Red

100% Sangiovese. Strong notes of aromatic herbs, flint and licorice complicate red cherry and berry aromas and flavors. Very long, fresh and clean, offering serious but polished tannins, this classic Brunello. Estate fruit aged in oak for 3 years and a further 2 years in bottle. Notes of herbs, flint and licorice. The overall personality of this Brunello is very classic, not ripe nor juicy.

Organic

96 points Vinous
The 2021 Vatan Tinta de Toro opens with aromas of violets, lavender, fresh plum and raspberry, framed by subtle oak and a touch of cedar. Intense and creamy, the palate is broad and flavorful, with velvety, finely textured tannins. The finish is long, delivering depth and nuance. This is a balanced and elegant Tempranillo with a measured profile. Tannins show gentle grip, bringing tension that complements the wines volume and richness. A superb vintage that lends this wine exceptional depth.

Organic

Capitan Fanegas is the personal project of Mario Ruiz-Clavijo from the historic Bodegas Marques de Arviza in Rioja. The philosophy behind the Capitan Fanegas wines is to make single vineyard expressions of Rioja that reflect and express the sites they come from. The wines are vinos de author; unique representations that are true to the Rioja style.

For 6 months the wine is aged over fine lees. After it was racked to remove the sediments and lees. Then the wine was aged for an extra 12 months without any racking and no sulphur added until bottling giving a total aging in concrete of 18 months. The philosophy is to age the wine with a a hands off approach to avoid oxidation, because Graciano is an easy oxidative variety. Aging in concrete tank gives the wine and extra refinement. Porosity provides a very interesting evolution to the wine like the micro oxygenation in the barrel, but without added flavor or added aromatic impact. With this process, the evolution and maturity of the fruit of the wine is enhanced and helps to maintain the purity of the Graciano character.

It?????s aromas of red and black fruits, floral and some spicy notes, are typical of the Graciano variety. Also, some hints of leather, tabaco, iron, licorice and other tertiary notes given naturally by the variety. The palate is fleshy, powerful, tasty, and spicy with a long and very elegant finish. The tannins on this wine are big but elegant. Due the hands off process we use during aging, we highly recommend decanting the wine prior tasting.

96+ points Wine Advocate
Cesar's 2023 El Rapolao was sourced from a centenary plot in the coldest part of the village, where the soils are rich in iron and organic matter. It fermented with 30% full clusters in small 1,000-liter vats, with a short maceration of 17 days and an elevage in used 500-liter oak barrels. It comes in at 12.75% alcohol, a pH of 3.58 and 5.38 grams of acidity, with lower alcohol and more freshness and acidity than the previous vintage. This is a place with more rusticity, always a little earthier, with slightly dusty tannins. 1,911 bottles were filled in May 2025.

Cesar Marquez Perez, Raul Perez's nephew, is one of the most precise winemakers in Bierzo with the family Castro Ventosa range and his personal project, which he started in 2015. In the 2023 vintage, he is releasing a new wine from the Villegas area, a lieu-dit in Valtuille on sandy soils. The single-vineyard wines are aging in increasingly larger oak containers, combining 1,200-liter vats with 500- and 600-liter barrels. He owns 7.2 hectares and works a further seven with local growers across Bierzo, from altitudes ranging between 450 to 850 meters above sea level. His production is slowly growing, and he now crafts 60,000 bottles per year.

As he told me while tasting the wines from the family winery, Castro Ventosa, which he also vinifies, "2023 was a cooler vintage with rain at the beginning of the harvest. The wines have a floral, serious and elegant profile with a contained alcohol content of 12.5% to 13%." These are some of the finest and more elegant wines he has produced so far.

97 points Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pico Ferreira comes from a lieu-dit in the village of Corullon, a northwest-facing, shady slope planted with centenary vines on slate soils. It fermented with 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts in 1,000-liter vats with 21 days of maceration and matured in a 1,200-liter oak vat and 600-liter barrels for one year. This is a little more discrete and remained closed after being in the glass for a while, whereas the other wines opened up. It comes in at 12.98% alcohol, with a pH of 3.57 and 5.36 grams of acidity, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins. 1,980 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2025.

Cesar Marquez Perez, Raul Perez's nephew, is one of the most precise winemakers in Bierzo with the family Castro Ventosa range and his personal project, which he started in 2015. In the 2023 vintage, he is releasing a new wine from the Villegas area, a lieu-dit in Valtuille on sandy soils. The single-vineyard wines are aging in increasingly larger oak containers, combining 1,200-liter vats with 500- and 600-liter barrels. He owns 7.2 hectares and works a further seven with local growers across Bierzo, from altitudes ranging between 450 to 850 meters above sea level. His production is slowly growing, and he now crafts 60,000 bottles per year.

As he told me while tasting the wines from the family winery, Castro Ventosa, which he also vinifies, "2023 was a cooler vintage with rain at the beginning of the harvest. The wines have a floral, serious and elegant profile with a contained alcohol content of 12.5% to 13%." These are some of the finest and more elegant wines he has produced so far.

Connetable Talbot 2022 is a Saint-Julien Second Wine from Château Talbot, a Bordeaux winery. It's a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon and 44% Merlot.

93 points James Suckling
A touch of black bean puree to the ripe dark cherries and grilled herbs. Medium-bodied on the palate with juicy fruit, round tannins and a pretty flavorful, lengthy finish. Drink from 2026.

92 points Wine Spectator
Warmed cassis and plum compote notes give this a forward and generous feel, while singed apple wood, dried anise and violet, plus a perfumed hint on the finish, display a textbook St.-Julien profile. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2026 through 2036.

#11 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines Of 2025

95 points Wine Spectator
This impressive Pinot is polished and detailed, offering dynamic flavors of raspberry and blueberry, with mineral and brown baking spice hints that build richness toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2035.

93 points Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Noir Mt. Jefferson Cuvée blends dusty rose, licorice and orange-tinged wild strawberries. Soothingly round and pure in style, it offers crisp red berry fruits and mineral tones complemented by pretty inner florals. Gently tannic and long, the palate leaves a pleasantly chewy sensation and finishes with a tart cranberry twang. As of 2023, the Mt. Jefferson Cuvée uses 77% estate fruit. It is a fantastic value.

95 points James Suckling
A precise, layered nose that shows excellent purity despite some sweet oak spices. More berry fruit comes out as you give it some time in the glass. Plums, cherries, red berries with dark mushrooms, cured meat, grilled spices, stones, vanilla and iodine. Juicy, spiced berries quickly tighten up on the medium- to full-bodied palate with dusty, powerful tannins, allowing it to expand into the finish. It grows on the palate and the creaminess is already chiselled. This will age beautifully in the next 10-15 years. Drinkable now, but better from 2026.

94 points Vinous
The 2019 Reserva Imperial is a blend of 85% Tempranillo, 5% Garnacha, 5% Graciano, and 5% Mazuelo sourced from Villalba, Briones and Torremontalbo in Rioja Alta. Aged for 24 months in a combination of French (70%) and American (30%) oak barrels, this dark garnet wine reveals enticing aromas of blackberry and ripe plums from the Tempranillo, complemented by hints of hops and herbs from the other varieties. Dry, intense and juicy on the palate, it offers a fairly chalky and energetic mouthfeel. This is a classic Rioja with a nod to fruit-forwardness.

94 points Wine Advocate
The 2019 Imperial Reserva was cropped from a very healthy year with good ripeness and balance, a powerful vintage with a 185-day vegetative cycle. They look for finesse, precision and power, a blend of Tempranillo and 15% Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha put through optical sorting and fermented in oak vats with yeasts selected from the Imperial vineyards and a 20-day maceration, then it matured in barrels, 70% French and the rest American, for 24 months. It has 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.61. It feels very classical, with finesse and power, balanced and serious. It has tannins that call for food. 150,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2022.

Organic / Natural

The grapes are from old vines (60-90 years old) with granite soils and average altitudes of 400m, ocated in the "La Madone" plot in Villi??-Morgon, Beaujolais, France. The harvest is manual and the
grapes are destemmed and gently pressed. The must ferments in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperatures and the wine is aged for 10 months in French oak barrels. 13.5% abv

Having lived and worked among the ?????superstars????? of Beaujolais, Joseph Chamonard created a wonderful environment for his vines in Morgon. On the hill of Morgon, his vines stayed healthy without chemical assistance, remaining in their natural living soils alongside the packed earth and starved vines of his neighbors. Sadly, Joseph passed away in 1990, leaving his daughter Genevieve and her husband Jean-Claude Chanudet to carry on the health of his 4 hectare parcels, located in Corcelette, near the town of Ville-Morgon. With each successive vintage the duo has strictly kept to disavowing chemical treatments, in or out of the vineyards. Harvest is done by hand late in the season for full natural ripeness and complexity, with only natural yeasts used for fermentation and little else done outside of patient guidance to its natural end. The wine is made the traditional way with respect to nature. As some of the others of his era passing on as well (Marcel LaPierre in 2010), there is a sense that the pattern set here in Beaujolais will be altered. With so much natural beauty remaining, it will take more than a gang of four to do so, after all, it's now almost tradition.

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.

Organic

95 points Wine Advocate
Do you have a favorite pair of jeans or a favorite dress that you keep in your closet for all occasions? That's the equivalent of this wine. The G.D. Vajra 2021 Barolo Albe is an enormously versatile expression of Nebbiolo with an affordable price that offers more value for your money than most Barolos out there. The bouquet focuses on dark berry pressed flower and crushed stone. It offers good sharpness over broad lines. The mouthfeel is medium-plus in texture and it closes with silky accessible tannins. Fruit comes from three cru sites: Coste di Vergne Fossati and La Volta

Organic / Natural

The 2023 Fleurie Chapelle de Bois offers a refined bouquet of spice, cranberries, cherries and delicate dried rose and peony petals. On the palate, the medium-to-full-bodied wine maintains a focused and condensed profile, with supple fruit supported by a ripe acidity. A subtle-grained texture imparts the needed dimension, leading to a distinctive finish tinged with a hint of sea salt.

Needing little introduction, the Domaine de la Grand'Cour covers 11.5 hectares, with the majority located in Fleurie (9.7 hectares) and the rest in Brouilly (1.8 hectares). In recent years, Jean-Louis has taken a step back from the day-to-day operations, entrusting his children, Oph??lie and Lucas, with leadership. However, upon my arrival at the domaine, I found Jean-Louis driving the tractor in the Chapelle de Bois parcel across the street, so I think it's safe to say that it's only a partial retirement. The domaine farms some of the most revered vineyards in the appellation, all meticulously tended under the Ecocert organic certification since 2009, though their commitment predates formal recognition. In the cellar, the grapes undergo a low-temperature semi-carbonic maceration and ambient yeast fermentation, followed by eight months of aging in a combination of demi-muids, barrels, foudres and tanks, with no added SO2 until bottling. The resulting wines epitomize exceptional purity and are easy to appreciate in their youth, while possessing the structural integrity to evolve gracefully over the years. In 2023, similar to 2022, the family decided to pick their fruit earlier than usual and shorten the vinification length to preserve freshness and elegance. The resulting wines boast more approachable profiles, especially when compared to the 2020 vintage, with lessened concentrations and finer tannins - The Wine Advocate

90 points Vinous
The 2023 Blue Label combines 60% Monastrell, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Syrah from Jumilla. It was aged 18 months in French and American oak barrels. Intensely oaky on the nose, with vanilla and toasted notes, it is also dominated on the palate by wood, smoke and gripping tannins. This recalls a style from another era.

80% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha sourced from the prized Finca la Pedrizavineyard.

94 points Wine Advocate
No 2018 was produced, so after the 2017 I tasted last year, we jumped to the 2019 Vina Ardanza Reserva, produced with a blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha. It fermented destemmed in stainless steel and aged in American oak barrels, 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 months for Garnacha, and was blended before bottling. 2019 is a very good year for them, a small crop of powerful and concentrated wines when they produced all their brands, an exception. This is spicy, structured, balanced and powerful in this warm year, reaching the customary 14.5% alcohol and keeping a pH of 3.54 and 5.5 grams of acidity. It's still very young and undeveloped, with the classical profile, generous in American oak aromas and flavors that should slowly integrate in the wine with years in bottle. For them, 2019 means a change in Ardanza, less spicy (but still quite spicy, with clove, vanilla and tobacco leaves) and with more fresh fruit from the Garnacha. But the year is a modern version of 2015.

#16 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines Of 2025

94 points Wine Spectator
Dynamic and precise, this features a core of steely acidity that frames expressive flavors of raspberry and guava, laced with crushed stone, forest floor and dusky spice notes that gather tension and richness toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2033.

95 Points Vinous Media
The 2014 Viña Bosconia is 80% Tempranillo with 10% Garnacha, 5% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo from the El Bosque vineyard in Haro, Rioja. Garnet in hue, it opens with cassis, cola and oak-driven aromas. The palate is youthful and smooth, with well-integrated tannins, black fruit and anisette at the finish. Still growing, it’ll develop greater complexity with more time in bottle.

94+ Points Wine Advocate
I loved the nose of the 2014 Viña Bosconia Reserva, a red that sells at an incredible price for the quality, the problem is (like all their wines) finding it... They had to accelerate the harvest to avoid botrytis caused by the abundant rain during the harvest. This is a blend of 80% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacho and the remaining 5% Graciano and Mazuelo, fermented in old oak vats with their yeasts and matured in neutral American oak barrels for no less than five years. It's elegant and nuanced, developed but young for its age, with a seamless palate and very fine tannins, with energy and light. It has 13.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.3 and 6.7 grams of acidity, notable parameters of freshness. It was bottled in March 2022.

94 Points Tim Atkins
Bosconia is a very traditional Rioja Reserva blend, produced from a combination of Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha and 5% each of Graciano and Mazuelo. Sourced from the 59-year-old El Bosque vineyard in Haro, it's earthy, savoury and challengingly focused, with classic notes of rosehip, petrichor, beetroot and dried herbs, very tangy acidity and a firm, Barolo-like finish. Gloriously unique.

Grenache, Petite Sirah, Syrah

97 points Vinous
The 2023 La Vitoriana Lomas de Valtuille is a Mencia from the eponymous paraje in Valtuille, sourced from a centenary vineyard. It fermented with 100% whole clusters and aged for up to 11 months in barrel. This is expressive on the nose, with flowers, mint, white pepper and dried blossoms providing aromatic lift. The tannins are fine, the palate is flavorful and the whole-cluster fermentation gives it a compact, tight finish.

95 points Wine Advocate
The 2023 La Vizcaina La Vitoriana is the only red from the Vizcaina range that is not from their own vines, as they buy the grapes, 1.1 hectares in the lower part of the lieu-dit that has sandy soils (the other parts have clay). It's quite linear and with good acidity but ripened thoroughly. There are no white grapes here, only a small percentage of Bastardo, and the vines are 100+ years of age. This is a small lieu-dit in a cooler place in the village, a place that is harvested later. Some 5,000 bottles produced.

Winery Notes:
Ruby red with garnet hues. An intense impact with powerful notes of cherry, plum and violet opens a bouquet that then fades into neat aromas of tobacco, chocolate, cinnamon and spicy hints of black pepper. Great complexity in the overall bouquet, neat expressions of the authentic Sangiovese and Chianti Classico aromas. Full-bodied, very powerful in its fruity notes, with elegant tannins perfectly supported by a good acidity. The finish is characterized by pleasant sensations of sweet tobacco. The aftertaste is particularly long and shows powerful notes of plums and lighter aromas of clove.

Spending 18-24 glorious months aging in used bourbon barrels from legendary Pappy Van Winkle, old vine fruit shines through with aromas and flavors of blueberry liqueur, blackberry, black cherry and peppery spice. Then there is a graceful segue into wood smoke, brown sugar, vanilla, and sweet spice that frame all of that ripe and savory fruit very nicely. Super full bodied and full flavored, but smooth and silky on the palate, this is probably about as close as most of us will get to Pappy van Winkle. -PJ Wine

Organic / Natural Wine

65% Listan Prieto, with the rest of the wine being a blend Listan Blanco, Vijariego Negro, Verdello, Gual and Albillo Criollo from different vineyards, all vinified separately. The Listan Prieto is fermented whole cluster in open oak barrels, Verdello and Negramoll are direct pressed and fermented in oak barrel, and the Gual and Vijariego Negro are destemmed, fermented on the skins, also in oak. Aged for 8 months in used oak barrels. Unfined, unfiltered. Very light color, floral, with light tannins and texture. 350 bottles made.

Organic

94+ points Wine Advocate
The 2023 Kinki has to be the most perfumed, floral and elegant vintage for this bottling; it's a grownup wine, not a teenager anymore. It has very juicy fruit and is really elegant and balanced, more serious but drinkable. It was produced with the grapes from a vineyard that has up to 25% other grapes, not only Mencía but Doña Blanca, Palomino, Godello, Alicante Bouschet (more than usual, which provides freshness) and Estaladiña. It fermented with full clusters, all the varieties together, in and open 5,000-liter oak vat. It comes in at 12.7% alcohol with a pH of 3.4, aiming at contained ripeness, low extraction and high drinkability. The ripeness is more complete and more homogeneous this year in the zone of Cobrana, and the wines are more serious, with a core of bright red fruit, fresh and elegant. It's always bottled early, before the summer, and was bottled in May 2024. 4,378 bottles produced. Drink:2025-2032.

So you hear it bandied about: ?€?There are thousands of native grape varieties in Italy!?€? That?€?s true, but a lot of them are merely cute. The most serious native variety Timorasso deserves another category (and it?€?s white to boot). It?€?s utterly unique, complex, capable of aging, and transparent to where it?€?s grown. Walter Massa is the contadino straordinario who brought the grape back to life in the early 1980s. He remains the leading producer and go-to grower for Timorasso.

For Timorasso as a variety: It?€?s native and unique to the Colli Tortonesi (southeast Piemonte). Before 1980s, most growers were ripping out Timorasso and planting Cortese, as the latter produces more and Gavi was all the rage, so they could sell the grapes easily. Timorasso is one of those grapes (unlike, say, Cortese) that really is delicious and refreshing to eat right off the vine, due to its high sugar content and acidity. When Timorasso is vinified, you get lots of complexity and structure (from alcohol and from tannins ?€? skin contact and thick skins!). Yet there?€?s plenty of acidity to keep things fresh and a definite counterpoint of what we call ?€?honeyed minerality.?€? When Timorasso is young, it can be really tight. As it ages, it loses some of its baby fat, and riesling-ish, petrol-like notes emerge. As far as terroir, Walter vinifies each vineyard separately (or tries to if he has enough tanks) and bottles a small portion of three of the vineyards separately.

Native yeasts. Maceration with skins 48-60 hours. Fermentation 18-22??C. Batonnage. Light filtration. Minimum six months bottle aging before release.

Derthona is the ancient name for Tortona, the town in southeast Piemonte after which the appellation Colli Tortonesi (Tortona Hills) is named.