Popular Wines

wines

Lovely peach, pear and yellow plum notes form the core, with well-inlaid acidity for support and light verbena and shortbread accents gilding the lush finish. Marsanne and Roussanne. Drink now through 2024. 300 cases made, 10 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 93 WSBeautifully pure quince, ripe peach, and caramelized citrus notes emerge from the 2019 Crozes-Hermitage Blanc, which shows a more medium-bodied, clean, vibrant style. It doesn’t have the richness of the Saint-Joseph releases, yet I love its purity of fruit as well as its balance. It’s going to gain depth with a year of bottle age and keep for 7-8 years, probably longer.Jeb Dunnuck | 93 JDSvelte in structure yet pulsating with rich black plum and cassis, this full-bodied Syrah calibrates pure, ripe fruit against complexities of granite, fur and black olive. Matured ten months in oak, it’s a velveteen, concentrated sip but brisk and bright too, finishing on fine-grained, upright tannins. Approachable young, the wine will likely drink beautifully through 2030.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEVery good - this is a fairly rich style of white Crozes, the oak is quite lovingly applied, but it works well. Lacks a bit of focus, but it’s enjoyable with concentrated pear and melon flavours. Drinking Window 2021 - 2022.Decanter | 90 DEC

Violets and lavender with dark fruit and hints of dark chocolate. Sophisticated nose. Medium-bodied with fine tannin structure that gives this finesse and beauty. It’s very long and goes on for minutes. Precision. 68% sangiovese with the rest in cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. Drinkable but better in three or four years.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2020 Tignanello is so primary, so intensely fruit-driven, that it almost tastes like a barrel sample. A burst of red Sangiovese fruit opens first, followed by hints of blood orange, cinnamon, spice, dried flowers and mocha develop later. Time in the glass brings out striking dimensions. In 2020, Tignanello is wonderfully sleek and racy, with fine tannins that lie below a core of bright, sculpted fruit. The balance here is just sublime. I can’t wait to revisit the 2020 with age. "We are gradually increasing the Cabernet Franc in Tignanello to balance the greater richness that today’s warmer seasons are giving to our Sangioveses," Antinori CEO Renzo Cotarella told me.Vinous Media | 96 VMNewly on the market now, the 2020 Tignanello shows a gorgeous bouquet with an upfront and accessible personality. Right off the bat, you get dark cherry, dried raspberry, spice, toasted almond and citrusy blood orange. The blend is normally 75% to 80% Sangiovese with 7% Cabernet Franc. The grape in between, making up 13% to 18%, is Cabernet Sauvignon. This vintage is very pretty and won’t require a long wait. The tannins are sweet and silky. “Tignanello proves itself as a great vineyard site in both the challenging and the classic years,” says Managing Director Renzo Cotarella. Annual production falls between 300,000-350,000 bottles.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPClearly not the greatest of Tignanellos, but still a fine wine in its own right. One of the founding super Tuscans, this rendition features chunky, grapy, flowery aromas backed by blackberry and black cherry flavors. It’s plump, maybe a bit heavy and oaky, but still worthy of its reputation. Wine Enthusiast | 90 WE

Even if already sold out, I also tasted the white 2020 Cullerot because it’s probably their finest vintage for this wine. The nose is very expressive, with notes of flowers, talcum powder, fennel and aniseed, pollen and herbs, with a soft texture combining volume with freshness in a year when the grapes ripened properly. It’s been settled by some time in bottle and feels very harmonious and ready. It has 13.2% alcohol with a pH of 3.23 (the white does not go through malolactic) and feels very balanced, tasty and supple. 40,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2021.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92+ RP(Cullerot Blanco- Celler del Roure) Celler del Roure is blessed with ancient cellars carved into the bedrock below the winery, where past generations fermented and aged the wines in amphorae dug into the stone. They were not used for several decades, but recently the winery decided it would be interesting to see how these amphora wines would taste and started to produce a lineup of bottlings made from these ancient vessels. The Cullerot Blanco bottling is composed of a blend that includes Pedro Ximénez, Macabeo and Malvasia, among other varieties co-planted in the vineyards. The wine starts out fermentation in stainless steel tanks and then is transferred to the amphorae embedded in the rock for six months of aging. The 2020 Cullerot comes in at thirteen percent alcohol and offers up a complex nose of tart orange, breadfruit, lemongrass, lovely soil tones, citrus peel and a touch of honeysuckle in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, nicely ripe and complex, with a fine core, excellent soil signature, zesty acids and a long, complex and very well balanced finish. This is most impressive! (Drink between 2022 - 2028)John Gilman | 92 JG

The 2020 Cheval des Andes was harvested from the last of February for the first time ever. It was Gabillet’s second vintage at Cheval des Andes, and that year, he had to start without waiting for Pierre Olivier Clouet and Pierre Lurton from Cheval Blanc; when they arrived, they had finished picking the Malbec, which surprisingly was fresher in Las Compuertas (because of the higher percentage of clay?) than in Altamira (where the vines suffered more stress), saving the freshness. They now harvest using cold trucks (for the first time), and they also started earlier in the morning (six in the morning, impossible earlier in Mendoza...), which he reckons was very good for the precision of the wine. They used 40% 225-liter barrels, 40% 400-liter oak barrels and 20% 2,500-liter foudres, half of them new and with an élevage of 15 months on average, depending on the lots and varieties from 12 to 18 months. The final blend was 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot, which makes a comeback as it was not used since 2016. The key was to finish the fermentation of the Petit Verdot without skins, and that way, they have been able to use it in the blends of 2021, 2022 and 2023 in small but increasing percentages. This is slightly riper than 2019, with a little more alcohol (14.5%) and with very good structural tannins but saving the freshness, and it has the spicy side from the Petit Verdot (Gabillet talks about white pepper). The wine has the ultra sleek and polished texture and the elegance and the balance that is the signature here; the wine is very clean and precise. I see very good regularity across the three vintages I tasted next to each other—this 2020 and the 2018 and 2019. Overall, this is a triumph over the adverse conditions of the vintage. They produced their usual 100,000 bottles (since 2018), as they are renewing their vineyards and want to keep the volume stable. They produce this volume from the 36 productive hectares they have in Las Compuertas and Altamira.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPRipe, baked dark cherries with spices and some violets. Hints of graphite, cocoa powder, incense and black pepper. Dried rose petals. A slightly fuller Cheval des Andes with tense, silky tannins and a lingering, generous finish. Ripe, but still has lots of restraint and precision. 49% malbec, 49% cabernet sauvignon with a 2% petit verdot. 24% of the malbec comes from Altamira and all the rest of the fruit come from Las Compuertas. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2020 Cheval des Andes is a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot from Paraje Altamira in the Uco Valley and Las Compuertas in Luján de Cuyo. Aged in French oak barrels, it’s purple in the glass with a garnet sheen. The nose reveals a well-judged approach to the warmth of 2020, featuring ripe plum, redcurrant, mint and hints of white pepper over a bed of bay leaf and cedar. It’s dry and velvety on the palate, with rich, polished tannins that deliver a juicy, balanced mouthfeel. The balsamic notes and rich palate reflect the year’s character, while the finish is dynamic and long-lasting.Vinous Media | 96 VMThis almost half-half Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec with 2% Petit Verdot is rich and full in the mouth. Tannins are massy and filling, this has power and dominance with concentrated blackcurrant, plum and black cherry fruit. Highly spiced and sunkissed, this is intense and quite a force on the palate with liquorice, black pepper and tobacco tones and a flinty mineral aspect on the finish. The alcohol sticks out a touch, just lingering with heat at the end, but it has freshness and matches the altogether hefty frame and power from start to finish. Certainly a punchy and confident wine that’s out to shine. 3.83pH. Ageing 22 months, 40% in 225l Bordeaux barrels, 405 in 400l barrels, 20% in 2,500l foudres (50% new). Winemaker Gérald Gabillet.Decanter | 95 DEC

The still young and primary 2020 Clos Erasmus feels very floral and ethereal (within Priorat and Clos Erasmus); it’s a fresher and lighter expression but without being weak. It’s still a baby that needs to burn the baby fat (there are still some lactic notes from the malolactic in barrel). The wine is always around 3.2 or 3.3 pH and has some 15% to 15.5% alcohol, but the sensation this year is of a much fresher, more balanced and elegant wine. This should make an elegant bottle of mature Priorat with a decade in bottle, and I guess it will be long lived. Glorian mentioned that a small lot that normally goes to Laurel was added to the blend of Erasmus, resulting in a lot of added freshness and a note of orange blossom, which makes sense to me with the floral character of the wines and the extra freshness I perceived. This is really beautiful. It’s a very special vintage of Erasmus that unfurls incredible complexity and tantalizing aromas with time in the glass—blood orange (talk about freshness!), curry and cassis. It has great purity, complexity, elegance and finesse... A very different Clos Erasmus. Bravo! There are some 3,600 bottles. It was bottled in May 2022.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 100 RP

2020 was a challenging year that gave them a lot of work in the vineyard, but it it paid off. The 2020 Laurel feels very elegant, balanced and fresh, a little lighter perhaps, with perfectly ripe tannins, a little in line with 2016 or 2013. It might be a little unusual for the house style or perhaps a slight change, as they are gradually going for softer vinifications; you don’t really need to extract in Priorat, because the wines are powerful enough on their own. It’s still extremely young and has a lactic touch (that blows off with a bit of time in the glass); it was only bottled at the end of May 2022, three months before I tasted it. Even if it’s the second wine here, it’s a wine that needs a little bit of time and improves in the bottle. Having said that, the 2020s feel more open, expressive and approachable than the 2019s, which are more tannic and powerful while the 2020s feel a little more Burgundian if you like. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Laurel so far. After some time in the glass, the aromatics of the Syrah (which was perhaps a little more this year, some 12% versus 8% in 2019) made an appearance—violets, smoked bacon. Daphne Glorian told me that everything was easy, that the wine was expressive and open from day one and that the fermentations were smooth. There are some 19,000 bottles of this.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RP

The flagship from this great estate is the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Boisrenard, which is based on 80% Grenache and small doses of 17 other varieties. This deeply hued beauty offers a stunning bouquet of blackberries, scorched earth, licorice, ground pepper, and sappy garrigue. I always find a Burgundian-like texture on this wine, and the 2020 is no exception – this is one to put into a blind tasting of Grand Cru Red Burgundies and shock your friends. Medium to full-bodied, ultra-pure, with grippy, sappy tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish, it’s pure class all the way. It’s going to need at least 4-6 years of bottle age, but this is a wine you don’t want to miss, and one of the finest wines I’ve tasted from this estate.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDFull and generous on the palate, no lack of fruit or depth here. Powerful and plentiful fine tannins and a great, rising sense of energy and freshness. Impressive, with real finesse and precision - no excess weight, but great surging intensity and freshness. Contains at least 1% of all the 18 possible varieties of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Grapes are grown across a variety of soil types in the lieux-dits Beau Renard, Cabrières and Coteau de l’Ange, vinified mostly in tronconic wooden vats, then aged in oak barrels of various sizes and ages, including 5% new oak. Drinking Window: 2023 - 2037Decanter | 96 DEC

The lightly hued 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Blanc checks in as 70% Grenache Blanc, 28% Roussanne, and tiny percentages of Bourboulenc and Clairette, brought up in equal parts demi-muid and tank. It has a beautiful bouquet of ripe white peach and melon that shows a touch of spice and hazelnut with air, and it’s medium-bodied, beautifully pure, textured, and balanced on the palate. It’s a stunning white that will shine on the dinner table.Jeb Dunnuck | 95 JD

Aromas of blackcurrants, black cherries, hints of graphite, wet earth, and lavender. Sandalwood. Full-bodied with an impressive and refined structure that runs deep and vertical in the wine. Chewy. Hints of chocolate and hazelnut at the end. Needs five or six years to soften.James Suckling | 98 JSAn excellent wine, even if not a great Dominus, the 2020 Dominus delivers waves of dark fruit—think predominantly cassis. A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, it’s full-bodied and richly textured, perhaps a bit warm and open-knit because of the summer’s heat, but with a long, velvety finish attractively tinged with mocha and dark chocolate.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPThis throws off dense kirsch and linzer torte aromas and flavors, along with a mix of smoldering tobacco, leather, warm paving stone and licorice root hints that provide a brooding edge on the back end. Surprisingly backward for the vintage and impressively done. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2040. 1,600 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS

The 2020 Dão Branco from Lúcia Ferreira is crafted from a cépages of twenty-five percent Encruzado, thirty-two percent Malvasia Fina, nineteen percent Bicoal and fourteen percent Gouveio. The wine is fermented and aged in stainless steel. The 2020 version is drinking beautifully today, delivering a refined bouquet of white peach, fresh lime, a touch of casaba melon, white soil tones, gentle floral tones and a hint of beeswax in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil undertow and grip and a long, well balanced and very classy finish. This is an excellent wine that still has years and years of life ahead of it. (Drink between 2023 - 2040)John Gilman | 92 JG

Enticing fruit-cocktail nose with a lemony twist, as well as some honey and meadow flowers. Medium-bodied with intense, super clean fruit flavors and a delicious finish. So well balanced. Enjoy now.James Suckling | 93 JSA blend of equal parts fiano and greco, this wine offers flavors of cool citrus in a round, creamy texture. Scented with apple blossom, chamomile and bee pollen, the wine gains richness with air, yet remains high-toned and refreshingWine & Spirits Magazine | 91 W&SA creamy white, with juicy yellow apple and pear fruit laced with hints of vanilla, verbena, anise and toast. Reveals a subtle, pleasing plumpness that’s refreshed and balanced by citrusy acidity and a tang of salinity. Fiano and Greco. Drink now. 1,000 cases made, 200 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

The Ornellaia 2020 Bolgheri Rosso Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia (a proprietary blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) is a generous and darkly toned red blend that has the extra fruit fiber, sweetness and generous plumpness of a warm vintage. The fullness of the fruit is on full display, but in a very relaxed and natural manner. The wine never feels like too much. The tannins are yielding and velvety, and this purebred Tuscan red wraps thickly over the palate. It’s poised for near- and medium-term drinking.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPProduced from 44% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2020 Le Serra Nuove Dell’Ornellaia is expressive with floral notes as well as dried lavender, sage, and black cherry. The oak (30% of which was new) is present but not out of balance and will benefit from another 6-12 months in bottle to integrate. The palate is full bodied, with fine tannins and refreshing acidity. It is long on the palate and cleans up with a soft texture, and there is ripe fruit through the mid-palate. This wine offers tremendous value packed in dollar-for-dollar. Drink 2024-2034.Jeb Dunnuck | 93+ JDThis muscular red is saturated with cherry, plum, vanilla and earth flavors. As solid and sinewy as the tannic structure is, the fruit matches it step by step on the long finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2025 through 2043. 3,000 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

Guidalberto 2020 is a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, matured for 15 months in oak (20% new), including a small percentage of American oak. The aromas are a little heavier, with ripe dark fruit and a fragrant, floral note. It’s a little less finely detailed aromatically than the 2021, with some smoke, spice and green herb qualities. The palate is round, medium-full bodied with juicy, bright acidity. It’s a very friendly wine with very fine tannins and there’s a little more grip and silty texture to the tannins.Decanter | 95 DECThis 2020 Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto has leafy blackberry and cedar aromas with a subtle background of baking spice and cream. It has cool, green bramble flavors and fine will-o’-the-wisp, whispering tannins. It’s all very elegantly done on the palate, understated, with everything in harmony but it is of course lighter than Sassicaia with a moderate finish. On standing there is a lovely delicate fragrance of macchia mediterranea, peppery spice and freesias with a thrilling acidity. Charming, understated and refreshing. | 94 TWIThe 2020 Guidalberto is taut and tight with plenty of tart cherry and wild berry. The wine offers great freshness and tension with bay leaf, spice, wild cherry and pressed lavender buds. There is a hint of black olive too. The blend is equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RPThe 2020 Guidalberto is a gorgeous, classy wine. Less opulent than it can be, the 2020 impresses with its energy and drive. Sweet red cherry, plum, mint, rose petal, cedar and pipe tobacco all take shape in this super-attractive, mid-weight offering from Tenuta San Guido. There’s a bit more Merlot in the 2020, but Guidalberto is increasingly made from lots that don’t make it into Sassicaia, which explains the style of recent vintages. This is a terrific showing, especially considering the recent bottling. It’s a fine relative value in Bolgheri’s high-rent district. (Originally Published in March 2022)Antonio Galloni | 92 AGNice freshness on the palate with plums and berries and citrusy acidity. It’s medium-bodied with fine tannins and a powdery texture. Hints of mushrooms. You can enjoy this young, but it will age nicely, too. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 92 JSA lively, fluid red, displaying cherry, black currant, cedar, iron and spice aromas and flavors. Taut and balanced, with a slightly reserved finish today. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Drink now through 2028. 17,500 cases made, 5,000 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

Complex, with savory, spicy character, showing tobacco, salted plums, olives, black cherries, cassis and a hint of white pepper on the nose, followed by a refined, savory, balsamic accent. A full-bodied Seña with juicy fruit chiseling into the tight, extremely fine-grained tannins. Long, bright and still elegant from this warm vintage. 53% cabernet sauvignon, 25% malbec, 15% carmenere and 7% petit verdot. A wine with lots of harmony now, but better to drink from 2025.James Suckling | 98 JSThe 2020 Seña is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 15% Carmenere and 7% Petit Verdot (a little higher in search of acidity) from grapes harvested early, the second week of March, and fermented mostly in stainless steel and 10% in concrete eggs. It has a moderate 13.5% alcohol and good freshness. It’s subtle and layered, not only fruit but with more spice; it has polished tannins and very integrated oak after 22 months in barrique, 78% new, and with 10% of the volume in large Stockinger barrels. The warmer years seem to be nicely managed, so that it’s not reflected in the ripeness but is more a matter of texture and quality of the tannins; in the warmer years, like 2017 or this 2019, the wines have a little more grip, but these are definitely finer than those from the 2017 vintage. This wine has intensity and complexity, with no mintiness or herbal notes; it’s spicy and juicy, with energy and depth. It has structure, color, stuffing and acidity to develop nicely in bottle. 100,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPBeautiful fruit expression, clear and well defined, lovely texture, concentrated but smooth and round. This is full of sweet, juicy ripe fruits with a chalky, creamy texture underpinned by lifted acidity. It’s bold and clearly powerful with a depth of ripe blackcurrants, black cherries, plums and raspberries alongside notes of freshly-cut flowers, herbs and sweet spices; rosemary, violets and cinnamon. Tannins are fine and well integrated and this feels well worked with finesse. Beautifully expressive - I like the styling here, everything feels very polished and purposeful. 7% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Ageing 22 months in French oak barrels (78% new) and 10% foudres. Drinking Window: 2025 - 2043Decanter | 95 DECThe 2020 Seña was made in another warm, early-ripening year further complicated by the restrictions that came with the COVID pandemic, which hindered decision-making in the vineyard. A blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 15% Carménère and 7% Petit Verdot, it was aged for 22 months, 90% in French barrels and the rest in foudres. A purplish garnet red, the intense, ripe nose presents notes of herb, blackcurrant and plum while in the mouth the rich balance gives a gentle boost channeled by firm but restrained tannins. Juicy and relaxed with nuanced flavor, it will improve in the bottle.Vinous Media | 94 VMSuave and polished, featuring flavors of floral currant and plum preserves, with a mineral underpinning and fresh acidity. Ends with loam and spice nuances and firm tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Carmenère and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2032. 8,334 cases made,Wine Spectator | 92 WS

“Creamy and refreshing, Rigogoli bursts with flavors of peach, almond, sweet spice and finishes with a clean, sea-swept minerality. The native Grechetto di Todi pairs well with Viognier which rounds out Grechetto’s acidity, but also serves to add more complex aromas to this wine.” Sokolin Tasting Panel | 95 SP

The white 2021 Cargol Treu Vi has notes of pollen and yellow fruit with some browning apples. It has contained ripeness and 12.4% alcohol with a very low pH and high-ish acidity but comes through as more evolved and somewhat riper than the phenomenal Principia Mathematica form this same vintage. It has pungent flavors and a medium-bodied palate, with some spice from aging in 300-liter barrels for 10 to 11 months. 2,100 bottles were filled in August 2022.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP

Take your time to appreciate this beauty. This is different from the richer and more opulent 2020, instead, it is more mineral, with a rather thick shield of minerality that makes it feel ethereal yet protective. Finely ground white pepper, violets, herbs and a hint of bacon and slate to the blue and red berries. Medium to full body on the palate with melted tannins and a long, bracing finish. Such energy, flair and harmony here. Can’t expect more. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 100 JSA Gran Vinya Classificada, L’Ermita is one of Spain’s most renowned wines and it’s easy to see why. This is glorious, starting with a fabulously decadent nose of wild plums and minerals. The palate is superbly long and textured, with a firm line of redcurrant freshness and a very long, sapid, mineral finish. It’s hard to fault and will age beautifully. Matured for 12 months in foudres.Decanter | 99 DEC

Here is another classic sparkling wine from northeast Italy. The Bisol 1542 2021 Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Crede Brut is crisp and citrusy with crushed oyster shell, flint and grated ginger. The wine ends with fresh, steely effervescence. This is an amazing value with 301,000 bottles released to the market. The blend is specifically 87.5% Glera, 10% Chardonnay and 2.5% Pinot Nero.The Wine Advocate (Monica Larner) | 90 RPPear-fruit nose with green apples, nectarines and chalk that give an upbeat, almost peachy accent to the palate. Creamy and fresh, with a silky mousse. Lots of green apples in the finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 90 JS

The 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape Clos De Beauvenir Blanc is also incredible and, in this critic’s opinion, a perfect wine. Coming from a single vineyard just beside the estate and based largely on Roussanne, it has a slightly deeper gold hue as well as Montrachet-like richness in its notes of white currants, flower oil, pineapple, honeyed toast, and crushed stone. Rich, powerful, and concentrated on the palate, it nevertheless stays vibrant, fresh, and pure, with a gorgeous finish that just keeps going. It’s pure brilliance in Southern Rhône whites. I love it today with some air, but it should drink brilliantly for 7-8 years, then possibly go through a dormant stage, only to re-emerge at a later date. It’s unquestionably one of the finest whites from the region. Hats off to the team at La Nerthe for this incredible effort.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDSuper-fresh and so dynamic. A lovely brisk acidity propels the tangy lime fruit long into the finish. The oak is quite present but well judged and should integrate after a year or so in bottle. Impressive length and finesse. Parcel selection of old vines on sandy clay soil. Matured in demi-muid, with 15% new wood. Just 3,000 bottles produced.Decanter | 97 DECThe 2021 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Clos de Beauvenir is made from certified organic grapes and aged for 7 months in a combination of 85% demi-muids and 15% new oak barriques. It bursts with aromas of honeysuckle, jasmine, lemon peel, white peach, pineapple, melon, pastry, cedar and freshly-cut fennel. On the palate it is medium to full-bodied, vibrant and shows a lively core of fresh acidity. This 2021 white concludes with a bright finish and a modestly salty aftertaste.Vinous Media | 94 VMBold and exuberant, with good definition to the white peach, quince and fresh melon notes and hint of ginger. Offers a thread of shortbread that adds richness to the round, lush palate, which is deftly offset by stony minerality and savory green herbs on the lengthy finish. Roussanne and Grenache Blanc. Drink now through 2027. 20 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 93 WSA 70-30 blend of Roussanne and Grenache, the 2021 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Clos de Beauvenir offers up scents of struck flint, citrus zest and white peaches. Medium-bodied, this largely barrel fermented effort is focused and linear in shape, finishing with ample freshness and length.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90 RP

There’s a touch of oak on the nose and palate that helps to frame the tangy citrus notes, and lends a touch of spice, but it’s far from overwhelming. Full-bodied, classically Lirac in its breadth on the palate. Ends on a nip of grapefruit bitterness. Good acidity. Also contains Marsanne, Viognier and Piquepoul.Decanter | 92 DECBrimming with stone-fruit aromas with a touch of mango, this is a rich but very clean and crisp dry white from the Southern Rhone. Good concentration and a touch of positive tannin help it carry the generous body and 14.5% alcohol. From organically grown grapes. Drink now.James Suckling | 90 JS

Limpid orange. A sharply focused, mineral-accented bouquet evokes fresh red berries and pit fruits, citrus pith and pungent flowers. Silky and penetrating on the palate, offering tangy redcurrant, pomegranate and blood orange flavors and a hint of honeysuckle. The floral note builds steadily through an impressively long, nervy finish that echoes the citrus and mineral notes. | 93 VMCall it a down year if you must, but the 2021 Cotes de Provence Rose Chateau de Selle remains one of the region’s top wines. Scents of tangerine, peach, crushed stone and lime zest mark the nose, while the medium-bodied palate is plump and juicy, finishing long and layered. The assemblage this year is 55% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, 10% Mourvèdre and 5% Syrah.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91 RP

Primarily Clairette (60%) and Ugni Blanc (30%), with bits of Bourboulenc, Marsanne and Rolle, the 2021 Bandol Blanc was still in tank when I visited early last year. It presents a striking juxtaposition of ripe pears and honeyed richness with brighter notes of fresh lime juice on the nose and medium-bodied palate, finishing with a sense of plush richness balanced by mouthwatering citrus zest and brine.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPWith a higher percentage of Ugni Blanc and 10 months in foudres, this has less overt tropical fruit and more restraint. The closed nose opens to white peaches, melon and delicate tropical fruit with a hint of fresh greenness and white nuts. Citrus-pith-tight acidity gives a mouthwatering finish with a touch of chalky phenolics and smoky notes on the finish. Delicate, elegant and beautiful with an intense structure, this is still very youthful with the potential to open up with some age.Decanter | 92 DEC

Not included in the blind tasting at the local syndicat, Tempier’s 2021 Bandol Rose nevertheless looked good when I tasted it at the estate. It’s a very fine, elegant example of Bandol rosé, with notes of passion fruit and pink grapefruit leading the way in a tightly knit, medium-bodied package that adds promising hints of white peach and anise on the lingering finish.Robert Parker | 93 RP