Red Wine

94 points Jeb Dunnuck
Indeed the 75th iteration of this wine, the NV OVR Old Vine Red Lot 75 has been made since the 1980s, for most of those years by founder Chris Bilbro. Son Scot now continues the tradition, blending a mix of primarily Zinfandel, Syrah, and Petite Sirah with smaller amounts of Barbera, Grenache, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot with the goal of being delicious. It certainly is, offering one of the greatest values in California wine from a family producer, supple, reliable, and approachable, with full-bodied fruitiness thats balanced and has lasting tannin structure to keep it interesting for another 10 years.

91 points Wine Advocate
The NV Old Vine Red Lot 75 has a medium ruby-purple color is scented of red and black plums, raspberry candy, powdered sugar, prosciutto and floral potpourri. The medium-bodied palate is rounded and bright with understated, earth-laced fruit and a softly spicy finish. That herbal edge and juicy acidity make this wonderfully easy to drink!

Organic / Biodynamic

A versatile, young red wine with a ruby red color and a bouquet characterized by inviting aromas of black cherry pie, black berries, thyme, red pepper grains and exotic spices. The taste is medium-bodied, fruity and smooth with a long lingering, dry finish, reminiscent of undergrowth, with an underlying hint of menthol. Blend: 60% Sangiovese, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot.

The renown Vino Nobile di Montepulciano producer Avignonesi doesn?????t just make red wines for fancy dinners and cellaring - they make a delicious table red as well! An everyday wine to go with your pasta bolognese or slice of pizza. It?????s called Cantaloro and is a blend of 60% Sangiovese, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot.

Cantaloro is soft on the palate, has gentle tannins, and drinks well above this silly low pricepoint. If there ever was a time to stock up with a case, this is it! Afterall, who do you want making your "house" red? A corporation who places a whimsical cartoon label on their wine or one of the most respected wineries of Italy? I know which I?????m choosing.

The 2021 vintage was the Third Place finisher in our 2023 Wine Of The Year blind taste off!

The 2022 is just as good if not better!
Sustainably farmed Grenache 44%, Syrah 42%, Mourvedre 14% from four vineyard sites in Los Olivos and the greater Santa Ynez Valley - Rolling Vines, Bernat, Coteaux de Clair, and TTT Roblar. The Syrah and Grenache are fermented partly with whole clusters, while the Mourvedre is 100% destemmed. Fermentation is with native yeasts in open-top oak tanks. The wine is matured for 14 months in neutral barrique and bottled without fining or filtration.

Mallea is a collaboration between viticulturist Erik Mallea (director of viticulture at Sanford & Benedict and a co-founder of Willett-Mallea Farming) and winemaker Justin Willett (of Tyler Winery and Lieu-Dit Winery). After working together in various capacities for over a decade, Erik and Justin have started this exciting new project to highlight Santa Barbara County’s potential with Rhône grape varieties. They are farming four small vineyard sites clustered around Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara.

Third place was a nice surprise because it is a brand new wine on the scene, Mallea GSM Santa Barbara County. This is a traditional Rhone blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mouvedre (GSM) but from Santa Barbara County California. The pedigree of the guys behind it is first-rate but what impressed us was the juice in the bottle! If you enjoy Cotes du Rhone or Southern French reds you are going to love Mallea. This is a wine of subtlety and not as flamboyant as our number two wine. Clearly, the wine is masterfully blended as each component adds complexity, and yet the wine is seamless on the palate. Fresh jovial fruit dances on the tongue with its lively acidity while pepper and Mediterranean spices come out in the finish. Mallea GSM provides a ton of pleasure for a very reasonable price.

The labels reference Erik Mallea’s Basque heritage, depicting 19th & 20th-century aspen tree carvings by Basque shepherds in the American West. Erik’s father, Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe, is a respected scholar of this cultural tradition.

Winemaker Notes:
"This crisp, fruit-forward and juicy wine has expressive aromas and flavors of ripe red berries, with nice heft in the mouth, and mineral and spice notes. Most red meats and grilled or roasted white meats, especially those prepared with savory herbs or spices."

Winemaker Notes:
"Cherry colour with garnet rim, bright and intense. Red fruit expression, powerful, elegant, dry stone, coca bean, creamy oak, hints of spices. Powerful, flavourful, fruity, good acidity, smoky aftertaste, toasty, long finish."

In 1927, a group of 15 vine-growers banded together to create the Cooperativa Ribera del Duero (which translates as "Bank of the Duero River"). They were the first to make a wine called "Ribera del Duero", and as regional pioneers, eventually gave their name to the DO when it was created in 1982. Generations later, this cooperative is producing some of the most highly acclaimed wines in Spain under the name "Protos", meaning "First" in Greek.

In 2008, Protos reached another milestone with the completion of its state-of-the-art winery by renowned British architect Richard Rogers. A modern architectural gem, the winery is built into the mountain just beneath Penafiel Castle, at once complementing and contrasting the ancient landmark.

LOCATION OF VINEYARD
Protos has two wineries in the heart of the Ribera del Duero: Penafiel (near Valladolid) and Anguix (near Burgos). Their third winery, La Seca, is where they make Verdejo in the neighboring Rueda DO near Valladolid. Protos owns 100 hectares of vineyards around its wineries and has partnerships with several local growers who supply additional grapes.

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY
Protos has the unique distinction of offering wines from two DOs, producing fresh, aromatic Verdejos from Rueda in addition to varietal Tempranillos from Ribera del Duero. Harvesting is entirely manual, and production is gathered in 20-kilogram boxes (just over 44 pounds) to aid in ensuring only completely healthy, whole grapes reach the fermentation tanks. Protos has also implemented an extensive R&D program to test the effects of different types of barrels on its wines.

In both DOs, Protos leverages its generations of winemaking experience, cutting-edge technology, and philosophy of "Quality above all" to produce exceptional wines.

Jose Serrano Carlos Guzman graduated from the L??Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique in Montpellier, France, with a degree in viticulture. Following graduation, he served as winemaker and technical director at several estates, including Bodega Cooperative de Morales de Toro (DO Toro), Bodegas Marques de Riscal (DO Rueda), and finally Bodegas Roqueta (DO Pla de Bages). He became Winemaker Director at Bodegas Protos in 1999.

93 points Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Le Volte Dell'Ornellaia is a saturated red/ruby color and is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot, raised in used barrels for around 10 months. Always a wine leaning into the fruity and approachable side of things, the nose is fruity and fresh with aromas of candied flowers, crushed raspberries, red apples, and fresh stony earth. Medium to full-bodied, it’s very elegant with a joyful ease. It’s a great snapshot into these wines, which are mighty tasty now and have a lot of character. Drink 2025-2035.

Organic

This is the most important wine of the estate, a serious red vinified to reflect its capacity to age. The grapes are harvested at a point of slight surmaturit?? which captures the profound scents and flavors of the surrounding hillside garrigue. The cuvaison continues for at least a month; then, the wine is racked into tank for aging. The wine is bottled twenty to twenty-four months after harvest. As the wine ages in bottle, it develops enticing notes of juniper, rosemary and thyme as well as the savory flavors of wild berries and a hint of the "animal" all in all, one of the more compelling values in all of France.

Winemaker Notes:
"Intense ruby red color with violet nuances; intense, characteristic bouquet of the primary grape aromas; fruity component, fullbodied and robust, well-balanced with tannin and oak features"

Winery Notes:
"Deep garnet color. Luxurious and dynamic aromas of ripe strawberry, bright cherry and faint notes of spicy oak and vanilla. The complexity of the palate smoothly layers rich red currant notes and baking spice flavors with light smoke, earth and leather. A balanced, velvety texture and supple tannins carry the wine through to a lingering, succulent finish."

93-95 points Wine Independent
The 2022 Marjosse is a blend of 75% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Malbec. Owner Pierre Lurton commented, "We have a lot of chalk and clay at Marjosse, so we never have a problem with freshness. We recently bought a small plot of Cabernet Franc, which did very well. It was a long harvest starting on 5th September and ending at the beginning of October. We had to go very light on the extraction and we couldn't use any of the press juice because it was too powerful." The wine has a deep garnet-purple color and shoots from the glass with energetic notes of fresh, juicy blackberries, warm plums, and kirsch, followed by hints of cardamom, dusty soil, and crushed rocks. The medium to full-bodied palate is coated with bright, expressive black fruits, supported by a lively backbone and plush, velvety tannins, finishing long, with a spicy lift. Well placed to succeed in these hot, dry vintages and with a good proportion of very old vines, which tend to handle these climatic conditions very well, this is likely to be one of the best bargains of the vintage.

91 points Vinous
The 2022 Marjosse is a bright, nervy red. Floral notes, orange peel, mint and white pepper lend notable energy throughout. Readers will find an atypically vibrant wine for the year. More than anything else, the 2022 represents a pretty significant shift for Marjosse toward a style that focuses on greater freshness than in the past.

#53 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2022.

94 points Wine Spectator
Well-tailored in an understated way, this harmonious red is plushly creamy on the palate, like fine cashmere, showing seamless integration of the sculpted tannins with finely detailed flavors of black cherry and black plum reduction, sandalwood, cedar, green olive, espresso crema and minerally smoke and iron. Long and lightly juicy on the refined finish. Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha. Drink now through 2030.

97 points Wine Advocate
The most classical of their wines, the 2015 Prado Enea Gran Reserva is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, mostly from Rioja Alta (Sajazarra, Cellorigo and Fonzaleche), but the Garnacha is from different plots in the zone of Tudelilla at high altitude. These grapes are always picked last, but the wine has a similar alcohol level as the rest, around 14.5% in a warm year like 2019. The modus operandi is similar to other of the top cuvees harvested into 200-kilogram boxes, destemming, optical sorting and fermentation in small oak casks with indigenous yeasts. The elevage in this case is extended to 36 months, and the barrels are only 10% new. This is, year in, year out, my favorite wine from Muga, and in this powerful and ripe year, these late-harvesting vines ripened thoroughly and delivered a full array of aromas and flavors so that the wine has plenty of depth and complexity. It has a very classical profile, with incipient tertiary notes, perfumed, floral and rich, textured and beautifully balanced. They compare this 2015 with 2009 and 2005 in terms of style but with freshness in the style of 2001 and 2010. It's enjoyable but should also develop for a long time in bottle. One of the finest Prado Enea vintages. 108,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2018. There's no 2012 or 2013 of this. There will be a 2016 and 2019, but no 2017 or 2018. 2020 is still a question mark, they have not yet decided it.

97 points James Suckling
Reserved and polished, this is a Prado Enea with great class and focus. It’s so aromatic,with plum, peach, cherry and cedar character. Salted olives, too. Medium-to full-bodied with very fine tannins and a long, fresh finish. Elegance with power here. Give it three or four years to open, but already impressive.

"Head-trained, dry farmed vines are prized for their production of small, concentrated clusters of grapes that produce incredibly rich and intense wines. For years, Bogle has sought out these gnarly old vines to create our Old Vine Zinfandel. Greeted with the viscous, ripe fruit of jammy blackberries hanging on sun warmed vines, this Zinfandel is enticing and aromatic. Weightier than previous vintages, there?????s a sturdy structure that is saturated with dark fruits, laced with hints of lavender and savory herbs. Cracked peppercorns and spicy juniper round out the finish, tempered by 12 months
of aging in two-year old American oak.
" Winemaker notes

93-94 points Wine Advocate
Tasted just before bottling, so a sample of the final blend, the 2023 PSI is juicy, ripe and approachable. It is a little showier and headier, despite having similar alcohol to the bottled 2022 (perhaps a tad higher, but not quite reaching 14%), and it feels a little riper, with peachy notes and some decayed flowers. It has abundant tannins and feels like it's in need of some more time in bottle. This is usually the case for PSI: the tannins need time. They are resolved quite quickly, but it does need a bit of time. It should be bottled in May 2025.

Winery Notes:
" Steep hillside vineyards present the ultimate challenge, but the results are extraordinary. The harsh conditions yield fewer clusters and smaller berries. The intensely flavored grapes are aged in new French oak barrels that creates a wine with luxurious flavor and texture. rich, ripe, and delicious. "

Organic / Biodynamic

"Wafts of raspberry, black cherry, red currant, eucalyptus and fresh tobacco offer a distinctive Willamette Valley introduction. Medium-bodied, the bright entry leads to a silky palate gushing with ripe Bing cherry, cranberry sauce, plum and a kiss of chocolate. A hint of star anise and earthy toast complete the soft and lush palate." - Winery

A single-vineyard wine made by the winemaking team of Margaux estate Ch??teau Siran, this wine has structure, dense tannins and layer upon layer of black fruits. 2019 was an excellent vintage in Bordeaux.

80% Merlot, 10.5% Petit Verdot, and 9.5% Cabernet Sauvignon. From an eleven hectare single-vineyard plot on the Margaux border. 25 year-old vines planted in a sandy gravel subsoil with clay topsoil. Fermented in stainless steel and aged for twelve months in French oak, with two rackings.

"This outstanding property in Labarde in the southern part of the Margaux appellation is making consistently delicious, fragrant, deeply colored wines that are in quality on a par with the best Grands Bourgeois Exceptionnels." - Robert Parker, Bordeaux: The Definitive Guide For The Wines Produced Since 1961

Chateau Siran is a highly regarded Bordeaux producer vinifying wine in Margaux. We have had a vintage or two of their Margaux over the years, but we didn?????t know they produce a second wine named Saint Jaques De Siran. And it is this wine that recently knocked our socks off while tasting through an assortment of French wines. Saint Jacques de Siran is a throwback to the Bordeaux of yesteryear with its oak-influenced characteristics. This is not a new-aged, acid-driven Bordeaux all about upfront juicy fruit. No, this has all those classic notes that made Bordeaux popular in the first place, like cedar, saddle leather, tobacco leaf, and dried fruits. I had a flashback while tasting this that it was the early 2000s and I had Bordeau from the nineties in my glass!

Chateau Siran has long been recognized as one of the top estates in Margaux. The property has been in the Miailhe family for six generations????? a total of 160 years. Today, the property covers 88 hectares, with 38 hectares planted to vines. The other fifty hectares are left as woods and meadows, for their beauty and to promote biodiversity, a priority of the Siran team.

The majority of Chateau Siran?????s vines are planted in the commune of Margaux, but they also have a very special 11 hectare parcel on the border, which is classified as Bordeaux Superieur and bottled as ?????Saint-Jacques de Siran?????. The terroir here has clay topsoil over the famous Bordeaux sandy gravel subsoil. The vines are planted at a density of 5,000 vines per hectare and average 25 years old. The Miailhe family has practiced sustainable agriculture since 2000 and the vineyards have been certified sustainable, HVE3 since 2018. Only organic fertilizers are used and they work with grass cover and plowing to control weeds

Winemaker Notes:
"The J. Lohr Estates Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon is dark and dense in color to the rim of the glass. Layered aromas of black cherry, currant and blueberry are accented by an authentic barrel-aged bouquet of dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and roasted coffee. The palate peaks with high-toned red berry fruit, and follows with bright acidity and a full structure that is both dense and soft at once. "

Winemaker's Notes:
"Dark purple ruby core, slightly lighter at the rim showing light staining on the glass. Aromatic with bright ripe black cherry and blackcurrant fruit, baking spice, savory dried autumn leaves, subtle violet floral notes with a hint of caramelized barrel sweetness.
Dry, moderate plus bodied, with ripe red and black cherry, and blackcurrant fruit joined by vanilla and cinnamon spice notes on the entry. The mid-palate is fresh with sustained ripe fruit, toasty oak notes, and softly textured tannins. The finish is moderately long with notes of cherry candy and blackcurrant fruit matched with subtle classic Cabernet savory elements."

Winemaker Notes:
"An intense nose, dominated by red fruit, with spices and some oak notes; a round and supple wine with well knit tannins on the palate."

Winery Notes:
"These fun, fresh and incredibly enjoyable wines are true to varietal character and can be enjoyed on their own or with your favorite dishes. The Astica Malbec offers a pure, fruit driven example of Argentina's signature grape. Medium in body with juicy berry flavors and a finish of soft tannins"

Winemaker Notes:
"Apothic Red reveals intense fruit aromas and flavors of rhubarb and black cherry, complemented by hints of mocha, chocolate, brown spice and vanilla. The plush, velvety mouthfeel and the smooth finish round out this intriguing, full-bodied red blend."

Inspired by the "Apotheca", a mysterious place where wine was blended and stored in 13th century Europe, Apothic Red offers a truly unique wine experience.

The brambly spice of Zinfandel, dark fruit flavors of Syrah, the bold notes of Cabernet Sauvignon and the smooth elegance of Merlot unite to create this captivating red blend.

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

91 points Wine Spectator
Offers good energy and refined flavors of blackberry, dusky spices and black olive that build structure toward medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2031.

Organic / Natural

This is PJ Wine's 2024 Wine Of The Year!
Now with a new sale price!

Organically farmed Syrah from the lieu-dit "Les Picheres", less than 2km from the vines of Domaine Alain Graillot in Crozes Hermitage. Vinified with thirty percent whole cluster, semi carbonic maceration, and aged in old neutral barrels from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.

The bouquet is enchanting, a dazzling display of white flowers, bramble fruit, and a slight note of baking spice. The fruit is lush and plush and feels incredible on the palate (semi-carbonic maceration at play). The finish is silky smooth showing great balance and drinkability. Equis is a joyful, playful wine that doesn't take itself too seriously and yet presents enough layers to keep the most classic plates engaged. This is a crowd pleaser for sure!

Maxime Graillot, the son of iconic Crozes-Hermitage producer Alain Grailliot.
100% Syrah
40+ year old vines
From the lieu-dit ?????Les Picheres?????, less than 2km from the vines of Domaine Alain Graillot
Rocky gravel terroir
30% whole cluster
Indigenous yeast
Aged in older barrels

Organic

Grab your red and white checkered tablecloth, your spaghetti marinara, and your date for Friday night. This is the ideal red-sauce joint rosso from Sicily. When we were coming up in the biz, those old-school Chiantis used to be the go-to wines for our Billy Joel "Italian Restaurant" wine, but today this suits the bill perfectly for your inexpensive red for red sauce. - PJ

"Offering a joyous explosion of color and fun, it is a substantial, dense, full-bodied, whopper style of wine loaded with pure black fruit and vanilla flavors that coat the palate. It reveals remarkable richness with a finish that is slightly dry and seems to linger." Winemaker notes

Like elephants whose size is imposing, Petite Petit is large! A blend of 85% Petite Sirah and 15% Petit Verdot.

Aged 16 months in French oak, our memorable blend of Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot definitely steals the show! Our trunks detect blueberry, violet and plum. Chalky tannins give a smooth and seamless finish to this jumbo sized offering, leaving you wanting more.

Winemaker Notes:
"Our prize offering, the ultra premium Claret, sports a label that honors the first Cabernet Sauvignon blended in a Bordeaux style by Gustave Niebaum in 1910. Claret is a term originally coined by the British to describe Cabernet-based wines. This Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc blend is alluring and sophisticated; it is memorably lush with a tapestry of smooth tannins and succulent flavors of wild berries, plum and anise. Borrowing tradition of European wineries, we add gold netting to bottle to signify outstanding quality of wine."

77% Cabernet Sauvignon 19% Petit Verdot 3% Cabernet Franc 1% Merlot. Aged 12 months in French oak.

"Moving on to the big guns, the 2004 Unico is truly spectacular, in line with the 1970 and 1994. It's a blend of 87% Tempranillo and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. Unico has a unique long aging, in the case of the 2004, 15 months in 20,000-liter vats, 25 month in new barrels, 17 months in used barrels and a further 26 months in the big oak vats. It has complex notes of tobacco, cedar wood and blackberries, and shows very good balance between power and elegance as well as perfect ripeness. It has a similar profile to the 1994, but there's ten years difference in experience and technical knowledge. There is nuance; there is detail, filigree, balance, harmony and complexity. There is a fine texture. In short, it is a great, world-class wine, a superb vintage for Unico. 87,500 bottles, 2,229 magnums, 150 double magnums and 5 Imperials were filled with this extraordinary wine. This is approachable now, but it's a shame to drink so soon. It will age for a very long time, as it has the balance and harmony to do so, and it will develop more complexity with time. Drink 2016-2029. But if the single harvest Unico is fantastic, the multi-vintage blend could be even better as it also plays with the benefit of extra aging time." 97pts WA