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Wine Advocate (95)
The Produttori del Barbaresco 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Muncagota shows beautifully in this sunny and warm vintage, producing intense and compelling primary fruit with wild cherry, plum and black currant. Compared to the other Riservas, the fruit profile of Muncagota is darker and richer. More significant is the role the tannins play in this wine. They contribute to a long and firm spinal cord that gives structure and muscle mass. This Barbaresco Riserva shows an affinity to shaved truffles over egg pasta, or gamey fowl such as duck or pigeon. Some 16,666 bottles were made.Inc. TAX€445.19 -
Vinous (94)
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Ovello is a heady, explosive wine. I don't think I have ever tasted an Ovello from the Produttori with this much heft. The strong mineral and saline accents typical of this site are present, but they are matched pound for pound by notable mid-palate richness and intensity in its fruit. The 2017 is a brooding powerhouse that needs time to unwind.Inc. TAX€418.79 -
Wine Advocate (94)
Following the suggestion of Produttori del Barbaresco General Manager Renato Vacca, I am starting off this series of nine Riservas with the 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Pora. This wine is usually the most delicate, slender and ephemeral of this set. However, I can immediately confirm that this is not necessarily the case with this exuberant 2015 vintage. The sunny heat of the growing season has successfully drawn out more fruit weight and intensity in this edition of Pora. The wine overdelivers in terms of aromas, but its streamlined and polished personality follows through to the palate. Those divergent intensity levels will smooth out with more bottle age. Some 16,666 bottles were released.Inc. TAX€441.59 -
Vinous (93)
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pora is rich, creamy and layered, with a bit more generosity than is typically the case. Sweet red cherry, red plum, spice and rose petal are amplified in a radiant, open-knit Barbaresco that will start drinking well in a few years' time.Inc. TAX€541.19 -
Wine Enthusiast (95)
This fragrant, full-bodied red has aromas of iris, woodland berry, dark spice and cedar. Firmly structured but also showing finesse, the savory palate exhibits fleshy raspberry, ripe black cherry and licorice framed in tightly knit, fine-grained tannins. Best from 2024 to 2029.Inc. TAX€587.99 -
(6x75cl) 2017Vinous (93)
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo shows the natural intensity of the year, and yet retains a good bit of the aromatic lift that is so typical of Nebbiolo at its best. Silky, perfumed and poised, the Rio Sordo is impressive in this tasting. Spice and floral notes lift a core of red-toned fruit in this mid-weight yet packed Barbaresco from the Produttori. This has very fine potential.Inc. TAX€449.99 -
Vinous (95)
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Asili is a real stand out. It captures all the sensuality of the year while retaining the translucence and freshness of Nebbiolo. Rose petal, crushed red berry fruit, cinnamon and spice develop with a bit of coaxing. This is another gorgeous wine from the Produttori. Asili is widely regarded as one of the best vineyards in Barbaresco, maybe the best. This wine shows why.Inc. TAX€742.79 -
Greg Sherwood MW (92+)
Produttori del Barbaresco makes its Langhe Nebbiolo with declassified Barbaresco fruit (often from parcels on lower slopes) so production volumes are notably reduced in the better vintages when more of the prime fruit finds its way into their delicious village Barbaresco DOCG or indeed one of the classy nine Cru Riservas. This young 2020 Nebbiolo certainly shows great promise with an immediately attractive array of aromatics that boast dark cherry, damson plum, sweet herbs, blood orange and a slight menthol top note. Always wonderfully intense and potent, the palate displays a medium bodied weight of red and black berry fruits, macerated strawberries and sweet cherries with an underlying cool, suave elegance and a fresh acid vitality. The finish is creamy and plush with soft plump tannins, subtle piquant black liquorice notes and a pure, weightless length. Delightfully streamlined and accessible, this 2020 continues a fine run of vintages for Produttori del Barbaresco. Drink from release and over 5 to 8 years.Inc. TAX€151.43 -
The collection case contains of one bottle each of:
1. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pora
2. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pajè
3. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Ovello
4. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo
5. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Asili
6. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà
7. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Muncagota
8. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico
9. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano
Inc. TAX€571.78 -
Wine Advocate (99)
The best wine so far (although I suspect the 2015 may ultimately enter the picture as well) is the nearly perfect 2013 Promontory Estate. It is simply richer and fuller, with greater integration of tannin, and tastes spectacular. With an opaque, dense purple color and notes of graphite, wet rocks, blackberry and blueberry fruit, some charcoal, and again, loads of spice and loamy soil nuances, the wine has great intensity, a full-bodied texture, and finely grained, sweet tannin. This is a stunner and again, accessible, but its best days are probably a good decade away, as this could very well turn out to be a 40- to 50-year wine.Inc. TAX€1,957.79 -
James Suckling (98)
This is a superb baby Noval that reminds me of the 1966. Chewy yet so polished. The light sweetness suggests an overall dialing back of the sugar content. Stemmy and lightly green. A truly classic Noval. Almost all from Pinhao. Buy. Better in 2025.Inc. TAX€395.89 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The super elegant and austere 2021 As Sortes has a sense of harmony and subtleness that is moving. I found great purity, precision and symmetry in the wine. It has marked granite sensations in the palate; it's very tasty, long, fine-grained and textured, with the cold texture of the year. Palacios compared 2021 with 2012, which was very cold and dry before the harvest. It has to be one of the most elegant vintages of As Sortes.Inc. TAX€560.39 -
Vinous (97)
The 2021 Syrah Ava comes from two schist vineyards, the main component from the parcel that forms the Rall Syrah, in a corner where the clusters are very small. It has a compelling bouquet with dark berry fruit, slate-like scents, hints of broom and Provençal herbs. The palate is medium-bodied with a dense yet paradoxically elegant frame of tannins, precise peppery black fruit with a persistent, beautifully proportioned finish. All this at just 11.9% alcohol. Brilliant.Inc. TAX€407.74 -
Tim Atkin MW (94)
Sold as a Coastal red because it includes fruit from the Swartland as well as Darling - the vineyards are only two kilometres apart - this is a delicate, yet focused red with some whole bunch spices and sap, black cherry and raspberry fruit, nuanced tannins and a floral, tapering finish. 2022-27Inc. TAX€162.97 -
Tim Atkin MW (95)
Donovan Rall only used the first pick for this stunning Piekenierskloof Grenache Blanc in 2020, fermenting and ageing it in a combination of concrete eggs and amphoras. It's a salty, complex, dialled back white with notes of gunflint, wild herbs and greengage and high-altitude minerality and precision.Inc. TAX€191.77 -
Tim Atkin MW (97)
'White Wine Discovery of the Year' - Donovan Rall has made a habit of winning one or more or my discovery of the year categories and he's done it again with this Chenin Blanc from a Paardeberg vineyard planted in the 1960s. Picked in four stages, it’s a stunning expression of the site, with saline grip, lots of extract and concentration, hay, pear and lime flavours and wonderful energy.Inc. TAX€317.74 -
Christian Eedes (94)
65% Syrah, 13% Grenache, 13% Cinsault and 9% Carignan. The nose is particularly expressive with notes of red and black berries, cured meat, lavender, herbs and pepper while the palate is rich and flavourful but equally not short of freshness – a bit less foursquare than preceding vintages have tended to be. Complex and satisfying.Inc. TAX€191.28 -
Vinous (94)
The 2020 Red Blend is 100% whole bunch matured in old French oak. It has a lovely, quite bold and expressive, succulent dark cherry and cassis-tinged bouquet that bursts from the glass. The palate is the ripest of Rall's portfolio with grippy tannins that frame the layered dark berry fruit laced with white pepper and black tea. Nicely proportioned and very persistent on the finish. Excellent.Inc. TAX€186.94 -
Vinous (95)
The 2021 Syrah is a maiden release from a 10-hectare parcel on schist soils that Rall took two weeks to track down the owner. It was cropped at 2 tons/hectare as it is so rocky. This comes from the early-picked fruit and matured in concrete only. The bouquet is very endearing with raspberry, wild strawberry and a very slight confit-like scent. The palate is very harmonious with fine grip, a little tertiary in style, beautifully proportioned and elegant on the finish. Outstanding.Inc. TAX€201.34 -
Tim Atkin MW (96)
The Swartland and Stellenbosch are the twin sources of this consistently outstanding white blend from Donovan Rall, made from a cuvée of Chenin Blanc with 32% Verdelho and a splash of Viognier. Nuanced, understated and focused, with wax, lanolin and aniseed top notes and a palate of citrus, pear and peach skin. Taut and refreshing.Inc. TAX€204.72 -
Tim Atkin MW (95)
Donovan Rall is a consummate blender of grapes, crafting seamless assemblages like this one of Chenin Blanc with 34% Verdelho and 1% Viognier. Dominated by fruit from the granite soils of the Paardeberg, it has aromas of oatmeal, wet stone and white flowers, peach, pear and lemongrass fruit and the tangy acidity of the vintage.Inc. TAX€201.34 -
Christian Eedes (97)
72% Chenin Blanc, 24% Verdelho and 4% Viognier – includes a portion of Chenin from the vineyard from which Noa below is sourced. Expressive aromatics of citrus, peach, floral perfume, herbs and a subtle reductive note while the palate has a dense core of fruit, invigorating acidity and dry finish. Poised and rather thrilling drinking.Inc. TAX€210.72 -
IWSC (97)
An expressive buttered brioche nose, gun smoke reduction, red fruit and toasted almond and pistachio notes. This very precise and elegant Champagne has a piercing acidity that underscores the long finish of lime zest, quince and apple.Inc. TAX€390.61 -
Jeb Dunnuck (98+)
The 2008 Champagne Rare Rosé is straight-up sensational. Only the second time they’ve produced this cuvée, it offers a deep, full-bodied, powerful yet chiseled and laser-focused style carrying loads of wild strawberry fruit as well as notes of orange blossom, spice, and crushed rocks. Backward, austere, yet simply loaded with potential, it needs a solid 4-5 years of bottle age and will drink brilliantly for two decades or more.Inc. TAX€719.41 -
Jancis Robinson (16)
Classy. Some sweetness. Delicate nectarine and white-peach sweetness. I wonder if the dosage is quite high here? Lots of fully ripe orchard fruit – apples and peaches and greengages. Rounded with fine fizz. A gentle English fizz, if not the most complex. (TC)Inc. TAX€416.42 -
Jancis Robinson (17)
Full bottle 1,664 g. 100% estate-grown grapes, 85% Pinot Noir, 15% Pinot Meunier. Dosage 3.5 g/l. Disgorged 24 January 2022. The Rathfinny vineyard is in Cradle Valley on the South Downs of Sussex. South facing, three miles from the sea, light thin clay loam over chalk. The winery runs on solar energy and deploys waste-water recycling. They've planted indigenous hedging and trees for windbreaks and biodiversity, and are working with Natural England, the National Trust and South Downs National Park to improve local habitat, regenerated the natural chalk grass downland and create wildlife corridors. Liquorice nose. It's hard to believe the dosage is so low, because the ripeness and roundness of fruit on this wine is exceptional. Pin-point-fine bubbles snap the lemon and blueberry fruit into taut lines. There's a cool stoniness, like mossy concrete; an almost imperceptible peppery nuttiness; and then the wine momentarily widens into sweet pear before narrowing into a piercing finish.Inc. TAX€416.42 -
Falstaff (93)
The nose is a wonderful combination of ripeness and freshness, of crushed, white strawberry and citrus zestiness, wrapped up in creaminess. The palate comes in with briskness that speaks of the estate's customary low dosage, but it sits well with the beautifully sunny from from the ripe 2018 vintage. There is an inherent balance and a beautiful depth of fruit that makes the mid-palate serene, elegant, chalky and taut. Lively bubbles enhance that feeling. There is concentration here and a whole lot of elegance. Lovely and bright now but certain to benefit from further bottle age.Inc. TAX€280.82 -
Wine Advocate (93)
La Gundiñas is the wine that shows the most differences between 2017 and 2018. The 2017 La Vizcaína Las Gundiñas is dark and concentrated, a wine of sun, while the 2018 is delicate and feels like a mini Bonnes Mares! This is quite like a Cornas—meaty, juicy, a little reticent and powerful, with abundant tannins. This is one wine that behaves better in 2017 than in 2016. This is a plot that has ups and down; it might be more regular in the future, as they finally bought it in 2018. Some 5,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2019.Inc. TAX€202.08 -
(6x75cl) 2020Wine Advocate (95)
The 2020 La Vizcaína La del Vivo is super harmonious, tasty and balanced. The wine matured in two 2,500-liter oak foudres, and a small part fermented and matured in amphorae with skins. It's varietal and expressive and comes from two plots, one with sandy soils and another one in Cacabelos with some boulders. There's always a small percentage of Doña Blanca in the blend. It's very dry and has a chalky texture. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2021.Inc. TAX€230.14 -
Wine Advocate (95)
I was impressed by the 2017 La Vizcaína El Rapolao, but the warm vintage was very good for a warmer vineyard like El Rapolao. This is hands-down my favorite of the 2017s from La Vizcaína, the wine that shows more freshness. It's harmonious and perhaps was harvested a little earlier than the others. Like the other wines from the range, this 2017 has more color than the 2018, as well as more power and a little more concentration, and it's also denser than the 2018, with tannins that are grittier and a little drier. But if I didn't have the 2018 next to this, I would only be praising it, because the 2017 is truly impressive, all in place and simply one step up in power and all the rest to keep the balance. 10,000 bottles were filled in May 2019. This is a late-budding vineyard, and it didn't suffer the effect of the spring hail from the year.Inc. TAX€286.38
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Wine Advocate (95)
The Produttori del Barbaresco 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Muncagota shows beautifully in this sunny and warm vintage, producing intense and compelling primary fruit with wild cherry, plum and black currant. Compared to the other Riservas, the fruit profile of Muncagota is darker and richer. More significant is the role the tannins play in this wine. They contribute to a long and firm spinal cord that gives structure and muscle mass. This Barbaresco Riserva shows an affinity to shaved truffles over egg pasta, or gamey fowl such as duck or pigeon. Some 16,666 bottles were made.In Bond€348.00 -
Vinous (94)
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Ovello is a heady, explosive wine. I don't think I have ever tasted an Ovello from the Produttori with this much heft. The strong mineral and saline accents typical of this site are present, but they are matched pound for pound by notable mid-palate richness and intensity in its fruit. The 2017 is a brooding powerhouse that needs time to unwind.In Bond€326.00 -
Wine Advocate (94)
Following the suggestion of Produttori del Barbaresco General Manager Renato Vacca, I am starting off this series of nine Riservas with the 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Pora. This wine is usually the most delicate, slender and ephemeral of this set. However, I can immediately confirm that this is not necessarily the case with this exuberant 2015 vintage. The sunny heat of the growing season has successfully drawn out more fruit weight and intensity in this edition of Pora. The wine overdelivers in terms of aromas, but its streamlined and polished personality follows through to the palate. Those divergent intensity levels will smooth out with more bottle age. Some 16,666 bottles were released.In Bond€345.00 -
Vinous (93)
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pora is rich, creamy and layered, with a bit more generosity than is typically the case. Sweet red cherry, red plum, spice and rose petal are amplified in a radiant, open-knit Barbaresco that will start drinking well in a few years' time.In Bond€428.00 -
Wine Enthusiast (95)
This fragrant, full-bodied red has aromas of iris, woodland berry, dark spice and cedar. Firmly structured but also showing finesse, the savory palate exhibits fleshy raspberry, ripe black cherry and licorice framed in tightly knit, fine-grained tannins. Best from 2024 to 2029.In Bond€467.00 -
(6x75cl) 2017
Vinous (93)
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo shows the natural intensity of the year, and yet retains a good bit of the aromatic lift that is so typical of Nebbiolo at its best. Silky, perfumed and poised, the Rio Sordo is impressive in this tasting. Spice and floral notes lift a core of red-toned fruit in this mid-weight yet packed Barbaresco from the Produttori. This has very fine potential.In Bond€352.00 -
Vinous (95)
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Asili is a real stand out. It captures all the sensuality of the year while retaining the translucence and freshness of Nebbiolo. Rose petal, crushed red berry fruit, cinnamon and spice develop with a bit of coaxing. This is another gorgeous wine from the Produttori. Asili is widely regarded as one of the best vineyards in Barbaresco, maybe the best. This wine shows why.In Bond€596.00 -
Greg Sherwood MW (92+)
Produttori del Barbaresco makes its Langhe Nebbiolo with declassified Barbaresco fruit (often from parcels on lower slopes) so production volumes are notably reduced in the better vintages when more of the prime fruit finds its way into their delicious village Barbaresco DOCG or indeed one of the classy nine Cru Riservas. This young 2020 Nebbiolo certainly shows great promise with an immediately attractive array of aromatics that boast dark cherry, damson plum, sweet herbs, blood orange and a slight menthol top note. Always wonderfully intense and potent, the palate displays a medium bodied weight of red and black berry fruits, macerated strawberries and sweet cherries with an underlying cool, suave elegance and a fresh acid vitality. The finish is creamy and plush with soft plump tannins, subtle piquant black liquorice notes and a pure, weightless length. Delightfully streamlined and accessible, this 2020 continues a fine run of vintages for Produttori del Barbaresco. Drink from release and over 5 to 8 years.In Bond€104.00 -
The collection case contains of one bottle each of:
1. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pora
2. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pajè
3. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Ovello
4. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo
5. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Asili
6. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà
7. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Muncagota
8. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico
9. 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano
In Bond€442.00 -
Wine Advocate (99)
The best wine so far (although I suspect the 2015 may ultimately enter the picture as well) is the nearly perfect 2013 Promontory Estate. It is simply richer and fuller, with greater integration of tannin, and tastes spectacular. With an opaque, dense purple color and notes of graphite, wet rocks, blackberry and blueberry fruit, some charcoal, and again, loads of spice and loamy soil nuances, the wine has great intensity, a full-bodied texture, and finely grained, sweet tannin. This is a stunner and again, accessible, but its best days are probably a good decade away, as this could very well turn out to be a 40- to 50-year wine.In Bond€1,620.00 -
James Suckling (98)
This is a superb baby Noval that reminds me of the 1966. Chewy yet so polished. The light sweetness suggests an overall dialing back of the sugar content. Stemmy and lightly green. A truly classic Noval. Almost all from Pinhao. Buy. Better in 2025.In Bond€299.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The super elegant and austere 2021 As Sortes has a sense of harmony and subtleness that is moving. I found great purity, precision and symmetry in the wine. It has marked granite sensations in the palate; it's very tasty, long, fine-grained and textured, with the cold texture of the year. Palacios compared 2021 with 2012, which was very cold and dry before the harvest. It has to be one of the most elegant vintages of As Sortes.In Bond€444.00 -
Vinous (97)
The 2021 Syrah Ava comes from two schist vineyards, the main component from the parcel that forms the Rall Syrah, in a corner where the clusters are very small. It has a compelling bouquet with dark berry fruit, slate-like scents, hints of broom and Provençal herbs. The palate is medium-bodied with a dense yet paradoxically elegant frame of tannins, precise peppery black fruit with a persistent, beautifully proportioned finish. All this at just 11.9% alcohol. Brilliant.In Bond€316.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (94)
Sold as a Coastal red because it includes fruit from the Swartland as well as Darling - the vineyards are only two kilometres apart - this is a delicate, yet focused red with some whole bunch spices and sap, black cherry and raspberry fruit, nuanced tannins and a floral, tapering finish. 2022-27In Bond€116.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (95)
Donovan Rall only used the first pick for this stunning Piekenierskloof Grenache Blanc in 2020, fermenting and ageing it in a combination of concrete eggs and amphoras. It's a salty, complex, dialled back white with notes of gunflint, wild herbs and greengage and high-altitude minerality and precision.In Bond€140.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (97)
'White Wine Discovery of the Year' - Donovan Rall has made a habit of winning one or more or my discovery of the year categories and he's done it again with this Chenin Blanc from a Paardeberg vineyard planted in the 1960s. Picked in four stages, it’s a stunning expression of the site, with saline grip, lots of extract and concentration, hay, pear and lime flavours and wonderful energy.In Bond€241.00 -
Christian Eedes (94)
65% Syrah, 13% Grenache, 13% Cinsault and 9% Carignan. The nose is particularly expressive with notes of red and black berries, cured meat, lavender, herbs and pepper while the palate is rich and flavourful but equally not short of freshness – a bit less foursquare than preceding vintages have tended to be. Complex and satisfying.In Bond€138.00 -
Vinous (94)
The 2020 Red Blend is 100% whole bunch matured in old French oak. It has a lovely, quite bold and expressive, succulent dark cherry and cassis-tinged bouquet that bursts from the glass. The palate is the ripest of Rall's portfolio with grippy tannins that frame the layered dark berry fruit laced with white pepper and black tea. Nicely proportioned and very persistent on the finish. Excellent.In Bond€132.00 -
Vinous (95)
The 2021 Syrah is a maiden release from a 10-hectare parcel on schist soils that Rall took two weeks to track down the owner. It was cropped at 2 tons/hectare as it is so rocky. This comes from the early-picked fruit and matured in concrete only. The bouquet is very endearing with raspberry, wild strawberry and a very slight confit-like scent. The palate is very harmonious with fine grip, a little tertiary in style, beautifully proportioned and elegant on the finish. Outstanding.In Bond€144.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (96)
The Swartland and Stellenbosch are the twin sources of this consistently outstanding white blend from Donovan Rall, made from a cuvée of Chenin Blanc with 32% Verdelho and a splash of Viognier. Nuanced, understated and focused, with wax, lanolin and aniseed top notes and a palate of citrus, pear and peach skin. Taut and refreshing.In Bond€150.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (95)
Donovan Rall is a consummate blender of grapes, crafting seamless assemblages like this one of Chenin Blanc with 34% Verdelho and 1% Viognier. Dominated by fruit from the granite soils of the Paardeberg, it has aromas of oatmeal, wet stone and white flowers, peach, pear and lemongrass fruit and the tangy acidity of the vintage.In Bond€144.00 -
Christian Eedes (97)
72% Chenin Blanc, 24% Verdelho and 4% Viognier – includes a portion of Chenin from the vineyard from which Noa below is sourced. Expressive aromatics of citrus, peach, floral perfume, herbs and a subtle reductive note while the palate has a dense core of fruit, invigorating acidity and dry finish. Poised and rather thrilling drinking.In Bond€155.00 -
IWSC (97)
An expressive buttered brioche nose, gun smoke reduction, red fruit and toasted almond and pistachio notes. This very precise and elegant Champagne has a piercing acidity that underscores the long finish of lime zest, quince and apple.In Bond€316.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (98+)
The 2008 Champagne Rare Rosé is straight-up sensational. Only the second time they’ve produced this cuvée, it offers a deep, full-bodied, powerful yet chiseled and laser-focused style carrying loads of wild strawberry fruit as well as notes of orange blossom, spice, and crushed rocks. Backward, austere, yet simply loaded with potential, it needs a solid 4-5 years of bottle age and will drink brilliantly for two decades or more.In Bond€590.00 -
Jancis Robinson (16)
Classy. Some sweetness. Delicate nectarine and white-peach sweetness. I wonder if the dosage is quite high here? Lots of fully ripe orchard fruit – apples and peaches and greengages. Rounded with fine fizz. A gentle English fizz, if not the most complex. (TC)In Bond€328.00 -
Jancis Robinson (17)
Full bottle 1,664 g. 100% estate-grown grapes, 85% Pinot Noir, 15% Pinot Meunier. Dosage 3.5 g/l. Disgorged 24 January 2022. The Rathfinny vineyard is in Cradle Valley on the South Downs of Sussex. South facing, three miles from the sea, light thin clay loam over chalk. The winery runs on solar energy and deploys waste-water recycling. They've planted indigenous hedging and trees for windbreaks and biodiversity, and are working with Natural England, the National Trust and South Downs National Park to improve local habitat, regenerated the natural chalk grass downland and create wildlife corridors. Liquorice nose. It's hard to believe the dosage is so low, because the ripeness and roundness of fruit on this wine is exceptional. Pin-point-fine bubbles snap the lemon and blueberry fruit into taut lines. There's a cool stoniness, like mossy concrete; an almost imperceptible peppery nuttiness; and then the wine momentarily widens into sweet pear before narrowing into a piercing finish.In Bond€328.00 -
Falstaff (93)
The nose is a wonderful combination of ripeness and freshness, of crushed, white strawberry and citrus zestiness, wrapped up in creaminess. The palate comes in with briskness that speaks of the estate's customary low dosage, but it sits well with the beautifully sunny from from the ripe 2018 vintage. There is an inherent balance and a beautiful depth of fruit that makes the mid-palate serene, elegant, chalky and taut. Lively bubbles enhance that feeling. There is concentration here and a whole lot of elegance. Lovely and bright now but certain to benefit from further bottle age.In Bond€215.00 -
Wine Advocate (93)
La Gundiñas is the wine that shows the most differences between 2017 and 2018. The 2017 La Vizcaína Las Gundiñas is dark and concentrated, a wine of sun, while the 2018 is delicate and feels like a mini Bonnes Mares! This is quite like a Cornas—meaty, juicy, a little reticent and powerful, with abundant tannins. This is one wine that behaves better in 2017 than in 2016. This is a plot that has ups and down; it might be more regular in the future, as they finally bought it in 2018. Some 5,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2019.In Bond€147.00 -
(6x75cl) 2020
Wine Advocate (95)
The 2020 La Vizcaína La del Vivo is super harmonious, tasty and balanced. The wine matured in two 2,500-liter oak foudres, and a small part fermented and matured in amphorae with skins. It's varietal and expressive and comes from two plots, one with sandy soils and another one in Cacabelos with some boulders. There's always a small percentage of Doña Blanca in the blend. It's very dry and has a chalky texture. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2021.In Bond€173.00 -
Wine Advocate (95)
I was impressed by the 2017 La Vizcaína El Rapolao, but the warm vintage was very good for a warmer vineyard like El Rapolao. This is hands-down my favorite of the 2017s from La Vizcaína, the wine that shows more freshness. It's harmonious and perhaps was harvested a little earlier than the others. Like the other wines from the range, this 2017 has more color than the 2018, as well as more power and a little more concentration, and it's also denser than the 2018, with tannins that are grittier and a little drier. But if I didn't have the 2018 next to this, I would only be praising it, because the 2017 is truly impressive, all in place and simply one step up in power and all the rest to keep the balance. 10,000 bottles were filled in May 2019. This is a late-budding vineyard, and it didn't suffer the effect of the spring hail from the year.In Bond€220.00
