Carmo Vinhos Madeira Malmsey 10 Yr is richest style of Madeira. With a deep amber color, this intense wine has a complex flavor of walnuts, dried fruits, coffee and caramel. Full body hiding the acidity and a very long finish. An excellent accompaniment to coffee.
Carmo Vinhos Madeira Verdejo 10 Yr an amber medium dry wine with medium body and acidity. Rich aroma and flavor of dried fruits, nuts and caramel, showing a vibrant character, lengthy and well balanced. An excellent aperitif or as an accompaniment to pates.
Carra Beaujolais Blanc Pierres Dorees is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
The nose shows step by step floral and fruity aromas. A vanilla hint in the end with a lingering finish: those are typical Chardonnay aromas.
All older vintage wines have been purchased from a single collectors cellar. Pictures can be requested before shipment.
Castlebrae Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough is made from 100 percent Sauvignon Blanc.
This is a single vineyard wine made with fruit from Castlebrae vineyard, located at the mouth of the Awatere River. The vines were planted in 2007 and 2013 giving a nice mix of maturity.
The wine has vibrant notes of lychee, bell pepper and citrus characters on the nose. Fresh tropical and grassy characters fill the front palate, the mid palate is juicy and the wine finishes with a nice, sweet edge. The palate has a unique freshness that is due to the free draining soils found at the growing site.
This wine is floral, exuberant, with lengthy smooth tannins, and metallic notes.
This cuvée takes its name from a small parcel of the Adrianna Vineyard that is completely covered with oval white stones and was the site of an ancient riverbed. The abundant stones provide optimal drainage and extreme temperatures. They absorb heat and moderate the nights, but also function like ice cubes after a very cold night. Stony soil Malbecs tend to be extremely aromatic, rich and luxurious, just like the River Malbec from Adrianna. This wine can be enjoyed young or aged for decades.
Pair with grilled meats.
Review:
The old River Stones has seen its name simplified to 2019 Adrianna Vineyard River. This is an exceptional vintage for this bottling, from a very stony part of the large Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary, close to the dry river. It's the equivalent to the White Stones white, with a north-facing exposure, the warmer exposure, which in cooler years like 2019 works nicely. The wine has harmony and subtleness, insinuating violets and wet stones, with a rare combination of power and elegance, with minerality and spice, precise, focused and harmonious. The tannins are abundant but very fine and ripe with a chalky sensation in the finish. It has 13.8% alcohol and very good freshness, acidity and healthy parameters. Best after 2023.
-Wine Advocate 99 Points
This wine is floral, exuberant, with lengthy smooth tannins, and metallic notes.
This cuvée takes its name from a small parcel of the Adrianna Vineyard that is completely covered with oval white stones and was the site of an ancient riverbed. The abundant stones provide optimal drainage and extreme temperatures. They absorb heat and moderate the nights, but also function like ice cubes after a very cold night. Stony soil Malbecs tend to be extremely aromatic, rich and luxurious, just like the River Malbec from Adrianna. This wine can be enjoyed young or aged for decades.
Pair with grilled meats.
Review:
There is an usual stony austerity in the 2021 Adrianna Vineyard River, cropped from a cold year when the full clusters fermented in concrete with a slightly shorter maceration and an élevage in a 2,000-liter oak foudre and the rest in stainless steel. It has a moderate 13.4% alcohol with very high acidity (8.2!) and a low pH (3.37), incredible parameters of freshness. The wine was closed and took time to take off in the glass, revealing a very elegant and subtle personality, with the silky texture of the very fine tannins, pristine aromas and flavors and a sense of harmony that was moving. It's powerful but extremely elegant in that rare combination of clout and energy, a wine of light, aerial, with some ethereal qualities, delicate and refined. This combines the cool place and high altitude, the cool year and the stony soils, to deliver a stunning Malbec that goes well beyond the variety. Bravo!
-Wine Advocate 100 Points
Caymus has a signature style that is dark in color, with rich fruit and ripe, velvety tannins – as approachable in youth as in maturity. We farm Cabernet grapes in eight of Napa’s 16 sub-appellations, with diversification enabling us to make the best possible wine in a given year. This Cabernet offers layered, lush aromas and flavors, including cocoa, cassis and ripe dark berries.
This new red wine blend is produced from Suisun Valley, a remarkable AVA that has become the Wagner family’s second home. A 30-minute drive from Napa, Suisun has ideal soils and climate for a variety of grapes. The Walking Fool is named after a long-ago relative who was often seen traveling by foot – thus earning this affectionate moniker. Featuring Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, this wine is smooth and lively, with juicy raspberry, notes of espresso and softly fine tannins.
Winery Notes:
Each year, we set aside the best barrels of our Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley to produce Special Selection. Distinguished by extremely fine, velvety tannins and enjoyable upon release or with aging. A wine of structure with intense concentration of supple flavors and dark fruits. Special Selection is the only wine in the world honored twice as Wine Spectator magazine’s “Wine of the Year.”
Ceretto Barbaresco DOCG is made from 100 percent Nebbiolo.
If we could sum this wine up in a single word, we wouldn’t hesitate to define it as “classic”. As tradition suggests, this Barbaresco is the fruit of the assembly of several parcels of land, coming from some of our most beautiful vineyards. The idea is that of naturally obtaining balance by harmonizing different expressions, often contrasting ones. The result is a liquid expression of a terroir, tempting and typical, a synopsis of one Langa, that of Barbaresco, which moves in the glass, alternating between structure and elegance.
Review:
Very aromatic with orange blossom, roses and iron. Medium-bodied with very fine tannins. Refined and beautiful. Drink now or hold.
-James Suckling 93 Points
Chakana is the name of the Southern Cross constellation. Its rotation in the sky throughout the year made it an effective agricultural calendar for the ancient Andean people.
Estate Chardonnay is from Chakana's Altamira vineyard (3,200 ft elevation).
Yellow color with green hints. Deep and clean aromas of pineapple, toasty notes and a fresh mineral character and finish. A good body, dense and lively on the palate.
Chakana is the name of the Southern Cross constellation. Its rotation in the sky throughout the year made it an effective agricultural calendar for the ancient Andean people.
Estate Chardonnay is from Chakana's Altamira vineyard (3,200 ft elevation).
Yellow color with green hints. Deep and clean aromas of pineapple, toasty notes and a fresh mineral character and finish. A good body, dense and lively on the palate.
Chakana Estate Malbec is made from 100 percent Malbec.
hakana is the name of the Southern Cross constellation. Its rotation in the sky throughout the year made it an effective agricultural calendar for the ancient Andean people.
The "yaguarete" (jaguar) on the label was known by the ancient Andean people as the "lord of the starred night"; the wildest known animal.
Chakana Estate Malbec is from Chakana's Altamira (3,200 ft elevation) and Gualtallary (5,500 ft elevation) vineyards.
The color is deep purple, very intense, typical of Malbec. Plum, brambly berries, spices and an iris/violet note are apparent on the nose. Intense, fruity flavors with velvety tannins.
Review:
"Combining grapes from Paraje Altamira and Los Chacayes, this pure Malbec is a classically perfumed Uco Valley red, showing fine tannins, nuanced oak, red cherry and blackberry fruit and a chalky frisson. Engagingly graceful and refined. 2023-30"
- Tim Atkin (2022 Argentina Special Report), 93 pts
Chappellet Mountain Cuvee Proprietor's Blend is made from 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot, 14% Merlot, 12% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Franc
Blended from the traditional Bordeaux varietals, including our own coveted grapes, the Chappellet Mountain Cuvée Proprietor’s Blend builds on our more than five decades of experience crafting great mountain-grown wines. Each grape variety in the cuvée contributes nuances that complement each other. The result is a complex array of aromas and flavors that deliver pure pleasure in a glass. Made for more near-term enjoyment, this is the wine to choose when you’re looking for vivid, mouthfilling fruit flavors
This beautifully aromatic wine leaps out of the glass with concentrated notes of red currant, boysenberry, cassis, roasted coffee and dark chocolate, along with savory undertones and notions of sweet oak. On the palate it is rich and mouthcoating, with a seamless texture and supple tannins framing luxurious layers of dark berry fruit, barrel spice and fresh herbs.
Signature Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and nearly equal portions of Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Merlot.
The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon has been a foundational wine for more than five decades. It is a benchmark for the long-lived hillside wines of the Napa Valley, full of structure and aging potential, yet seductively forward in its concentrated varietal character. The dry, rocky soils of Pritchard Hill produce small, intensely flavorful grapes. Crop thinning allows for full, even ripening and elevates flavor complexity.
Review:
Leading off the Cabernet Sauvignon releases, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Signature is a larger production release and is 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and nearly equal portions of Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Merlot. Smoky black fruits, graphite, crushed stone, and tobacco notes give way toa medium to full-bodied, concentrated, powerful 2021 offering ample mid-palate depth, a layered, textured, balanced mouthfeel, building tannins, and a gorgeous finish. It's a brilliant bottle of wine that will benefit from short-term cellaring and have over two decades of longevity.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94+ Points
Charles Smith K Vintners Powerline Estate Syrah is made from 100 percent Syrah.
Friendly, approachable and vivacious, yet also dark and mysterious. Black cherry, allspice, black ash, and orange blossom. Thyme and flint with ark fruit, cedar, kelp, black pepper, juniper, crushed rock, and tons of complex floral notes. Fear not, embrace it.
While just bottled a week before this tasting, the 2019 Syrah Powerline Vineyard certainly wasn't showing any worse for it, offering a stunning bouquet of ripe red and black fruits as well as white pepper, sandalwood, tobacco, and new leather. Pure, medium to full-bodied, and vibrant, with supple, polished tannins, this brilliant Syrah is going to keep for 10-12 years, if not longer.
-Jeb Dunnuck 97 Points
All older vintage wines have been purchased from a single collectors cellar. Pictures can be requested before shipment.
Chateau Castegens Cotes de Bordeaux Castillon is made from 80% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The wine boasts an intense, deep and lively red color. The nose offers black fruit, blackberry, cigar box, licorice, some delicate and integrated oak flavors as well. The mouth is full of fruit flavors, spice and fine toasty flavors. The structure is rich, but the tannins are well integrated already. The finish is long and a slight mintiness give the wine a great length and some purity.
Pairs great with meat and vegetables on the grill.
All older vintage wines have been purchased from a single collectors cellar. Pictures can be requested before shipment.
All older vintage wines have been purchased from a single collectors cellar. Pictures can be requested before shipment.
Beginning in 1993 and following in the tradition of great Bordeaux estates, Opus One created a fine second wine called Overture. Every acre of the estate vineyard is meticulously farmed with the attention to detail and singular focus required to produce Opus One. This scrutiny carries through the blending process and certain lots will not be included in the final Opus One blend. Yet, when these lots are afforded additional time in barrel along with the added flexibility of blending across multiple vintages, the final wine achieves a remarkable elegance and complexity.
Overture displays a vibrant garnet color with expressive aromas of fresh red fruit. Notes of bright cherry and red currant are underpinned by more earthy tones of ground cocoa, cedar and vanilla. Extended barrel aging gives the wine an elegant texture accentuated by round tannins and a soft mouthfeel.