95 Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider

Elegant, refined, concentrated, silky, fresh and pure, this beautiful wine exudes all the rocks, stones, flowers, licorice, spice, cherries, plums and blackberries you could ask for. The wine provides length, complexity and freshness coupled with the ability to age and evolve. The wine was made from blending 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and is aged in a combination of new and used French oak casks with 10% of the harvest being aged in amphora.

95 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

A dense, rich red, yet the tannins are so fine and integrated with beautiful texture and finesse. It’s full-bodied, showing pretty balance and refinement with lots of exotic fruit and richness. Tight now. Try after 2024.

94 Jane Anson - Decanter

Well-located on the limestone slopes near Pavie, this has been under the ownership of Peter Kwok since 2017. Here he delivers a measured wine that has plenty of limestone character in a saline twist through the finish, while maintaining that St-Emilion gloss. Chocolate pods and just the right kind of bite; feels confident and with potential ahead. 30% new oak.

94 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

I continue to love this Saint-Emilion, which hails from a 12.5-hectare vineyard located just beside Larcis Ducasse, on the Côte Pavie hillside. Based on 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Château Bellefont-Belcier's deep purple hue is followed by a ripe, medium to full-bodied 2018 with loads of blueberry and currant bud-like fruits as well as notes of leafy tobacco, spring flowers, truffle, and earth. Nicely textured, with fine, polished tannins and solid depth of fruit, it needs 4-5 years of bottle age and will evolve for 25 years or more. It doesn't quite have the depth or density I remember from barrel, but it's still a beautiful wine.

93 Sam Kim - Wine Orbit

"It's wonderfully fruited and fragrant on the nose showing feijoa, kiwifruit, crunchy apple and lemon peel aromas, leading to a flavoursome palate that's succulent and lingering. Pristine and vibrant, offering excellent drinking. At its best: now to 2025."

93-95 Allen Meadows - Burghound

Exuberantly fresh black fruit aromas are liberally laced with notes of earth, clove, anise and wood. The succulent yet muscular and powerful big-bodied flavors possess excellent mid-palate density while exhibiting seriously good length on the mouth coating and strikingly long finish. Note that this is very much built-to-age and a wine that may well require 20 years to reach its apogee. Excellent.

96 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The Le Ragnaie 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Passo del Lume Spento (with 3,700 bottles made) is very pretty in this vintage with tart cherry and lifted aromas of cola, garden herb, blue flower and blood orange. This is usually my favorite of the three single-vineyard wines produced by this estate. I applaud the relatively contained 13.5% alcohol content that lets you enjoy more of the wine in one sitting. The tannins melt softly over the palate.

96 Stephan Reinhardt - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The white to golden-yellow colored 2018 Vouvray Cuvée Constance is deep, very clear, fresh and refined on the slightly smoky nose that is reminiscent of baby pineapples, stone fruits, lemon and quince aromas intertwined with a very delicate flintiness. Playful and finessed in all its richness, this is a full-bodied, highly elegant yet intense, saline and very sustainable Vouvray Chenin with an almost endless finish. The acidity is very finely grained but vital and savory, carrying this brilliant beauty to a very long, intense yet always delicate and stimulating finish. 11.5% stated alcohol. 500-milliliter bottle. Natural cork. Tasted in April 2023.

89-91 Allen Meadows - Burghound

Here too a discreet touch of wood can be found on the pretty aromas of mineral reduction, zest and a similar floral top note. There is a bit more volume and richness to the solidly concentrated medium-bodied flavors that flash evident minerality on very clean, bone-dry and nicely complex and persistent finale. This is a quality Meursault villages.

99 Kerin O'Keefe - kerinokeefe.com

Intensely perfumed, this is one of the best Barolos from the vintage, starting right out with its enticing scents wild rose, Alpine herb, wet stone, woodland berry and camphor. On the vibrant, delicious palate, taut, fine-grained tannins accompany succulent pomegranate, wild raspberry, star anise and cinnamon. It’s elegant, precise and impeccably balanced, with bright acidity. It’s already gorgeous but will age beautifully too. Drink 2024–2038. Abv: 14.5%

95 Wine Spectator

A supple red hallmarked by elegance and finesse, featuring rose, strawberry, cherry and accents of eucalyptus and mint, which ply the refined texture and structure. Balanced and persists on the fruit-filled aftertaste, where a mineral element emerges. Shows excellent length. Best from 2024 through 2042. 2,158 cases made.

95 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The Giuseppe Mascarello 2018 Barolo Monprivato reveals an open and accessible personality. This wine is an immediate charmer. I tasted these wines with the Mascarello family seated across the table from me, and during our chat, they explained that this was a gratifying vintage in terms of farming and winemaking. The growing season was not too hot, and high alcohol levels were not an issue, they say. In the case of this wine, we are greeted to mild tannins and a pretty bouquet with delicate floral notes, smoke and tar.

96 Mark Squires - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The 2019 Vintage Port is a field blend from old vines (80 to 100 years old) aged for 21 months in large Portuguese oak vats. It comes in with 88 grams per liter of residual sugar and 19.3% alcohol. This was seen about three months after bottling. In its own notes, the winery says it emphasized balance and elegance, and that is certainly a fitting summary of this wine. Let's not forget, though, the appealing aromatics laced with some eucalyptus and the grip on the finish. Plus, the texture is sensual and caressing on the palate. Then, the fruit adds waves of flavor. This finishes with some power and pop, making it a good candidate for the cellar. The tannins are not too hard, though, and they are nicely controlled. Its freshness will also serve it in good stead as it ages. If there's a quibble, it most certainly is not the most concentrated Niepoort ever. Everything else is super, however. This should have good aging potential and the ability to improve more. It's worth noting that on the first day tasted, this was good but not great. A couple of days later, it was far more impressive, still tight, precise and focused."

97 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The 2021 Pinot Noir Golden Hour is more upfront and expressive, with a sweet core of strawberries, black raspberries, spice, and dried flowers. Incredibly complex, medium to full-bodied, round, supple, and undeniably sexy, this is ultra-classic California Pinot Noir done brilliantly. I love it today yet see no reason it shouldn t evolve for 7-8 years, if not longer.

97 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2021 Golden Hour Pinot Noir is quite closed, needing patient swirling to evoke a fabulously floral perfume of roses, aniseed, and dark chocolate over a core of black cherries, black raspberries, and fresh blackberries with wafts of wild sage and iron ore. The medium to full-bodied palate has a gorgeous satiny texture and seamless freshness supporting the vibrant red and black fruit layers, finishing on a persistent ferrous note. "This is about expressing the full extent of ripeness that Pinot can give," says owner Jayson Woodbridge. "On the Sonoma Coast, Pinot Noir gets to a different place that it just can't get to elsewhere."

96 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

One of the richer, rounder and more mouth-filling Barolos, this expansive wine fills its nicely firm structure with intricate layers of red cherries, orange peel, raspberry and cedar. While full-bodied and broad in texture, it has the signature fine-grained tannins for improvement with time. Best from 2029 and beyond.

94 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

The 2020 Barolo Vigna Pressenda is medium ruby in color and brings forward detailed and elegant notes of raspberries, leather, and fresh roses, as well as umami porcini tones. Approachable and refined, this medium-bodied Barolo is all about finesse. It has a wide drinking window ahead of it, and its fantastic stony texture and ultrafine tannins will allow it to cruise gracefully over the next 12-15 years.

94 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2020 Barolo Castelletto Vigna Pressenda is a delicate, elegant wine. Crushed rose petal, orange peel, white pepper, mint and crushed rocks all grace this gorgeous, translucent Barolo. All the elements are so nicely balanced. There is a feeling of crystalline purity here that is simply beguiling. It is the most ethereal and perfumed of the Barolos here. The 2020 is all class.

94 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The Conterno Fantino 2020 Barolo Castelletto Vigna Pressenda shows rich dark fruit, licorice, spa cedar and sweet oak spice. There is a certain fullness to the palate with a hint of vanilla extract, with sweet blueberry cream and cherry pie. The tannins carry a slightly toasted note, but they remain fine grained and nicely integrated overall. Production is 6,600 bottles.

89 Wine Spectator

More savory than fruit-driven, with mineral density underscoring the delicate white cherry and dried herb notes. Shows persistence through the mouthwatering finish, which is streaked with saline and stone details. Grenache Noir, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Cinsault and Rolle. Drink now. 3,500 cases made, 900 cases imported.