Products meeting the search criteria

Bellevue Cotes de Castillon Cuvee Vieilles Vignes is made from 65% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc.  Aged in mostly new oak barrels (90% French oak and 10% American oak), and some Château Haut Brion 2nd Barrels.

The wine offers a rich and intense bouquet of blackcurrant, blackberry and strawberry. It is smooth and full in the mouth with a velvety texture. Acidity combined with firm but well-integrated tannins are a fine supporting cast to the black fruit flavors at the end.

Benjamin Romeo La Cueva del Contador is made from 91% Tempranillo, 9% Garnacha.

Named after the centuries-old caves or “cuevas” carved out of the hillside below the castle of San Vicente in Sonsierra north of the Ebro, this wine is composed of 91 percent Tempranillo and 9 percent Garnacha. The fruit is sourced from eight different plots that yield about 1.2 kg per vine. Fermentation begins after a three-day cold maceration and the wine is aged for nineteen months in 100 percent new French oak and bottled without fining or filtration.

The palate offers flavors of blackberry coulis, Damson plums, Rosemary and well-integrated tannins; this wine is well balanced and youthful with a long powerful finish. Both red and black fruit are pronounced in the nose, but there are also mineral and herbal notes of gravel and lavender.

Review:

 I found cleaner aromas and a fresher quality and finer tannins in the 2019 La Cueva del Contador, a quite complete wine with elegance and finesse combined with power and concentration. The oak is still noticeable after 18 months in new barriques, and I'd wait a little longer before pulling the cork. It has the perfume of La Cueva in the background. It should resurface with a little more time in bottle. 10,000 bottles produced.

-Wine Advocate 95 Points

#32 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023

Delicate red in color. The incredibly expressive bouquet offers notes of sandalwood, herbs de Provence, and Red Delicious apples. On the palate, freshly picked red huckleberries provide tart and lasting succulence with a hint of baking spice. The sandy soils of the Chehalem Mountains offer salinity and minerality on the finish that is complemented with dark cherry and rhubarb.

Review:

Supple, richly textured and elegantly complex, this Pinot opens with a burst of fresh raspberry, then unfolds with notes of forest floor and brown baking spices, plus a touch of licorice as it builds tension toward refined tannins.

-Wine Spectator 95 Points

The first impression of this stunning red is of brilliant red raspberry fruit, as pure as a sunbeam. Yet an inky depth plays counterpoint, rumbling beneath, dark and a bit spicy, grounding the fruit with tannins from the silica-based soils of Bergström’s estate vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains. The tension between these two elements is gorgeous, the fruit saturating and full, and yet it has an energy and drive giving the texture a lifted, graceful feel.

-Wine & Spirits 95 Points

Bertani Valpolicella Ripasso Classico Superiore Catullo is made from 70% Corvina Veronese, 20% Corvinone, 10% Rondinella.  Valpolicella Classica, Tenuta Novare Estate in Arbizzano di Negrar.

Wine of medium structure with elegant spicy notes of vanilla and chocolate accompanied by typical notes of cherry, sour cherry and white pepper. The palate offers the easy drinkability typical of Valpolicella and, at the same time, silky tannic structure and intense, prolonged aromatic persistence. The finish is fresh, soft and savory. A wine in the classic style, elegant, balanced, harmonious.

Review:

If I was forced to choose a number of wines that can steer the anachronistic Ripasso category into a brighter future, this would be among a very few. A mid-weighted, streamlined expression with just enough fruit on the bones. Think strawberries, lilacs, Asian plums, cloves and a hint of licorice. A noble, almost alpine bitterness lifts the finish. Brilliant. Drink or hold.

-James Suckling 95 Points

Bertrand Bachelet Maranges Rouge 1er Cru Les Clos Roussots is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir. 

The Maranges appellation is the youngest of the Côte de Beaune family, making its debut in May 1989. It spans three villages: Dezize-lès-Maranges, Cheilly-les-Maranges and Sampigny-les-Maranges. Several hills and slopes make up the appellation; they face south/south-east, at an altitude of between 200 and 400 meters. This appellation produces mainly red wines comprising 95% of total production.

The Maranges 1ers Crus are spread over seven distinct terroirs: "Les Clos Roussots", which represents the second largest terroir of the appellation, spans the Cheilly-les-Maranges and Sampigny-les-Maranges areas.

The wine boasts a beautiful bright red color. The nose provides subtle harmony between red and black fruits, spices and vanilla. On the palate, this wine is both solid and fresh, harmonious and bold.

Blending Detail:

• 49 % Grenache
• 20% Syrah
• 16% Cinsault
• 9% Mourvêdre
• 6% Counoise

Grenache speaks loudly in the Bésoleil with notes of pomegranate, red raspberry, and strawberry leaf. The Counoise and Cinsualt bring bing cherry fruit and blueberry notes to the table, complicated by pepper and garrique. Mourvedre donates a wild meatiness to the blend, and a purple hue. Syrah rounds things out, adding texture, and flesh to the palate.

Review:

The first vintage where they’ve pushed the bottling back to give the cuvee 16-18 months in barrel, the 2015 Besoleil is a dead ringer for a high-quality Chateauneuf du Pape and offers perfumed notes of herbes de Provence, kirsch, licorice and sweet spice. It’s medium to full-bodied, textured and fruit-forward, with a hedonistic yet elegant profile that’s going to evolve gracefully. 
Robert Parker 91-93 Points