then put in the vat where they warmed up and started fermenting naturally. They did a soft vinification with short pumping overs to avoid extraction, and the fermentation lasted two to three weeks followed by four weeks of maceration. The wine matured in oak vat, barrel and amphorae for 18 months. It's super aromatic, floral and expressive, clean and elegant, delicate and ethereal. It has a velvety palate that is nicely textured, seamless, elegant and balanced and with a focused, clean, long finish. I see the meaty side of Syrah here. It has 14.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.3. The oak is completely integrated despite the fact that the wine is very young. 28,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2023."