Gaja Costa Russi Barbaresco Langhe 2016

Gaja Barbaresco Sori Tildin is made from 100 percent Nebbiolo.

Review:

The 2016 Barbaresco Sorì Tildìn is a fabulous, incredibly complete wine that soars out of the glass with explosive structure and vertical lift. The tannins are very much present, but also matched beautifully by the wine's aromatic intensity and overall drive. Dark macerated cherry, spice, leather, licorice, plum and mocha add darker shades of nuance. In 2016, Sorì Tildìn is a bit more brooding and bigger than it often is, and yet all the elements are impeccably balanced. It is quite simply a majestic wine of real grandeur and total class, but it is not obvious. Sorì Tildìn will appeal most to readers who understand what the truest essence of Nebbiolo is all about. In a word: magnificent! - 

-- Antonio Galloni  Vinous 100 Points

Gaja Darmagi Cabernet is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.

Angelo Gaja forever changed the world’s notion of Piedmont wines when he released this historic wine for the first time in 1985 (with the 1982 vintage), made from Bordeaux varietals planted in the township of Barbaresco. According to the often told legend, Angelo Gaja’sfather exclaimed “darmagi!” upon learning that his son had planted Cabernet Sauvignon in vineyards previously devoted to Piedmont’s traditional Nebbiolo grape. Akin to the French quel dommage, the Piedmontese expression darmagi means what a pity! Or what a shame!. With his characteristic respect for tradition and those who came before him, the younger Gaja decided to call this wine Darmagi, a homage to his family’s legacy with an eye toward the future.

Review:

You'll find more dark fruit and more freshness here than in many of the other offerings from Gaja, with a dark, deep inky appearance. The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Darmagi is a 100% expression of the grape, whereas past editions saw tiny parts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The fruit comes from a 2.5-hectare vineyard planted in 1978 directly under the town of Barbaresco, setting the stage for an elegant rendition of Cabernet Sauvignon with a fresh and contained style. The wine shows a nice balance between the extraction you get from the grape skins and the rich succulence you get from the pulp inside the berries. In the 2017, you taste more of the skins, and in the 2018, Gaia Gaja comments, you taste more of the pulp. The 2016 offers both, countering each other with precision. Whole grapes are pressed very gently, and the wine is aged in oak for 18 months, with less emphasis on new oak now. In fact, only 30% of the total sees new oak, and a greater percentage of the wine goes into large oak casks instead.

- Wine Advocate 95 Points

Gaja Gaia & Rey Langhe Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.

The winery's historic Gaia & Rey Chardonnay is a wine that not only reshaped the legacy of the house itself, but also redefined Piedmont as one of the truly great winemaking regions of the world. Named after Lucia and Angelo Gaja's daughter, Gaia Gaja, and Angelo Gaja's grandmother Clotilde Rey (the family's great matriarch and one of its most forward-thinking visionaries), Gaia & Rey was first bottled in 1983 and released the following year. With this historic bottling, Angelo Gaja showed the world that exceptional white wines could be produced in the Langhe Hills, where red wines had been produced almost exclusively before. He also delivered to the world what is now considered one of the greatest white wines of Europe, a truly remarkable accomplishment in a country where red grapes have historically dominated the realm of fine wine. The 2017 vintage proves that great quality sometimes comes from scarcity. Three days of frost at the end of April set back the crop size by 10 percent, then high heat in summer and lack of rainfall presented challenges in managing the vineyards. The good news is that with strict selection and our no-compromise approach, the fruit harvested was healthy and excellent white wines were the result, despite the drop in production.

Review:

This wine was first made in 1983, and back then, no malolactic fermentation occurred. Jump forward in time to the 2017 Langhe Gaia & Rey, and this is another vintage in which malo did not start. (Partial malolactic returns in 2018). Since those first years of production, the oak usage has also been tweaked, now with less barrique in favor of more botte grande. Thanks to these changes, the aromatic profile of this wine veers toward citrus and rich tropical fruit, especially in a warm vintage such as this. However counterintuitive, this edition also shows a very bright and precise touch of acidity that serves to give the wine balanced and mouth-cleansing salinity.

- Wine Advocate 93+ Points

Gaja Sugarille Brunello di Montalcino is made from 100 percent Sangiovese.

When the Gaja family purchased the historic Pieve Santa Restituta estate in 1994, they did so in the hopes of bringing their expertise and winemaking style to this appellation. Today, Sugarille (SOO-gah-REEL-leh) is considered one of the top expressions of Brunello di Montalcino. According to archives found at Pieve Santa Restituta, the Sugarille growing site was already devoted to the cultivation of grapes for wine by the mid-16th century (1541). The name Sugarille, is derived from the Latin suber, meaning cork oak, possibly because cork trees were found there. Select vintage, with an ageing potential better than 2010. Juiciness and concentration are the features of the 2016 vintage with shows elegance and drinkability.

Review:

The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille is a sleeping giant. Cool-toned, poised yet wonderfully elegant, it lifts from the glass with a gorgeous display of lavender and purple-tinged florals before giving way to crushed stone, blackberries and a hint of sour citrus. It’s silky and soft with a dense core of primary fruits, which creates a monolithic feel today yet tempts the imagination with what’s to come. Brisk acids, salty minerals and fine-grained tannins combine, adding clenching grip yet also further depths, tapering off to hints of tobacco and spiced orange. Its scale is large, yet so is its potential, as this well-muscled Brunello is geared for the cellar and sure to make a lot of people happy over the next ten to twenty years.

- Vinous 96 Points

"Plenty of black cherries, cedar, dried flowers and red cherries on the nose, following through to the palate, which is dense and compressed with gorgeous, intense fruit and chewy yet integrated tannins. Very, very impressive red here. Try after 2024." 11/020
-James Suckling  98 Points

Russian River Pinot Noir Horseridge is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.

This Pinot Noir’s full, yet delicate quality makes it a highly sought-after wine. A multiple award winner. Horseridge Vineyards lies just 8 miles from the Pacific Ocean on an east facing slope facing the Mayacamas Mountains. The cool night breeze preserves the acidity in the grapes while the warm summer day allows the vines to produce just the perfect amount of sugar in each cluster.
Four consecutive vintages of ultra-premium quality fruit has marked Horseridge Vineyards as a consistently excellent source of Pinot Noir grapes. Feminine in style, balanced, elegant, fruit forward, lush, soft, sleek, lasting finish, velvet, bright fruit, great acidity, blueberry, cranberry, tart berry not over ripe fruit. This Pinot will age beautifully over the next 8-10 years!

Review:

"I like the purity of fruit to this with sweet and dried berries on the center palate. It’s full-bodied and layered with fine tannins and a delicious, savory and fruity finish. Just a hint of toasted oak at the end. Drink or hold."
- James Suckling (November 2020), 92 pts

"Earthy, spicy, layered and full bodied, this is a fleshy, robust and richly expressive wine, generous on the palate in black cherry and cola. A spicy finish of cinnamon and black pepper gives it a lasting impression. - VIRGINIE BOONE"

- Wine Enthusiast (January 2020), 93 pts

Venancio da Costa Lima Palmela Reserva is made from 100% Castelao (also known as Periquita) 

Intense garnet color, complex nose with touches of ripe fruit, jam and spices, full-bodied flavor and a very balanced finish.

100% Castelao (also known as "Periquita" and "Joao de Santarem". As the most widely-grown red grape variety in Portugal it is still often referred to in Portuguese as Periquita, although that name is legally owned by José Maria da Fonseca in the Setúbal Peninsula outside of Lisbon. It is highly adaptable to different climatic conditions and its remarkable versatility enables winemakers to make a range of wines – from the easy drinking and quaffable reds and rosados to the powerful and intense reds perfectly suited to lengthy cellaring. Castelão comes into its own and is most expressive in the Sétubal Peninsula, where it makes meaty and intense wines with aromas of red berries and blue flowers that marry well with the deft use of oak.

Made from 45 year old vines.

Classic vinification at controlled temperature (25 °C) with prolonged maceration for phenolic extraction. Wine went through malolactic fermentation.

Wine was slightly fitered before bottling to avoid sedimentation in the bottle and to ensure stability.

Pasta, Cheese, red meat and game.