Wines (24 View)

93 points James Suckling
Sour cherries with orange peel and hints of vanilla bean. Some bark, too. Medium body, with very fine tannins and a fresh and bright finish. Lean and agile. Drink after 2026

94 points Wine Advocate
The 2019 San Vicente was produced with Tempranillo Peludo, a special strain of Tempranillo planted from a massale selection in 1985 in the village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra. Like all their reds (except the carbonic maceration ones), the destemmed grapes fermented in French oak vats, and the wine matured in new oak barrels (90% French, 10% American) for 20 months. This wine is quite regular, and I found similar wines in 2019 and 2018, the two vintages that I tasted together, combining power and elegance and juicy fruit with good ripeness but without excess and good acidity and balance and fine-grained tannins. - Luis Gutierrez,

One finca and one 18-hectare vineyard supply the Tempranillo fruit for this ultra modern, 90% new oak-aged red from clay-limestone soils at 580 metres. - Tim Atkin

91 points Wine Advocate
The creamy and lactic 2019 Crianza was produced with pure Tempranillo that achieved good ripeness (14%), keeping freshness, the character of the 2019, a drier vintage than average with some heat but not excess, and the ripeness was perfect and the grapes very healthy. This is generously oaked after 14 months in used French and American oak barrels with rackings every six months. Very approachable.

Sierra Cantabria Crianza is the flagship age-classified Rioja bottling produced by the Eguren family of San Vicente de la Sonsierra. While the family is most well known for their single cru classified bottlings, they produce outstanding ageing classified wines from their estate vineyards in San Vicente. While this category is dominated by blends of purchased fruit sourced from many growers across the entire appellation, the Eguren family are one of the few (if not the only) families in Rioja that produce an estate grown and bottled Crianza from a single village - in this case, San Vicente de la Sonsierra, one of the most respected villages for Tempranillo in Spain.
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Practicing organic dry farmed viticulture with certain selective biodynamic practices. Vineyards trained as spur-pruned goblet vines as well as high density trellises. Manual work and harvest, with no mechanization whatsoever.

14 months in used French & American oak barrels. Racked every four months. Aging is carried out in subterranean cellars that were carved by the family at the end of the 1990's. Due to the low temperatures and high humidity, the rate of oxidation is reduced allowing the family to work with low levels of SO2.

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

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

97 points Wine Spectator
Packed with vivid black cherry, black currant and plum fruit, as well as iron, sanguine and tobacco accents, this red shows some power and tension, but also grace and balance. The lingering aftertaste features bright, ripe fruit and wild herbs. Best from 2027 through 2043.

96 points James Suckling
Beautiful fresh fruit with crushed cherries, orange peel and flowers. Pure. Full-bodied with round and juicy fruit and a long, creamy finish. Flamboyant and beautiful with velvety and creamy tannins that provide a wonderful texture. Drink after 2027.

Organic

Produced from vines planted well south of the cluster of northern-Thermenregion villages that comprise the majority of their holdings, Stadlmann’s Pinot Noir (called “Blauburgunder” locally) is simultaneously fresh and substantial, offering the textural harmoniousness of their white wines, as well as a lifted and elegant spice character that puts one in the mind of excellent red Burgundy. (After all, it was the Cistercian monks who brought Pinot Noir from Burgundy to the Thermenregion in the late 1100s.) Like the estate’s white wines, this is fermented and aged entirely in large, well-worn oak casks and bottled without fining and with only a gentle filtration. 12.5% abv (Rosenthal Wine Merchant Import)

Organic / Biodynamic

Organic

94 points Wine Advocate
The certified organic Col d'Orcia 2019 Brunello di Montalcino shows ripe fruit, blackberry, earthy notes, licorice and, generally speaking, a much bigger and riper fruit profile compared to its peers. It offers full-bodied Brunello opulence to enjoy over the near or medium term, and the wine delivers dried fruit flavors of prune and fig to close. The tannins are velvety and add to the richness of the rather upfront and immediate mouthfeel.

93 points Vinous
Depths of dried black cherry come together with cedar shavings and worn leather as the darkly alluring 2019 Brunello di Montalcino slowly evolves in the glass. This is surprisingly juicy and energetic, with a pure blend of red fruits and inner florals coasting along a fresh acidity stream. Fine tannins settle in through the finish as the 2019 takes on a youthful tension, puckering the cheeks as tart cranberry notes fade through the youthfully chewy finale. (Drink between 2025-2033)

The Valpolicella Ripasso Ca’ del Laito Classico Superiore from Tommaso Bussola is made all from very low yielding, old vines of 40% Corvina and Corvinone, 40% Rondinella, 10% Molinara, and 10% Others. Corvinone in particular is quite rare today because of its low yields and finicky growing habits. Yet, Tommaso claims it is the Corvinone that gives his wines their depth. He calls it the Super Corvina, saying that it produces stronger, denser, richer, more perfumed wines. This wine offers up a deep, complex, and vibrant bouquet of sweet blackberries, a bit of red currant, a gorgeous array of spice tones, a fine foundation of soil, a touch of new leather, and a top note of sultana raisin. On the palate, the wine is pure, full-bodied and very expressive, with superb focus and grip, a beautiful core of fruit, fine mineral drive and bounce and a long, tangy moderately tannic finish.

Grapes were hand-harvested from vines ranging from 5 to 30 years old, pressed, then fermented with selected yeast for ten days. Then refermented on the skins of Amarone for another ten days. Finally, the wine is aged for 17 months in 700L Austrian oak - second passage.

Ca’ del Laito was a place-name for a vineyard that straddles the ridge above Quintarelli. Tommaso purchased the vineyard (and the little workhouse there) from Masi in ~2002. Tommaso Bussola is now often mentioned along with Giuseppe Quintarelli and Dal Forno Romano as the top estates in the Valpolicella appellation.

100% Susumaniello vines planted in 2016. Being a late-ripening varietal, harvest takes place in early October. The Susumaniello grapes have a blue/black colour that produces deeply colored, almost inky wines. Fermented with native yeasts in concrete vats where 80% of the wine matures while 20% is transferred in used tonneaux.

A recent project started in 2016 by 4 friends, all veterans in the wine world, when an elderly farmer, no longer able to tend his land, decided to sell his 2 hectares of 50 years old alberello Negroamaro vines. The offer was impossible to resist and the first wine was released in 2019, only 4,000 bottles of it. An additional 2 hectares of Susumaniello were acquired, a local grape varietal that was widely grown but that for a number of reasons (late ripening, low yields soon after its vigorous first years of life etc.) had almost disappeared. The name Susumaniello comes from the local dialect expression for the Italian word somarello, donkey, an animal much needed to carry the heavy loads of grapes from the plentiful harvest from the young vines. We are in the sun-scorched Salento, in the Brindisi province, near the sea, along the ancient Roman Appian Way. A classic Mediterranean landscape, mostly flat, where olive trees and vines play the main role.

95 points Vinous
Brooding yet intense, the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino bursts from the glass with a wave of autumnal spices, crushed cherries, cedar shavings and steeped plums lifted by pine hints. This is deeply textural, elegant and refined, with a dense wave of ripe wild berry fruits, all guided by vibrant acidity, offset by oranges and balsam herbs. It finishes grippy and extended with a black hole of tension and a sweet and sour sensation that lingers on and on as crunchy tannins resonate throughout. The 2019 is youthfully backward today, yet there's a balance that can't be denied, especially as I watched it open up over twenty-four hours. This is a total pleasure to taste. Bury the 2019 deep in the cellar. - Eric Guido

95 points Wine Advocate
The Uccelliera 2019 Brunello di Montalcino offers ripe fruit, a note of cooked blackberry and pomegranate juice. Along with oak spice and dried bay leaf, there is a spot of creaminess on the mid-palate that recalls cheese rind or aged chèvre with a crust of black pepper and thyme. That note blows off, however, and the wine returns to dried cherry with a medicinal or herbal twist. There's a lot going on. The wine needs more time in bottle to address the fine, chalky tannins. It is elegant now but poised to improve.

95 points Wine Advocate
The obsession in 2019 was to avoid excess ripeness and to keep the freshness, so they did a softer vinification, used larger vats for the elevage and used less American wood. The 2019 Valbuena was produced with a blend of Tinto Fino with 3% Merlot. It has 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.88 and 4.6 grams of acidity. I love the nose; it is perfumed and subtle. And the wine is beautifully textured; the tannins are very fine, silky even, quite different from the tannins from the other 2019s from the group that I tasted next to this, Macan and Pintia. A triumph over the conditions of the year, it's a more elegant Valbuena than I anticipated. 190,490 bottles, 5,581 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2022

93 points Vinous
Deep, lurid ruby. Mineral- and smoke-accented blackberry, cherry and tobacco scents pick up floral and vanilla accents with air. Sappy, expansive black and blue fruit and violet pastille flavors open up steadily, energized by a spicy topnote. Concentrated yet lively in style, with a smoky mineral quality that adds cut to the impressively long, floral- and spice-driven finish.

Organic

90 points Vinous
The 2019 Brut Nature Blanc de Noirs L'Arbre, from a parcel in Pouillon, is seriously impressive. Bright, focused and super-polished, with tons of aromatic presence, L'Arbre shows a refined, elegant side of Meunier that stands apart from the typically bigger style found in most mono-varietal bottlings. There's tons of energy and vibrancy. The 2019 feels a bit severe, but some of that may be attributable to its recent disgorgement. Naturally the vintages are different, but the 2018 version is quite a bit more open.

100% Pinot Meunier from the single parcel of Voyet in the Marne village of Pouillon, this is the Cuillier family's most historic vineyard. Sandy soils over limestone. The winery embraces regenerative principles of cover cropping and low-/no-till farming to increase soil organic matter and to preserve and enhance biodiversity. Applies homemade composts to enrich soil and incorporates Vitiforestry, which is the intentional integration of trees into the vineyards (a.k.a Agroforestry when integrated into other agricultural crops). Indigenous yeast fermentation in small stainless steel tank. Aged in tank for 12 months followed by 36 months sur lattes. No fining or filtration, disgorged by hand, zero dosage.

Winemaker Notes:
"Rich, deep burgundy. Aromatic profile features red apples and raspberries. On the palate, bright fresh cherries with toasty elements and just a hint of pepper."

96 points Vinous
A mentholated freshness introduces the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino, as a vibrant wave of crushed cherries, mint leaf, clove and dusty roses make up its absolutely gorgeous bouquet. This is silky and enveloping yet lifted and full of energy, with crunchy red berry fruits that leave a crackle of primary concentration toward the close. It finishes pretty saline and spicy in character, leaving edgy tannins to mingle with a residual bump of acidity that maintains a wonderfully fresh sensation as tart cranberry notes fade. This is one of the most exciting young renditions of Voliero I have ever tasted. It captivates with its precision and spry personality while holding depths of complexity in reserve. Wow.

Organic

The Rotes Handgemenge is a blend of Zweigelt and Blaufrankisch. The juiciness of the Zweigelt plays well with the structure of the Blaufrankisch. It's meant to be an easy drinker on days when you don't want to take yourself so seriously. It's bottled unfined and unfiltered. This is opens up with a note of loamy earth, followed by graceful blackberry flavors which decorate the silky texture. It is lighter in body, but never lacking substance.