94 Wine Enthusiast

A single vineyard wood-aged wine, this has spice and peppered apple aromas. It is an impressively rich wine, smooth and showing a rounded texture.

90 Wine Spectator

Sleek and salty, this mouthwatering white shows a pleasing creaminess that expands on the palate, carrying finely woven flavors of baked white cherry, mandarin orange peel and slivered almond, with a hint of dried mint. Drink now through 2027. 650 cases made, 30 cases imported.

93 Erin Brooks - Robert Parker's the Wine Advocate

"Matured for 10 months in 25% new French oak, the 2021 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley has savory scents of cranberry sauce, blackberries, woodsmoke, tobacco and forest floor. The medium-bodied palate features generous, crunchy fruit and spicy accents. It has a silky texture, mouthwatering acidity and a long, expressive finish. 17,500 cases produced."

95 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2016 Gazin features a beautifully perfumed nose of violets, Ceylon tea, cigar box, sandalwood and fallen leaves over a core of plum preserves, kirsch and blackberry preserves plus a waft of aniseed. Medium-bodied and elegant, with compelling restraint, it has a seductively plush texture, finishing with bags of poise, perfume and persistence. Drink 2022-2045

95 Joe Czerwinski - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Old-vine Grenache from a sandy portion of la Crau (ouest) shines in the 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Petits Pieds d'Armand. Built along similar lines to the blended bottling but slightly deeper and earthier, it boasts wonderfully fragrant aromas of ripe berries, rose petals and fine leaf tea. It's full-bodied, supple and rich, with a long, velvety finish that hints at espresso and salted licorice.

91 Wine & Spirits

"Christian Seely recently introduced this wine in New York as a rethinking of the super-premium, multivintage Porto style. Black replaces LB, Noval's former entry in this range, and uses top-quality fruit to create a soft, accommodating texture. The aromas are purple-black while the flavors are pure black cherry. Acidity spices it up and adds to the juiciness of the finish. It's plump in the middle and supple all the way through, ending on fruit-skin tannin and a touch of chocolate from oak. At the level of many of the region's best LBVs, this wine may become a staple for a new generation of Port drinkers."

96 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

"I tasted a barrel sample of the 2021 Patria Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Malbec, and 5% Cabernet Franc. It is deep garnet-purple in color and waltzes out with open-knit notes of crème de cassis, blueberry compote, and chocolate box, plus touches of wild sage and dried roses. The full-bodied palate has a firm, serious texture of grainy tannins and plenty of freshness to support the generous fruit, finishing long and pure."

92-94 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

Coming from a mix of terrific sites (Oakville Ranch Georges III Montagne) and blended with 13% Malbec and brought up in 75% new oak the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is a beautifully layered medium to full-bodied barrel sample revealing classic aromatics (cassis gravelly earth chocolate and lead pencil) ripe polished tannins background oak and a great finish. It will be a terrific wine and I suspect will drink nicely right out of the gate.

93 Wine Spectator

This red cuts a broad swath with cherry, strawberry, iron and savory herb flavors. Dense yet lively and harmonious, with a long, mineral- and spice-infused aftertaste. Best from 2025 through 2042. 850 cases made, 100 cases imported.

93 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Vallocchio shows a robust fruit profile and powerful 15% alcohol. The wine reflects the warmth and heat of the vintage, but a deft hand in the cellar assures balance and elegance in winemaking. The bouquet reveals dark cherry, rum cake, balsam herb and tarry smoke. There's no mistaking that hot-vintage signature and the more exuberant and boisterous personality displayed here. The cellar folks should be proud of their efforts in this 5,000-bottle release.

96 Wine Advocate - Wine Advocate

The 2021 Pintas has an impressive nose—open, extroverted, aromatic and floral, a little toasty and smoky. This is always produced from the same vineyard at 400 to 450 meters above sea level on schist soils. It's spicy and has some creaminess, but it feels balanced and has freshness and acidity to absorb the oak with more time in bottle. It matured in 225-liter barrels, 20% of them new, for 20 months. This vineyard is very consistent; the old vines have deep roots, and the high altitude contributes to the freshness—and the 2021 vintage also helps! 6,000 bottles produced.

95 Wine Spectator

Taut and minerally, offering a sanguine edge of iron and loamy earth notes interlaced with a dark, complex core of mulberry and blackberry fruit, mountain herbs, violet and cocoa powder. Firmed by chalky tannins and bright acidity, this is long and focused, revealing more as it opens in the glass. Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Rufete. Best from 2027 through 2039. 100 cases imported.

98-100 William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

A blend of 35% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2022 Figeac is a brilliant wine with which to celebrate this property's elevation to Premier Grand Cru Classé "A" status. Wafting from the glass with aromas of raspberries and cassis mingled with notions of iris, forest floor, cigar wrapper and pencil lead, it's medium to full-bodied, pure and perfumed, with a deep and multidimensional core of fruit, bright acids and beautifully refined tannins. Serious yet civilized, it's the quintessential Figeac, testament to the late Thierry Manoncourt's vision to plant such a large proportion of Cabernet, and on drought-resistant rootstocks. Such is the inherent complexity of Figeac's terroirs that harvest took place sub-block by sub-block between September 1st and 25th. Congratulations are in order for the Manoncourt family, director Frédéric Faye, consulting winemaker Thomas Duclos and all their team.

98-100 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

An incredibly impressive wine in 2022 shaping up to be the wine of the vintage not only as it seems to defy the hot and dry conditions in every way but delivers such confidence and charm it makes it hard to resist. Gorgeous aromatic expression on the nose, open and alive, generous scents of bright bramble fruit and floral notes as well as graphite and cedar. Smooth, supple and generous on the palate, tannins are silky and perfectly weighted giving roundness but also structure with a red berry juiciness and saline bite that is so compelling. Vibrant, dynamic, balanced and precise, the energy is outstanding yet there’s still depth, weight and power underneath. There's not a single thing out of place - utterly seductive and totally moreish. A great effort from the estate now proudly displaying their upgrade to St-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé A for the first time as of the new classification. 3.7pH. 8% press wine. 82% grand vin production. Harvest 1 - 26 September, the earliest ever.

97-99 Neal Martin - Vinous Media

The 2022 Figeac was picked between 1-26 September with the pH of 3.7 and 14% alcohol. This wine combines both Left Bank and Right Bank traits due to its blend (as usual), but this year leans more to the Right Bank despite a slightly lower contribution of Cabernet Sauvignon. It is very well defined, fresh and shows lively black fruit, incense and nuanced Chinese tea aromas. The palate is beautifully balanced with a lightly spiced entry, fine depth and with plenty of concentration counterbalanced by finesse toward the graphite-infused finish. Its saline aftertaste beckons you back for another sip. An appropriate way to start your tenure as a Grand Cru Classé "A".

97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

A blend of 35% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, and 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2022 Figeac is deep garnet-purple in color. It rolls out of the glass with eager-to-please scents of juicy blackberries, plum preserves, and warm cassis, followed by hints of cardamom, chocolate mint, and cumin seed with fragrant wafts of rose oil and violets. The concentrated, medium to full-bodied palate is simply electric, shimmering with red and black fruit layers and loads of mineral and floral sparks, framed by firm, grainy tannins and amazing tension, finishing very long and energetic. This is so vibrant it tingles on the palate! pH 3.70.

97-98 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

This is the earliest ever harvest for Figeac and the fruit is something else. Flowers such as violets. Blackberries. Currants. Cherry blossom. Full-bodied with lovely freshness and depth. Crunchy and juicy. Perfect al dente fruit. 35% merlot , 34% cabernet franc and 31% cabernet sauvignon.

98 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

Vibrant damson in colour, edges of gunsmoke and red rose petals on the aromatics, as you so often find in Figeac, with dense cassis, black cherry, incense, graphite, slate, mint leaf, cocoa bean, cappucino and liquorice on the palate. This is creamy but airy, and full of joy. Close to the 2016 vintage in its construction and effortless confidence, no question of the ageing ability of this wine, and a fine vintage to mark the first year as Premier Grand Cru Classé A. Breaking down how they got here, you find inevitably careful winemaking with no pumping over, cool 26C for fermentation, making use of techniques learnt in the hot, dry summer of 2018, from cover crops to minimum green harvesting. Blend finished including 8% press in March, 3.7ph, harvest began September 1, earliest on record, until 26, second vintage in new winery. Frederic Faye director.

97 Neal Martin - Vinous Media

The 2020 Cos d'Estournel, which was bottled in July, has lost some of the exoticism that it showed out of barrel. Within five minutes of aeration it develops a complex bouquet: black fruit laced with graphite and subtle cedar aromas, a charcoal back-note and later pressed iris flowers. I foresee this gaining more nuance with bottle age. The palate is taut, lean and precise. Lightly spiced on the entry, with finely-chiseled tannins, again, not quite as precocious as it showed in barrel, allowing the terroir to come through more. There is something almost understated about this vintage vis-à-vis others, razor-sharp precision with just the right amount of salinity on the finish. This is a classy offering that will mature beautifully in bottle. A keeper.