Red

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

97 points Wine Spectator
Laced with pure cherry, strawberry, graphite and tobacco aromas and flavors, this red is beautifully supported by a backbone of vibrant acidity and taut, refined tannins. Everything is framed by vanilla and toasty oak in the best sense, revealing harmony, with a long, orange-tinged finish and, yes, even drinkability at this stage. Best to give this a few more years in the bottle. Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2027 through 2045.

98 points Wine Advocate
First made in 1971, this legendary Italian wine now celebrates its 50th birthday. Happy Birthday, Tignanello! The Marchesi Antinori 2021 Tignanello (made with 79% Sangiovese, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc) pulls on all the heartstrings. To be released in May, the wine shows a quintessentially pretty taste profile with tart fruit flavors, redcurrant, tea leaf, heritage rose, crushed white pepper, licorice, nutmeg, clove and chopped mint. It opens slowly to reveal more richness and exuberance with time, becoming downright voluptuous and heady a short while later. The through line, however, remains the bright freshness and minerality of Sangiovese. Compared to the 2018 vintage (which I also loved), this vintage has more overall fruit weight and volume. (ML)

98 points Vinous
The 2021 Tignanello is every bit as impressive from bottle as it was from barrel and then just after bottling. Silky and polished, with exceptional finesse, the 2021 has all the pedigree to become a modern benchmark for Tignanello and Italian wine more broadly. Bright dark red fruit, blood orange, spice, cedar and sweet pipe tobacco all soar out of the glass, framed by a discreet touch of French oak that adds raciness. In some vintages, the elements are discernible. In 2021, it is the total harmony of the wine that makes the strongest and deepest impression. The 2021 spent 17 months in wood, three months in neutral oak during the malolactic fermentation and then 14 months (50% new) for the rest of its aging. Superb.

93 pts Stephen Tanzer
"Ruby-red. Aromas of dried cherry, raspberry, vanilla, mocha and Cuban tobacco, with smoke and potpourri accents. Supple and expansive, offering sweet, spice-accented red and dark berry and floral pastille flavors that stain the palate. Dusty tannins add shape and grip to the very long, smooth, penetrating finish. I find this wine quite approachable now but it has the balance to age. Not the weightiest Valbuena but very impressive for the vintage."

"The 2007 Valbuena is rounded and warmer than the 2006 with lush dark berry fruits interlaced with scents of espresso and bay leaf. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, crisp acidity with a composed, focused finish of black cherries, raspberry, cedar and mocha. The 2007 has great precision and focus. It is more feminine and assured than the 2006, but one senses that it is holding something back to charm consumers in five or six year?????s time. This is very impressive. Drink 2017-2030. " 92pts WA

95 points Wine Advocate
2020 was drier than average until the harvest, when it rained and diluted the grapes, and they had to wait to regain concentration. The result is that the 2020 Alion is a wine with better balance and freshness. They felt the skins were very ripe and they could extract more and use a little more American oak (4%) in the elevage. From 2019, they kept the press wine separate until June, and they keep separate quantities of press wines that are aged in different containers depending on the quality of the wine. They used a percentage of concrete and oak vats for the elevage, which gives the wine more verticality and freshness. It's a subtle and elegant Alion, not as dense as some other vintages, but with nice balance and very elegant tannins Drinking Window: 2025 - 2035

100 points Jeb Dunnuck
Reminding me of the 2018 (as well as the 2009), if not slightly more concentrated, the 2022 Ch??teau L??oville Poyferr?? is one of the most opulent and flamboyant wines out of the M??doc in 2022, and it has incredible intensity while staying light on its feet and graceful. Its dense, glass-staining purple hue is followed by a sensational perfume of cr??me de cassis, graphite, darker chocolate, scorched earth, and flowers. Full-bodied on the palate, it brings extravagant levels of fruit as well as a seamless mouthfeel, beautifully integrated oak, tannins, and acidity, no hard edges, and a gorgeous finish. It shines even today, yet it has beautiful underlying structure and will evolve gracefully over the coming 30+ years. The 2022 is based on 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, and 4% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, aged 18-20 months in 80% new oak.

99 points James Suckling
A mind-blowing Leoville Poyferre, probably one of the best for a long time. Huge depth and structure, showing a deep matrix of fruit full of fresh blackberries and a dash of ink and lead pencil. Such verticality on the full-bodied palate with beautiful balance and a clear finish that goes on and on for more than a minute. Great potential ahead. This was tasted at the UCGB tasting and was one of the best wines of the day. Drink after 2028. It should improve in the next 10 to 15 years.

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)

Organic / Biodynamic

97-99 points Jeb Dunnuck
One of the biggest successes on the upper plateau is the 2020 Chateau Clos Fourtet, and it does everything right in the vintage. A magical, perfumed bouquet of red plums, black cherries, white truffle, and white flowers just screams Saint-Emilion, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, flawless overall balance, a dense mid-palate, and a liqueur of rocks-like minerality on the palate. Building incrementally with time in the glass, this is thrilling stuff that should offer some up-front appeal in its youth yet benefit from 7-8 years in the cellar and keep for 30 years or more. Bravo! The blend is 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Cabernet Franc that’s still resting in 50% new French oak.

98 points Vinous
The 2020 Clos Fourtet is a towering, statuesque beauty that captures all the personality and character of this site in a wine that marries vertical intensity, power and explosive energy. Black cherry, gravel, menthol, sage, crushed rocks and chocolate all soar out of the glass. This is a tremendous showing from the Cuvelier family.

96-98 points Wine Advocate
The 2020 Clos Fourtet is a blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc, harvested from 15th to 30th September and weighing in with an alcohol of 14.5% and a pH of 3.6. It is being aged for 14-18 months in 50% new oak barrels, 48% second-fill barrels and 2% amphora. Deep garnet-purple in color, it comes bounding out of the glass with ripe, expressive notes of crushed black plums, juicy black berries and black cherry preserves, followed by hints of ground cloves, cinnamon stick, camphor and cedar chest. The medium to full-bodied palate is jam-packed with bright, vivacious black fruits, framed by velvety tannins and bags of freshness, finishing with great length

#9 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2019!

96 pts Wine Spectator
Offers a lush, juicy mix of blackberry, blueberry and black cherry flavors that appears seamless, integrating with notes of amaretto, clove and lavender. Plush, juicy and very generous on the long, expressive finish. Drink now through 2034. 1,156 cases imported.

96 points Vinous
The 2020 Bolgheri Superiore Guado al Tasso is a rich, resonant wine that captures the natural radiance of the Tuscan Coast. Blackberry jam, mocha, plum, chocolate, spice and espresso all build in a mid-weight yet succulent, inviting Bolgheri red. There's terrific richness and resonance here. This is a classic Guado al Tasso. In 2020, the estate did not make its top bottling, the 100% Cabernet Franc Matarocchio, opting to use that fruit for Guado al Tasso. "Late season rains were challenging for the Cabernet Sauvignon, so we chose to use all our best Franc in Guado al Tasso," CEO Renzo Cotarella explained.

96 points Wine Advocate
The Marchesi Antinori 2020 Bolgheri Superiore Guado al Tasso sees Cabernet Franc at over 30% of the blend in this vintage, with the rest going to Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% to 20% to Merlot. Matarocchio was not produced this year, and this wine benefits from the extra Cabernet Franc as a result. The 2019 and 2021 vintages of Guado al Tasso are quite concentrated and rich, whereas 2020 is leaner in texture, along the lines of the edition we saw made in 2010. There was rain in September. Managing Director Renzo Cotarella says he would not describe 2020 as a hot vintage because the rain did pose challenges at the end of the growing season. In Bolgheri on the Tuscan coast, budbreak is earlier than in other appellations, and the growing season is longer as a result. This is a benefit to the international varieties used here. The wine shows nice richness and intensity. The Cabernet Franc definitely comes through and adds the characteristic vertical lift and linearity that the grape is known for. You get black fruit, spice, white pepper and no signs of bitter stems or bramble. Sweet, almost milky tannins are interlocked with fresh acidity to give this wine good cellaring potential. The new oak was dialed back a bit in this vintage.

95 points James Suckling
A super creamy, delicious and detailed red with oodles of red fruit, silky tannins and a full body. It tastes pure, fresh, almost delicate, offering raspberries, cherry cream, blueberries, cafe au lait and subtle oak toast on the palate. A gentle, layered, pretty wine that seems not at all affected by the wildfire smoke that year. Drinkable now, but best from 2030.

"This is more aromatically elegant than the Mar??chaudes with an airy nose of various red berries along with moderate amounts of spice, floral and earth nuances. There is more tension if not more size and weight to the delicious mineral-inflected flavors that possess a lovely vibrancy, all wrapped in a tight and persistent but not especially austere finish. Indeed this is relatively approachable in the context of the appellation yet it should also age very well if desired." 92-94pts Burghound

This cuv??e comes from 4 parcels situated mid-slope and spread in homogenous fashion over the whole appellation. The soils are deep and made up in equal parts of limestone and clay, giving the wine lovely balance and great length on the palate. It is a terroir that is very representative of the appellation Corton. The vines average 35 years old and face east.

The site is located on the eastern mid-slopes of the Montagne de Corton hill, immediately below the Clos du Roi and Renardes climats. The classic Corton red wine is rich and relatively tannic, meaning that it is quite austere in its youth but develops well with age. Corton tasting notes often refer to flavors of violets, forest berries, leather and earthy notes. The hill of Corton itself is a large outcrop of limestone. The eastern side is a touch warmer - being more exposed to the morning sunshine - and richer in the marlstone which is so well suited to Pinot Noir.

This historic estate was established in 1834. Claude de Nicolay took over from her mother as winemaker in 1988 and crafts traditionally styled wines from one of the Cote d'Or's great terroirs, the hill of Corton and its surrounding villages. The vineyard management has been fully biodynamic since 2005 and organic since 1998. Claude's brother, Francois de Nicolay joined the domaine in 2001.

93 points Vinous
The 2005 Leoville Barton has a delightful bouquet with more red fruit than the Langoa, wild strawberry, redcurrant, light cedar and wild mint. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins and modest depth, quite fresh with a slightly rustic finish. It becomes a little medicinal with time. The 2005 is cut from a different cloth to contemporary Leoville Barton but it is still worth seeking out. Tasted at the chateau. - By Neal Martin on June 2025. Drinking Window 2025-2045

96 points Vinous
The 2005 Leoville-Barton is clearly one of the wines of the vintage. Powerful and strapping in the glass, the 2005 is a big, big wine. Huge swaths of tannin wrap around a core of inky black fruit, new leather, spice, gravel, mocha and licorice. The wine's sheer density is impressive, but its balance is even more compelling. I might be temped to give this another few years in the cellar. Readers lucky enough to own it will find a thrilling, potent Saint-Julien that overdelivers big time. I loved it. - By Antonio Galloni on April 2021

96 points Wine Advocate
Dark ruby-colored with a garnet rim, it displays a lovely nose of Asian spices, incense, tobacco, balsamic, and blackberry. On the palate it has exceptional depth, layers of spicy black fruit, excellent ripeness, and an elegant personality. Upon release it should continue to evolve for another 5-6 years and drink well through 2040.

The Bodega was formed in 1890 as a partnership of 5 quality-conscious growers keen to exploit the export potential for well-made, ??????modern?????? Rioja. At this time, French vineyards were ravaged by phylloxera, and connoisseurs were having to look elsewhere for supplies of fine wine. Rioja, with its excellent climate and soils, had already attracted attention, and experiments with Bordeaux-style vinification and barrique-aging were proving very successful. The region??????s only real disadvantage was its remoteness, cut off from the lucrative markets to the north by the same mountains that ensured its favorable climate. This problem was solved by construction of the rail link to Bilbao, and it is no coincidence that Bodegas La Rioja Alta was established next to the Haro railway station in the same year it opened. In 1904, La Rioja Alta absorbed Bodegas Ardanza, and gained access to some of the finest vineyards in the Rioja Alta district. The luxury 904 bottling commemorates this important milestone in the company??????s development. Since then Rioja has seen more bad times than good, and many producers have harmed the reputation of the region and its production methods, releasing sloppily-aged wines which were never good enough to support a long time in cask. But La Rioja Alta has never let standards slip, and continues to this day the tradition of careful long-aging that gives Rioja its unique character. These wines offer a wonderfully complex bouquet, rich flavours, a seductively smooth texture, and are all ready to drink on release.

Few dispute that La Rioja Alta S.A. is the leading quality orientated producer in the Rioja. With more than 50,000 casks and 6.4 million bottles stored at any one time, the equivalent of about 8 years sales, La Rioja Alta S.A. is unique in its ability to supply large quantities of fully mature wines of world class quality. The company owns 300 hectares of vineyards in different parts of the best zones of the Rioja Alta region. La Rioja Alta S.A. is specialized in red wines. The leading grape variety is the Tempranillo with small doses of Mazuelo and Graciano. The Vina Ardanza differs from the other wines with some 25% Garnacha in the blend. After vinification in the new ultra modern vinification plant near Haro, aging is in traditional Bordeaux casks, all made from American oak. Racking is by hand every 6 months with 8 teams working full time racking the 51,000 casks. There is no filtration prior to bottling and further long aging in bottle before release. In short the wines are made in the traditional Rioja manner. The company is adamant about not using French oak, keeping the unique Rioja style which has been developed since the end of the 19th century. In spite of the varying amount of time in cask and bottle the wines all display a wonderful rich ruby colour, gorgeous aromas of oak, spices and fruit followed by a sensational feel on the palate, with a wonderful smooth texture, clean rich oaky/fruity flavours and a long lingering finish. All the wines are ready for consumption on release but will keep for many more years in bottle. This situation is almost unique in the world of wine and is the reason why so many restaurants list La Rioja Alta??????s outstanding range of truly classic Rioja wines.

Perhaps even better than this estate?????s 2000 or 1996, one may have to go back to the monumental 1990 to find a Grand-Puy-Lacoste this classic and well-endowed. It is a beautiful, dense purple-tinged effort displaying a sweet, pure perfume of creme de cassis, flowers, and wet stones, fabulous ripeness, a full-bodied, fleshy attack, mid-palate, and finish, and gorgeous length as well as richness. There is not a coarse, hard edge to be found in this well-endowed, tannic beauty. A fabulous value in the scheme of 2005 Bordeaux prices, it should be at its peak between 2014-2030+. - WA(93-95)

94 points Wine Advocate
We're in for a treat with the 2010 Imperial Gran Reserva, a classic among classics in a classic vintage. It's very spicy and still slightly oaky, with ripe fruit without any excess; it is a serious, somehow Bordeaux-like, less-perfumed red. The palate shows that seriousness, with some dusty tannins and a dry finish. The texture is a little earthy, very good for food. This could be drunk now, but I'd give it some time in the bottle. The oak feels very nicely integrated, less noticeable than in warmer vintages like 2009. A very good vintage for this bottling. The category that was close to disappearing ten years ago seems to be alive and kicking with 50,000 bottles produced in 2010.

94 points Vinous
(aged for three years in American and French oak and then held back for four years before release) Vivid ruby-red. Smoky oak-accented red berries, cherry pit, incense and mocha aromas show outstanding clarity and vivacity. Sweet, expansive, palate-staining raspberry, cherry pie, vanilla and floral pastille flavors fan out steadily on the back half. The smoky note reemerges on an impressively long, floral- and spice-driven finish that's given shape by supple, harmonious tannins. In the context of world-class Spanish wines, which this one is, there's truly outstanding value here.

91 points Wine Spectator
Lovely warmed plum and black currant confiture flavors are starting to settle into a secondary phase as sweet tobacco, lightly singed alder and a perfumy incense note weave around. Nice focused, fine-grained finish. Textbook.?????Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2020. 2,200 cases made. - James Molesworth

This beautiful, elegant 2003 is a top-notch success for Margaux. More accessible and softer than usual, it boasts a deep ruby/purple color as well as a beautiful bouquet of flowers, black currants, plums, and underbrush. Medium-bodied, velvety-textured, opulent, and complex, it can be consumed now and over the next 10-15 years. - WA90

95 points Wine Advocate
The wine that represents the traditional and serious reds from Haro, the 2012 Imperial Gran Reserva is a classical blend of Tempranillo with 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo that matured in barrel for two years. It has a textbook serious Haro nose, with dark spices, ripe fruit, something balsamic and a round, full-bodied palate within the straight and serious style of the wine. 2012 was a warm year, but the wines are fresher than those from 2011. This has fine, slightly grainy tannins with good grip. A textbook Imperial Gran Reserva. 50,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2015.

94 points Vinous
(raised in new and used French and American oak barrels for two years) Vivid ruby-red. An intensely perfumed bouquet evokes ripe raspberry, cherry-cola, potpourri and exotic spices, with a suave vanilla topnote and a smoky mineral flourish. Sweet and broad in the mouth, offering lush red fruit, spicecake, mocha and coconut flavors that steadily tighten up on the back half. Finishes extremely long and spicy, with a resonating floral quality, well-knit tannins and lingering oak spice notes. This one is still quite young.

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

93 points Wine Advocate
The 2009 Imperial Gran Reserva, the textbook blend of Tempranillo with 15% Graciano and Mazuelo, is fermented in oak vats with malo in barrels (part did it in cement) where it matured for two years and the bottles rested in their caves for no less than three years before being released. In this ripe and approachable vintage the wine is soft and round, showing the classical aromas inherited for the American oak along with very balsamic notes of incense, cigar ash, old furniture and good, ripe black fruit in the background. The palate shows more abundant tannins, slightly grainy in nature and an ending that is quite dry. I would wait on this one, but it should develop nicely in bottle. 50,000 bottles produced.

94 points Vinous
Deep, bright ruby. Highly complex, expansive scents of ripe dark berries, cherry pie, mocha, pipe tobacco and vanilla, with a smoky overtone. Sweet, deep blackberry and floral pastille flavors are complicated by notes of spicecake and bitter chocolate, showing unlikely vivacity on the back half. This ripe and rich but elegant Rioja combines finishes supple, smoky and very long, with velvety tannins making a late appearance to add grip.

Organic

98+ points Wine Advocate
The 2021 Terreus Cima de Cueva Baja is among the finest vintages for this exceptional red from the top terrace of a vineyard at 800 meters above sea level with a specific microclimate that makes for a profound, complex, powerful and nuanced wine that is among the best in the Duero region and has a track record for longevity like very few others. The bunches are cooled down before being put through a sorting table, destemmed and transported by gravity (in an "ovi" type vat) to the stainless steel fermentation tanks, where it fermented with indigenous yeasts and went through malolactic. It matured in French oak barrels for 20 months. The good thing about these wines is that they are produced in good quantities, as there are 10,000 bottles of this. It was bottled in August 2023. It has a long life ahead of it. Bravo. Drink Date: 2025 - 2045

Luis Gutierrez of The Wine Advocate: The 2021s are floral and elegant like no vintage before. Superb!??

93+ points Wine Advocate
I'm always looking forward to tasting CVNE's Gran Reserva bottlings, especially the 2011 Imperial Gran Reserva, as the year was highly praised, and I was very curious to see how it behaved. It's a classical blend of Tempranillo with 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo that matured in barrel for two years. It has good depth and complexity in the nose, nicely layered, very balsamic and tertiary. It feels elegant and harmonious. The palate is surprisingly fresh and vibrant, with finesse, freshness, fine and mostly resolved tannins and a fine thread of acidity that holds and lifts up the finish. 50,000 bottles were filled in June 2014.

92 points Wine Spectator
This red has density and balance. Harmonious flavors of black cherry, plum, licorice, underbrush and tea mingle over well-integrated tannins, giving way to a fresh, spicy finish. Not showy, but has energy. Drink now through 2025. 1,000 cases imported

Organic

94-95 points Vinous
The 2023 Flor de Pingus is made from over 20 hectares of old Tinta del Pais vines and 15 hectares of Garnacha in Ribera del Duero. It was aged in 10?15% new oak. Violets, fresh plum and a delicate touch of oak open on the nose. Fine-grained reactive tannins define the texture. A red with charming nuances and evolving character

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)