Red Wine
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BLANKbottle Familiemoord 2023
"Family Murder - is one of Pieter Walser's most famous wines, based on a true story with a happy ending about mistaken identity. Made with Grenache from Braam Marais' farm in Piekenierskloof, it's a refined, layered, fynbos-scented red with graceful tannins, lots of zip and minerality and flavours of pomegranate, strawberry and rooibos tea." - Tim Atkin MW
Domaine Philippe Alliet Chinon Tradition 2022
"The young 2022 Chinon is reductive and needs some breathing time—ideally, time in bottle. It's rather raw and uptight due to its youth. It reminds me of someone scrunching up their eyes and hunching their shoulders, as if waiting for something bad to happen. But underneath all that tension of youth, there is creamy, juicy red fruit and spice, and evidently less crunchiness than in 2021. While it needs time, its level of concentration and modest tannins suggest this is one that would be best consumed before the decade is out." - Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous
Domaine Philippe Alliet Chinon Vieilles Vignes 2021
"Crafted from old vines (70 to 80 years old) on clay, gravelly soils, the 2021 Chinon Vieilles Vignes is instantly brilliant in the glass. Despite a slight reduction, it offers up aromas of blueberries, cassis, flowers, violet, rose petals and cedar. Medium to full-bodied, layered and structured, it’s seamless and enveloping with powdery tannins and delicate notes of violet and blueberries on the finish. It's approachable now but also built to evolve with grace." - Yohan Castaing, The Wine Advocate
Domaine Philippe Alliet Chinon Coteau de Noiré 2021
"This site is known to produce relatively dense, powerful wines in ripe vintages, yet the 2021 Chinon Coteau de Noiré stands out as exceptional. It unfolds in the glass with aromas of lead pencil, licorice, dark wild berries and cassis. Full-bodied, dense and chunky, it’s seamless and velvety with a layered core of fruit framed by powdery, generous tannins that segues into a long, mineral finish framed by perfectly controlled power. I appreciate wines like this that purely express the terroirs and are capable of long aging. Keep it over the next decade." - Yohan Castaing, The Wine Advocate
Domaine Philippe Alliet Chinon L’Huisserie 2021
"The 2021 Chinon L'Huisserie is derived from 23-year-old vines planted on flinty clay soils. Offering up a reduced, complex bouquet of violet, blueberries, cassis, cedar and licorice, it’s medium to full-bodied and perfectly balanced with a layered, structured mid-palate complemented with bright acids and a penetrating, mineral finish that is a hallmark of this cuvée in recent years." - Yohan Castaing, The Wine Advocate
Rall Concrete Syrah 2023
"This 3 release of the Syrah made from one of the schist vineyards used for the Ava, was picked early, fermented naturally with 100% whole bunches and aged only in concrete to preserve the primary fruit and crunchy tannins of Syrah grown on these soils.
Even with a modest alc of only 12.5% this wine has a beautiful gripping structure, savoury palate and very expressive nose of fynbos, meat and dark spices. 4844 bottles produced" - Winemaker's notes
Domaine Roland Lavantureux Epineuil Rouge Les Fauconniers 2021
Valenciso Rioja Reserva Red 2016
"The balanced, young and elegant 2016 Reserva mixes characteristics from classical and more modern Rioja reds, fruit and herbs, spicy oak and some complexity and a medium-bodied palate with very good freshness and fine tannins. It's riper than you think at 14.5% alcohol and has a pH of 3.7. It fermented in concrete and matured in French barrels for 18 months. 100,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in autumn 2020." - Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
Elio Grasso Barbera d’Alba Vigna Martina 2021
"Raised half in new oak and half in used barrique, the 2021 Barbera D'Alba Vigna Martina is a brooding and dark beast with an opaque dark purple color and forward oak spice notes of bourbon, baked plum, black cherries, menthol, and dark earth. It feels hot on the nose and is full-bodied on the palate, with ripe tannins and tangy acidity. Its ripe, oaky profile demands more time in bottle to show at its best. This is a robust, nearly full-bodied red to cellar for another couple of years and drink over the following 6-8. It's quite powerful, but it’s going to appeal to a lot of New World drinkers." - Jeb Dunnuck
Elio Grasso Langhe Nebbiolo “Gavarini” 2022
"Raised and fermented entirely in stainless steel, the 2022 Langhe Nebbiolo Gavarini is a bright red concentrated hue and delivers expressive aromas of ripe orange peel, delicate clove spice, roses, and fresh raspberries. Medium-bodied, it’s fresh, energetic, and easygoing in nature, with fine tannins, good ripeness, and evenly balanced freshness. Approachable and youthful now, it’s is going to show its best over the next few years." - Jeb Dunnuck
Elio Grasso Barolo Ginestra Casa Maté 2019
"Very different from the Gavarini Chiniera, the 2019 Barolo Ginestra Casa Maté shows more bite, structure and a bigger tannic impact. Fruit was harvested a bit earlier, but healthy grape skins allowed for 52 days of maceration. This wine shows beautiful intensity and fullness with dark fruit, earth, hazelnut and dark plum. Surrounded by forests, the greenery gives balance to this wine by moderating temperatures. In fact, this site saw up to 10 degrees Celsius drops in diurnal temperatures, leading to thick skins and ideal phenolic ripeness." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
Elio Grasso Barolo Gavarini Chiniera 2019
"With vines adjacent to forests on white chalky soils, the Elio Grasso 2019 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is a luminous and very beautiful wine. Vintner Gianluca Grasso called this "the helicopter vintage" because he actually rented a helicopter to fly over the vines for 45 minutes to dry them from rain right before harvest. As he tells it, this was a costly but good decision because 15 minutes after he finished harvesting on October 26, heavy rain came and lasted an entire week. Thanks to these dramatic measures, the grape skins were excellent, and maceration with submerged cap lasted 55 days. That's how perfect the skins were. This balanced wine shows extreme precision and elegance." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
Château L’Innocence de Séraphine Pomerol 2021
"The colour of this wine is a dark black cherry with good concentration right to the rim and displays great elegance on the nose of fruit that is finely delineated, showing of blackcurrant, damson and dark chocolate notes. Elegantly poised on the palate, it mixes dark black fruits with liquorice, chocolate and tobacco and is underpinned by a svelte bed of tightly grained tannins. It is nicely structured with perfumed fruit and cherries, touched with notes of white peach and sage, it delivers a fine persistence well into the finish where the tannic grip remains in harmony with the wine. Fresh, long, and quintessentially Pomerol." - Winemaker's notes
Keermont “Pondokrug” Cabernet Franc 2018
"I love Cabernet Franc", says Alex Starey, and you can see why when he produces wines that are as good as this single vineyard expression from Stellenbosch Mountain. Perfumed, stylish and well crafted, it has the elegance and precision of its cooler site, good underlying structure and classic black cherry, bay leaf and pencil shaving notes." Tim Atkin MW
Keermont Topside Syrah 2018
"Syrah lovers could spend a long time discussing the relative merits of Alex Starey's single parcel Syrahs. I have a very slight preference for Topside in 2018, partly because its cooler terroir on Stellenbosch Mountain was well suited to the drought conditions of the vintage. Restrained, focused and built to age in bottle, it has sage and oregano perfume, savoury tannins, refreshing acidity and minerality and flavours of plum, raspberry, red cherry and tobacco leaf." - Tim Atkin MW
Keermont Steepside Syrah 2018
"It's good to see a top Cape Syrah released with a little bottle age, especially when it’s as good as this one from a warm, north-facing site on clay soils. Complex, dense and voluptuous, it has garrigue and tarragon aromas, understated oak and flavours of cooked meat, tapenade, damson and blackberry. Superb." - Tim Atkin MW
Newton Johnson Family Vineyards Falkirk Grenache 2021
San Román Bodegas San Román 2020
"The 2020 San Román had a slightly shorter élevage than the 2019 I tasted next to it. These are wines of very good regularity, showing a ripe and generously oaked profile, ripe, lush and powerful, perhaps a tad lighter and fresher in 2020. 115,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2022." - Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 2018
"Poggio di Sotto hits it out the ballpark once again with an extremely elegant interpretation that shows the incredible depth and nuance Sangiovese can achieve, even in an uneven vintage such as this. The certified organic 2018 Brunello di Montalcino reveals a dark ruby hue and mid-weight concentration. Indeed, the wine is lighter and brighter than most, despite Brunello's mandatory five years of aging before its commercial release. The tannins are silky and melt over the palate. Along the way, the wine offers high notes of red cherry, cassis and blue flower. This 38,000-bottle release carries a very high price tag, but your high expectations will be met." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 2017
"Made with certified-organic fruit, the 2017 Brunello di Montalcino is an impossibly graceful wine from a challenging vintage. This bottle defies the odds—and the dry heat of the growing season—to reveal soft layers of cherry, cassis and more vibrant fruit. It glides clear over the palate with silky momentum, and you only notice the tannins at the very end. Even those should soften and integrate as this collectible wine continues it bottle evolution. Production is 19,000 bottles." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
Bodegas y Viñedos Alión 2019
"The 2019 Alión was cropped from a drier vintage compared with the average, and the wines from that year tend to be powerful, concentrated and with structure. They shortened the maceration by 11 days and used concrete for part of the élevage, trying to reduce the impact from the oak in the wine. They define 2019 as a powerful, concentrated and juicy vintage, sensual and unctuous. The wine is ripe at 15% alcohol and has mellow acidity (4.4 grams) and a pH of 3.88, reflecting the warm and dry year that delivered powerful and concentrated wines, similar to the wines from 2015. It's quite fruit-driven, ripe and juicy, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins despite the limited pumping over they did to avoid extracting too much, and the maceration was also shortened. 256,526 bottles, 7,005 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2021." - Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
Bodegas y Viñedos Pintia 2018 – 3L
"The 2018 Pintia comes from a cooler and wetter vintage when the grapes were picked between September 20th and October 7th, and it fermented in their new fermentation room where they feel they can be more precise. The wine still has 15% alcohol, with a pH of 3.82 and 4.6 grams of acidity. It had a shorter élevage this year and matured for 10 months in French and 18% American oak barrels, 81% of them new. The nose is very expressive, with bright cherry fruit, and the wine is fresher than the norm in the region, with integrated alcohol and oak, reflecting a very cool year, floral and perfumed. The palate is medium-bodied and reveals very fine and elegant tannins. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Pintia. 251,512 bottles, 14,144 half-bottles, 6,543 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in April 2020." - Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
