Vinous - Antonio Galloni (95-97)

The 2021 La Gaffelière is a wine of extraordinary finesse and class. Time in the glass brings out striking depth and complexity. The aromatics alone are beguiling but everything about the 2021 speaks to elegance. Crushed red berry fruit, rose petals, blood orange, mint and saline notes punctuate the finish.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (95-97)

The 2021 La Gaffelière is a wine of extraordinary finesse and class. Time in the glass brings out striking depth and complexity. The aromatics alone are beguiling but everything about the 2021 speaks to elegance. Crushed red berry fruit, rose petals, blood orange, mint and saline notes punctuate the finish.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (95-97)

The 2021 La Gaffelière is a wine of extraordinary finesse and class. Time in the glass brings out striking depth and complexity. The aromatics alone are beguiling but everything about the 2021 speaks to elegance. Crushed red berry fruit, rose petals, blood orange, mint and saline notes punctuate the finish.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (95-97)

The 2021 La Gaffelière is a wine of extraordinary finesse and class. Time in the glass brings out striking depth and complexity. The aromatics alone are beguiling but everything about the 2021 speaks to elegance. Crushed red berry fruit, rose petals, blood orange, mint and saline notes punctuate the finish.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (99)

The 2022 La Gaffelière is fantastic, but it has also closed down considerably post-bottling. Supremely elegant and perfumed, the 2022 is an absolutely stunning wine. Blood orange, pomegranate, spice, white pepper, dried herbs and all sorts of floral overtones soar from the glass. The Franc is so impressive here. I don't expect this magical Saint-Émilion to be ready any time soon. Today, it is a wine of dazzling complexity and purity for the cellar.

Jeb Dunnuck (97)

From one of the finest estates in Saint-Emilion, the 2023 Château La Gaffelière checks in as 58% Merlot and 42% Cabernet Franc from clay-limestone soils that spent 21 months in 50% new French oak (including 12% 500-liter barrels) with 2% in amphora. Ripe red and black fruits, leafy, smoky tobacco, graphite, crushed stone, and hints of chocolate all emerge from this brilliant 2023, and it's concentrated and medium-bodied on the palate, with a pure, focused, layered mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, integrated acidity, and a great finish. Don't miss it. Drink 2029-2055.

Jeb Dunnuck (97)

From one of the finest estates in Saint-Emilion, the 2023 Château La Gaffelière checks in as 58% Merlot and 42% Cabernet Franc from clay-limestone soils that spent 21 months in 50% new French oak (including 12% 500-liter barrels) with 2% in amphora. Ripe red and black fruits, leafy, smoky tobacco, graphite, crushed stone, and hints of chocolate all emerge from this brilliant 2023, and it's concentrated and medium-bodied on the palate, with a pure, focused, layered mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, integrated acidity, and a great finish. Don't miss it. Drink 2029-2055.

Immerse yourself in the exquisite world of Garde 2020, an exemplary embodiment of masterful viniculture. This red blend is cultivated in the most fertile vineyards of France, benefitting from the region's rhythmically shifting climatic conditions. With every sip, you'll discern a delectable harmony of ripe cherries, plums, and tantalising spice notes — a testament to its impeccable balance of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre grapes.

Honouring traditional wine-making methods, the genius vintners at Garde 2020 hand-select the choicest grapes. Months of meticulous fermentation in French oak barrels bequeath the wine its remarkably smooth finish - a finish hailed in global wine circles for its captivating complexity.

As a showpiece of what the 2020 vintage offered, Garde 2020 captures the essence of time, passion and craftsmanship into each bottle. Not merely a wine, but an ode to the vintner's art; make Garde 2020 your indulgence, your celebration, your memory maker.

Immerse yourself in the exquisite world of Garde 2020, an exemplary embodiment of masterful viniculture. This red blend is cultivated in the most fertile vineyards of France, benefitting from the region's rhythmically shifting climatic conditions. With every sip, you'll discern a delectable harmony of ripe cherries, plums, and tantalising spice notes — a testament to its impeccable balance of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre grapes.

Honouring traditional wine-making methods, the genius vintners at Garde 2020 hand-select the choicest grapes. Months of meticulous fermentation in French oak barrels bequeath the wine its remarkably smooth finish - a finish hailed in global wine circles for its captivating complexity.

As a showpiece of what the 2020 vintage offered, Garde 2020 captures the essence of time, passion and craftsmanship into each bottle. Not merely a wine, but an ode to the vintner's art; make Garde 2020 your indulgence, your celebration, your memory maker.

Immerse yourself in the exquisite world of Garde 2020, an exemplary embodiment of masterful viniculture. This red blend is cultivated in the most fertile vineyards of France, benefitting from the region's rhythmically shifting climatic conditions. With every sip, you'll discern a delectable harmony of ripe cherries, plums, and tantalising spice notes — a testament to its impeccable balance of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre grapes.

Honouring traditional wine-making methods, the genius vintners at Garde 2020 hand-select the choicest grapes. Months of meticulous fermentation in French oak barrels bequeath the wine its remarkably smooth finish - a finish hailed in global wine circles for its captivating complexity.

As a showpiece of what the 2020 vintage offered, Garde 2020 captures the essence of time, passion and craftsmanship into each bottle. Not merely a wine, but an ode to the vintner's art; make Garde 2020 your indulgence, your celebration, your memory maker.

Wine Advocate (90)

A blend of 62% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2021 La Garde possesses a somber, dark bouquet with aromas of wild dark berries, licorice, spices and coniferous forest. Medium-bodied, rich and concentrated, it’s long with structuring tannins and a firm finish. It needs some years in the cellar to chill out.

Vinous (90)

La Gerla's 2009 Brunello di Montalcino stands out for its textured, refined personality. Sweet red cherries, tobacco, leather, spices and mint meld together in a gracious, supple Brunello. The flavors are already a bit forward. I wouldn't wait too long here.

Vinous (95)

La Gerla's 2010 Brunello di Montalcino is absolutely delicious. Dark red cherries, plums, mint, smoke, tobacco and licorice flesh out in a wine that offers notable depth, structure and power. The 2010 is medium in body and also quite polished, yet there is a level of inner sweetness and perfume that makes the wine incredibly appealing, even today. Ideally, though, readers should give the 2010 at least a few years in the cellar. The precise, delicate finish is a thing of beauty.

Vinous (92)

The 2011 Brunello di Montalcino is dark, sensual and inviting. Succulent red cherry, tobacco, mint, leather, sage and licorice flesh out in a radiant, open-knit Brunello that will drink well upon release. There is a lot to like here, especially the wine's immediacy. The 2011 is not especially complex, but it is beautifully balanced and harmonious from start to finish.

Vinous (94)

La Gerla's 2015 Brunello di Montalcino is gorgeous, showing depths of earthy moist soil, minerals and hints of animal musk up front, giving way to crushed strawberry and cherry, getting spicy with lifting minerals yet retaining a rich character throughout. On the palate, silky textures are matched by cool-toned acids and refreshing moist mineral tones, as zesty cherry and cedar come forward. It's so balanced and smooth, with high energy lasting into the long finish, showing saturating spice and salty minerals, yet remaining cool-toned and precise. The 2015 is a beautifully balanced wine that’s firmly rooted in the earth.

Vinous (95)

The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino displays depths of rich blackberry and cherry sauce with mentholated herbal tones adding lift, while notes of cedar and clove develop in the glass. Its textures are like pure silk, draped slowly across the palate, showing admirable density and weight, balanced by bright acids and minerals. This is so tightly wound up in its youthful state, yet it’s packed full of potential with a core of dark primary fruit that isn’t quite ready to reveal its charms. A web of fine tannin makes itself known only at the very end, as the 2016 slowly tapers off to hints of tobacco. The 2016 will take some time for this to come fully into focus, but it will be well worth the wait.

Vinous (92)

The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino keeps you coming back to the glass again and again with a bouquet that"s like an emulsion of raspberry sauce and violet candies plus black tea, blood orange and clove. This is a soft, round effort that impresses with cool-toned red fruits and salty minerals and acids that tug at the cheeks as they work their way across the palate. Those grippy 2017 tannins are there, but they’re nicely offset by cooling herbal tones and pretty inner florals.

Kerin O'Keefe (97)

The nose is classic forest floor, violet, new leather and ripe berry while the luminous, full-bodied palate offers layers of depth and finesse even at this young age, including succulent Morello cherry, strawberry compote, licorice and black tea. It’s delicious and beautifully balanced, with bright acidity and tightly woven, fine-grained tannins.

Wine Advocate (95)

As usual, La Gomerie’s 2005 is a sexy, dense plum/purple-tinged effort. From a 7-acre, 32-year old site planted with 100% Merlot, it exhibits a sumptuous bouquet of white chocolate, roasted coffee, blackberries, black cherries, graphite, and toasty oak. This is a modern-styled, decadently rich St.-Emilion, but because of the vintage’s higher acidity and more tannic structure, this offering possesses a more classic framework than usual. A sensational wine, it should be drinkable in 3-4 years, and age beautifully for 15-20.