Wine Ratings

wines

“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

A classy wine with a profound and complex profile. The nose is fully focused on tension, with vibrant aromas of pink grapefruit, linden tree flowers, apricots, Mirabelle plums, green apples and toast. Oily texture with zesty, integrated acidity. It’s long, smooth, full-bodied and weighted in the finish. Candied fruit aftertaste. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drinkable now, but it will last for a decade.James Suckling | 96 JSIntense and complex, it displays slightly lifted scents of meadow blossom, bruised apple and lime, with suggestions of creamy pastries in the background. Great energy on the palate, where the youthful fleshiness is supported by firm, tangy acidity. Although still finding its feet, 2021 is a benchmark vintage for Löwengang Chardonnay – a wine with a radiant future.Decanter | 95 DECHints of graphite and smoke underscore flavors of persimmon, plum skin, white cherry and blanched almond in this clean-cut, salty white. There’s textural richness and density on the palate, though this is medium-bodied and elegant overall. Lightly honeyed throughout, with a long, fragrant finish of mountain herb and preserved lemon notes. Chardonnay. Drink now through 2031. 5,800 cases made, 230 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

A deep and rich chardonnay with lots of dried apple and honey, as well as honeysuckle and dried lilacs. Full-bodied and layered with lots of phenolics and richness. Some caramel, too, yet it remains fresh throughout. So much dried lemon at the end. Intense and contrastive. Fantastic. Better to decant. Drink now or hold.James Suckling | 96 JS

Lovely fresh, just-sliced yellow apple on the nose with a whiff of lemon rind and an intriguing note of white pepper. Intense, but all beautifully in balance on the palate, with great depth of flavours and a return of that light peppery nuance on the finish. An Alto Adige classic in top form.Decanter Magazine | 96 DECFruit selection for this wine casts a wider net in the celebrated Vorbeg vineyard that also fuels the exceptional Rarity bottling. This 52-hectare site has incredibly steep (70%) inclines at 450 to 650 meters above sea level with south and southwestern exposures. The 2022 Alto Adige Terlano Pinot Bianco Riserva Vorberg (with 60,000 bottles produced) is a creamy, mid-weight expression from a warm and dry vintage. The wine offers pretty aromatic highlights of melon, Golden Delicious apple, pie crust and crushed oystershell. This is a beautiful and more accessible taste of the best of Alto Adige.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95+ RPA masterclass in handling a warm vintage, with all the concentration and power you’d expect from 2022, but those steep Vorberg slopes kept enough freshness to make it sing. Ripe yellow apple, quince, and white peach mesh with notes of crushed stones and mountain herbs. Hints yeasted bread and roasted almonds show breadth and richness, but the wine carries Terlano’s trademark ability to balance richness with mountain freshness. It lays down waves of fruit while maintaining a cool, mineral-driven core. The kind of white that prompts rethinking what Italian whites can be, especially in challenging years. Drink Now - 2045 Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEThe 2022 Pinot Bianco Riserva Vorberg is wildly fresh, with a cascade of dusty dried flowers, lemon oil, sweet herbs and white smoke. This is silken and elegant in feel with creamy weight suspended by vibrant acidity, as mineral-laced orchard fruits flow across the palate. It finishes long and staining, full of youthful tension, as the palate buzzes with a saline saturation and hints of sour citrus. The 2022 is just a baby today, but it has fantastic potential.Vinous Media | 93 VM

Lots of tangy fruit with spicy lemon, lime, lemongrass and raw ginger character and just a hint of waxy undertones. Medium-bodied, tight and focused, with a frame of fruit and a solid finish. Lots of spices and green fruit as well as fresh herbs like basil and sage. A blend of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, ribolla gialla and malvasia. Drink or hold. Screw cap.James Suckling | 96 JSThis elegant white is vibrant and inviting, with a sense of finesse as a racy spine of acidity is enmeshed with fruit flavors of melon, kiwi fruit and pink grapefruit glâcée, plus accents of green almond and white blossoms. Spice and mineral notes play on the mouthwatering finish. Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia Istriana. Drink now through 2034. 5,833 cases made, 840 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 92 WSSeashells and crushed stone mingle with tart orchard fruits, creating a vivid aromatic profile in this blend of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla, and Malvasia. Bright and refreshing, the wine’s mouthwatering acidity is like a cool ocean breeze with ocean spray spritz freshly cut apples. It’s zippy on the finish, with a salty minerality that’s reminiscent of an early morning walk along the beach.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WE

Ornellaia owns 13 hectares of white varieties, and this 100% Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from the prime Bellaria vineyard at around 100 metres above sea level on limestone soils. ‘An original expression of this grape variety’, is how Marco Balsimelli describes it. Well balanced and very fresh, it has good body and plenty of energy, with ripe notes of guava, apricot and mango. The oak vinification with batonnage lends a creamy tone and texture but it remains poised throughout, with a sapid, mineral finish.Decanter Magazine | 95 DECMade with Sauvignon Blanc, the 2023 Bolgheri Bianco Ornellaia shows a softer more cushiony profile than recent editions. The Sauvignon Blanc is sourced primarily from the Bellaria vineyard at 130 meters in elevation. Parcel selection played a key role in 2023, with Poggio alle Gazze dell’Ornellaia showing more exotic fruit, and the estate choose to emphasize a distinctly Mediterranean expression with riper yellow fruit tones for this wine. Fermentation is carried out with great precision with strict protection from oxygen, followed by time in barrique, with about 30% new French oak, tonneaux and amphorae. The wine ages for 10 months on the fine lees with daily bâtonnage at first, then gradually reduced. This vintage outperforms the 2022 in terms of length and polish, offering notes of white pepper, ginger, lemon peel, exotic flower and spice. This wine is scheduled for release in March 2026.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPThe 2023 Ornellaia Bianco, 100% Sauvignon Blanc, is soft, open-knit and ready to go. Scents of orchard fruit, sage, white flowers, mint and white pepper open with some coaxing. In 2023, the Bianco is quite soft and generous in feel. Exotic tropical notes run through the textured, creamy finish.Vinous Media | 92 VM

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...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.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPClassic Burgundian style. On the nose white chocolate, pink grapefruit, lemon zest and white flowers. Full-bodied, it shows weight, vibrancy and tension, with a silky texture and a salted citrus finish. Amazing balance in this vintage, with lemon peel bitterness in the aftertaste adding an extra dimension. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 97 JSYouthfully coy, the 2023 Cervaro della Sala blows off an air smoky reduction to reveal depths of crushed yellow apples, sesame seeds, pine shavings and nuances of vanilla custard. This is pure elegance in the glass, as silken textures envelop the palate. A bump of residual acidity maintains energy throughout, even as the 2023 tapers off tannic and potent, with a resonance of mineral-infused apricots. This is a suburb rendition of Cervaro della Sala.Vinous Media | 95 VMA vibrant white, with pleasing buoyancy to the acidity as it carries a finely woven range of poached apricot, toasted hazelnut, passion fruit and persimmon, with accents of vanilla, lime blossoms and mineral. There’s good tension and focus but also a sense of finesse as the profile waltzes across the palate and expands on the lasting, well-spiced finish. Chardonnay and Grechetto. Drink now through 2036. 21,669 cases made, 3,000 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 93 WS