The vines, a mixture of mainly Tempranillo with Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, are over 40-years old and have long been bottled as an oak-aged Crianza, although, legally, it could easily qualify as Gran Reserva. Aged for three years in...
We love old school Chateauneuf du Pape- wines with great aromatic complexity, layer upon layer of alluring fruit flavors and that essence of the unique soils on which the vines are grown. We love them even better when they’ve been aged...
I’ve been bumping up against the wines of Enzo Boglietti for many years- the first time being, I think, back around 2001 or ‘02 when several appeared in a blind tasting of nearly 300 Barolos and Barbarescos done over three days in Alba. ...
Vinous: 97 Points Outer quote mark Conterno’s 2016 Barolo Francia is effusive, with a real sense of expansiveness that gives the wine breadth. Sage, mint, cedar, tobacco and strong mineral accents complement a core of dark fruit in a...
Wine Country: Italy Wine Subregion: Piemonte Wine Sub-subregion: Barolo Whether I’m travelling in Piemonte speaking with actual people or lurking on various social media sites where the local wine cognoscenti gather, I always have my radar engaged...
This is, in many ways, the most representative wine in the cellar and always one of the best. The vineyard is so steep, standing in it, you feel like you’re about fall off! An elegant, ultra-refined vintage here with amazing lift and polish. This...
Domaine le Clos des Lumières is a 50-hectare family farm founded in 1946 by the grandfather of the domaine’s current vigneron, Gerald Serrano. The ambitious, talented Serrano was the first to actually bottle wine here rather than sell...
The Petit is blended from around 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and a similar amount of Merlot (a portion of which dates from the 1850s) and the rest old vine Cabernet Franc and an ancient clone of Petit Verdot; it’s a gorgeously glossy red whose glorious...
2019 Istine Chianti Classico Casanova dell'Aia Wine Enthusiast: Radiant and delicious, this gorgeous red is for Sangiovese purists and fans of terroir-driven finesse. It opens with enticing scents of woodland berries, violet and camphor, and the elegant,...
PRIMA Notes: Man, I am loving these 2019 Tuscan reds. The best are just, well, thoroughly charming, and yet they have a sense of gravitas that goes along with their elegance too. What I like best is their textbook Sangiovese aromatics that, thanks...
Importer's Notes: Cultivated organically, a blend of 90% Prugnolo Gentile, 5% Canaiolo Nero, and 5% Merlot from 5 to 40 year old vines in the sandy tuffaceous soils of the Martiena cru. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts in...
let’s also consider Barbera 2.0 !The Odderos have been producing a Barbera d’Asti DOC for many decades but, because they made so little, and because the family was always worried that American consumers would confuse their two Barberas,...
Tasting Notes: Brovia’s Arneis is as good as it gets for this white grape from Piedmont. The wine offers mineral tones, citrus zest, and crisp and lightly exotic notes. This is absolutely delicious stuff with great vibrancy and soft-textured fruit...
Pronounced var-renne, this cuvée comes from roughly six acres on the plain, where the heavier clay soils give more spice and structure to the wine. The vines are mature, averaging 45-years; the wine ferments in steel and undergoes around 14 months...
Wine Country: Italy Wine Subregion: Piemonte Thank goodness there are people like Christoph Kunzli in the world; people who value time-honored winemaking traditions while, at the same time, have the energy, passion and vision to bring great wines to the...
PRIMA Notes: Even though Tony Rynders, the owner/winemaker at Tendril Wine Cellars, calls his second label “Child’s Play”, the thought and effort that goes into making this phenomenal Pinot Noir is far from simple. Tony, the same...
100% Ribolla Gialla While tourists still flock in incredible numbers to Venice, Verona and Milan in northern Italy, they still seem reluctant to explore much further east, even though those who do will discover one of the most unique, historic and...
#19 PRIMA’s ’24 for 24’ Best Wines Of The Year
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Our allocation of DuMOL’s 2022 single vineyard Chardonnays and Pinot Noir is pitifully small but we wanted...
2022 Gobelsburg Rosé Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg 'Cistercien ' Much of Austria’s Danube Valley is considered far too cool to fully ripen the native red wine grapes planted there and some of those become the source of...
You can practically hear the sea gulls swirling overhead when you pull the cork on this…..Giorgio Rivetti’s foray into western Tuscany has been the source of several stunning wines starting with, of course, his impressive and top-value...
It’s not hard to find Pinot Grigio out there. There’s a virtual ocean of it made from the flatlands of Trentino and the Veneto available for your easy-drinking pleasure. But those inexpensive but often character-deficient PGs give...
Enzo and Carlo Revello take over their father’s estate in 1990: their vineyards, once belonging to the local parish, boast parcels in the crus of Giachini, Rocche dell’Annunziata, Conca dell’Annunziata and Gattera.Starting in 2016 the...
Jeb Dunnuck: A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Merlot, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Artist Series reveals a deeper ruby/purple color as well as loads of black fruits, tobacco leaf, cured meats,...
Rich red wine characteristics meet the light effervescence of a champagne-style sparkler. Ripe strawberry and cherry, blood orange, baking spice, and tangerine pith all culminate in a lip smacking finish. Refreshing, yet with a depth of flavor that...
Importer's Notes: After 27 years importing wine, HPS President Dan Kravitz took the plunge and purchased 13.5 acres of vineyard land in Roussillon. Named Cabirau after the vineyard’s original designation, the domaine lies on a hill below the...
PRIMA Notes: One of the new outposts in the Torres empire is in Costers del Segre, a particularly remote part of Catalonia in the rain shadow of the Pyrenees. This is an ancient growing region with sparse rainfall and dramatic diurnal shifts...
We seem to spend a lot of time talking about cellaring Brunello but not enough time actually drinking it. That’s a problem I sometimes face when looking in the cellar for something to drink as the grill gets hot and the steak sits ready to go on...
Brovia’s parcel is all of a half-hectare of vines planted back in 1975. The spot faces dead south and farmed organically by winemaker Alex Sanchez, by marriage, the fourth generation Brovia to farm the site. While his cru Barolos get lots and...
We love second label Bordeaux- already a great deal, we’ve made this top-notch but drinkable Saint Estephe a stone cold bargain! Drink now or hold up to a decade.
There are many who think this has become the top wine in the cellar as it shows all of the hallmark elegance and balance of this cellar. To me it is always the wine I’d most want to use to show off the many attributes of Barolo in general...
A young winery that’s very much on the lips of everyone in the Langhe, the young brother-sister combo Alberto and Caterina Burzi’s cellar is in an innocuous-looking building off the Santa Maria parking lot, just across the street from...
Winery Notes: The Domaine Thierry Drouin is located in the magnificent Pouilly-Fuissé winegrowing area, between the Roche de Vergisson and the Roche de Solutré-Pouilly, to the south of Bourgogne. The estate vinifies the...
It’s Maison Saint AIX’s absolutely perfect balance between its elegantly expressed, copious red fruit and watermelon, and the wine’s clean, vibrant, natural tasting acidity. Nothing stands out yet it all stands out: its...
Walter Fissore at Cogno has done an incredible job with Nascetta, taking this relatively unknown grape of Novello and bringing out its richness, texture and lovely character. In a blind tasting you might think it was a very fine Vouvray!...
Nowhere else, I think, does the unique soil of a region so inform the style of the wine as it does in the Soave Classico appellation. Located on a sweep of hills that roll eastward as far as the Venice lagoon, this area is not to be confused with...
James Suckling 91 Points: A tangy array of wild herbs and spices colors the bright berry fruit. Hints of minerals and tangerines, too. Medium-bodied and quite elegant and fluid, with silky, refined tannins. A juicy and very well-made Rosso, to enjoy now.
Darting’s gorgeous Riesling from the Pfalz in Germany is just a beautiful wine. While not exactly sweet, it’s not dry either. Call it ‘halbtroken’ or half-dry. There is a pleasing...
We’ve just received a small allocation of these Chateauneuf blue bloods! The white is a rarity made from Clairette, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne. While a lot of Chateauneuf Blancs can be quite low in acid and lacking in great structure, this is not! Love...
Known around La Morra as ‘Barologirl’ Giulia Negri is making quite a name for herself, not only thanks to a turn around her vineyards on TV with Stanley Tucci but with wines like this pretty, easy-to-love Nebbiolo. 2021 Giulia...
Those of us in the wine business, well, those of us who truly love wine anyway, make no pretense towards absolute impartiality when it comes to judging our favorites. We form deep emotional attachments to some wines and they become more like old...
Proprietor Selection is a reserve Chardonnay produced only in exceptional vintages by blending the best barrels from the finest lots. The 2021 represents the 15th vintage in 41 years. Like all of our Chardonnays, this wine comes...
At last the Clos La Folie drought is over and we couldn’t be more excited! To the uninitiated, Rully, near the regional city of Chalon-sur-Soane and just three miles south of Chassagne-Montrachet as the Burgundian crow flies, has long been the source of...
If they needed a set for a movie about Burgundy in the 1950s, they wouldn’t have to look any further than this eight-generation old cellar in Savigny-Les-Beaune. Here is a spot steeped in tradition with none of the frou-frou associated with some of the...
If it were up to me, Austrian Gruner Veltliner would be the daily fare on everyone’s dinner table. Its characteristics are perfectly suited to a broad array of cuisines, from spicy Asian fare to richer dishes of fish, poultry or pork. Typically...
Wine Country: France Wine Subregion: Rhone Valley While one ordinarily thinks of the Cotes du Rhone, one thinks of the Grenache-based wines of the southern Rhone Valley. This is not one of those. Iconic winemaker Jean-Louis Chave, instead,...
The French invasion of Oregon, beginning many years ago when the Drouhin family first planted their flag in the Willamette Valley, was based entirely on the notion that, without the ability to expand Burgundy’s borders any further, Oregon would be the...
The name of this obscure, off-the-beaten path appellation is actually bigger than the actual land it covers but, trust me, once you’ve had a glass or two, ‘Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle’ will just roll off your tongue. The wine comes from the adjoining...
Summer is coming back! We promise. Cassis sits with Bandol on one side of Marseilles on the Mediterranean coast but its production is a mere fraction of their much-better known neighbor. And, what, say, Domaine Tempier, is to Bandol is what Domaine du...
#7 PRIMA’s ’24 for 24’ Best Wines Of The Year
Wine Country: France
Wine Subregion: Burgundy
Wine Sub-subregion: Chablis
New to PRIMA (and to the United States!), last year’s debut 2022 vintage marked the discovery one of...
Wine professionals love to argue about Pigato, the very intriguing white grape indigenous to Liguria. Pigato is Vermentino many argue. But ask any farmer working the steep, rocky slopes that loom over the ocean there and they’ll tell you there’s a big...
Like the Côte d’Or, the Maconnais was blessed with near ideal conditions in 2023. Yields, for the first time in a while, were higher than normal and that provided ample counter weight to q warm growing season. The resulting wines...
This juicy, floral Cabernet Franc Rose from the Loire Valley was a huge hit last year and we regretted not ordering more than we did. We're not making the same mistake twice! Not only will this be one of the best Roses you'll enjoy this spring, it might...