Wines

98 Points, Dunnuck's #11 Wine of the Year! The 2020 Château Clinet checks in as a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, brought up in 80% new French oak. It's a rich, yet gorgeous wine with a wonderful sense of freshness in its ripe blue and black fruits as well as tobacco, chocolate, and damp earth. Full-bodied, beautifully balanced, and elegant on the palate, it has perfect tannins, a layered, elegant mouthfeel, and one hell of an impressive finish. One of the finest Pomerols in the vintage, it will benefit from just 3-5 years of bottle age and keep for two decades. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com

98 Points! What a beautiful young wine, showing so much finesse and tension, with ultra-fine tannins and subtle and long flavors and character. It’s medium-bodied with extremely silky tannins that grow on the palate to a seamless finish. Harmonious. Another fine Pomerol for the cellar. Drink after 2027. - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com

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

98 Points! The Grand Vin from this terrific Pomerol estate, the 2022 Château Clinet checks in as 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 19 months in 80% new barrels. It's a beautiful Pomerol that clearly ranks with the greats from this address, offering a vivid purple hue, classic notes of cassis, leather, graphite, and black cherries, full-bodied richness, and a layered, seamless mouthfeel. It's another remarkable 2022 that brings the richness and depth of the vintage while staying light on its feel and flawlessly balanced. It has plenty of upfront appeal even today, yet there's ample structure here as well, and it's going to evolve beautifully over the coming 30 years or more. - Jeb Dunnuck

96 Points! Streamlined and sleek, silky smooth but also gorgeously textured, clean and clear with grip and interest. Less fleshy and chewy than some, more charming and elegant with tannins that have a weight in the mouth. There is clear power and concentration underneath the juicy acidity with a straight backbone and direct energy from start to finish. Appealing layers of salinity, blackcurrant fruit, creamy vanilla, cool cola touches and crushed stones on the finish. Feels well made and sophisticated. 3.74pH. A yield of 34hl/ha. Earliest harvest ever starting on 6 September for Merlot and 20 and 21 September for Cabernet Sauvignon. - Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com

96 Points! The 2022 Clinet is terrific. Vibrant, aromatic and beautifully sculpted, Clinet is also a terrific example of the energy quality-minded winemakers were able to achieve in 2022. Crushed rose petals, spice, blood orange, mint and white pepper give Clinet a compelling upper register of presence in the bouquet. Wonderfully delineated, Clinet builds effortlessly into the mid-palate and finish, where a closing burst of red/purplish fruit framed by clean mineral notes leaves a lasting impression. This is stellar. Tasted two times. Drinking window : 2030-2052 - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

97 Points! Intense aromas of dark violets and blueberries as well as terra-cotta follow through to a full body, yet it’s tight and focused with beautifully framed fruit from polished tannins and a long and rather endless finish. A complete and fresh Pomerol in 2022. - JamesSuckling.com

100 Points! Extremely aromatic with red currants, blackcurrants, spices, iodine, paprika and subtle hints of white pepper. Fresh flowers, fresh sage, lavender and some pine needles and sandalwood. Medium-bodied with perfectly integrated tannins that go on for minutes with refined and harmonious fruit that integrates beautifully into the wine, giving it a weightless structure that shows class and verve. Endless balance and length. It’s so balanced that you could drink it now but it will age for decades. A blend of 75% carmenere, 18% cabernet sauvignon and 7% merlot. Best after 2028. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! Aromatically complex and intriguing, this offers a spiced plum pastry note that melds with petrichor, pine, dried violet and cocoa powder elements. The palate is round and richly textured, with Szechuan peppercorn accents to the concentrated black cherry, plum and cassis center. Everything comes together harmoniously on the finish and lingers, with present but integrated tannins. A stunner that should develop nicely in the cellar. Carmenère, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2040. - Wine Spectator

99+ Points! The 2016 Clos de Tart Grand Cru, cropped at 35hl/ha, is the first year farmed biodynamically. This was completely breathtaking in barrel, and now, in bottle, nothing has changed in that respect. It has an ineffably complex bouquet, not as intense as it showed in barrel yet extremely deep and cerebral, black fruit mingling with forest floor, crushed stone and a touch of sea spray. The palate is perfectly balanced with a deceivingly understated entry, before a wave of black and red fruit crashes over the senses. It is framed by supremely fine tannin, the intensity building toward a crescendo as it fans out. The aftertaste is unbelievably long, remaining in the mouth 60 seconds after the wine has departed. The best ever – simple as that. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

98 Points! Absolutely bursting with blue and red fruits, the concentration is deceptive here, as it starts out juicy and full of air, but after a few minutes in the glass you start to feel the weight and the texture, and this turns into an extremely serious wine with real tannic hold. Gorgeous savoury finish, as you get so often in the best Burgundies, where weightlessness is such a brilliant veil to the power behind. 55% whole cluster. - Decanter Magazine

98 Points! The 2018 Clos de Tart Grand Cru was wonderful from barrel but now it seems to have gone up another level. It has an exquisite bouquet with wonderful mineralité infusing the brambly red fruit. Wonderful focus and quite profound complexity. You could nose this forever. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiselled tannins married with a killer line of natural acidity. Everything is perfectly proportioned in this wine, very persistent with layers of dark berry fruit laced with white pepper and tea leaf on the finish. Immense. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

100 Points! I’ve never before smelled a wine like this. The captivating aromas are amazing, with lavender, sage, dried potpourri, blackberries, tar, pepper and black licorice. Full-bodied with super tannins that fan out and caress the palate. It’s ethereal and endless. A pure syrah from the owners of Clos Apalta, from unique mountain vineyards. Just over 6,000 bottles made. Try to give this four or five years of bottle age. Best after 2028. - JamesSuckling.com

98 Points! Starting out, the 2017 Tychson Hill is gorgeous, revealing a saturated purple color as well as a sweet bouquet of blackcurrants, ground herbs, chocolate, toasted bread, and subtle yet high class oak. Full-bodied, beautifully textured, and flawlessly balanced on the palate, it has silky tannins, a stacked mid-palate, and a big finish. This is a backward, primordial beauty that’s going to need 4-5 years of bottle age yet shine for 30 years or more. - Jeb Dunnuck

98 Points! The berries at Tychson Hill vineyard were very small in 2017. “This wine totally required baby steps with the extraction,” said winemaker Allison Tauziet. Very deep purple-black in color, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Tychson Hill Vineyard leaps from the glass with vibrant black cherries, warm blackberries and blackcurrant scents with hints of violets, dark chocolate, lavender and camphor plus a fragrant waft of rose hip tea. Medium to full-bodied, the structure is taut, restraining all the tightly packed, energetic black fruit layers, with a wonderfully fine-grained texture and bags of freshness, finishing long and mineral laced. Still very tightly wound, this one needs time, but it should handsomely reward patience. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

99 Points! Colgin's 2021 IX Estate is a rich, opulent example, with layers of ripe black cherries and dark chocolate punctuated by hints of sage and bay leaf, plus some vaguely floral notes (violets?). Full-bodied, concentrated, velvety and long, it's another terrific wine that showcases the potential of Pritchard Hill, the investment by the owners and the talent of the winemaking team. - Joe Czerwinski, robertparker.com

98+ Points! I'd wager a Napa Valley legend in the making, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon IX Estate comes from the estate vineyard on Pritchard Hill, and if there was ever a classification of terroirs in the valley, this would check in near the top of the list. Deep purple-hued, with awesome aromatics of pure cassis, graphite, crushed stone, and subtle floral hints, this has that rare mix of power and elegance that defines so many great wines. Full-bodied, concentrated, and flawlessly balanced, it has no shortage of structure and is going to need 7-8 years, if not a decade, to hit full maturity, where it will hold for 2-3 decades. - Jeb Dunnuck

96 Points! With vines planted in 1992 in a cozy and protected position within the folds of hills above Gattinara at 400 meters in elevation, the Molsino vineyard is known to produce extra fruit weight, concentration and power. This is definitely the case with the Conterno Nervi 2018 Gattinara Vigna Molsino. Of the two single-vineyard wines made at this estate (the other being the Vigna Valferana), I'm giving the aging edge to this bottle and have extended the drinking window as a result. During my tasting with Roberto Conterno, he described this wine as having "broader shoulders" and "more bite to the mouthfeel." Those are exact descriptions, and I would add that Molsino shows special dimension, in terms of both width and depth, with red and purple fruits that spread evenly over the palate. The wine's finish is powered by tarry smoke and campfire ash that add vertical lift and length. - Monica Larner, 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

98 Points! Perfumed aromas of subtle currants, roses, lavender and sage, following through to a medium body with super-fine tannins that caress the palate and leave it fresh and inspired. A gorgeous and graceful 2022. Drinkable now, but better in 2028. - JamesSuckling.com

98 Points! A fabulous young wine with a long career ahead. Showing the angular nature of youth, a little bony in terms of tannins, but so concentrated, firm, juicy and full. Beautiful dark cherries, blueberries and dark chocolate with nuances of oak spices, cedar and cinnamon. Best from 2030. - JamesSuckling.com

97+ Points! The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is showing very well for a wine that was bottled just a few months ago. Sweet floral and spice notes open first, conferring notable freshness and vibrancy. Medium in body and beautifully persistent, the 2021 impresses with its finesse more than anything else. Time in the glass brings out hints of red/purplish fruit, rose petal, lavender and spice. The Cornell Cabernet Sauvignon usually needs a few years to blossom post bottling, as I once again saw with the 2018 that I opened at home recently. I expect that will be the case here as well. In a word: regal. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

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

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

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

98+ Points! The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, blended with 10% Cabernet Franc, has opened significantly since I tasted it in March of 2022. Deep ruby in color, its aromatics have become more layered, with ringing tones of violet complementing blueberry, black cherry and redcurrants, plus sparks of aniseed, prosciutto and desert herbs. The palate is plush and supple, offering alluring spicy accents and generous, yet never onerous, fruit. Refreshing bursts of acidity call you back to the glass, and it finishes with fantastic length. It blossoms considerably as it spends time in the glass, alluding to continued evolution in bottle. - Erin Brooks, robertparker.com

98 Points, James Suckling's #1 World Wine of the Year! This is really luxurious, showing blackcurrants and orange peel with cedar and dried-mushroom aromas following through to a medium to full body that grows on the palate. This has crunchy and lightly chewy tannins that are slightly austere but in an elegant, classical Bordeaux way. Chewy at the end. So much energy and vibe. So complex. Probably the greatest wine ever from here. A blend of 65% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, 2% cabernet franc, 2% malbec and 1% petit verdot. Best after 2028 but already a joy to taste. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! The deep ruby/purple-hued 2022 Château D'Issan is rock star stuff, offering a massive array of red and black fruits, spring flowers, violets, smoky tobacco, and a beautiful sense of minerality. This full-bodied, powerful, concentrated Issan has a layered, seamless mouthfeel, beautiful tannins, and a great finish. The alcohol here is 14.6% and the pH is a solid 3.6. Give bottles 4-5 years if you can, and it will evolve gracefully over the following three decades. - Jeb Dunnuck

96 Points! Deep, heady, really quite seductive and aromatic on the nose, draws you in with bramble fruits, chocolate, exotic spices and perfumed floral nuances. Juicy and lively, pure and focussed, but such a vibrancy to this wine. Sweet and sour elements combine with really salty, chalky, powdery and quite filling tannins that give the nuance of flavour and texture. Bright yet serious, finessed yet layered. Lovely intensity of elements. On the more savoury side right now in terms of lingering flavour but there’s mouthwatering acidity giving the liveliness and sense of fun. I really like this, textured, upfront, forward, extremely drinkable and so approachable, but thrilling too. An exciting wine with great integration and finesse and still clear strength underneath. One of the most exciting wines this year. Stylish, potent and polished. I love it! A yield of 30hl/ha. Harvest 15 - 28 September. 1% PV planted in 1948, 12% press wine. 2% Malbet and 1% Petit Verdot complete the blend. Total acidity: 3.55. 50% new barrels. 3.67pH. - Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com

95 Points! The 2022 D'Issan has turned out beautifully, wafting from the glass with aromas of minty cassis, rose petals, pencil shavings and vine smoke. Medium to full-bodied, suave and velvety, it's deep, complex and well-balanced, with a sweet core of fruit and ripe structuring tannins. It's a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. - William Kelley, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

98+ Points! Helms vineyard consists of five acres on gravelly loam, right on the northern edge of the Rutherford bench, planted in 1997 and 1998 to Cabernet Sauvignon clones See and 337. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Helms Vineyard is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and was aged for 21 months in French oak barrels, 100% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it rolls out of the glass with seductive scents of Morello cherries, blackcurrant pastilles and mulberries with hints of chocolate mint, violets and forest floor, plus a waft of cinnamon toast. Full-bodied, the palate has an ethereal weight, dancing with bright, vibrant black and blue fruits and a lively line of freshness, textured with beautifully ripe, velvety tannins, finishing long and mineral laced. Wow. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

99 Points! Sweet white chocolate with currant, plum and subtle hazelnut on the nose. Some other spices, such as nutmeg and cloves. Floral. Full-bodied with extremely fine tannins that go on and on. Beautiful center plate that is dense yet polished and fine and continues on. Exceptional. Fantastic finish. Drinkable now, but needs four or five years to show it’s true greatness. - JamesSuckling.com

99 Points! Hold onto your hat. This is an extraordinarily seductive expression of Moulin-a-Vent. Dense and compact but also incredibly plush and dynamic, it makes a huge statement, a bit like meeting the goddess of black cherries. Interlocking fine tannins and remarkable minerality in the dazzling, almost endless finish. From totally destemmed fruit. Cold maceration for four days. Long fermentation. Aged 11 months in used Burgundian barrels. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com