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93 points James Suckling
A bright and fresh red with orange-peel and blackberry character. Medium-to full-bodied, driven and fruity. Tangy.

A single-vineyard wine made by the winemaking team of Margaux estate Ch??teau Siran, this wine has structure, dense tannins and layer upon layer of black fruits. 2019 was an excellent vintage in Bordeaux.

80% Merlot, 10.5% Petit Verdot, and 9.5% Cabernet Sauvignon. From an eleven hectare single-vineyard plot on the Margaux border. 25 year-old vines planted in a sandy gravel subsoil with clay topsoil. Fermented in stainless steel and aged for twelve months in French oak, with two rackings.

"This outstanding property in Labarde in the southern part of the Margaux appellation is making consistently delicious, fragrant, deeply colored wines that are in quality on a par with the best Grands Bourgeois Exceptionnels." - Robert Parker, Bordeaux: The Definitive Guide For The Wines Produced Since 1961

Chateau Siran is a highly regarded Bordeaux producer vinifying wine in Margaux. We have had a vintage or two of their Margaux over the years, but we didn?????t know they produce a second wine named Saint Jaques De Siran. And it is this wine that recently knocked our socks off while tasting through an assortment of French wines. Saint Jacques de Siran is a throwback to the Bordeaux of yesteryear with its oak-influenced characteristics. This is not a new-aged, acid-driven Bordeaux all about upfront juicy fruit. No, this has all those classic notes that made Bordeaux popular in the first place, like cedar, saddle leather, tobacco leaf, and dried fruits. I had a flashback while tasting this that it was the early 2000s and I had Bordeau from the nineties in my glass!

Chateau Siran has long been recognized as one of the top estates in Margaux. The property has been in the Miailhe family for six generations????? a total of 160 years. Today, the property covers 88 hectares, with 38 hectares planted to vines. The other fifty hectares are left as woods and meadows, for their beauty and to promote biodiversity, a priority of the Siran team.

The majority of Chateau Siran?????s vines are planted in the commune of Margaux, but they also have a very special 11 hectare parcel on the border, which is classified as Bordeaux Superieur and bottled as ?????Saint-Jacques de Siran?????. The terroir here has clay topsoil over the famous Bordeaux sandy gravel subsoil. The vines are planted at a density of 5,000 vines per hectare and average 25 years old. The Miailhe family has practiced sustainable agriculture since 2000 and the vineyards have been certified sustainable, HVE3 since 2018. Only organic fertilizers are used and they work with grass cover and plowing to control weeds

Organic

Ruby red with violet notes, along with a nose of intense red fruit notes, with light hints of spices and chocolate. On the palate, it is medium bodied with mature tannins and notes of spices and chocolate.

Winery Notes:
Ruby red with garnet hues. An intense impact with powerful notes of cherry, plum and violet opens a bouquet that then fades into neat aromas of tobacco, chocolate, cinnamon and spicy hints of black pepper. Great complexity in the overall bouquet, neat expressions of the authentic Sangiovese and Chianti Classico aromas. Full-bodied, very powerful in its fruity notes, with elegant tannins perfectly supported by a good acidity. The finish is characterized by pleasant sensations of sweet tobacco. The aftertaste is particularly long and shows powerful notes of plums and lighter aromas of clove.

80% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha sourced from the prized Finca la Pedrizavineyard.

94 points Wine Advocate
No 2018 was produced, so after the 2017 I tasted last year, we jumped to the 2019 Vina Ardanza Reserva, produced with a blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha. It fermented destemmed in stainless steel and aged in American oak barrels, 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 months for Garnacha, and was blended before bottling. 2019 is a very good year for them, a small crop of powerful and concentrated wines when they produced all their brands, an exception. This is spicy, structured, balanced and powerful in this warm year, reaching the customary 14.5% alcohol and keeping a pH of 3.54 and 5.5 grams of acidity. It's still very young and undeveloped, with the classical profile, generous in American oak aromas and flavors that should slowly integrate in the wine with years in bottle. For them, 2019 means a change in Ardanza, less spicy (but still quite spicy, with clove, vanilla and tobacco leaves) and with more fresh fruit from the Garnacha. But the year is a modern version of 2015.

Organic

Deep, inky red in color, this wine offers up seductive scents of cassis, licorice, ripe plum and blackberry intermingled with hints of toasty oak and nutmeg spice. Concentrated fruit envelops the palate, with deep, luscious flavors that echo the nose. It has a rich, full-bodied structure, hints of sweet oak, and a long, pleasing finish. - PJ

A neatly cut array of refined red and black cherries in a pristinely cast style. The palate has an elegant and neatly defined core of supple, long and ripe fruit flavor and carries a wealth of crisp, fresh, cherry-soaked tannins at the finish.

Winemaker's Notes:
As this wine is poured into your glass, you will notice its beautiful, dark ruby red color. This is a classic Russian River Pinot Noir that expresses aromas and flavors of dark fruit. The first impression starts in the nose with aromas of intense blackberry, cola and black raspberry followed by a touch of vanilla and hints of rhubarb, baking spice, licorice, dark chocolate and earth. The wine is richly textured and balanced with a beautiful brightness. Flavors of black cherry, tobacco and sweet barrel spice shine throughout. Fine tannins round out the long, juicy finish.

92 points James Suckling
Quite an understated and traditional bottling of Rioja, showing red and black berries, hints of dried mushroom, peppercorns, dark earth and tobacco on the nose. Chewy and juicy on the medium-bodied palate, showing a fresh array of berries and plums. Drinkable now, but better from 2025.

Aromas of minerally pencil lead and smoky plum, berry and a little vanilla. This is slightly tight at first but opens beautifully. Plum and berry flavors offer more than enough support for the oak, while the finish is dominated by wood-spice. This wine is in the happy place between traditional Rioja and new age Rioja.

Winemaker's Note:
Do you dare an exploration into the dark unknown? This sinfully delicious Red Wine just might set you down a path of gluttonous pleasure. Crafted from the diverse and hallowed soils of the Lodi Appellation, where greedy winemakers hunger to craft not just wine, but also a lifestyle of sin. Here for six generations, we’ve tempted evil’s wrath and are eternally damned to deliver decadent wines like our Seven Deadly Red.

92 points Vinous
The 2019 Reserva is a Tempranillo sourced from San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Abalos, Rioja Alta. Aged for 18 months in used American and French barrels, this dark garnet wine delivers notes of blackberry, plum, bay leaf and mint, accompanied by hints of nutmeg and coconut. Dry and fairly creamy, with a juicy flow, the fine tannins and chalky mouthfeel lead to a medium-bodied finish.

18 months in French and American oak barrels, followed by two years in the bottle.

Organic / Biodynamic

Josep Mata Capellades founded Cavas Recaredo in 1924, naming the domaine in honor of his father, Recaredo Mata Figueres. Josep Mata Capellades built the cellars in his house, in the historic centre of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. Parts of the cellars are now over 80 years old and have been conserved in their original form.

Recaredo is a pioneer in the production of totally dry cavas, in working with oak barrels and in longer-aged cavas. Cavas Recaredo is currently managed by Josep and Antoni Mata Casanovas, the sons of its founder, with Ton Mata actively involved and representing the succeeding generation.Recaredo owns forty-six hectares of vineyards in the Alt Penedes district planted primarily to the Xarello, Macabeu and Parellada grape varieties, with smaller amounts of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Monastrell (Mourvedre).

Viticulture at Recaredo is based solely on dry farming; no herbicides or pesticides are used and only organic fertilizers are applied when necessary; grapes are harvested manually; and, production is limited to cavas that are completely dry. The estate strictly follows an organic viticulture regime.Vinification is carried out entirely at the Recaredo cellars in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. The musts from the oldest Xarello vines ferment in oak barrels, which give structure and greater complexity for longer-aged cavas. Some of the base wine is aged in oak barrels for some months. This wine will be used to add greater finesse and structure to the final blending. At Recaredo, the wines are aged in-bottle in continuous contact with the second fermentation lees; the bottles are closed with 100% natural cork stoppers. Disgorging is carried out on an exclusively manual basis, at the cellars' natural temperature, without freezing the necks of the bottles, a process that produces the most natural product possible. The cavas of Recaredo are disgorged totally dry with a zero dosage and all cuvées are vintage-dated.Effectively, Can Recaredo, as the domaine is known, is a deeply traditional producer of the finest Cavas available in the market. To visit the cellars and observe the process is to return to another time when artisanal, hand-crafted products of the highest quality were the universally accepted standard, the goal that all sought to achieve. Here, in brief form is the Recaredo commitment:Production of single-vintage cavas only.Production of completely dry cavas: “Brut Nature”.Vinification, production and ageing 100% in-house.Ageing in bottle inside our caves, with real cork stoppers.Remuage by hand, in traditional racks.Manual disgorgement without freezing the bottle's neck.

95 points James Suckling
A precise, layered nose that shows excellent purity despite some sweet oak spices. More berry fruit comes out as you give it some time in the glass. Plums, cherries, red berries with dark mushrooms, cured meat, grilled spices, stones, vanilla and iodine. Juicy, spiced berries quickly tighten up on the medium- to full-bodied palate with dusty, powerful tannins, allowing it to expand into the finish. It grows on the palate and the creaminess is already chiselled. This will age beautifully in the next 10-15 years. Drinkable now, but better from 2026.

94 points Vinous
The 2019 Reserva Imperial is a blend of 85% Tempranillo, 5% Garnacha, 5% Graciano, and 5% Mazuelo sourced from Villalba, Briones and Torremontalbo in Rioja Alta. Aged for 24 months in a combination of French (70%) and American (30%) oak barrels, this dark garnet wine reveals enticing aromas of blackberry and ripe plums from the Tempranillo, complemented by hints of hops and herbs from the other varieties. Dry, intense and juicy on the palate, it offers a fairly chalky and energetic mouthfeel. This is a classic Rioja with a nod to fruit-forwardness.

94 points Wine Advocate
The 2019 Imperial Reserva was cropped from a very healthy year with good ripeness and balance, a powerful vintage with a 185-day vegetative cycle. They look for finesse, precision and power, a blend of Tempranillo and 15% Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha put through optical sorting and fermented in oak vats with yeasts selected from the Imperial vineyards and a 20-day maceration, then it matured in barrels, 70% French and the rest American, for 24 months. It has 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.61. It feels very classical, with finesse and power, balanced and serious. It has tannins that call for food. 150,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2022.

Organic

92 points Vinous
The 2019 Langhe Rosso is fabulous. It captures all the pedigree of this great vintage but in a slightly more open style (especially in its aromatics) that renders it quite approachable. Crushed flowers, dried cherry, spice, mint and sweet pipe tobacco are all nicely lifted. Already quite approachable, the 2019 is ready to go. The 2019 is Pira's young vines Nebbiolo. About two-thirds of the fruit is from Pira; the rest is Albesani, Gallina and Paje. Aging is a bit more than two years in cask, a touch less than in the past.

#4 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2022

95 points Wine Spectator
Well-built and rather refined for the vintage, with a deep well of red and black currant paste and plum reduction flavors supported by a deeply inlaid iron note, all of which run the length of the wine. Offers subtle savory, tobacco and singed cedar notes that add range, with a savory echo that leaves a mouthwatering feel in the end. Built to cellar. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2025 through 2040.

94 pts Wine Advocate
The pale, translucent, ethereal and perfumed 2019 Finca Xabrega was produced with a field blend of 90% Mencía, 10% Garnacha Tintorera and some white grapes from a single vineyard planted with old vines on granite and mica soils. The destemmed grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts and soft pigéage in stainless steel, then the wine matured in barrel for three months, followed by six months in tank to settle before bottling. It's very, clean, elegant, precise and subtle with great freshness and balance and only 12.5% alcohol. Ethereal, beautiful juice. Only 912 bottles were filled in July 2020.

50+ year old vines and only 0.8 hectares

99 points Vinous
The 2019 Lynch Bages is every bit as magnificent from bottle as it was from barrel, if not moreso. What a wine! Towering and vertical in its bearing, the 2019 is a total stunner. There is plenty of Lynch Bages charm, but what distinguishes the 2019 most is its spine of tannin and energy. Time in the glass brings out sweet red cherry, plum, blood orange and pomegranate and mint. The 2019 is a great, great, great Lynch Bages. It reminds me of the epic 1989, but with the youthful grip of this vintage. A towering Pauillac, the 2019 Lynch Bages will make a great addition to any cellar. (Antonio Galloni)

Organic

A light-bodied, chillable red with a crunchy acidity.
Very old vines 80-100+ years old grown on granite slopes of the Serra de Estrela. There are several varieties here but mostly Baga and Jaen. Natural fermentation in lagares with 20% whole clusters. A long maceration time but without extraction. The wine finishes fermentation and malo in casks.20 months aging in in old barriques and a 2500L old wooden vat. The wine is bottled unfiltered.
11% abv

A slightly sweet version of Cabernet Sauvignon, while it has the primary characteristics of a Cab, pronounced berries, dark chocolate, coffee, and leather, it loses the some of the harshness that turn people away from Cabs. It has a soft luscious feel to it with a well rounded mouth. Goes well with red meat, chicken, and especially those that are marinated with a sweet finish.

Organic

93 points James Suckling
Lovely finesse and balance to this red, with berries, light vanilla and dried flowers. Medium body, creamy tannins and a bright finish.

90 points Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cune Reserva was produced with a blend of Tempranillo with 15% Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo from Haro. 2018 was a warm and healthy year that delivered a wine with 14% alcohol and good balance. It fermented in 20,000-liter stainless steel vats and matured in French and American oak barrels for 18 months. It's a classical warm year in the style of 2009, or 2015, already with some tertiary notes, hints of earth and leather, spicy and with abundant tannins that call for food

93 points James Suckling
An amalgam of redcurrant and blackcurrant aromas with cedary and leafy tones, dark berries and pepper and plenty of oak strut. The palate has a deep vein of black-fruit flavors, as well as plum and chocolate. Bold extract. A blend of Padthaway, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley. Drink now.

Winery Notes:
"Deep garnet color. Luxurious and dynamic aromas of ripe strawberry, bright cherry and faint notes of spicy oak and vanilla. The complexity of the palate smoothly layers rich red currant notes and baking spice flavors with light smoke, earth and leather. A balanced, velvety texture and supple tannins carry the wine through to a lingering, succulent finish."

Light-bodied, bright, pale yellow with depth and a gold hue, even colour throughout. The nose is appealing and pure, with aromas of honeysuckle, tropical fruit and stonefruit.

93 points James Suckling
Aromas of plums, mulberries, dried flowers, stones and violets. Medium-bodied with fine tannins. Textured and creamy. Balanced and subtle. Flavorful finish with excellent length.

The Merayo family have been growing grapes for generations in Bierzo and one look at Pedro’s immaculate vineyards suggests he knows what he’s doing. The bulk of Pedro’s 25 hectares of ancient vines were inherited from his father but Bodegas Merayo and the new winery (housed in a converted apple store) were established as recently as 2010.