Wine Spectator The Top 100

#1 on Wine Spectator's Top 100 for 2024

A remarkable effort that channels the finesse of the vintage with rich, muscular edges, offering a base of graphite and cassis notes that gather around elegant layers of dried rosemary... Read More

Chimney Rock's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District is pretty textbook stuff, delivering black cherries and cassis dusted in dried earth and mixed spices. Medium to full-bodied, it's silky and fine, not overpowering... Read More

You can't beat this value. The G.D. Vajra 2020 Barolo Albe is buttoned up with fresh primary fruit, and the wine does not have that hint of over-ripeness that is found across this vintage. The fruit is dark and savory, and... Read More

First made in 1971, this legendary Italian wine now celebrates its 50th birthday. Happy Birthday, Tignanello! The Marchesi Antinori 2021 Tignanello (made with 79% Sangiovese, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc) pulls... Read More

Laced with black cherry, black currant and violet aromas and flavors, this red is immediately appealing for its lush fruit. Balanced, fresh and long, with iron, wild herb and tobacco details. Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon.... Read More

This stands out for its expressive, elegant bouquet of citrus blossoms, guava and red currant -- flavors that are equally engaging and fresh on the palate, picking up mineral details and lingering nicely around polished tannins.... Read More

This has racy, mouthwatering acidity coursing underneath the core notes of mulberry, bitter cherry and blackberry. Shows the streamlined tang of a coulis, while offering a range of additional bramble, anise and savory tea details... Read More

The Paolo Scavino 2019 Barolo (with Enrico Scavino's signature on the front label) was a little slow to open and showed some reductive qualities when I tasted it. Give it more time to develop. Reading between the lines, you... Read More

#54 on Wine Spectator's Top 100 for 2024

This is tightly coiled, displaying vivid pomegranate, cherry and boysenberry coulis notes wrapped around energetic acidity. The finish offers a flurry of iris, hibiscus, anise and apple... Read More

A knockout wine as always, polished yet potently built, with dynamic blackberry and raspberry flavors laced with garrigue, loamy mineral, fruitcake spices and smoked meat. Builds richness toward big but polished tannins. Grenache,... Read More

#16 2024 Top 100 Wines

A stunning white, this leaps out of the glass with aromatic mango, orange blossom and salted ripe melon flavors. Gains complexity from grilled peach, lemon oil, savory litsea oil and toasted herb elements,... Read More

The 2019 Bolgheri Superiore Grattamacco (a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 15% Sangiovese) is a real beauty and shows very nicely today based on advancing vine age alone. Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah vines show... Read More

The Marchesi Antinori 2019 Tignanello was born in a classic growing season that saw some cooling summer rains and relatively stress-free conditions. This is an elegant and extremely polished wine made with mostly Sangiovese and... Read More

Deep ruby. Red and blue fruit, garrigue, pungent floral and exotic spice aromas show fine definition and mineral lift. Juicy black raspberry, boysenberry and candied lavender flavors deepen through the back half, with no loss... Read More

Detert's 2018 Cabernet Franc is fabulous. It may very well be the single most expressive and distinctive Cabernet Franc in the valley. Deep and inky in the glass, the Detert Franc is marked by soaring aromatics and beams of... Read More

The last wine poured at my tasting at the winery is the G.D. Vajra 2019 Barolo Bricco delle Viole. With its high vantage point in the hills west of Barolo, Bricco delle Viole is a world apart in terms of soils (with Sant'Agata... Read More