Wine Advocate (97)

The organic Cavallotto 2018 Barolo Riserva Vignolo delivers the focus and straight-shooting concentration that we can expect of Castiglione Falletto. The wine ages for an extended 60 months in large Slavonian oak casks, and fruit comes from a southwest-facing slope with 40-year-old vines. The wine's core of fruit remains on the dark side, but you also get pretty lift and verticality with tart berry aromas, shaved mineral, cola and mint (like when you walk through the vineyard rows in summer). The wine is amply structured and fleshed out and delivers texture. The Riserva Vignolo is my favorite of Cavallotto's wines this year. Production is just under 7,000 bottles.

From the renowned vineyards of Beaujolais, France comes the exquisite Cave de Fleurie Fleurie 2020. A true testament to expert winemaking, this seductive red blend is crafted from handpicked Gamay grapes meticulously grown in granite soils. Produced by Cave de Fleurie, a revered co-operative cellar that has been preserving traditional vinification methods since 1927, this wine emanates quality. The climate, resulting from the onshore Mediterranean breeze, imbues the 2020 vintage with a unique complexity enriched by an excellent growing season.

The Cave de Fleurie Fleurie 2020 dazzles the palate with ripe red berry accents, delicate floral undertones and a velvety finish. Its well-executed balance between acidity and tannins showcases a harmony of flavours perfect for any sophisticated palate. A carefully cellared bottle of this wine reveals the time-honoured excellence you've come to expect from Cave de Fleurie. Delight in every sip of this superb wine, a fine example of French viticulture at its absolute best.

Cave Tain Hermitage Epsilon 2010 is an exquisite wine produced by Cave de Tain, located in the heart of the famed Rhône Valley in South East France. This single vineyard Syrah offers a tight blend of elegance and power, with its intense purple hue reflecting the rich, full-bodied flavours. Produced from vines averaging 60 years of age ensures an unrivalled concentration and complexity, enhanced by the aging process in oak barrels for 18 months. Expect a fruit-forward palate with dark berry characteristics, underlined by subtle, spicy undertones and a lengthy finish.

Cave de Tain's reputation for crafting fine wines from Hermitage appellation is evident in the Cave Tain Hermitage Epsilon 2010. The vineyard's ideal southwestern exposure and unique granite terraces give the Epsilon 2010 its distinctive character. Savour this exceptional expression from one of Rhône Valley's most celebrated producers.

Jeb Dunnuck (98+)

A wine that's held back three months in barrel and then held a year in bottle (as is the GOK), the 2016 Syrah Armada Vineyard saw 70-80% stems and 15% new oak (both demi-muids and foudre). Slightly deeper ruby in color, it has a mix of both red and blue fruits, salt, violets, damp earth, and smoked earth. Deep, tight, backward, but just loaded with potential, it needs 3-5 years of bottle age and will be very long lived.

Jeb Dunnuck (97+)

The Armada Vineyard Syrah always reminds me of the Horsepower releases, as it’s a more masculine, earthy style of Syrah. Deep plum/purple-colored with an incredible bouquet of smoked plum, blackcurrants, tobacco, peppered meat, and violets, the 2017 hits the palate with full-bodied richness and depth, building structure and tannins, moderate acidity, and a great finish. It’s another wine from Baron that packs incredible richness and depth yet still just glides across the palate with no sensation of weight or heaviness. It shows the more rounded, approachable style of the vintage and will keep for 20 years or more.

Vinous (95)

(15% new oak; this was the first vineyard planted in what is now known as the Rocks District, back in 1997): Good medium-deep red. Compellingly complex, high-toned aromas of raspberry, brown spices, olive tapenade, smoked sausage, lilac and black licorice are lifted by a floral topnote. Wonderfully concentrated, saline wine with terrific spicy energy and delineation to its very pure raspberry and smoke flavors. Still tightly coiled but the outstanding purity and intensity of fruit here is clear. Finishes with great length and spicy lift.

Wine Advocate (100)

Incorporating a touch more Viognier than normal, the 2014 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard is 93% Syrah and 7% Viognier from the first vineyard planted in the stones region of Walla Walla. Sporting a surprisingly deep, inky color, it offers a heavenly bouquet of black olives, tobacco leaf, smoked meats, pepper, blackcurrant and black cherry notes. Deep, rich and ever changing in the glass, with incredible complexity and layers, this full-bodied masterpiece has building tannin, a stacked mid-palate and a great, great finish. It's pure perfection in Syrah, and the finest vintage of this cuvee ever made. As a bonus, it’s also the largest production Syrah they produce. Bravo!

Vinous (93+)

Healthy dark red. Musky, Old World scents of bloody steak, minerals, olive tapenade, wild herbs and soy sauce. Densely packed and sweeter in the early going than the En Chambertin, with notes of spices and peat moss that reminded me of a Côte de Nuits wine. Pliant in texture but still quite reserved--and not at all a sweet style. The tannins are a bit youthfully tough and a bit less noble than those of the 2012 version, but this distinctly savory wine is dense and deep. The rocky character of this very stony vineyard really comes through in 2013.

Vinous (95+)

(13.4% alcohol): Explosive aromas and flavors of raspberry, smoked meat, woodsmoke, bacon fat, truffle and black olive, along with notes of minerals and bloody steak. Densely packed but juicy and almost magically light on its feet, with strong smoky minerality contributing to the impression of inner-mouth tension. Like a great Cote-Rotie in its sappiness and spicy lift. Finishes with a whiplash of flavor and subtle building length. Christophe Baron used just 10% new to age this wine as well as the En Cerise and Cailloux, letting his extraordinary sites speak for themselves.

Vinous (97)

The 2018 Tempranillo Impulsivo En Chamberlin Vineyard may be the best Tempranillo botting I have tasted from Cayuse Vineyards. The wine broods in the glass. Aromatically, you’re greeted by a brilliant core of dark fruits with tobacco leaf, black tea and tar tones. The palate is soft and generous with a sensuous mouthfeel. Even with 50% new large-format French oak, this doesn’t get close to being overly oaked. Silky and elegant to savor now, it has a really long life ahead of it. This is in a league all its own for North American Tempranillo.

Considered a gem among vineyards, Cecile Tremblay Bourgogne La Fontaine 2020 encapsulates the magnificence of French viticulture. Hailing from the prestigious Bourgogne region, this exquisite wine embodies the meticulous craft of their avant-garde winemaker, Cécile Tremblay. Cecile's philosophy of respect for nature and extensive attention to detail is unequivocally evident in the hand-tended vines, organic cultivation practices, and manual harvesting ensuring excellent quality grapes. The wine is aged meticulously in French oak barrels to instil complex, sumptuous flavours.

Cecile Tremblay Bourgogne La Fontaine 2020, a truly remarkable Pinot Noir, sparkles in the glass with a vibrant ruby hue. The palate boasts fruity notes of cherries and raspberries, subtly complemented with earthy undertones and hints of spices. Supple tannins and crisp acidity make it an invigorating experience for the discerning wine enthusiast. Reserved for those with refined palates, this offering reaffirms the esteemed hereditary savoir-faire of the Tremblay dynasty in creating enchanting potables.

Considered a gem among vineyards, Cecile Tremblay Bourgogne La Fontaine 2020 encapsulates the magnificence of French viticulture. Hailing from the prestigious Bourgogne region, this exquisite wine embodies the meticulous craft of their avant-garde winemaker, Cécile Tremblay. Cecile's philosophy of respect for nature and extensive attention to detail is unequivocally evident in the hand-tended vines, organic cultivation practices, and manual harvesting ensuring excellent quality grapes. The wine is aged meticulously in French oak barrels to instil complex, sumptuous flavours.

Cecile Tremblay Bourgogne La Fontaine 2020, a truly remarkable Pinot Noir, sparkles in the glass with a vibrant ruby hue. The palate boasts fruity notes of cherries and raspberries, subtly complemented with earthy undertones and hints of spices. Supple tannins and crisp acidity make it an invigorating experience for the discerning wine enthusiast. Reserved for those with refined palates, this offering reaffirms the esteemed hereditary savoir-faire of the Tremblay dynasty in creating enchanting potables.

Vinous - Stephen Tanzer (89-91)

(from old, degenerating vines, part on thin, rocky soil and part on deeper soil) Good deep red-ruby. Blackberry, smoke and sexy oak tones on the nose. Juicy, shapely and vibrant; a step up in intensity from the village offerings. More structure and less easy sweetness here despite the wine's full ripeness. Finishes with good rocky grip.

Wine Advocate (93)

Tremblay's 2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Feusselottes is also showing very well from bottle, bursting from the glass with a lovely bouquet of red berries, plums and cherries mingled with notions of blood orange, peonies, raw cocoa and warm spices. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, fleshy and expressive, with an invitingly open core, melting tannins and a long, delicately oak-inflected finish.