Wines

98 Points! The gem of the 2014s is the 2014 Pluribus, which comes from a 7-acre site on Spring Mountain. This incredible wine offers a full-bodied, seamless, perfectly balanced profile as well as heavenly notes of black and blue fruits, white chocolate, and licorice. With a world class texture, fine, fine tannin, and a great finish, it’s a tour de force in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that’s as good as anything out there. - Jeb Dunnuck

97+ Points! Very deep purple-black colored, the 2014 Pluribus offers up notions of crushed black plums, black currant cordial and pencil shavings over a meaty core of chargrill and beef drippings plus hints of Chinese five spice and underbrush. Full-bodied and firmly framed with chewy tannins and a lively backbone, it features plenty of earthy and savory layers, finishing long and minerally. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, robertparker.com

98+ Points! The 2014 Vecina displays a deep garnet-purple color and has a broody, baked blueberries, cassis and anise-laced nose with suggestions of garrigue, dusty earth and bay leaves. Full-bodied, rich, spicy and powerful in the mouth, it offers a lot of latent layers and promises great, great things to come with an incredibly long, layered finish. It needs a bit of time but should cellar beautifully for a good 25 years+. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, 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

95 Points! Even more prodigious is the 2014 LMV Salon. Composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Cabernet Franc from the sandy Bale Loam soils of the 110 acres Larkmead possesses, it is a bigger boy at 14.9% alcohol but shows lots of crushed rock and wet gravel minerality, a beautiful, cedary, blackcurrant nose with notes of forest floor, allspice and soy, with more blackberry on the palate as well as some savory herbs and spice. Hints of licorice also make an appearance in this broad, fleshy, juicy and succulent style of wine meant for drinking now and over the next 20 years. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

97 Points! A smoking good dessert wine, the 2014 Billet Doux offers stunning notes of ripe quince, honeyed peach, toasted bread, and exotic flowers. It brings loads of richness and depth, yet always has a sense of purity and elegance, as well as lightness on the palate. It’s another gorgeous sweet wine from Morlet that will stand up to some of the great Sauternes out there. - Jeb Dunnuck

98 Points! Incredible aromas of pine tree, mineral, cigar box and tobacco leaf but then it turns to currants and black truffle. Forest fruit and forest floor. Soya. Full body, round and decadent with a combination of ripe fruit and earth, spice and long finish. The uniqueness of Pavot is streaming here. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! The 2014 Proprietary Red Les Pavots (3,570 cases) is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 13% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot aged in mostly Taransaud barrels with a small helping of Darnajou thrown in. This wine is fabulous in the vintage, although certainly less profoundly concentrated and extracted, as well as structured, compared to the 2013, which was off-the-charts fabulous. This is a brilliant wine, charming, with front-end loaded plum, blackcurrant and black raspberry fruit interwoven with graphite, tar and truffle notes. The wine has sumptuous texture, sweet, velvety tannin, and a long, full-bodied finish. It should drink well for at least two decades. - Robert Parker, robertparker.com

97 Points! From the 5.83-hectare walled vineyard in a cooler, 'classic' vintage for Champagne, giving this a finessed and charming expression. Baked pastry and soft lemon curd notes on the nose, smells inviting and softly floral - honeysuckle, jasmine, lemon and lime rind with some peach. Juicy and so zesty straight away, bright, mouthwateing, scintillatingly fresh and lively, thrilling even, with tiny persistent bubbles that instantly froth and fill the mouth. Alive and energetic with lemon rind and juice, succulent green apples and strawberries, grapefruit and ginger bitterness with touches of salinity and graphite dotting the finish. This makes you instantly want another glass, but this has structure too and such a long finish. No malolactic fermentation. Dosage 4.5g/l. Made by Charles Philipponnat and Thierry Garnier. - Georgia Hindle, Decanter Magazine

96 Points! The 2014 Clos des Goisses, 71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay, is Extra Brut at 4.5 g/L dosage and was disgorged in March 2023. It needs a little coaxing to bring out delicate scents of wet pebbles, lime blossom, and green apples plus emerging wafts of Marcona almonds, yuzu, and baking bread. Light-bodied and very dry, the palate is super-fine and delicately crafted, with a lively backbone supporting the intense flavors, finishing long and minerally. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent

96 Points! The 2014 Troplong Mondot is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage, and this beauty has more intensity, richness, and exuberance than just about every other wine in 2014. A blend of 90% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc brought up in 85% new French oak, it sports a deep purple/plum color as well as a smorgasbord of blackcurrants, blackberries, scorched earth, toasty oak, graphite, espresso, and earth. With full-bodied richness, beautiful purity of fruit, and a rich, yet weightless texture, it’s a big, yet classy, elegant, and seamless wine from Xavier Pariente that should be snatched up by readers. It’s already drinking well but has 20-25 years of prime drinking to go. - Jeb Dunnuck

95 Points! The 2014 Troplong Mondot is medium to deep garnet-brick in color. Scents of cedar and unsmoked cigars are followed by nuances of dried blackberries and plum pudding with a waft of spice cake. The medium-bodied palate is chock full of mature black fruit and spicy layers, support by firm, lightly chewy tannins and great tension, finishing with impressive length. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, TWI, 2024