Events

96-98 pts Wine Advocate
Tasted as a barrel sample, the 2015 Le Pergole Torte is a 100% expression of Sangiovese sourced from the estate's oldest vines (between 30 and 50 years old). Like the other wines from Montevertine, Le Pergole Torte sees both its alcoholic and malolactic fermentations in cement, and the wine later ages in new oak barrels for 12 to 18 months depending on the vintage. After that first phase in barrique, it goes into large botte to complete its integration. This gorgeous vintage opens to a deep, dark appearance with a velvety presentation of dark fruit and black cherry flavors. The wine's textural richness is ultimately what sets this fantastic vintage apart.

95-98 pts Vinous Media
The 2015 Le Pergole Torte is explosive and powerful while showing a remarkable level of precision. Pliant and beautifully resonant, it captures all the best qualities of the year. The oak still needs time to fully assimilate. Even so, the wine's pedigree and potential are very much in evidence today. In a word: superb.

A delicate, well-balanced Prosecco, showing a good blend of baked apple, sour lemon and grapefruit, with a lightly creamy mineral texture on the palate. Medium froth, with some body and a pleasant lemon and mineral finish. - WS90

A really fresh and well-balanced Amarone here, with tapenade, ripe but fresh blackberries, chili chocolate and some red berries, too. This is tight and juicy, with a medium-to full-bodied palate and a long, fruity finish. A modern, fresh expression of Amarone that shows immense drinkability, but still pretty serious. Not super-concentrated, but shows restraint and balance.

Organic / Natural / Orange

100% Pinot Grigio. Radikon's 750ml bottlings are Sasa Radikon's addition to his dad Stanko's original 500ml line: they are still "orange" wines but less intensely so due to a shorter period of skin contact and aging. Otherwise, all of the wines are made identically: the Pinot Grigio is destemmed and fermented with natural yeasts in oak vat, with no temperature control and no sulfur. Maceration lasts for 10-14 days (versus 3 months for the 500ml wines). After a gentle pressing, the wine is put in 3500-liter Slavonian oak barrels for a year and a half on its lees; it is bottled without filtration and with only a miniscule amount of sulfur. This Pinot Grigio bottling was dubbed "Sivi" starting in the 2016 vintage; it means "gray" in Slovenian, in reference to the grayish-pink color of the grape's skin

Organic

This simple, assertive sparkler has aromas of citrus, spring blossoms and overripe tropical fruit. The vigorously sparkling, rather muddled palate offers bitter, strawberry, and candied notes. Semi-dry.

11% abv

Organic / Natural / Orange

Gravner?????s cellar methodology for the indigenous Ribolla is simple, if extreme: bunches, harvested by hand, are transferred by gravity into subterranean amphorae, where they macerate for several weeks; the wine is then pressed and moved back into amphorae for five months, then transferred to large Slavonian casks (all well used) for six years before bottling, with nothing added along the way except trace amounts of sulfur, and without fining or filtration of any kind. The wine rests several more years in bottle in Gravner?????s deep storage cellar before being released to an adoring public. Gravner classifies his vintages into those affected by botrytis and those unaffected, and he particularly prizes botrytis-affected vintages for the aromatic and textural complexity they lend his wines. 2016 presented Gravner with a gorgeous sunny summer with no major weather calamities, and gentle August rains ushered in the onset of botrytis. Picking wrapped up on the 28th of October, and the finished wine?????clocking in at a modest 14% alcohol?????offers a beguiling salty-savory quality, with cleanly rendered minerality and a satisfying sense of textural meatiness.

Sweet red.

97 points Wine Advocate
Tasted a few months after it was bottled, the Ornellaia 2022 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia will be coming to market in March 2025. The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot. The wine sees 18 months of aging with up to 70% new oak, but the trick, proprietor Lamberto Frescobaldi tells me, is drawing from a large group of coopers with different toast levels and forests. "I don't want to make a wine of any one tonnellerie," he says. The oak element is crucial to the identity of this wine that reveals dark fruit, blackberry, sweet spice and cinnamon. Most of the vines were planted in the 1980s, and the average age of the plants is over 20 years old. Fruit comes from many parcels, including Bellaria, Bellaria Nuova, Bellaria Alta, Pero, Fosso, Vigna Vecchia and Stallina. Indeed, some 80 wines are made before final blending. The 2022 vintage will be remembered for its full-bodied appeal, concentrated fruit and generous oak renderings. Petit Verdot plays a slightly larger role in this vintage and was one of the surprise hits of 2022. It serves to elongate the wine and adds to its length. The wine's abundant fruit weight cedes to elegantly integrated tannins. This vintage will appeal to die-hard Ornellaia enthusiasts.

96 points Vinous
The 2022 Ornellaia is a terrific wine for the year. Dark red-toned fruit, mocha, new leather, licorice and spice all take shape in a mid-weight, pliant Ornellaia that is quite alluring, even in the early going. The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot, unusual for the elevated presence of Petit Verdot, which did better than Franc in 2022. The higher percentage of Petit Verdot comes through in the wine?????s dark-leaning personality and also in the quality of tannins. More than anything else, the 2022 is a reminder of how important a tool blending is, especially in challenging years. I can?????t wait to see how this ages. The 2022 Ornellaia is clearly among the most successful wines of the vintage..

Organic / Natural

A fresh and bubbly experience, this Fizzy White lands both crisp and fruity. It’s made up of an easily digestible mix of Trebbiano and Yellow Muscat. Drink it before a big dinner, during those long party nights, on the top of a (reasonably) high mountain, or whenever you feel the call for some celebration bubbles. 10.5% abv. Crafted in Italy from Trebbiano/Yellow muscat.

Organic / Natural

A more quirky experience for the self-proclaimed connoisseurs, but still fun and easy going. The Juicy Orange carries notes of orange blossom and apricot, with a light to medium body. If you’re more into the natty wines of the world, this will probably be your weapon of choice. 12% abv. Crafted in Italy from Grillo/Catarratto/Zibibbo.

Sweet red.