Wines (24 View)

93 points Decanter
Deep, intense brambly fruit unfurls gently over the palate. Not yet reached its tertiary stage but this knows where it is going, and doesn?????t mind taking a pause before softly sliding towards autumnal flavours. Tannins have a little extra bite on the finish. A very classy, classic St-Julien. Drinking Window 2016 - 2035.

#25. on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2023!

95 points Wine Spectator
Rock-solid, with a core of dark plum, boysenberry and blackberry compote flavors held together with cedar, savory, tobacco and singed apple wood notes that add texture and energy through the finish. Built for the cellar. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2030 through 2040

92 points Wine Advocate
Deep garnet in color, the 2010 Lascombes gives up notes of dried herbs, tilled soil and black olives over a blackcurrant cordial and plums preserves core plus a touch of crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers chewy tannins and bold freshness to support the savory flavors, finishing with an herbal lift. Drink Window 2020-2038 (3/20)

Robert Parker in February 2013, "Probably the greatest Lascombes made to date, the 2010 is a blend of 55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Petit Verdot."

96 points Wine Spectator
Hello. Take textbook St.-Julien warmed fig, blueberry compote and blackberry reduction notes along with ample graphite, bramble and tobacco flavors, then dial it up a notch. This has terrific energy to offset the admirable depth and length, and hasn't even started a second phase yet. One of the stars of the vintage.?????Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2015). Best from 2018 through 2033. 20,000 cases made.

95+ points Wine Advocate
I found this to be one of the more backward wines of the 2000 vintage and gave it a window of maturity of 2015-2040 when I reviewed it in 2003. In my two recent tastings of it, I changed that window to 2018-2050, which probably says more than the following tasting note could say. This is a behemoth ????? dense, highly extracted, very tannic, broodingly backward, with a dense purple color and very little evolution since it was bottled 8 years ago. Wonderfully sweet cedar and fruitcake notes are intermixed with hints of creme de cassis, licorice, and earthy forest floor. It is full-bodied and tannic, with everything in place, but like so many wines that come from Leoville Barton, it makes a mockery of many modern-day consumers wanting a wine for immediate gratification. Those who bought it should continue to exercise patience and be proud to own a wonderful classic with five decades of longevity ahead of it. Drink Window 2018 - 2050 (6/10)

94 points Vinous
Full medium ruby. Knockout superripe nose combines black cherry, licorice and exotic spices. Compellingly sweet, lush and complete, with harmonious acids giving the wine lovely vinosity and extending the flavors. Finishes with lush, dusty tannins and superb persistence. A great vintage for Leoville Barton. (ST 5/03)

98 points Jeb Dunnuck
The Grand Vin 2020 Chateau Leoville Poyferre, which is released in a stylish black bottle commemorating a century for the Cuvelier family, is reminiscent of the 2016 with its powerful, concentrated, yet vibrant and inward style. Pure creme de cassis, melted chocolate, loamy earth, graphite, and some spicy nuances all define the aromatics, and it's full-bodied, with a stacked mid-palate, nicely integrated oak, ripe tannins, and one hell of a great finish. This is another utterly brilliant wine from this team, which has been producing First Growth quality wines for many years now. The blend of the 2020 is 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, aged in 80% new barrels, hitting 13.58% natural alcohol and a pH of 3.81. Best After 2028.

96-98 Wine Enthusiast
Rich, luscious and replete with dark plum and dark chocolate flavors, this wine shows great power as well as aging potential. Its richness is balanced by the fresher edge of acidity that stands the wine in good stead as it ages.

97 Points Vinous
The 2020 Leoville-Poyferre is every bit as impressive as it was from barrel. If anything, it has gained in freshness and vibrancy with elevage. Dark cherry, plum, mocha, graphite and a kiss of French oak are some of the many notes that infuse the 2020 with tons of character. I especially admire its vertical energy and buttoned up personality. In some recent vintages Leoville-Poyferre has been quite showy, but the 2020 also has a more nuanced side that is hugely appealing. Antonio Galloni (12/22)

96 Points Vinous
The 2020 Leoville Poyferre was bottled in June. It has a very intense nose, displaying more black fruit than its showing from barrel, also the opulence tempered since its bottling. Fine minerality, hints of clove and bay leaf develop with time in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a smooth opening, still slightly lactic in style as I remarked from barrel, yet with immense depth and plenty of finesse. The structure really comes through on the finish, a pinch of cracked black pepper and tobacco lending complexity. This is a great Leoville Poyferre that will give more than four decades of enjoyment, though I advise waiting several years before broaching. Neil Martin (12/22)

#3 on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2023!

96 points Wine Spectator
Gorgeous from the start, with cassis and violet notes leading off, followed by additional waves of black cherry and blackberry fruit as well as sweet tobacco and iron. Shows subtle savory and cedar hints that stay in the background, as the iron note pierces through the fruit on the finish. Almost approachable for the fruit, but wait if you can. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2040

96 points Vinous
The 2020 Lynch-Bages, the first vintage vinified at the new winery, has a beautifully-defined bouquet with a strong estuarine influence, brine and seaweed infusing the black fruit. It's almost understated at first, but it opens wonderfully in the glass - quintessentially Pauillac. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, quite concentrated that is counterbalanced by a fine bead of acidity. The saline note on the finish is superb, lingering in the mouth. What an absolutely delicious Lynch-Bages for the long-term. Neal Martin

96 points Vinous
The 2020 Lynch-Bages is a real powerhouse. Elevage appears to have amplified the virile, brooding qualities that were present in barrel. In so many vintages, Lynch-Bages is a wine of elegance and finesse. Those qualities may emerge here too, in time. Black cherry, plum, espresso, licorice and lavender add to an impression of brooding intensity. Formidable tannins will take years to soften. The 2020 is a gorgeous wine, but it is also a very atypical Lynch. Antonio Galloni

#8 on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2023!

97 points Wine Spectator
This has a very large-scaled yet properly proportioned core of cassis, plum and blackberry fruit flavors that are remarkably pure and focused. Buried deep within is a sleek, vibrant iron spine that drives the finish as the fruit keeps pace. Extra savory, tobacco and cedar nuances fill out all the remaining available space. A towering wine, with a buttoned-up feel. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2030 through 2045

98+ points Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship 2020 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron is pure gold, a full-bodied, rich, powerful 2020 displaying the vintage's purity, focus, and structure front and center. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, its dense purple hue is followed by a mammoth-sized bouquet of cassis, blackberries, smoked earth, graphite, and cedar pencil. With ripe tannins, a seamless, layered mouthfeel, and one heck of a finish, it comes closest in my mind to the estate 2010, and I think is clearly in the same realm as the 1989, 1990, 2000, 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2019. It offers pleasure today, but it certainly warrants 7-8 years, a decade if possible, of bottle age and will have 40-50 years of overall longevity.

98 points Vinous
As I found before, the 2020 Pichon Baron takes a while to open in the glass. Finally, it offers enticing blackberry and boysenberry fruit, peony and iris flower, hints of graphite and black truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannins, again, displaying outstanding symmetry and focus, fresh as a daisy with a strong and mineral-driven finish. Christian Seely and his team have overseen a splendid Pichon Baron for the ages. Blue-blooded Pauillac. (Antonio Galloni)

#8 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2023!
97 points Wine Spectator
This has a very large-scaled yet properly proportioned core of cassis, plum and blackberry fruit flavors that are remarkably pure and focused. Buried deep within is a sleek, vibrant iron spine that drives the finish as the fruit keeps pace. Extra savory, tobacco and cedar nuances fill out all the remaining available space. A towering wine, with a buttoned-up feel. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2030 through 2045.

99 points James Suckling
Intense blackberry and graphite character coming out of the glass, together with dried violets, ink and some asphalt. Full-bodied with wonderfully integrated tannins that spread across the palate and then draw you deep into the wine. Lead-pencil and blackcurrant aftertaste. Tightly wound with a cashmere-like texture. A whole and thought-provoking wine. Try after 2028 and beyond.

98 points Jeb Dunnuck
Reminding me a little of the 2009, the 2019 Château Smith Haut Lafitte has a rich, powerful style in its cassis, blueberry, and black raspberry fruit as well as its chalky minerality, smoked earth, tobacco, and lead pencil shaving-like aromas and flavors. A blend of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, this rich, unctuously textured beauty has terrific concentration, sweet tannins, and the vintage's hallmark elegance and finesse. One of the most concentrated, powerful wines in the vintage, it needs 4-5 years of bottle age (or a healthy decant) and will evolve for 30+ years if stored properly. Not enough can be said about what proprietors Daniel and Florence Cathiard, as well as winemaker Fabien Teitgen, continue to achieve at this estate. )

98 points Wine Enthusiast
Rich in black fruits with a structure that acts as a support. Acidity and blackberry flavors with hints of black coffee and a core of denseness that is very fine. The wine will age well, drink from 2026. Organic and biodynamic.

97 points Decanter
A soft, fragrant nose of rose petals and violets alongside raspberries, cherries, blackcurrants, cola cubes and blackcurrant leaf nuance. Tannins fill the mouth, abundant but oh so soft and finely woven into the overall body of the wine which has delicious cooling mint elements nestled between pristinely ripe blue and black fruit and liquorice spice. The flavours expand slowly along the palate gaining in depth, width and energy. This isn't an immediate showstopper but rather it takes its time, revealing itself layer by layer, so charming and seductive, asking you to linger and take a closer inspection. I absolutely love it.

97 points Vinous
The 2019 Smith Haut-Lafitte blossoms immediately on the nose of seductive blackberry, black olive and Bing cherries, perhaps a little more floral than when I tasted it from barrel, and there is a nearly Burgundy-like purity. The palate is medium-bodied with a smooth, almost creamy entry. This is very harmonious, elegant and poised, leading to a mineral-driven finish. A gorgeous, seductive Smith Haut Lafitte that will give three or four decades of drinking pleasure.

96 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Smith Haut Lafitte has turned out very well indeed, unwinding in the glass with a complex bouquet of dark berries, cassis, forest floor, pencil shavings, licorice and spices. Full-bodied, broad and velvety, it's layered and elegantly muscular, underpinned by rich structuring tannins and lively acids, and it concludes with a long, expansive finish. This is another estate where the viticultural and stylistic evolutions of the last decade have delivered a beautifully balanced, harmonious 2019.

"A powerful, rich wine as good as many cru classes. Inky color and intense vanilla, violet and cassis aromas; full-bodied, with great balance, full but integrated tannins and a long finish." 94pts WS

"Good full red. Deeply pitched aromas of smoke, minerals, leather and truffle. Supple and silky but nicely penetrating, with ripe, intense flavors of cherry, minerals and oak perfectly framed by harmonious acids. Subtle, textured Rioja finishing with good grip and thrust." 90pts Vinous

"This red shows depth and complexity, maturing but still fresh. It's generous on the palate, with plum, raisin, cedar and chocolate notes. A true expression of Rioja character. Drink now through 2010. 5,000 cases made." 90pts WS

85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo. Aging in French and American oak cask 36 months and aging in bottle 48 months before going to market. This wine is produced from grapes harvested in vineyards that are over 20 years old. They are bush pruned, with low yields, and hand harvested. Only the healthiest and ripest grapes are selected, and following destalking, the grapes are cold macerated prior to a cold temperature fermentation. Following a long maceration to achieve optimum colour and structure, the wine goes through a malolactic fermentation, to refine the wine, and to leave it with the necessary acidity.

Imperial is one of the renowned references in the entire history of Spanish winemaking. It is a true classic in Rioja and was first bottled in the 1920’s. Its name was originally adopted after a special bottling for the English market in a bottle called ‘Pinta Imperial’ or ‘Imperial Pint’ (an Imperial pint, half a litre approximately). The grapes to make Imperial have always come from our own 28 hectares of vineyards in Villalba (Rioja Alta), and selected vineyards in the nearby communes of Briones and Montalvo, where our vines average age is kept over 20 years to secure quality.

Rioja Alta is the westernmost part of Rioja's three subregions. Its climate is noticeably influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. The soil in Rioja Alta is rich in iron salts, limestone and clay, along with nutrients deposited in the region by the tributaries of the Ebro River. Rioja Alta is known for producing full-bodied wines with a medium alcohol content and a high acidity level that are suitable for being aged in casks, forming the basis of most red Rioja.

CVNE (Compania Vinicola del Norte de Espana) is one of the most renowned and historic bodegas in all of Spain. Founded in 1879 by the Real de Asua brothers, Eusebio and Raimundo, the company has been an integral part of the Rioja region’s ascendance in the world of fine wine. With their combination of traditional roots and innovative vision, CVNE has been one of Rioja’s most reliable sources for high quality wine. The company is still run by descendants of the Real de Asua brothers, now represented by the fifth generation with current CEO Victor Urrutia Ybarra. Since its founding, CVNE’s goal has been to increase the scope of production while maintaining the level of quality on which their reputation was built. Forty years after the original bodega was created, CVNE expanded into the Alavesa region. Today, CVNE is comprised of three separate bodegas: Cune, Vina Real, and Contino. Each of the three estates produces a distinct style of wine from a distinct terroir, and each of their flagship bottlings occupies a well-deserved place in the pantheon of great Spanish wine.

This deep and rich Hermitage, from a family run operation, displays smoked cherry and berry plus dark roasted coffee, iron and red meat on the nose.? On the palate the wine is exceptionally chewy, with cassis, orange rind, and chocolate notes backed by bacon, iron and smoke tones. Excellent acidity and density make this is well-structured Hermitage worthy of additional aging to fully reveal itself.? Decant for at least an hour to serve now. - PJ

92-94 points Burghound
This is the first wine to exhibit any appreciable reduction and it's enough to overshadow the underlying fruit at present. More interesting are the intense and super-sleek broad-shouldered flavors that exhibit excellent precision on the powerful tautly muscular and strikingly long finale. This is very impressive but also a wine that is very much constituted for the long haul. Patience advised. (Drink starting 2035)

From 20 to 25 year old vines.

Wines from the south-facing Poissenot vineyard tend to be rich and full bodied with good structure, although they are leaner than the muscular wines from the Gevrey-Chambertin Grand Cru vineyards like Le Chambertin and Clos de Beze. the vineyard has an excellent soil makeup, which is often credited as the reason for the strength and structure of the wines. Made up of clay and limestone, these soils stress vines, a condition that is exacerbated by the natural drainage of the steep slope.

94pts Wine Advocate:
The Lot 38 La Bota de Viejo Cream Bota No is the sequel to the sweet oloroso that was Lot 19. It originates from the blending of a Pedro Ximenez over a century ago when the Solera was started. It has a fairly light bouquet that opens with aeration: hazelnut, macadamias, subtle note of caramel and nougat. The palate is medium-bodied with a lovely viscous opening: a touch of spice, eau-de-vie, caramel and cafe latte underpinned by beautifully judged acidity and a sensual harmonious long finish. Superb.

900 bottles produced. La Bota de Viejo Cream 38 "Bota NO" is a new release of edition 19 in the series: a sweet oloroso that has aged as such in a 9-butt solera under the label "Viejo Cream", never before commercially available except for a few exceptional sacas for British customers. This solera has in turn a bota NO as well as a double NO- of notably higher age and character, and which is where this wine has been sourced, again in limited volumes. This sweet oloroso results from a blending process with top-quality pedro ximénez that was performed early on, when the solera was founded, likely over a century ago. Harmonious integration during these decades has made the wine finer and rounder, thanks to the patience of several generations of winemakers, reaching today a prodigious balance between the raciness of dry oloroso and the mellowness of sweet PX.

What originally started out as a private buying club for an outstanding Amontillado located in the cellar of Miguel Sánchez Ayala, has become one of the most sought after series of bottlings sourced from, and inspired by the wines of Jerez and Montilla-Moriles. Jesús Barquín, a professor of criminal law at the University of Granda and Eduardo Ojeda, the technical director of Grupo Estévez, guided by their vast knowledge of, and unparalleled access to, the best wines, cellars and soleras of the region, have since 2005 assembled one of the finest offerings of Sherries in the market. When word got out about their project, what was once a hobby became a full-fledged commercial enterprise. Supply remains limited and demand has only increased. Since that first cask of Amontillado, labeled simply Bota de Amontillado no.1 in honor of the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, each successive bottling as been numbered, bottled en rama, limited in release and quick to sell out. Not content with only exploring the possibilities of fortified wines, Equipo has also released brandies, unfortified Palomino Fino aged under flor, and a couple of PX wines, one dry and one made from raisined grapes. They have also partnered with Dirk Niepoort and Quim Vila to make a Vin Jaune styled Palomino Fino and Sergei Colet to produce a Cava utilizing flor in the secondary aging of the wine as well as Sherry and Montilla for the dosage.

94 points Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley checks in as 88% Cabernet Sauvignon with the balance Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc, aged 17 months in 62% new French oak. Its deep purple hue is followed by a rich, inward, nicely concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon that has both red and black fruits, some spicy, chocolaty, herbal, and tobacco nuances, medium to full body, ripe tannins, and a beautiful finish. It's not massive by any means, but it s beautifully balanced and has a layered mouthfeel along with rock-solid depth and character. Give bottles 2-3 years if you can and enjoy over the following 15

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

95 points Wine Spectator
A wine of dimension and detail that's framed by dynamic structure, with flavors of blackberry, black olive, licorice and dusky spices gathering richness and polish toward big but refined tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2032

Dense ruby/purple-colored, with an exotic, exuberant perfume of black fruits, flowers, incense, and licorice, this unctuously-textured, full-bodied port is one of the most concentrated of the vintage. Sweet, expansive, and succulent, this large-scaled, but remarkably well-balanced effort is surprisingly forward and accessible... - WA95