This is reaching its sweet spot, offering smoky plum, black cherry, mushroom, iron, earth and menthol aromas and flavors. Dense, firm and muscular, with a long, complex aftertaste. Drink now through 2033. Score - 94. (Bruce Sanderson, winespectator.com, Sept. 30, 2022)
This vibrant, elegant, supple red exudes blackberry, black cherry and boysenberry fruit, with violet, graphite and black pepper accents. Driven by vivid acidity and punctuated with velvety tannins, this is a great example of the vintage in lockstep with style. Best from 2026 through 2040. Score - 96. (Bruce Sanderson, winespectator.com, Oct. 15, 2024)
A well-rounded, flavorful and inspired sauvignon blanc with papayas, passion fruit sorbet and fresh herbs on the nose. Medium-bodied with bright acidity. Delicious lime character on the palate, with a succulent texture. Long, focused and savory finish. Drink or hold. Score - 93. (jamessuckling.com, Oct. 12, 2025)
A very linear and tight single-vineyard barbera with flint, spice, black licorice and dark fruit aromas that follow through to a medium body with vivid fine tannins and a bright finish. A very serious wine with polish and structure. Drink or hold. Score - 95. (jamessuckling.com, May 30, 2025)
This is one of the pillars of the Altos Las Hormigas portfolio and has been produced since the late 1990s, when the winery bet everything on malbec. This version, as usual, is a blend based on Altamira's own vineyards (80%) and Gualtallary (20%), both in the Uco Valley. It is a precise photograph, in HD, of Andean malbec. Violets and ripe red fruits, a palate rich in those tannins of calcareous soils that feel like chalk, the light weight, but the firm and taut structure. Due to depth of flavors, due to Andean character, this is the best version of this wine that we at Descorchados have tried. Score - 95. (Patricio Tapia, guiadescorchados.cl, 2025)
The 2022 Vinsobres Les Hauts De Julien is on another level and brings an Hermitage-like style in its darker berries, leather, peppery herbs, and graphite aromas and flavors. It's concentrated and medium to full-bodied, with ripe tannins and a great finish. Score - 93-95. (jebdunnuck.com, Oct. 29, 2024)
Aromas of black licorice, iodine and blackberries with hints of nutmeg. Medium- to full-bodied with a super structure yet at the same time polish and finesse. Extremely long and attractive with energy and polish. The glacial soil and western aspect of the vineyard make this special. Better in two or three years and beyond. Try after 2027. Ranked #39 in James Suckling's Top 100 World Wines of 2024. Score - 99. (jamessuckling.com, Feb. 4, 2024)
The most impressive aspect of the Castello della Sala ethos is its ability to reinvent itself. This latest edition of Umbria's headline white is a true delight. Renzo Cotarella and his team have created an Italian masterpiece that is reminiscent of the great whites of Burgundy. The 2023 Cervaro della Sala opens to an elegantly reductive note of flint or crushed granite before sliding gracefully into silky fruit sensations, breakfast pastry and crème fraîche. It offers carefully balanced richness and textural importance. Winemaking is moving away from 500-liter barrels to embrace larger foudre. No bâtonnage is implemented. The wine is mostly Chardonnay, with a smaller part (between 5% and 10%, depending on the vintage) of Grechetto that has been further reduced in order to avoid any rustic tones from the Italian grape. Part of the Chardonnay does malolactic fermentation, but the Grechetto does not. This gives energy and verve to the final results. Castello della Sala has recently planted more Chardonnay (now totaling 80 hectares) for flexibility in choosing the best clusters. Throughout its many reinventions, this is the best Cervaro della Sala I have tasted. Drink date: 2026-2040. Score - 97. (Monica Larner, robertparker.com, Nov. 13, 2025)
Such a bright wine that shows no weight. Racy and expressive, full of red cherry and plum aromas. Lots of energy, with fresh, al dente but cohesively knit tannins. There is a botanical touch, too. 13.5% alcohol only. 100% whole-cluster tempranillo from a vineyard planted in 1997. Fermented in lagars. Score - 95. (Zekun Shuai, jamessuckling.com, July 26, 2025)
This elegantly styled blend of 90% Viura with 10% Garnacha Blanca was sourced from vines aged 35-40 years and matured for nearly a year in barrel. Perfectly straddling the edge of pure fruit freshness and subtle oak influence, it will show best through 2030 and potentially beyond.
This red blend shows sweet cherries and plums with nice balance. Open and appealing with a core of ripe fruit, and then some savoury detail. Has a bit of grip on the finish. Score - 89. (Jamie Goode, winealign.com)
This is effectively the second wine from Koldo Eguren, made with Tempranillo from five different parcels in Elciego, Elvillar, Laguardia and Lapuebla. Using some concrete fermentation as well as 15% carbonic maceration, it has mint, wild herb and kitchen spice aromas, flavours of blackberry, plum and dark chocolate and a focused, refreshing finish. Drink date: 2026-2032. Score - 93. (Tim Atkin, MW, timatkin.com, Rioja Special Report 2025)
Powerful aromas of lemon confit, minerals, oyster shells, chalk and candied lime zest. The palate is medium-bodied with underlying power framed by focused acidity, giving notes of fresh pineapple, green apple skin and grapefruit pith. Exceptionally well balanced and tightly constructed. Drink or hold. Score - 96. (jamessuckling.com, Oct. 17, 2024)
'Marble Angel' refers to a work by Albert Julius Henschke (1888-1955), who was a highly acclaimed artist and sculptor. This wine is overflowing with luscious dark brambly berry fruit, cassis and roasted hazelnut, with hints of rosemary, thyme, and tomato leaf. Incredibly structured with an elegant finish, it'll stand the test of time for decades to come.
There is a beguiling depth of fruit here which seems a little more profound and deeper-set than those flavours found in the bright and shiny Volnay. While not bogged down with excess weight or tannin, there is a certain gravitas here making this a very attractive Savigny. In need of a year or two to shed its light cloak of tannin, this is a cunning buy for your cellar and a wine that performs well above its station. (Drink 2024-2030). Score - 18+ (out of 20). (Matthew Jukes, matthewjukes.com, Jan. 5, 2022)
Bright, clear and attractive nose, lifted by gently floral Cinsault cherry aromas. Balanced and fresh, with beautifully fine tannins. This is almost ready to drink now; no great concentration or muscle, more a fine and elegant style. Destemmed, fermented in concrete, aged in old barriques. Drinking window: 2024-2031. Score - 93. (Matt Walls, decanter.com, Sept. 30, 2022)
Aromas of baked apricots, salted butter, toast, smoked almonds, cedar and white lavender. It's full-bodied with a creamy, dense and buttery palate. Yet, it remains fresh and bright, with lovely balance of fruit and oak spice. Generous and elegant at the same time. Drink or hold. Score - 95. (jamessuckling.com, March 17, 2022)
A fine and mineral pinot noir here with a hint of red dates, rose hips and a fine herbal note to the raspberries and red cherries. Bone-dry and elegant on the palate with juicy, bright acidity and crunchy red berries. Tannins are fresh and refined. Clone 777 and dry-farmed. Around 15% of whole clusters. Drink or hold. Score - 95. (Zekun Shuai, jamessuckling.com, Feb. 17, 2023)
Ashy nose at first before turning to rich and fresh blueberries and blackberries and flowers. Dark minerals and some wild herbs, too. Bright and juicy on the palate with lots of energy. So much power and verve, too. Concentrated, young and quite pristine and pure. Full-bodied, but nothing heavy. Better from 2025. Score - 97. (Zekun Shuai, jamessuckling.com, Feb 17, 2023)
The shy nose on this wine shows gentle notes of peony over hints of red-cherry fruit. The palate has that same tenderness but then reveals a richer backdrop of ripe, dark cherry. Slight tannins crunch pleasantly while freshness frames all. This wine strikes an easy but elegant balance. Score - 92. (Anne Krebiehl, MW, Wine Enthusiast, Dec. 1, 2020)