100-Point Wines

wines

A new addition to the Place de Bordeaux this year - the eponymous project of husband and wife duo; viticulturist Annie Favia and winemaker Andy Erickson. A beautifully scented nose full of rose and violet touches, the Cabernet Franc nuances leap from the glass - fresh and minty, full of herbal sun-kissed ripe fruit but pristinely delivered. Smooth and driving on the palate, crunchy, crisp flavours give a real bite to the palate - red berries, blackcurrants and raisins, all nicely integrated and balanced. This doesn’t feel super worked and polished, instead it gives crystalline iron-minerality, lifted acidity and fragrance throughout - real signatures of the terroir and the minimal interventionist winemaking style - the grapes speak more than the winemaking. I just love the sense of wildness, a smoked touch with blue fruits, Asian spices and slightly angular tannins but with ripe fruit giving the body and cool acidity giving the freshness. A stunning wine and welcome addition to the Place. Ageing in French oak barrels (50% new).Decanter | 100 DECFrom a north-facing site at elevation, the 2019 Cerro Sur is a bold, savory wine loaded with energy. This Cabernet Franc-based wine is bursting with tension. Floral, spice and mocha accents lend striking aromatic top notes. I am so impressed with the wine’s elegance and total sense of finesse. This is an especially savory wine with strong cool-climate aromas and flavors that are so captivating.Vinous Media | 98 VMThis mostly cabernet franc shows intriguing character of tar, graphite, ink and black berries, following through to a medium to full body with layered and slightly dusty tannins and a succulent finish. So drinkable now, but will improve with age.James Suckling | 97 JSComing from a higher elevation site in Coombsville and mostly Cabernet Franc, the 2019 Cerro Sur has a complex, gorgeous nose of pure cassis, currant buds, flowers, and chocolate. This red, blue, and black fruited beauty is medium to full-bodied, with silky tannins and flawless balance. Brought up in 50% new French oak, it’s an incredible 2019 readers will absolutely love. It will evolve for upwards of two decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDSuperjuicy and vivid, with lots of up-front violet, cassis and plum pâte de fruit notes backed by tasty licorice and sweet spice. Toasted finish, but the fruit wins out easily, with a flash of sweet bay leaf adding nice range. Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2036. 250 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WSComing in at more than 70% Cabernet Franc—and aged in 50% new French oak—the 2019 Cerro Sur Red Wine is vaguely herbal, with black tea-like notes and hints of sage accenting black cherries and plums. Medium to full-bodied, silky and fine, this displays the hallmark Favia Erickson traits of balance and elegance—there’s absolutely nothing out of place here.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RP

Lastly, the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape XXL is pure magic and one of the most singular wines out there. Based on 65% Grenache and the rest Syrah and other varieties, it was only 30% destemmed and brought up all in demi-muids. Where previous vintages of this beauty were almost over the top, the 2019 shows a more elegant, pure, balanced profile as well as incredible aromatics of ripe red and black fruits, herbes de Provence, ground pepper, violets, and other notes of Southern Rhône-like goodness. Incredibly powerful and opulent, it somehow manages to stay perfectly balanced, has a wonderful sense of freshness, silky yet substantial tannins, and an awesome finish. Unfortunately, there are just over 300 cases produced, so it won’t be easy to find, but this ranks with the all-time greats. It deserves 4-5 years of bottle age and should evolve for 30 years if well-stored.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JD

I’m splitting hairs here, because the level is so high in the Malbecs from the Piedra Infinita vineyard that it’s difficult to say, but the coup de coeur is the 2019 Finca Piedra Infinita Supercal, the single-plot bottling from the shallower soils with lots of rocks covered in calcium carbonate (hence the name: "superlime"). In a cooler year like 2019, this wine achieved a level of precision, austerity, elegance and balance that is amazing. The wine floats in the mouth, with an ethereal quality but with the clout and power from the place. The wine is juicy and fresh with a saline twist in the finish. This is approachable now because of its gobsmacking balance and elegance, but it has all the components and the balance between them to age for a long time in bottle. Bravo! 1,400 bottles were filled in June 2020. They told me that it’s always a challenge to decide the picking date for this plot, and they feel they hit the bull’s eye in 2019. And rightly so.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 2019 Malbec Finca Piedra Infinita Supercal from Paraje Altamira, Uco Valley was aged in concrete and made with grapes from a parcel of soils rich in calcium carbonate. It’s purple in hue. The 2019 has an austere aromatic profile in which clear fresh plum notes are accompanied by violets, lavender and bay leaf. It’s compact yet juicy in the mouth with a pure, chalky texture. The structure is linear for a Malbec, almost skeletal in fact, ensuring that the flavors at the back of the throat reverberate with a mixture of delicate aromas over the taut palate. This wine is a successfully executed statement about winemaking and the house style.Vinous Media | 98 VMDeep but scented nose of black cherries, blueberries, dried violets, graphite, ink and chalk. Very primary, and certainly all about the intrinsic side of the fruit. White pepper and fleshy, deep black cherries on the palate. The tannin is immaculate, but so powerful, with fine austerity, which is evenly distributed, but in an electric way, seeping into the naturally concentrated and succulent fruit. Violets and spices in the finish. Probably the most powerful of the three Piedra Infinita range of reds tasted. An intellectual, austere but resolved malbec. Look elsewhere if you are after oak plushness. Intrinsic and beautiful. Around 1,000 bottles made. Unique. Better after 2025.James Suckling | 98 JS

What a nose! Complex and brooding, yet subtle and layered. The array of aromas range from scented violets and blueberries to dried herbs and minerals. Full-bodied with racy dark cherries and blueberries on the palate. Incredibly zingy and fresh, coated by a plethora of fine, polished tannins that dissipate into the fruit. That said, this is quite assertive. Chalky finish. Long and intellectual. A little more expressive than the powerful Supercal. Drinkable now, but it will reward patience over the next decade.James Suckling | 99 JSThe 2019 Finca Piedra Infinita Gravascal is an earthier wine with notes of graphite. It was selected from a plot within their Piedra Infinita vineyard around the beautiful winery in Paraje Altamira, where there are some 40 centimeters of soil and then the limestone-covered white and round alluvial rocks. It feels drier (despite all of them being dry) than the Piedra Infinita, which is a blend of soils, and little less refined than the Supercal that really shines in 2019. All these bottlings have achieved very high precision and purity, but somehow there is something that makes it less clean and precise than its siblings. 1,250 bottles were filled in June 2020.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPThe 2019 Malbec Finca Piedra Infinita Gravascal from Paraje Altamira, Uco Valley was aged in concrete and made with grapes from a specially selected segment of gravel and a seam of calcium carbonate. It’s purple in the glass. The 2019 has an outgoing nose of violet, cherry and plum with hints of mint and herbs before late developing lavender aromas appear. In the mouth, it’s vigorous with a chalky texture that’s expansive initially before tightening up in a two-stage palate: at first one gets the sweetness and taut texture of the variety before the compact, finely grained tannins, provided by the soils of Altamira, take over. The combination of the two reveals how well judged the ripeness was this year.Vinous Media | 97 VM

Tasting Giuseppe Mascarello’s magnificent 2019 Monprivato stopped me in my tracks with its impeccable class, seemingly infinite energy and great balance between fruit, depth and finesse. Both fragrant and utterly delicious, it captivates with mesmerizing aromas of new leather, iris, spice and citrus while the full-bodied, racy palate boasts crunchy red cherry, juicy strawberry, black tea, and white pepper before closing on notes of star anise and salty mineral. An absolute stunner, this has it all. Drink 2031–2049. Abv: 14.5% Kerin O’Keefe | 100 KOThis pure and stylish Barolo features rose, strawberry, cherry, mineral and underbrush aromas and flavors. Though silky in texture, this is well-structured, with integrated tannins and harmony. This is all about finesse and texture, with excellent length and a mineral aftertaste. Best from 2026 through 2045. 1,541 cases made.Wine Spectator | 97 WS