95-97 Point Wines

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A blend of 65.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 0.8% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Les Forts de Latour is deep garnet-purple in color and strides confidently out of the glass with classic notes of plum preserves, warm cassis and pencil shavings with nuances of mulberries, pencil lead, Indian spices and forest floor. Medium-bodied, the palate packs a lot of fruit into a very elegant, tightly knit palate, delivering expressive blackberry and spicy flavors with a firm frame of grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing long with a peppery kick.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPSmells lovely, really aromatic and shining out of the glass, forward and expressive with clarity and precision on the nose full of red fruit and floral scents. Sleek and crisp, this has energy and lifeforce, I love the shape and straightforwardness but it’s the texture that’s so captivating - slightly firm but dense and chalky tannins give the bounce and cushioning on the palate while the fruit is lean and well defined. So well worked, feels careful, controlled, refined and polished. Sophisticated and just so seamless. Extremely young right now, coiled and tense still, direct from start to finish, it needs to slow down and soften and relax. Lovely pure and perfumed red fruits raspberry and blueberries alongside a slightly sharp, bitter grapefruit edge to the tannins as well as graphite and slate which lingers on the tongue and gives the mighty grip that doesn’t let go. Stylish and enjoyable. 64 PIT, 6.7% press wine. 45.4% production. Harvest 11 September to 4 October. Technical director Hélène Genin. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend.Decanter | 94 DECThis is really minerally with crushed stones and dark berries. Some licorice. Medium to full body, firm and silky tannins and a beautiful, tight and focused finish. Such energy, delivered down a straight line.James Suckling | 94-95 JSThis bold, structured wine is packed with blackberry fruits and ripe tannins. Freshness and structure from the Cabernet Sauvignon are very present, giving a crisp edge to the solid backbone. This is a wine for aging. Don’t drink before 2023. ROGER VOSSWine Enthusiast | 94 WEBright and fresh, featuring floral, cassis and plum aromas and flavors allied to a sleek, iron-tinged frame. Racy tension through the finish lets the fruit play out while the minerality blossoms. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2022 through 2038.Wine Spectator | 93 WSA step up, the 2017 Les Forts De Latour includes more Cabernet Sauvignon and is 65.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and a splash of Cabernet Franc. Creme de cassis, unsmoked tobacco, damp earth, and a touch of cedar pencil all emerge from the glass, and it’s beautifully textured and medium to full-bodied, with terrific purity and a great finish. While it’s a second wine, I suspect it will evolve for 20-30 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 93 JDThe 2017 Les Forts de Latour conveys airiness on the nose, reflecting the relatively lightest vintage in recent years. Graphite and sous-bois infuse black fruit, offering a slightly welcome herbaceous/undergrowth tincture. The palate is very well-balanced and will appeal to those seeking a sleeker, lighter style of Pauillac. Not lean by any account, but this Les Fort de Latour is understated, with appealing black pepper and tobacco notes emerging on the finish. Fine.Vinous Media | 92 VM

The freshness and the floral aromas with citrus fruit and berries are startling for a 2017. The palate is full and extremely refined with elegant tannins and vivid fruit and orange-peel undertones. Racy and bright at the finish. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 96 JSHere’s a handsome bottle inside and out. The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Luce is an exuberant and flashy expression of Sangiovese. Just like the etched label design that features sunbeams, the wine radiates fresh fruit, cherry, spice, tar, licorice and grilled herb. The house style favors a contemporary and rich style of Sangiovese, and the wine’s velvety approach is measured against the ample texture and fruit weight presented here. This warm 2017 vintage is well interpreted by the folks at Tenuta Luce (even with that high 15% alcohol). Production is 30,000 bottles.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPGorgeous aromas on the nose, cola, cherries and exotic sweet spices. Lovely intensity straight away, piercing, finely detailed and driven. Wild strawberries, cherries and raspberries combined with dried scrubland mingling together to give both fruit and savoury aspects while the acidity keeps things lifted and bright. I love the freshness with the hit of sweet cherry and cola. Nuanced and giving. Still a touch of wood spice on the finish giving things a piquance and reminding you that this is a 14.5% alcohol wine and is one to be taken seriously. Excellent ageing potential.Decanter | 94 DECUnderbrush, violet and baked plum are some of the aromas you’ll find on this bold red. Big and savory, the warm palate is brawny but polished, offering fleshy black cherry, licorice and tobacco framed in velvety, enveloping tannins. It’s already almost accessible but also offers good midterm aging potential. Drink through 2027.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WEA rich red, this boasts cherry, plum, leather, tobacco, bitter almond and herb flavors. Taut and dense, with brisk acidity and dusty tannins that truncate the finish for now. Traditional style. Best from 2025 through 2040. 2,500 cases made, 117 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 91 WSNo written review provided. | 90 W&S

The 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Case Vecie is dreamy, wafting up with a remarkably fresh bouquet that features roses, violets, shavings of cedar, dusty cherry and sweet smoke. This is elegance personified, with ripe red and black fruits excited by vibrant acidity as confectionary spice emerges. Minerals add a more tactile feel toward the close. Balsam herbs and hints of mocha resonate as the 2017 finishes with a gentle tug of tannin and a slight bitter twang that punctuates the wine perfectly. This child of a warm vintage shows impressive balance and tremendous potential for the future. Bury your bottles deep.Vinous Media | 96 VMEnticing aromas of dried strawberries and raspberries, together with notes of heather-like herbs and dried citrus peel. Full-bodied with beautiful, silky tannins that embrace the fruit and add length. In fact this is very long, releasing more and more cedar and spicy dried peel for you to savor. An excellent 2017 from a top Amarone vineyard site. Enjoyable now and will age for many a year.James Suckling | 94 JSThis single-vineyard Amarone is high in the hills of the Valpantena Valley and opens with aromas of macerated black cherries steeped in anise and clove that then evolve into notes of forest floor and dried herbs. Finesse is driven with a balance between wild plums, savory and oolong tea notes that are guided by the elegant tannins and mouth-watering acidity on the end. A classic wine. Drink Now–2045. 94 points. Cellar Selection.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WE

The 2017 Barolo Castelletto captures all of the savory and mineral complexity of this high-altitude site. Ethereal and gracious, the Castelletto has so much to offer. Pine, mint, blood orange, crushed raspberry and star anise are all finely sculpted throughout. This is one of the best Barolos I have ever tasted from Manzone. Don’t miss it.Vinous Media | 96 VMI love the dense, savory elements that thicken up the red fruit on the nose, speaking more of terroir than oak influence. Full-bodied with lots of fine-grained tannins that are already giving an easy ride to the juicy fruit, through to a long, only lightly firm finish. It’s very rare to give a drink-now recommendation to a young Barolo, This is irresistible right now. Yet, it should develop nicely in bottle, too. Drink or holdJames Suckling | 93 JS

The 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Campo dei Gigli is intense, like cracking open an ashen stone to find a bevy of dried black cherries, cinnamon sticks, incense and dried herbs. This is deeply textural with a balanced inner sweetness elevated by vibrant acidity as depths of tart red fruit balance and slowly saturates the palate in primary concentration. The 2017 finishes structured and dramatically long, begging for further cellaring, as a bitter tinge of currants and clove fade. Maybe splitting hairs, but I didn’t believe that Tenuta Sant’Antonio could outdo their 2016 Campo dei Gigli, but over time the 2017 may be up to the task.Vinous Media | 95+ VMThick and rather syrupy dried black fruit faces a wall of black-peppery, toasted oak on the nose, then turning more licoricy on the palate. Any subtler, more complex character is for now waiting in the wings for the youthful fruit and oak to vacate the center-stage. And that may take some time. Nevertheless, it’s attractive to drink even now and will continue to give pleasure for many a year. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 93 JSThis rich Amarone is all that it is supposed to be and more. The nose is loaded with blackberry and cassis with licorice and savory herbs layered atop the intense fruit aromas. The palate shows off the beauty of the vineyard with deep dark plum notes wrapped around sweet chocolate and baking spices with fine tannins and a long finish.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEFrom the estate’s oldest vineyard, a limestone site with some silt and sand located at 300m above sea level planted 40 years ago. It’s a blend of Corvina and Corvinone (70%), Rondinella (20%), Croatina (5%) and Oseleta (5%), fermented in stainless steel then matured in new 500l casks for 36 months. It has distinct aromas of chocolate wheat and spiced plum crumble. In the mouth, lurking austere black fruits and balsamic freshness with streaks of tangy red fruits and dusty spice are supported by fine, grainy tannins. Bold, sweet and succulent, it demonstrates some limestoney mid-palate tightness that lends desirable finesse to this ample wine.Decanter | 92 DEC

The 2017 Barolo Bussia Cascina Dardi is a super classic wine from the Fantino brothers that melds together the richness of the year with traditional expression of Bussia structure. Bright red-toned fruit, kirsch, blood orange, mint and spice open over time, supported by beams of nervous tannin that lend energy. This is a terrific 2017 Barolo.Vinous Media | 93 VM

Power and elegance. The 2017 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard bangs with bright red fruit character with fantastic clarity and a pure sense of underlying terroir at its core. Intoxicating floral aromas of Sakura, crushed rose petals and hints of lavender flood the senses first, followed by layers of wild strawberries, bright cherry skin and crushed raspberries in the glass. It is medium-bodied on the palate, with delicate savory and spice tones that fade in and out between the seductive red fruit and floral notes, giving way to an impeccably balanced structure with energetic acidity and a robust shine and gleam to the fruit. An instant success, the palate is full of flavor and mouth-watering juiciness without being overripe. Immensely pleasureful, the wine delivers an elongated yet compact finish that continues to evolve and unpack in the mouth with persistence. Hands-down, it’s a winner! 301 cases produced.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPStarting with the 2017 Grenache Sur Echalas Vineyard, this beauty is the spitting image of a great vintage of Rayas and offers a complex bouquet of black raspberries, white pepper, spring flowers, and sappy herbs. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied, ethereal Grenache that has a light, graceful texture, silky tannins, and a great finish. It shows the more elegant, almost Pinot Noir-like style of Grenache on the palate and is flawlessly balanced. Just a singular, remarkable wine, drink it any time over the coming 15 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDDynamic yet refined, featuring a brooding core of dark blueberry fruit, surrounded by rich raspberry, bacon fat and slate accents that build tension toward medium-bodied tannins. Drink now through 2028. 301 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSThe aromas of dried strawberries and cloves are really pretty. It’s full-bodied with ultra-fine tannins that frame a balance of harmonious, ripe fruit. Touch of bitterness on the finish. Extremely long and thoughtful here. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 94 JSModerately saturated medium red. Dark raspberry, flowers, iron, red cherry and smoked meat on the alluring nose. Dense, rich, mouthcoating wine with an attractive balance of red berries, smoked meat and wild herbs. A very savory style: less fruity than the Cayuse version but boasting a thicker, longer, sweeter finish than the No Girls Grenache from the same stable. Possesses strong material to buffer its tannins. Finishes broad and quite long, with a suggestion of nutty richness. (13.5% alcohol)Vinous Media | 93 VMCompelling soot, green-olive, grilled asparagus, potpourri, licorice and raspberry aromas are followed by a palate that is more restrained in style than the aromas would suggest. It has a pillowy soft feel to the savory flavors. Outrageous potpourri and sea-breeze notes linger on the finish.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WE

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Pym-Rae leaps from the glass with bold notions of black cherries, mulberries, plum preserves and dark chocolate with an opulent undercurrent of Indian spices, potpourri, sandalwood and cinnamon stick. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with rich, seductive black fruit preserves and an explosion of exotic spice sparks, framed by firm yet beautifully plush tannins and fantastic tension, finishing very long and achingly fragrant. Possessing loads more weight and mid-palate density than a lot of 2017s, this second showing is an absolute knock-out. Due to strict selection, only around 1500 cases were made this year.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPRather rich, flamboyant and decadent with bright raspberries, mushrooms and bark. Full-bodied, yet very tight and refined, with firmness and length. Racy and fine for a 2017. No cabernet franc in the blend, just cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Drink after 2023.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2017 Pym-Rae comes from a more challenging vintage that featured a dramatic heat spike on Labor Day weekend and fires during harvest. Nevertheless, the fruit was harvested all pre-fire, and it’s a beautiful wine revealing ample black fruits, scorched earth, tobacco, and graphite-like aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it shows the vintage’s more focused, elegant style and has beautiful concentration as well as a great finish. While I suspect it has fewer tannins than the 2016, they’re more present and focused, which is very much in the style of the vintage. This elegant, concentrated, classic Bordeaux-like Mountain Cabernet will evolve nicely for another 25+ years.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JD

Camphor, star anise, tobacco and underbrush are just some of the aromas you’ll find on this stunning red. Full-bodied and elegantly structured, the savory palate doles out ripe Marasca cherry, rasberry compote, baking spice and licorice set against youthfully assertive, noble tannins. Give it time to fully develop. Drink 2027–2037. Kerin O’Keefe | 98 KOCamphor, star anise, tobacco and underbrush are just some of the aromas you’ll find on this stunning red. Full-bodied and elegantly structured, the savory palate doles out ripe Marasca cherry, rasberry compote, baking spice and licorice set against youthfully assertive, noble tannins. Give it time to fully develop. Drink 2027–2037.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEThis has very pretty sweetness of fruit to it, with dried strawberries and cherries, as well as walnuts and light cocoa powder. It’s medium-to full-bodied with creamy tannins and a subtle finish. Better in three or four years. Try after 2025.James Suckling | 95 JSA release of about 5,000 bottles, the Brovia 2017 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione offers a very elegant take on a wild and hot vintage that was not always easy to tame. The wine’s aromatic profile can be described as ripe for sure because you get a generous dose of fragolino di bosco (wild strawberry), peach and orange blossom. Like the Villero, that ripeness is mitigated by the pretty mineral note that frames the bouquet. That dusty crushed limestone is more prominent in the case of the Rocche di Castiglione. However, the mouthfeel is a touch more compact and slenderer in the case of this wine. The tannins are silky and fine, but it would be nice to come back to this bottle in five years or more when the wine has had the chance to flesh out further.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPThe 2017 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is delicate and perfumed from the outset. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit, cedar, mint and licorice all open in the glass. The 2017 is a classic Rocche - gracious, medium in body and super-finessed. The ripeness of the year comes through in the wine’s flavor profile, but all the elements are so well balanced. The only thing missing is a bit of depth, and that leaves the finish feeling just a bit dry.Vinous Media | 92 VM

I loved the 2017 Côte Rôtie La Landonne, a magical expression of the Grand Cru terroir. Deep purple-hued with killer notes of black raspberries, bacon fat, ground herbs, and obvious minerality, this beauty is full-bodied, has ultra-fine tannins, a deep, concentrated mid-palate, and a finish that won’t quit. Do your best to hold bottles for 4-5 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 97+ JDThe winemaking at Domaine Rostaing is now in the hands of René’s son Pierre, and it follows the same format for all the Côte-Rôties: four weeks in tank, 18 months in mostly old oak, natural yeast fermentation, and as many stems as possible - 100% in this case. This wine shows supreme freshness and vitality, and is very direct and straight, with notes of violets, black pepper and blackcurrant leading onto a long finish. It’s a powerful wine but shows great energy and presence. The acidity is pretty biting, and the tannins are tough, dense, saline and directional. This 2017 is lous, powerful, almost fierce.Decanter | 96 DECIn tank and awaiting bottling when I tasted it, the 2017 Cote Rotie la Landonne has smoothed out and added complexity in the past year. It now shows classic savory, meaty, la Landonne character and plenty of mocha goodness. It’s medium to full-bodied, lush and velvety on the mid-palate, then finishes long and tannic.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95-97 RPInky ruby. Spice-accented blackberry, cherry preserve, pipe tobacco and licorice on the deeply perfumed nose; a sexy floral topnote gains strength as the wine opens up. Sweet, spicy and penetrating, displaying velvety texture to the ripe dark berry, cherry and fruitcake flavors. Shows superb clarity and finishes smoky and impressively long, with mounting tannins and a lingering suggestion of candied violet.Vinous Media | 94 VMThis has an old-school persona, with a dusty sandalwood and cedar frame around a mix of mulled plum and black cherry fruit, showing bay leaf, leather and savory notes. A smoldering dark earth accent runs through the finish. Best from 2022 through 2038. 800 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WS

The 2017 Gigondas Le Lieu Dit is, as always, the most finesse oriented and elegant in the lineup. Coming from a sandy, cooler parcel just outside the domaine and all Grenache (70% destemmed) brought up in old demi-muids, it offers a more ruby color as well as a massive perfume of wild strawberries, kirsch liqueur, dried soil, and flowery incense. Full-bodied, incredibly pure, and perfectly balanced, it’s another straight-up thrilling wine from Brechet that will benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for 10-15 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDSaturated crimson. Intense aromas of red berry liqueur, exotic spices and incense pick up a smoky mineral nuance as the wine stretches out. Sappy and energetic in the mouth, offering impressively concentrated raspberry, cherry and spicecake flavors and a strong suggestion of candied lavender. Finishes seamless, alluringly sweet and extremely long, with resonating red fruit and floral notes and supple tannins that add shape and discreet grip.Vinous Media | 94-95 VMThis mixes red and black currant fruit with notes of sage, alder and tobacco, ending with a tug of chalky minerality. Features perfume, flesh and a little more grip than most in the vintage. Best from 2020 through 2032. 50 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 94 WSThe 2017 Gigondas le Lieu Dit incorporates 30% whole clusters yet shows no green, stemmy characters at this stage of its evolution. It’s loaded with purple raspberries, framed by incredibly silky tannins, lush and ripe without any warmth evident on the long finish. Tasted twice, showing more tannic grip and woody notes on one occasion.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP