Wines

A fragrant nose of mulberries, plums, lavender, sandalwood and baking spices. It’s full-bodied with firm, polished tannins. Pleasant, balanced wood notes. Velvety, flavorful finish. Drink now or hold.

Organic / Biodynamic

93 points James Suckling
Fine oak spices and cocoa powder to the ripe cherries, cassis, black cherries and warm stones. Full-bodied and polished on the palate with tightly wound tannins that seep through the compact fruit. Good balance between tight structure and fruit density. From organically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but better from 2024.

92 points Wine Spectator
Long and creamy, this elegant red is structured by supple tannins and juicy acidity, a fine frame for the appealing range of baked black cherry, fig cake, mocha and sage. Fresh, spiced finish. Drink now through 2028.

Organic / Biodynamic

Château de Chaintres produces this cuvée from one of their best and oldest parcels: a 1940 planting (hence the name: the year of plantation in Roman numerals) of Cabernet Franc in the heart of the clos. Aged in a single 20-hectoliter tronconic oak cask for two winters, “MCMXL” offers intensely concentrated, sappy fruit, penetrating and finely chiseled minerality, and a firmer structure than the other Saumur-Champigny wines in the lineup.

92+ points Wine Advocate
A new wine from the Viña Real winery, the 2020 Bakeder is a village red produced with Tempranillo grapes from Laguardia. It has contained oak and good ripeness at 13.95% alcohol, a more modern style of red that shows very young, quite fruit-driven and with a soft mouthfeel and velvety tannins. It has purity of fruit, elegance and finesse with respectful oak after 10 months in French barriques. There are some 30,000 bottles of this. It was first produced in 2019.

Organic

93 points Vinous
Darkly alluring, the 2020 Nobile di Montepulciano lifts from the glass with rosemary and sage, complicating dried black cherries and hints of dark chocolate. This is pure elegance, soft and enveloping, flaunting its ripe vintage fruit with a core of zesty acidity that maintains fantastic balance. A coating of fine tannins tugs at the palate with youthful poise, and a tart cranberry concentration fades. This tremendous effort from the warm vintage should not be missed. That said, the production of Cantina Dei's Nobile was down by 50% due to the conditions of the year.

Organic

An aromatic explosion of cherry and red fruit aromas. Crunchy and complex on the palate with a long finish. The color is electric, a glowing cherry color. Elegant and graceful on the palate with soft balanced tannins. This is a mountain wine through and through. This is a fine example of Pinot Noir, as the varietal is meant to be pretty not syrupy. 100% Pinot Noir, organically farmed, from 30 year old vines aged twelve months in used oak barrels.

Organic / Natural

Golden-amber-colored, an exotic bouquet of sugar-dusted ginger, dried nectarines, crushed green apple, geranium and mint. This is powerful and deeply textural, with a pretty inner sweetness balanced by brisk acids and tart orchard fruits, complemented by savory brown spice and a mind-bending addition of cocoa toward the close. For all of its density, the Praruar turns squeaky-clean through the finale, yet still full of lively energy, resonating on floral-tinged peaches and pears.

Produced exclusively from Catarratto grapes grown on the Il Censo estate outside of Palazzo Adriano; vineyards are farmed organically and grapes are harvested manually, with harvest occurring usually in October; the grapes maintain contact with the skins for two to three weeks, the length of the maceration depending on the vintage; only indigenous yeasts are used during fermentation and no temperature controls are utilized; the wines is bottled without being fined or filtered.

Organic / Natural

Avgoustiatis (meaning ‘of August’ in Greek) is an early-ripening variety found mainly on Zakynthos. Pre-fermentation maceration followed by spontaneous fermentation for 20 days. Aged for 18 months in old barrels (4-6 years-old). The key to the wine’s name is August… picked early, this indigenous variety is yet another rarity. It falls somewhere between red Burgundy and Cru Beaujolais. Strawberries and redcurrants. Nice balance of grapey, crunchy fruit and subtle, soft tannin and acidity. Forest floor ala Cab Franc that will please the Loire Valley Red drinkers. To be enjoyed young and slightly chilled. 13% abv

The Llopart does an extremely gentle press in a vertical basket press. Maximum permitted yields of must per weight of grapes is 66.66% - the Llopart family does not extract past 45-50%. The semi-unpressed grapes are sold off to a local cooperative. The must ferments in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks and is aged sur lie for four months before being returned to bottle. The secondary fermentation is carried out in the bottle in underground cellars.

The Llopart family were granted their family estate in 1385, making them one of the oldest growers in Penedès. They founded their company for the production of sparkling wines in 1887, making them the second oldest house for sparkling wine in Spain, and the oldest family-owned sparkling wine house in the country. They own 500 Ha of land, 95 of which are planted to organically certified vineyards. In 2017, Llopart became one of the six founding members of CORPINNAT, an new recognized classification for premium organically farmed sparkling wines from heart of Penedès. Llopart were pioneers in the production of Rosé sparkling wines and were one of the first producers to make rosé sparkling from exclusively red varieties.

Bright garnet. High-toned red and blue fruit aromas, tinged with wet stone and violets. On the palate, lush, but with bright acidity to balance the red cherry and pomegranate fruit. White pepper, slate and herbal aromas overlay the core of fruit on a juicy, fresh finish. 30% Touriga Franca, 20% Tinta Amarela, 20% Tinta Roriz, 10% Rufete, 10% Tinta Barroca, 5% Malvasia Preta, 5% Donzelinho Tinto. Sustainably farmed vineyards planted from 1960 to 1980 in schist soil at 400-600 m (1,232-1,968 ft) elevation. 30% fermented in stone lagar with foot pigeage; other 70% in vat, 100% whole cluster. Maceration – lagar for 8 days; vat for 25 days. Racked to neutral barrel for 1 year followed by 5 months in tank. 100% natural yeast fermentation (no cultivated yeasts).

Xisto Illimitado, by famed Douro winemaker Luis Seabra, is a Portuguese analogue to the idea of a “village” level Burgundy. A field blend of 6 varieties planted across 3 subzones in the Douro, Illimitado is a survey of the schist-driven terroir in the appellation. The Douro is the oldest demarcated appellation in Western Europe, chartered in 1756. Since 1986, the focus has diversified from the early days of fortified wine production in Porto, giving rise to a number of fine table wines that spearheaded the Portuguese wine market in America in the early 2000s. Luis Seabra, former winemaker at Nieeport, has focused his winemaking on the distinct soil types in the valley, and this latest project shows the breadth of style that is achievable in the region. Bright, focused and fresh, Xisto Ilimitado is a great introduction to the new Douro.

94+ points Wine Advocate
The 2020 Rioja Reserva, their flagship wine, comes from the 300 hectares of estate vineyards. Here, Tempranillo is the backbone, making up 82% of the blend in the low-yielding vintage of 2019, complemented with 8% Graciano, 7% Mazuelo and 3% Garnacha. It has controlled ripeness at 14% alcohol, with a pH of 3.65 and 5.1 grams of acidity. I loved the aromatics here—floral and elegant, more in the style of the 2018 than the 2019. it's lighter, more elegant, fine-boned and has a silky texture and very fine tannins. Both 2019 and 2020 are very good, but 2020 is more my style.

In September 2023, the Cebrián-Sagarriga family celebrated its 40th anniversary as owners of Marqués de Murrieta, which they bought in 1983. In 1996, Vicente Dalmau Cebrián took the reins of the winery, driving a deep transformation, and he continues today, relentlessly trying to improve every year. It's pretty amazing how the wines feel better each year, like a winery on its way up.

The reviews are on the previous vintage.

93 points James Suckling
This is spiced and a little savory with notes of red berries, citrus peel and chocolate nibs as well as some cloves and dry earth. Medium to full body. Wide and fine tannins with velvety texture. Chocolaty finish.

92 points Wine Spectator
The plum and cherry flavors in this red are muted, sidling up against licorice, leather, earth and eucalyptus notes. There's a distinctive saltiness, plus dense tannins on the gripping finish. Best from 2027 through 2043. 2,300 cases made, 500 cases imported.