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Organic

The composition is 60% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is marked by a vibrant ruby/garnet color married to a richly spicy nose with hints of tobacco and coffee in the background; the flavors are dominated by red currant, cassis, and raspberry; the texture is silky and the wine is smooth and generous on the palate; the subtle tannins have grip but are graceful making this wine particularly welcoming over the near term.
The Pueyos follow traditional vinification techniques. After a 3 day cold maceration, fermentation takes place in both cement tanks and stainless steel tanks. Either way, temperatures are closely monitored so the fermentation proceeds at a controlled pace with maximum temperatures reaching 28 degrees Celsius. The “cuvaison” (fermentation + maceration) usually lasts between 15 and 20 days. Closely monitoring the temperature during fermentation helps avoid extracting the harsher, more bitter tannins that can appear if the temperature gets too high. Half of the wine is aged in barrels for 18 months following fermentation. Only 25% new barrels and 25% one-year-old barrels are used each year, to avoid overwhelming the fruit. The second part of the cuvée is aged in cement tanks. The two parts of the wine are ultimately blended, then fined with egg whites before bottling.

The 2017 vintage was tied for Third Place in PJ Wine's - Wine of the Year 2021 blind taste-off.

Brilliant ripe black cherry red colour with good depth. Fruity aromas with elegant notes of fine wood. Velvety in the mouth with a long finish.

Marques de Riscal's Crianza is fresh, fruity wine with a lovely attack, reminiscent of red fruit mingled with the coconut and vanilla aromas from the oak. Full and supple with a long finish. A wine with character which showcases the quality of the grapes used to make it.

94 points Decanter
Spicy, savoury and toasty, displaying aromas of dried herbs, cloves and cocoa, some dried black fruits notes. Very long finish.

95 points James Suckling
Black cherries with cedar and dried flowers, as well as dusty earth. It’s medium-to full-bodied with firm tannins that are long and polished. Lots of structure. Very typical and focused. Drinkable now, but better in 2024

94 points Wine Advocate
I tasted two vintages of the estate red that represents the blend and the character of the place. The 2018 Reserva comes from a cooler year and is a blend of 86% Tempranillo, 6% Mazuelo, 6% Graciano and 2% Garnacha with 14.12% alcohol and a pH of 3.48. The grapes ripened thoroughly and the wine is tasty but has a vibrant palate with freshness and depth. It has a classical nose and is complex and spicy with an earthy touch, a little developed and with fine-grained tannins. Very tasty. It spent 18 months in oak barrels, 90% of them French and 10% American; they are reducing the amount of American oak in this wine. 290,998 bottles and 3,500 magnums produced. It was bottled in June 2021

#26 On The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines Of 2024!

93 points Wine Spectator
Sleek and fresh, with dark plum and blackberry notes laced with singed alder and ganache. Shows nice drive through the polished finish as the fruit expands. Drink now through 2031.

Winemaker Notes:
Aromas of lush, bright black cherry, blackberry and cassis draw you in. Round, rich, seamless tannins provide a robust backbone and supple mid-palate. Notes of cedar, vanilla and a hint of mocha linger on the finish.

99 pts James Suckling
Blackberry and black chocolate with mint, conifer and clove. Sweet tobacco, violets and flowers, too. Some graphite. Cool and complex. Full-bodied with ultra fine, dusty tannins and a wonderful, extremely long finish. Savory and refined. A classic-styled 2018. This needs time, but is so approachable and gorgeous. One of the best Insignias ever. Alive and changing all the time. 40% Stags Leap AVA. 87% cabernet sauvignon, 8% petit verdot, 3% malbec and 2% cabernet franc. Leave this for five or six years, but so wonderful now.

97 pts Wine Advocate
The 2018 Insignia is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec and 2% Cabernet Franc. The vineyard sources this year include: 30% Las Rocas (Stags Leap District),18% Yountville (Oak Knoll District), 13% Banca Dorada (Rutherford), 18% Suscol (South Napa Valley), 14% Home Ranch (St. Helena), 12% Las Rocas (Stags Leap District), 7% Barboza (Stags Leap District). It was aged for 24 months in 100% new French oak barrels. Deep garnet-purple colored, it comes storming out of the glass with powerful notes of blackcurrant cordial, stewed black plums and boysenberries, plus hints of cedar chest, graphite, menthol and wet slate with a fragrant waft of clove oil. The medium to full-bodied palate already demonstrates remarkable balance at this youthful stage, featuring a firm backbone of fine-grained tannins and bold freshness to support the tightly wound, crunchy black fruits, finishing long and spicy. 17,000 cases were made.

97 pts Vinous
The 2018 Insignia is a boisterous, explosive wine. Medium in body and gracious, with striking aromatic presence and tons of silkiness, the 2018 is all class. Today it comes across as a more refined version of the 2016, with similar depth, but riper, sweeter tannin and perhaps a touch more finesse as well. I can't wait to taste it from bottle.

100 points Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon checks in as 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot brought up in 40% new French oak. With an essence of Cabernet like character in its darker currants, green tobacco, cedar, graphite, and floral aromas and flavors, this gorgeous wine is full-bodied and has bright yet integrated acidity, polished tannins, and a great, great finish. It’s just gorgeously put together and a magical, flawless wine. It’s going to take a decade to hit maturity but will evolve for 40-50 years in cold cellars. It is as good as it gets in classic, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon!(1/2021)

100 points James Suckling
This is incredible on the nose, offering hot stones, blackcurrants, iodine and wet earth. Full-bodied with a tight center palate, then it opens with a tannin structure that is weightless and spreads across the palate. Totally integrated on the palate. This is a magic-carpet wine. Really incredible. One of the reference points for the vintage. Drinkable now and please try a bottle, but it’s one for the cellar. (5/2021)

99 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Dominus slowly emerges from the glass with profound notes of blackcurrant cordial, ripe black plums, boysenberries and Black Forest cake with hints of violets, star anise, cracked black pepper, raspberry leaves and pencil lead, plus a touch of garrigue. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers impactful black fruit layers, creating a beguiling sense of richness that is beautifully countered by invigorating freshness and great poise, framed by super ripe, plush tannins and beautiful tension, finishing on a lingering fragrant earth note and, finally, lots of mineral sparks. For all that it is at the moment, one cannot help but feel that this 2018 is holding something back. Give it a good five years in bottle, at least, and then get set for what I suspect will be a mindblowing transformation over the next 30 years+. (LPB) (2/2021)

97 points Vinous
The 2018 Dominus is wild and exotic from the first taste. Lifted aromatics make a strong opening impression. There is something exuberant about the 2018 that is hard to describe. The 2018 is not a huge Dominus, nor is it massively structured, but the intensity of the flavors is remarkable just the same. Dark raspberry, spice, leather and cedar are some of the many notes that open over time. (AG)

98 points Vinous
Antinori?????s 2018 Solaia captures all of the elegance of this important vintage. The bouquet alone is mesmerizing. It speaks to the stunning beauty and pedigree of Cabernet Sauvignon as grown at the Antinori family?????s Tignanello property. Sweet scents of cr??me de cassis, lavender, graphite, mint, spice and espresso lead into a fine, delineated palate. Bright and energetic, Solaia is decidedly medium in body in 2018, with striking purity and exceptional beauty. I can?????t remember ever tasting a young Solaia with this much sheer appeal and balance in the early going. In 2018 Solaia is 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Sangiovese and 7% Cabernet Franc.

Organic / Natural

The grapes are from old vines (60-90 years old) with granite soils and average altitudes of 400m, ocated in the "La Madone" plot in Villi??-Morgon, Beaujolais, France. The harvest is manual and the
grapes are destemmed and gently pressed. The must ferments in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperatures and the wine is aged for 10 months in French oak barrels. 13.5% abv

Having lived and worked among the ?????superstars????? of Beaujolais, Joseph Chamonard created a wonderful environment for his vines in Morgon. On the hill of Morgon, his vines stayed healthy without chemical assistance, remaining in their natural living soils alongside the packed earth and starved vines of his neighbors. Sadly, Joseph passed away in 1990, leaving his daughter Genevieve and her husband Jean-Claude Chanudet to carry on the health of his 4 hectare parcels, located in Corcelette, near the town of Ville-Morgon. With each successive vintage the duo has strictly kept to disavowing chemical treatments, in or out of the vineyards. Harvest is done by hand late in the season for full natural ripeness and complexity, with only natural yeasts used for fermentation and little else done outside of patient guidance to its natural end. The wine is made the traditional way with respect to nature. As some of the others of his era passing on as well (Marcel LaPierre in 2010), there is a sense that the pattern set here in Beaujolais will be altered. With so much natural beauty remaining, it will take more than a gang of four to do so, after all, it's now almost tradition.

94 points Wine Advocate
The 2018 Macan has moderate alcohol (14%) and more freshness (pH 3.69), reflecting a cooler and rainier year that forced them to fine-tune the sorting and selection of the grapes, which fermented with selected yeasts. The elevage was in barrel (55%) and larger foudres for 16 months. 2018 was quite different from 2019, as it was cooler and rainier. The wine is serious and harmonious, which was a challenge, and winemaker Gonzalo Iturriaga told me that they had to be very careful and sort and select the grapes. It's textured and elegant, a style that follows the path of the 2016; it's elegant but with depth, managing the elevage in foudre better, which was a learning process they started in 2016. 74,570 bottles, 2557 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in September 2020.

Organic

89-92 points Burghound
(85% from Vaumuriens-Haut and 15% from En Chiveau). This is quite firmly reduced and while the underlying fruit appears to be ripe it’s difficult to read in this condition. Otherwise there is excellent punch to the chalky- textured and muscular medium weight flavors that conclude in a sleek, chiseled, linear and youthfully austere finish. This is an excellent Pommard villages with fine aging potential.

Organic

Capitan Fanegas is the personal project of Mario Ruiz-Clavijo from the historic Bodegas Marques de Arviza in Rioja. The philosophy behind the Capitan Fanegas wines is to make single vineyard expressions of Rioja that reflect and express the sites they come from. The wines are vinos de author; unique representations that are true to the Rioja style.

For 6 months the wine is aged over fine lees. After it was racked to remove the sediments and lees. Then the wine was aged for an extra 12 months without any racking and no sulphur added until bottling giving a total aging in concrete of 18 months. The philosophy is to age the wine with a a hands off approach to avoid oxidation, because Graciano is an easy oxidative variety. Aging in concrete tank gives the wine and extra refinement. Porosity provides a very interesting evolution to the wine like the micro oxygenation in the barrel, but without added flavor or added aromatic impact. With this process, the evolution and maturity of the fruit of the wine is enhanced and helps to maintain the purity of the Graciano character.

It?????s aromas of red and black fruits, floral and some spicy notes, are typical of the Graciano variety. Also, some hints of leather, tabaco, iron, licorice and other tertiary notes given naturally by the variety. The palate is fleshy, powerful, tasty, and spicy with a long and very elegant finish. The tannins on this wine are big but elegant. Due the hands off process we use during aging, we highly recommend decanting the wine prior tasting.