Wines

93 Points! Cristiano Garella turned out a compelling set of wines at Colombera & Garella. These wines offer a fascinating and contemporary look at Alto Piemonte. "Our Lessona comes from a parcel that would have never ripened in the 1970s," Garella told me. "Today, that cooler exposure is a positive." The wines are fermented in cement and/or steel and then aged in cask tailored to the size of production, with no fining or filtration. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

93-95 Points! The 2020 Volnay 1er Cru Les Santenots-du-Milieu is excellent, wafting from the glass with a deep bouquet of wild berries, plums and cassis mingled with hints of spices, grilled meats and rose petals. Medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's deep and tightly wound, with powdery structuring tannins and lively acids. This is a serious Santenots that will require some bottle age, and it's among the best that I can remember tasting chez Lafon over the last decade. - William Kelley, robertparker.com

99 Points! Fabulous aromas of blueberries, blackcurrants, sage and mint. Lead pencil and graphite, too. Full body and ultra-fine tannins that are slowly transformed to ripe and beautiful fruit. Super polished and textured. Great finish. - JamesSuckling.com

From the winery: Radian Vineyard is the most southern and westerly vineyard in the Sta Rita Hills AVA, and it is perhaps the coolest vineyard we work with, being battered by cool winds off the Pacific Ocean year round. In 2022 Radian Vineyard fully embodies the characteristics of the vintage demonstrating its extreme climate through its texture - rustic, deep, and brooding (for Pinot at least). However, Radian always shows off its finesse through the nose. Think of red fruits, florals, and cedar.

97 Points! Dried tropical fruits like mangoes and green papaya, with lemons and green apples. Limes, too. Full-bodied yet tight and compacted with great length and persistence. Muscular yet fresh. 66% sauvignon blanc and 34% semillon. Drinkable but needs five or six years to soften. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com

96 Points! Ripe and expressive on the nose, aromatically complex with notes of carmalised lemons, honey, peach and wet stones. Clarity and precision from the start, such a well defined palate with striking high acidity, crisp and sharp citrus fruits and a salty undertone. Soft spicing comes in towards the finish suggesting this needs more time and will have a long life ahead but the nuanced bitterness, freshness and lift are all so appealing. Excellent weight and balance too with a bright and long finished - a gourmet style with plenty to like. - Decanter Magazine

96 Points!  The 2020 Château Cos D'Estournel Blanc, a blend of 66% Sauvignon Blanc and 34% Semillon, brings another level of density as well as complexity. Honeyed pineapple, melon, crushed stone, and spicy, savory herbs notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a beautifully layered, elegant mouthfeel and a great finish. It's a gem of a white and ranks with the crème de la crème of the vintage. It should keep for 10-15 years. - Jeb Dunnuck

97-98 Points! This shows real precision and sophistication. Tight and dense palate that is concentrated but not heavy, with intensity and minerality. Sea salt and white pepper at the end. This is really at the top level of dry white Bordeaux now. 70% sauvignon blanc and 30% semillon. - JamesSuckling.com

95-97 Points! The 2023 Château Cos D'Estournel Blanc includes slightly more Semillon and checks in as 70% Sauvignon and 30% Semillon, raised in just 7% new French oak, with the rest in once-used barrels. A selection made mostly in the cellar, it has a vivid gold hue as well as a stunning nose of ripe lemon, honeyed flowers, mint, crushed stone, and subtle hints of toast. Gorgeously textured, medium to full-bodied, and balanced, with the bright, almost racy acidity of the vintage, it's pure class. - Jeb Dunnuck

96 Points! This stands out for its structure, subtle power, balance and finesse. Perfumed and softly sweet on the nose, ripe and concentrated, glorious and inviting. Creamy and chalky at the same time, lovely texture and density with bright and concentrated strawberry and red cherry fruit. Crisp, sweet, salty and sour, a lovely combination of flavours and textures with great drive and an undercurrent of minerality and salty wet stone finish – real St-Estèphe signature. - Decanter Magazine

95 Points! Floral aromas with violets, lavender and currants. Lead pencil, too. Medium-bodied, with fine tannins that caress and please. Elegant and sophisticated. Linear line of tannins running through this. Needs two or three years to soften. Hold for now. - JamesSuckling.com

PLEASE BE AWARE, THIS IS A PRE-ARRIVAL WINE - YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED SHIPPING FEES UNTIL THE WINE(S) ARRIVE

95-98 Points! The 2024 Cos d'Estournel could very well be one of the wines of the vintage. Bright and vibrant in the glass, with tons of energy, the 2024 impresses with its vertical structure, depth and overall balance. Blue/purplish fruit, spice, new leather, lavender and mocha are beautifully delineated throughout. The 2024 is super-classic. The modest 12.8% alcohol is notable, especially because that also means there is less extraction of wood. Cos is one of my early favorites in 2024. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

96-97 Points! There is huge depth and lots of intensity from this year's Cos. Quite powerful, deeply colored and dense, but there is freshness. Concentrated and tight-grained, with a full body and a pretty lengthy finish. Quite unique for its broadness and density, with lots of blackberries in the finish. - Zekun Shuai, James Suckling

93-95 Points! The 2024 Château Cos D'Estournel is a clear step up, with a concentrated, rich, yet still elegant profile. Cassis, graphite, crushed stone, and freshly sharpened pencil notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, has a focused, structured mouthfeel, good acidity, and building tannins. It's going to require patience but is clearly an outstanding Cos in the making. Based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 1.5% Cabernet Franc, and a splash of Petit Verdot, resting in 50% new oak, it hit 12.76% with a pH of 3.57 and an IPT of 71. - Jeb Dunnuck

93-95 Points! The 2024 Cos d'Estournel is shaping up beautifully. Offering up aromas of sweet cassis, plums, pencil shavings and iris, it's medium to full-bodied, supple and suave, reflecting this estate's pivot to a more harmonious, less aggressively extracted style. With a layered, seamless core of fruit framed by plenty of sweet, powdery tannin, it's a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 1.5% Cabernet Franc and 0.5% Petit Verdot that checks in at 12.7% alcohol. Cos is an early-ripening terroir, and that clearly played to the relative strengths of the vintage. Harvest here began with the estate's old-vine Merlot on gravel on September 23, concluding with the last Cabernet Sauvignon on October 7. - William Kelley, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

93 Points! The 2019 Couhins is rich and textured right out of the gate.  Plum, blood orange, spice, new leather and licorice infuse the 2019 with quite a bit of character. Firm tannins wrap it all together, finishing real depth and density. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous

93 Points! Very pretty blueberry and chocolate with some walnut and bark undertones. Pretty, pure fruit here. Medium to full body with creamy, polished tannins and a flavorful finish. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! Honey, apple tart and lemon rind. Full-bodied, medium-sweet and very spicy with intense flavors of mace, apple and honey. Long finish. Thick and powerful. - Wine Spectator

95 Points! The 2022 Coutet delivers nuances of pineapple, tangerine oil, orange confit and spice. Exotic and unctuous, it's also light on its feet for such an obviously rich wine. There's great balance here. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

94+ Points! One of the wines of the vintage, the 2022 Coutet opens with notes of apricots, spices and exotic fruits, setting the stage for a medium to full-bodied, round and supple palate enhanced by brightness and tension that culminates in a spicy, minty finish. Its balanced structure and lively acidity contribute to an ethereal ending, making it a very elegant yet chiseled Barsac. This blend of 94% Sémillon, 5% Sauvignon Blanc and 1% Muscadelle is matured for 18 months in barrels. - Yohan Castaing, robertparker.com

94 Points! Lots of dried-apricot and peach aromas with hints of dried white mushrooms and flowers. Medium- to full-bodied, this has lots of sweetness but a spicy flint and citrus character with dried pineapple and white peaches. Extremely long and flavorful. Such a balance and classiness to this. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! Bight and fun, a lovely easy, clean and sleek texture, quite straight with focus and a sense of cool freshness on the palate with some soft bitter edges that are so appealing. Has a great frame, slowly expands, not so overtly sweet or zingy, but this is refined and well delivered, still with concentration in the depth and overall long length. 158g/l residual sugar. 3.88pH. - Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com

93 Points! Intense Key lime, lemongrass and pear flavors are fleshy, bright and precise in this white, showing details of tangerine, kiwifruit and grapefruit, with sleek notes of saline and green tea, plus a hint of white pepper on a mouthwatering frame. - Wine Spectator

95 Points! Winemaker (and vineyard manager) Daniel Estrin refers to the Jessie Vineyard Pinot as a velvet sledgehammer, saying ‘this site has power and intensity with smooth edges.’ Aromas kick off a sweet blue fruit note with turned earth and fresh herbs accented by plenty of violets. These east-facing slopes see no afternoon sun and retain great freshness. The palate reflects those lively blue fruits, showing real depth and texture. There is fresh mint and touches of balsamic and soy umami. Seriously structured to lay down for many years. - Decanter Magazine

94 Points! Scented nose with wild strawberries, spiced cherries, dried herbs, baking spices and a touch of leather. Medium-bodied with bright acidity. Vivid red currant and succulent sour cherry character on the mid-palate. Juicy and focused with harmonious structure and a long, intense finish. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! The Louise Vineyard is about 10% warmer than Jessie, and it also sees less wind, so these vines have life a little easier and as such, you see that in the wine's opulence. Aromas of dark bramble berries, black plum skin, and touches of savoury spice. The palate shows flashes of black tea, clove and rose hips alongside early-season blackberries. This site has a lot of geological complexity, and this structured Pinot will go the distance. - Decanter Magazine

96 Points! The 2019 Château Croix De Labrie is gorgeous and jumps out in the vintage. Almost all Merlot brought up in new barrels, it offers a beautiful bouquet of red and black currants, spicy oak, dried herbs, and flowers, with a beautiful loamy earth and chalky minerality emerging with time in the glass. With remarkable purity and finesse, it's full-bodied, has a great mid-palate, silky tannins, and a great finish. It could be drunk today with a decant but will ideally be given 4-5 years of bottle age. I suspect it will have 20-25 years of overall longevity. - Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com

98 Points! Fabulous aromas of blackberries, blueberries, pine needles and spices, such as nutmeg and allspice. White pepper, too. Full-bodied and very tight with a solid core of fruit and ultra-fine yet powerful tannins. It’s got so much energy and drive. Vibrant at every level. Precise and not overpowering, yet so structured. 97% merlot and 3% cabernet sauvignon. Made from biodynamically grown grapes. This needs time to soften. Try after 2026. - James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com

98 Points! This is a glorious 2020 with such pure fruit of currants and blackberries, as well as dark chocolate. It’s full and layered and opens in the glass to a lovely layer of fine, velvety tannins that are bright and citrusy. Crunchy. It really opens and shows so many layers. Spectacular. Drink after 2027. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com

97+ Points! The Grand Vin 2020 Château Croix De Labrie is brilliant and the finest wine I've tasted from this estate. Dense purple-hued, with a liqueur of limestone-like minerality intermixed with ripe black cherries, boysenberry, spring flowers, and graphite, it's full-bodied, has a wealth of fruit and texture, sweet tannins, and remarkable purity. Its oak is perfectly integrated, and it brings richness as well as an incredible sense of precision and purity. This brilliant Saint-Emilion will be drinkable in just 3-4 years and will evolve for two decades. Tasted twice with consistent notes. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com

95 Points! A really drinkable Ribera del Duero that shows restraint and finesse. Dark cherries and grilled herbs with a hint of white pepper and cocoa powder. Full and supple with fine, precise tannins. Very long, persistent and rather intellectual. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! The single-vineyard Garnacha 2020 Os Cantals, whose name denotes a soil covered in slate, comes from a dry-farmed and head-pruned 70-year-old vineyard on red, iron-rich soils. It fermented in open-top oak barrels with indigenous yeasts and full clusters that were foot trodden, then the wine matured in 456-liter oak barrels for 13 months. This is subtler and deeper than the Las Ladieras, but it comes from a similar mold. It's beautifully textured with citrus freshness, and it's refined and elegant with great tension and ultra fine tannins. 3,200 bottles were filled in September 2021. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93+ Points! They haven't produced this wine since 2019, and there are substantial changes. There's no Treixadura in the 2022 Viño Branco Dos Canotos; they didn't do any skin contact; and it didn't go through malolactic, because it has a low pH (3.0) and high acidity. It matured in chestnut cask with full less until bottling in May 2023, quite early. The wine is dominated by the Albariño (around 40%, the rest, Lado, Caíño Branco and Loureira) in the aromatics, floral and herbal. It has around 11.7% alcohol, a very tasty and vibrant palate with pungent flavors, and very good persistence and length. There are only 910 bottles. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com