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So perfumed and seductive on the nose, with black cherries, minerals and rose petals that follow through to a medium body with ultra-fine tannins. Its finesse and vision tell you why Brunello is great. Long, vivid and beautifully balanced. Already a joy to taste, but best after 2027.James Suckling | 99 JSLavender, eucalyptus, dark spice, new leather and juniper berry aromas shape the beautiful nose on the 2021 Fuligni Brunello. All about class and finesse, the palate boasts great intensity, delivering ripe Marasca cherry, blood orange, star anise and rosemary alongside vibrant acidity. Taut, refined tannins lend support. While incredibly tempting, this is still young so give it time to reach its full potential. Drink 2031–2041. Abv: 14.5% Kerin O’Keefe | 98 KOThe Fuligni 2021 Brunello di Montalcino is an elegant expression with layers of dark fruit and blackcurrant that give way to pressed rose, grilled herb and petrichor, recalling rocks bathed in hot sunlight. The wine is chiseled and refined, owing to the classic nature of the vintage and the restrained, non-extractive house style that distinguishes Fuligni, a historic estate based just outside the village of Montalcino on higher-elevation sites. The wine shows precision with fine tannic tension and a linear, poised finish, making it an ideal match for traditional Tuscan dishes such as pappardelle al cinghiale or grilled lamb with rosemary. The wine ages for three years in Slavonian oak casks and tonneaux, resulting in a production of 30,000 bottles.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RPThe 2021 Brunello di Montalcino mixes crushed violets and roses with nuances of sour citrus and wild berries to form its alluring bouquet. A model of purity, it is surprisingly lifted yet silken in feel, with pretty red berry fruits swirling across a tactile mineral core. Sweet tannins and a staining of primary concentration remain, finishing long and balanced with a pleasantly chewy sensation that lingers. While already appealing, the 2021 will require cellaring to soften the blow.Vinous Media | 95 VMFragrant notes of red fruits, flowers and citrus announce an elegant, admirably balanced silhouette with authoritative stature. The wine’s textural compactness, measured personality and stylistic consistency are convincing. This noble family has cultivated vines in Montalcino for over 100 years. The 15 hectares of vineyards, mainly around the estate’s centre to the east of Montalcino, are 380-450 metres above sea level.Decanter Magazine | 95 DEC

The stunning Le Chiuse 2021 Brunello shows great intensity and structure as well as the elegant restraint the estate is known for. It opens with aromas of ripe plum, wild berry, forest floor, dark spice and blue flower as well as a camphor note. Vibrant, full-bodied and delicious, the palate delivers ripe Marasca cherry, crushed black raspberry, licorice and fine tobacco blend lifted by fresh acidity. Taut, well-integrated tannins provide polished support. Drink 2031–2046. Abv: 14.5% Kerin O’Keefe | 98 KOThe Le Chiuse 2021 Brunello di Montalcino is a lovely wine and one of my favorites from a vintage that is not always easy to read. It delivers its message clearly with dark fruit, blue flower, grilled herb and sweet cedar, showing a sense of fullness and aromatic completeness that is not always present in this year. Soft and silky on the palate, the wine offers gentle, powdery tannins supported by good underlying structure, achieving balance without force. Sourced as a special selection from eight hectares of organically farmed vineyards with cool exposures, this bottling demonstrates how site and restraint can successfully interpret variety and vintage. Production is 19,800 bottles.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97+ RPTwo barrel samples of the 2021 Brunello Di Montalcino were tasted – the first from more elegant sandstone soils and the second from the more robustly profiled site with clay soils. The first boasts pretty citrus notes of orange and a refined feel throughout. It’s very pretty and also floral and floats on the palate. The second, from the clay soil, is deeper and has more robust tannins, with a darker feel and hints of tea on the finish. I’m looking forward to the blend when it comes together, and I think this is going to be a very good vintage for the estate.Jeb Dunnuck | 96-98 JDThe 2021 Brunello di Montalcino opens in the glass with a youthful blend of dried flowers, underbrush, crushed rocks and dried black cherries. It is surprisingly round and soothing to the senses, with waves of pure silk and red berry fruits elevated by a core of vibrant acidity. Minerality comes through in the finish, crunchy and long, as sweet tannins frame the experience remarkably well. This is a gorgeous interpretation of the vintage, yet patience is required.Vinous Media | 95 VMAromas of red cherries, stones and herbs like lavender. Medium-bodied with crunchy red fruit and firm, nervy tannins complemented by precise acidity. Lots of tension and definition. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 95 JS

A sleek and graceful wine with aromas of Parma violets, licorice, red fruit and a touch of mint. Full-bodied, it shows elegant tannins with freshness and well-tamed power. Amazing length, with a polished cherry pit aftertaste. Drinkable now, but intended for aging. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 98 JSA layered and complex expression, the Pieve Santa Restituta 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille combines dark fruit and oak with a deep plummy core accented by delicate hints of exotic spice. A precise mineral line runs through the wine and leads to fine, powdery tannins. The overall profile remains tightly wound at this young stage and will benefit from time to settle into a more integrated and complete expression. Sugarille is known to make wines with a subtle sweet-edged richness and supple yet structured tannins, shaped by soils rich in galestro and white clay that lend both age-worthy structure and mineral complexity. Production totals 9,500 bottles.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96+ RPThe 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille bursts from the glass with masses of thyme, incense, rosemary and cedar before giving way to dried strawberries. It presents a subtle inner sweetness and elegant texture, coming across as weighty yet refined, with polished red berry fruits swirling throughout and leaving a bitter licorice tinge to linger on the palate. A complex web of fine-grained tannins flexes on the palate as a tart wild berry saturation lingers incredibly long. The 2021 is youthfully dense and tightly wound today, with the balance for a long and glorious evolution.Vinous Media | 96+ VMThe 2021 Brunello Di Montalcino Sugarille was also resting in concrete when I tasted it in November of 2024. (The blend was completed in July.) It displays a darker red color and is deeper and more layered on the nose, with darker cherry fruit liqueur, sappy herbs, and fresh earth. It’s juicy and ripe at this early stage, with very nice balance, ripe tannins, a full, rounded feel, and a deeper mineral richness.Jeb Dunnuck | 95-97 JD

One of the finest Valbuenas available, showcasing great depth, structure and detail while remaining polished. It exhibits notes of blackberries, cocoa powder, graphite, and high-quality sandalwood, with hints of lard and violets. The standout feature this year is the quantity and quality of the tannins—huge, yet incredibly refined and polished. There are plenty of fine grits that aren’t fully integrated but should harmonize in two to three years. Exceptionally long finish. Will hold effortlessly for the next 20 years. 176,000 bottles produced.James Suckling | 98 JS

Stunning aromas of blackcurrants, dark mushrooms and black cherries with forest-floor notes. Full body that fills your mouth with fine, caressing tannins and dark, flavorful fruit. The tannins are very intense and structural, spreading across the palate in layers and giving intensity and energy. Plenty of energy and verve here. This has gravity, too.James Suckling | 98 JSThe deeply colored and glass-staining 2022 Château Giscours is packed with cassis, black cherries, violets, and graphite-like aromatics. Medium to full-bodied, it’s concentrated and intense, with beautifully ripe tannins, a pure, graceful mouthfeel, and a long, structured finish. There’s serious depth here, and while it already shows remarkable balance, I suspect it will shut down for a period before emerging as a classic Margaux a decade or so after the vintage. This beauty is going to be long-lived, and you can expect at least 30-40 years of prime drinking.Jeb Dunnuck | 97+ JDA seriously impressive and beguiling Giscous in 2022 and one of the most elegant. A remarkable wine with gorgeous clarity and purity and just the most gentle seduction, even more so because it really doesn’t feel as if it’s trying too hard yet still delivering depth and complexity. Fresh and lifted, fragrant and so juicy but with textured tannins that give both the weight, structure and density to the quite bright, tangy, vibrant fruit. Nicely composed, feels quite powerful yet restrained and finessed offering lots of immediate drinking appeal but with a serious backbone that suggests long ageing too. Elegant, fineseed, subtle confidence with such cool minerality that gives freshness all the way through. It’s not the most dense, or fleshy, but so refined. A compelling wine. Possible upscore in bottle. 3% Cabernet Franc completes the blend. 3.70pH. A yield of 27hl/ha, the lowest ever. No Sirene de Giscours this year. 100% grand vin. Ageing 17 months, 50% new oak. 10-15% press wine. Tasted twice.Decanter | 96 DECThe 2022 Giscours was picked between 1 and 29 September, one of the earliest ever, with no SO2 added until blending and using bio-protection (yeasts) to protect the must. It has a delightful and sensual bouquet with lifted, violet and peony-scented blueberry and black cherry fruit. This is very well-defined and perhaps the purest I have encountered from barrel. The palate is medium-bodied with a disarming silky texture, harmonious and focused. It’s mineral-driven with a poised and pixelated finish. Certainly, this represents one of the best wines from this Margaux estate in recent years, echoing their golden period of the 60s and early 70s. Tasted twice with consistent notes.Vinous Media | 95-97 VMWarmed cassis and plum notes form the core, while lilting lilac, violet and iris accents stream throughout. Offers a flash of black tea on the finish, along with a beguiling, cashmere-like mouthfeel. Judicious toast lets it all play out beautifully. A pitch-perfect example of the vintage profile. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2040.Wine Spectator | 95 WSWith the 2022 Giscours, this estate takes another step up, delivering a deep and characterful wine redolent of cherries, dark berries, violets, peony and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, broad shouldered and layered, it’s deep and elegantly muscular, with impressive concentration, abundant but refined tannins and a structural authority reminiscent of the great Giscours vintages of the 1970s. Why is it so good? There are many reasons, but one is the high proportion of old vines—almost 60% of the blend deriving from vines that are over 50 years old—in a vintage that favored vines with deep, well-established root systems. Another is the increasing precision of harvesting at this address: Giscours’s old vines are frequently co-planted with younger replacements that have filled any gaps in the ranks over the years; so, blocks are now picked in two or three passages instead of all at once, with the younger vines picked first.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94-96 RPA blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, and 3% Cabernet Franc, the 2022 Giscours has a pH of 3.7 and 13.6% alcohol. It has a deep garnet-purple color and bursts with notes of baked black plums, warm cassis, and blackberry preserves, giving way to subtle suggestions of sassafras, roses, and Sichuan pepper. The delicately played medium-bodied palate is soft-spoken and refreshing, featured very fine, silt-like tannins and seamless freshness to frame the subtle red and black berry layers, finishing on a mineral note. If you love blockbusters, look elsewhere, this is all about grace. Note that no second wine (La Sirène de Giscours) was made in 2022 and the yield for Giscours was just 27 hl/ha.The Wine Independent | 94-96 TWI

All Grenache sourced mostly from the Chapouin lieu-dit with a splash from Janasse, the 2023 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Chaupin shows a medium ruby hue followed by a pretty, perfumed, remarkably elegant profile. It has a core of sweet red and black berry fruits, absolutely heavenly Provençal aromatics of herbes de Provence, black olive, pepper, and flowers, plus ripe, velvety tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish. Partially destemmed and aged 12 months in 70% foudre and 30% demi-muids, this heavenly 2023 will drink beautifully over the coming two decades. There are roughly 1,500 cases produced. Drink 2025-2045.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDAs always, a pure Grenache Noir sourced from sandy soils, the 2023 Chateauneuf du Pape Chaupin is a terrific effort. Mingling aromas of wild herbs, dark berries, baked mulberries and garrigue, it avoids the excesses of over-ripeness or overt spice, instead delivering a beautifully controlled expression. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and layered, it displays impressive concentration and a sense of coiled energy, its muscular core of fruit framed by a fine chassis of ripe tannins. The finish is long, delicately spiced and impressively persistent. This will reward patience, as time in bottle should bring greater harmony and finesse.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95+ RPHuge in scale, with a potent, warm, sappy profile. Its opulent rush of ripe cherry and licorice is well-framed by polished, firming tannins. Alder, anise and lavender smoke stream through; the finish is well-supported and reined in. Concentrated and broad-shouldered. This is for fans of the hedonistic style yet still shows drive and complexity. Best from 2027 through 2040. 3,333 cases made, 112 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 94 WSA solid, well-composed and flavorful red with cherries, sweet strawberries, warm herbs and a hint of baked orange. Full-bodied with fine tannins giving a refined texture. Juicy and driven, with a long, flavorful and well-structured finish. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 94 JSStrawberry compote, raspberry jam, licorice and crushed violets introduce the expressive 2023 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Chaupin, with ripe black cherry adding more complexity. Neatly structured through firm tannins, the full-bodied 2023 packs ample flavor concentration and density, doubling down with blackberry flavors and garrigue on the long, savory conclusion. This won’t need as much time to come around as the Vieilles Vignes from the same vintage tasted alongside.Vinous Media | 93 VM