Wine Advocate (98)

The 2020 Kalamity is Bastegieta's favorite vintage because of the floweriness and the quality of the tannins. There's a lot of precision here. The vines have been detoxed through years of working organically, so the soils have recovered from years of herbicide. 2020 and 2021 were challenging years because of the pandemic, but qualitatively, in Rioja they are excellent years. All wines ferment with indigenous yeasts, and in this case, the wine matured in 600-liter Stockinger oak barrels, which are his favorite for his wines. The wine already starts transmitting freshness from the nose, and the palate is a lot more obvious and makes you salivate. This is super clean, precise like a laser cut, with light and energy, fresher than the majority of Rioja with very fine, silky tannins that give it a beautiful texture with dry, chalky minerality. This is perfumed, elegant, nuanced, layered and beautifully balanced. This is still very young, clean and modern, with stuffing and balance to develop in bottle for a long time. 2,500 bottles produced.

Jeb Dunnuck (98+)

From an incredible terroir on the upper plateau, just above Pavie, the 2018 Château Pavie Decesse is a normal blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc brought up in mostly new French oak. Its dense purple color is followed by an incredibly classic limestone-driven bouquet of chalky minerality, white flowers, truffle, lead pencil, and cassis and blackberry-like fruits. This carries to an incredibly pure, full-bodied Saint-Emilion with nicely integrated acidity, flawless balance, building tannins, and a great finish. This remarkable, elegant yet powerful 2018 won't hit full maturity for another 10-12 years, but it's a magical Saint-Emilion that should live for 30-40 years.

Decanter (96)

Part of an accomplished range of Riojas from Laguardia producer Pujanza, this 100% Viura is grown on the small 3.5ha limestone vineyard of San Juan de Anteportalatina at 600m. This terroir produces a distinctive and distinguished white, with layered aromas, savoury notes, fresh lemon, preserved lemon, a touch of salinity, and stony minerality. Rioja's answer to white Burgundy: elegant, mineral, toasty, buttery, citrus, with real verve - a seam of focused acidity. Vibrant finish, long and layered with fresh grapefruit, saltiness, toasted nuts. Aged for 12 months in French oak and concrete. Limited production.

Jeb Dunnuck (98)

I underrated the 2015 Rauzan-Ségla on release. It’s a big, rich, incredibly sexy wine that’s certainly in the same ballpark as the 2016 (and 2018). Full-bodied, ripe, and concentrated, it has a wonderfully expansive, layered texture as well as an incredible sense of balance. Lots of cassis, leafy herbs, flowery incense, and tobacco notes all emerge from this beauty, which offers sweet tannins as well as a huge finish. This is magical stuff that’s going to keep for three decades or more.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (97+)

The 2016 Rauzan-Ségla is simply stunning. Ample and generous in the glass, the 2016 is a positively stellar wine that will leave readers weak at the knees. The flavors and textures are generous as this sublime Margaux shows off its alluring personality. Sweet red cherry, plum, pomegranate, blood orange, spice and rose petal are some of the many notes that run through this absolutely exquisite wine. The 2016 is just as impressive from bottle as it was from barrel, maybe even more! Tasted three times.

Jeb Dunnuck (99)

Reminding me of the 2016, the 2018 Château Rauzan-Segla reveals this beautifully fresh, complex bouquet that still has serious richness and depth. Based on 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, raised in 65% new barrels, it offers a dense purple hue to go with gorgeous notes of blackcurrants, spring flowers, cigar wrapper, and sandalwood. A quintessential Margaux with its spicy, complex, floral character, it's full-bodied and has a supple, elegant texture, no hard edges, a solid spine of acidity, and a great, great finish. This is a brilliant, heavenly 2018 to enjoy over the coming 30 years or more.

James Suckling (100)

A gently spicy thread here with all manner of fresh fruit that’s just so ripe. This offers very intense mangoes and apricots with peach essence and gentle candied kumquat. The palate is like a perfect sphere of flavor, completely seamless. This is melded together by an extraordinary vintage and delivered to the greatest heights of sweetness and balance. Really a perfect wine. Drink over decades.

The Wine Cellar Insider (92-94)

Fleshy, soft and round, there is a good sweetness to the fruit with depth of flavors in the plush finish. 92-94 Pts

Each Limited Edition 2008 Oenotheque Case contains:

2 x 75cl Salon 2004 - 96 pts | William Kelley (Wine Advocate) & 97 pts | Antonio Galloni (Vinous)

2 x 75cl Salon 2006 - 95 pts | William Kelley (Wine Advocate) & 96 pts | Antonio Galloni (Vinous)

2 x 75cl Salon 2007 - 96 pts | William Kelley (Wine Advocate) & 97 pts | Antonio Galloni (Vinous)

1 x 150cl Magnum of Salon 2008 - 100 pts | William Kelley (Wine Advocate) & 100 pts | Antonio Galloni (Vinous)

• Highly sought with immense collectable value

• Each vintage scores at least 95 points by William Kelley (Wine Advocate)

• Only 8,000 magnums of the 2008 vintage ever produced

Wine Advocate (98)

The 2019 Seña was produced with a Bordeaux blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Malbec, 15% Carmenere and 4% Petit Verdot with the Chilean character of the high percentage of Carmenere. Most of the volume fermented in stainless steel with some 10% in concrete vats, and the final blend matured for 22 months in French oak barrels, 80% of them new, and 10% in Stockinger vats. It's 13.5% alcohol and has good acidity and freshness, coming through as medium-bodied, elegant and balanced. This is incredibly elegant, subtle and harmonious even at this early stage. It has floral aromas, notes of orange peel, a touch of creamy sweet spices and great freshness. The palate is medium-bodied, seamless and pure, with pungent flavors and a soft texture. It's long, clean, defined and super tasty. I feel this wine is getting better and better by the vintage. The grapes were picked quite early, and that helped to contain the ripeness and seems to have been a great decision. There was also an exception in the Panquehue zone where the Seña vines are, where the summer was cooler than the average, so quite different to many other regions in Chile. 100,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2021.

Wine Advocate (97+)

(The Third Twin Graciano 2014) A blend of 90% Graciano and 10% Mourvèdre, completely destemmed and then aged all in used oak barrels for around 27 months, the 2014 The Third Twin Graciano sports a very deep garnet-purple color and beguiling nose of espresso, tapenade, preserved plums and Indian spices with earth and licorice nuances. The densely packed, full-bodied palate has a firm backbone of grainy tannins and lovely freshness, with loads of earthy layers and fantastic length, which features buckets of exotic spices. This is the first edition of this single vineyard wine, coming entirely from The Third Twin Vineyard in Los Alamos, showcasing not only the potential of this amazing site but of this grape variety in the region. Manfred Krankl commented, “Of course I realize this is a Spanish variety, but I think God...or someone...made a slight mistake along the way, as the grape very much reminds me of the Rhône.” Positively the finest example of this grape I have ever tasted, move over Spain, Graciano has found a new spiritual home in California’s Central Coast! 65 cases were made. (Lisa Perrotti-Brown, 30 Sep 2017) (The Third Twin Graciano 2015) Graciano is a low-yielding Spanish variety grown primarily in Rioja, but Krankl contends that its spiritual home is the Rhône Valley: it reminds him of Mourvèdre in so far as it needs to be very ripe to show all its character, he says. And it's certainly a striking addition to his winemaking palate, with a character quite distinct to any of the other red varieties he works with. Offering up aromas of cherry pit and balsamic cherries, subtly framed by creamy new oak, the 2015 The Third Twin Graciano is amazingly saturated in color. On the palate, it's velvety, full-bodied and richly tannic, almost preternaturally concentrated in character, but remarkably supple and expansive despite its formidable levels of extract and structure. It's a singular wine, even by Krankl's standards. (William Kelley, ,23 Aug 2018)

Jeb Dunnuck (97-100)

Checking in as 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot brought up in 60% new French oak, the 2018 Château Smith Haut Lafitte reveals a saturated purple color as well as rock star notes of crème de cassis, blueberries, graphite, crushed rocks, and spice. Deep, profoundly concentrated, beautifully seamless and textured on the palate, it reminds me of the 2009 with its opulent, powerful style. It's a brilliant wine from this terrific estate and up with the top wines in the vintage. Hats off to director Fabien Teitgen who continues to make an elegant yet powerful, uncompromising style of wine.

Vinous (98)

We started with the 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, which is every bit as racy and seductive as it has always been. It’s a great, great vintage for Comtes.

James Suckling (98)

This is a step up from the linear and fresh 2006. It shows subtle depth and power with a dense block of vivid fruit that's highlighted with lemon zest, green apples and hints of white peaches. Just the right amount of praline and nuts on the nose. Fine and tight bead give the Champagne a luxurious mouthfeel. One for now or the cellar. Drink or hold.

Wine Advocate (95+)

A new offering, the 2004 The Pict, is a 220-case cuvee of 100% Mourvedre that tips the scales at 13.2% alcohol. Reminiscent of a 1998 Domaine Tempier Cuvee Speciale (a great vintage for that estate), it boasts an inky/blue/purple color, phenomenally intense blueberry and blackberry fruit characteristics, and hints of black truffles as well as fresh mushrooms. Deep and full-bodied, with superb fruit and the right amount of sweet tannin (a rarity for Mourvedre), this beauty should evolve slowly, and drink well for 15 or more years.

Vinous (94)

Bright purple. Complex, pungent aromas of raspberry, blackberry, potpourri and incense, with a suave mineral note adding vibrancy. Sweet, minerally and densely packed, with terrific sappy vivacity to the flavors of raspberry and cherry preserves and minerals. With air, the spiciness gained strength and sexy floral notes emerged. Finishes with impressive breadth, fully ripe, gentle tannins and superb length.