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Maker's Notes -

Appearance: Deep, dark garnet, nearly black.

Nose: Intense and fiery with ripe fruit notes (blackcurrants/ raspberries).

Palate: Full and powerful. The ripe fruit notes are found again on the palate along with sweet spices. Pronounced silky, delicate tannins.

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Maker's Notes -

Appearance: bright, deep, dark garnet.

Nose: intense with notes of ripe fruit (blackcurrants/raspberries).

Palate:  delicious and full. The ripe fruit and soft spices come through again on the palate. Pronounced yet soft, delicate tannins.

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Maker's Notes - An intense, bright colour, with a golden hue. To the nose the specific aromas of the grape variety are to the fore, with apricots, peaches, exotic fruits and preserved citrus fruit. The palate is both smooth and fresh, finishing on dried fruits hint.

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Wine Spectator 88 - This juicy red has light tannins and bright acidity, offering bright red and black fruit flavors, with hints of smoke and licorice. Drink now through 2025.

Maker's Notes - Intense ruby ​​red color, medium-high layer and light orange iridescence.  Aromas of red fruits, fresh fruit (strawberry), of good intensity, well assembled with the aromas of spices, vanilla and wood.  In the mouth we find it slightly tannic, fresh, medium-bodied, smooth, balanced, with fruit well integrated with notes of oak, vanilla and light toasted notes.

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Maker's Notes - Our 14 hectare vineyard in Cairanne is located south west of the old village. The soils are stony, made of clay and sand. The wine is fleshy and develops beautiful aromas of blackcurrant, Garrigue and liquorice. Beautiful deep and intense purple colour. The fruity and expressive nose is an explosion of red fruit with spicy notes of pepper and juniper. Round and silky on the palate, it is a well-balanced wine between ripe fruit and slightly chalky tannins which bring elegance and structure.

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Maker's Notes - A lovely rich and fat hand-picked Chenin Blanc from the heart of France's Loire Valley.  Saumur whites are made from Chenin Blanc and are characteristically crisp and fruity. Here the wine has a pale yellow hue and an intense nose with aromas of ripe stone fruits at first with honey and toasty notes following. Strikingly crisp at first it then shows its real fruitiness and generous, ripe structure. And it wraps up well with a pleasingly fresh and clean citrus finish.

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Maker's Notes - The wine has a pale golden hue. The bouquet of this Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise shows intense fruity and floral aromas. On the palate, this wine has deliciously elegant freshness. It is full-bodied without excess, and has lingering fruity aromas on a melon and lemon-tinged finish.

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Maker's Notes -

Colour: light yellow, green tints

Nose: intense notes, a blend of fruit (lychee, etc.) and rose, with some lighter notes of citrus (lemon, grapefruit).

Palate: this sharp, dry wine is supple and forthright on entry to the palate.

Nice balance of acidity and a finish with notes of lychees and citrus.

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Who makes it?

The Setteporte Estate is a family run winery on the southwest side of Sicily’s active volcano, Mount Etna. The family has had a winemaking heritage here in Biancavilla dating back generations. The vineyards sit at an altitude of between 650 – 800 m and take advantage of the red volcanic soil. These vineyards need to be terraced to cope with the slope on which they are planted.

How they make it?

As you might already have worked out, Etna Rosso is easily translated to mean “Etna red”. So, it is no surprise that the main grape variety in this blend is Nerello Mascalese as it is gaining attention as an Etna grape. Besides Mascalese, there is also an addition of about 5% Nerello Cappuccio. Both of these are local grape varieties and importantly, the vineyards have organic certification. To let the wine come together, it spends 12 months in French oak, 20% of which is new.

What does it taste like?

There is plenty of intense cherry fruit with smoky nutmeg and earth. It is a medium bodied wine with supple tannins and fresh acid. A floral note joins the minerals and spice on the finish. It is a good drink.

What to drink with it?

With the savouriness of this wine it is a good companion for range of foods and flavours. For instance, a good place to start would be something simple like a tomato based sauce over pasta. Grilled lamb chops would be another.

Quickie review - An elegant take on a classic Etna red with intense cherry and a smoky minerality. Made for food, but it is good by itself.

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JEREMY'S NOTES - The 'baby' Amarone from Begali.  Intense bouquet, full-flavoured yet soft on the palate.  Nice finish.  Yummy.

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Maker's Notes -

Appearance: intense garnet red.

Nose: very floral (violet), developing into liquorice and spices.

Palate: supple attack with a dominance of red fruits. The finish is long with spices.

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Maker's Notes -

Appearance: very intense, beautiful ruby red hue.

Nose: the nose is powerful and shows great finesse. The alternation of strawberry jam aromas and spicy/peppery notes creates a very pleasant bouquet.

Palate: floral then spicy (pepper) notes on entry. The wine displays a superb tannic structure and lovely long-lingering flavours.

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WS 91 - Intense and complex, this combines cherry and berry fruit with earth, iron, leather and spice flavors, finishing with sour cherry, leather and tobacco notes. Drink now through 2022.

WA 90+ - Piancornello does a great job with its lower-end Rosso. Indeed, the 2016 Rosso di Montalcino makes a great impression in the glass, thanks to its beautifully dark ruby color. The bouquet offers black cherry, spice, tar and licorice. The mouthfeel is simple and crisp. It makes the perfect pairing partner to wood-fired pizza with extra mozzarella cheese melted on top.

CRU/JRM  Once again and not surprisingly, very hard to tell this from a full-blown Brunello.  A magnificent effort and a steal of a bargain.  The yields are less but the quality is stunning. Claudio Monaci is the little master of Montalcino.  Delectably complex and long.  Bravo.

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Maker's Notes - Very deep, intense cherry red in colour. It is expressive and elegant on the nose with an outstanding aromatic intensity based on the Tempranillo variety,

the spices and the torrefacto notes from its passage through French oak, bringing richness, volume and complexity to the whole. It is broad and meaty in the mouth with polished tannins and a long and persistent aftertaste.

CRU/JRM - Moro's Malleolus is a consistently top-notch Ribera with great depth, length and satisfying palate.  The 2018 continues a stellar reputation for quality and luxury.

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Maker's Notes - This is a powerful and generous wine expressing itself with delicacy thanks to a very delicate tannic structure. Intense flavors of ripe fruits and spices combined to a fine acidity – a hyphen between richness and strength reflecting perfectly the terroir of Heathcote.

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Vinous 94 - Inky ruby color. Intensely

perfumed dark berry, floral and spice qualities on the mineral-driven nose. Stains the palate with appealingly sweet

cherry-cola, black raspberry and candied

violet flavors that are sharpened by a spicy suggestion of freshly cracked pepper. Smoothly melds depth and energy and finishes extremely long and precise, with slowly emerging tannins and resonating floral and mineral notes.

Wine Advocate 93 - The 2019 Crozes Hermitage le Clos managed to escape hail damage but remains an intense, concentrated effort. Hints of violets and garrigue appear on the nose alongside cassis and black cherries, while the full-bodied palate is supple, leading into a long, licorice-tinged finish. Drink it over the next decade or so. Tasted twice (once blind), with consistent notes.

Wine Spectator 93 - Sleek and refined, with a smoldering bay and cast iron hints along the edges of a core of dark cherry and plum preserve notes. Juicy, yet restrained, iron-tinged finish. Drink now through 2030.

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Burghound - 89-92: This is spicy, ripe and seductive and very Vosne with its mix of red and dark pinot fruit aromas that dissolve gracefully into rich, full and very generous fleshy medium-bodied flavors that possess both good volume and depth on the sappy, velvety and persistent finish. This isn't classy or sophisticated but it's easy to admire and has the depth to rise well above the ordinary.

Here the fruit aromas are darker and edged with caramel. In the mouth it is softer and a hint sweeter than the Malconsorts – there’s an impressively intense concentration of fruit in the mid-palate. Again some faint astringency to the tannin – this is a super Chaumes.

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WA 94 - Slighter richer is the 2015 Gigondas Clos des Tourelles. It shows similar floral notes but fills the mouth with ripe stone fruit and cherries, fine tannins and an incredibly silky finish. All of the Perrin Gigondas show the elegant side of the appellation.

Vinous 92-94 - Vivid ruby. Expressive aromas of blackberry, cherry compote and candied flowers are sharpened by a smoky mineral topnote. Gently sweet and focused on the palate, offering intense red and blue fruit flavors that deepen and spread out slowly with aeration. Shows hints of candied licorice and allspice on a very long, sappy finish that features smooth tannins and an exotic twist of blood orange.

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Vinous 93 - Large-scale, dramatic and intense, the 2014 Faugères is exceptionally beautiful and polished. Succulent red cherry, plum and pomegranate notes make a strong first impression. Sweet floral notes, spice and new leather add aromatic nuance throughout. This is an especially effortless wine with all of its elements in the right place.

Wine Advocate 92 - The 2014 Faugeres still has bundles of red plum and juniper berry on the nose, if anything even more generous than when I tasted it a few months ago. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, superb structure and well judged acidity. It merges with more black fruit towards the finish and has palpable energy on the finish—still excellent.

Wine Spectator 90 - Sports a lively core of bramble, blackberry and black currant, with good licorice and fruitcake notes filling in behind. Presents some slightly rambunctious energy but should settle in soon enough. Best from 2018 through 2028.

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Wine Advocate 90 - This disgorgement of the NV Cuvée des Moines Brut Rosé is from September 2017 and is (probably) based on the 2014 vintage. The salmon colored wine leads to a delicate, fresh and vinous nose with intense red fruit and floral aromas and a refined chalkiness. It's a bit reductive perhaps but nicely round and fruity on the elegant and refined palate. An excellent cuvée of Pinot Meunier (40%) and equal parts of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

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Vinous 94 - An intensely mineral-driven wine, the NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Longitude pulses with energy and tension. Partial aging in cask gives the wine much of its texture and slightly burnished quality to the fruit. Dried pear, spice, menthol and licorice are laced into a vinous, textured finish that speaks to crystalline purity and nuance. As the name suggests, the Longitude emerges from a collection of parcels along the same longitude of chalk and limestone soils, in this case Vertus, Cramant and Oger, fermented in a combination of cask and stainless steel. This release is based on 2012, with the addition of 40% reserve wines. Dosage is 4 grams/liter. Disgorged: November 2014.

Wine Spectator 92 - Lithe and graceful, this bright Champagne is refined and chalky in texture, displaying a lovely mesh of ripe apple, apricot, lemon parfait, biscotti and fresh ginger flavors.

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Wine Advocate 96-98 - Even better than I remember it being last year, and potentially edging out the L'Argnée this vintage, the 2017 Gigondas Clos des Tourelles is just flat-out terrific juice. From yields around 15 hectoliters per hectare, it's 80% Grenache and 10% each Mourvèdre and Syrah, all aged in foudre. Soaring floral notes of rose petals, violets and garrigue appear on the nose, followed by ripe raspberry flavors that flow almost weightlessly across the silky, full-bodied palate. So fine, so elegant, so long, it nearly left me speechless.

Vinous 95 - Opaque, bright-rimmed ruby. Intensely perfumed, mineral-accented cherry and dark berry scents are accompanied by suggestions of licorice, candied flowers and exotic spices. Fleshy and broad in the mouth, offering deeply concentrated cherry pastry and blackberry flavors that become more energetic as the wine stretches out. Shows superb energy and mineral lift on an impressively long, subtly tannic finish that leaves behind a suave floral note.

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Wine Advocate 95-97 - There are a whopping two demi-muids of the stellar 2017 Gigondas L'Argnee Vieilles Vignes in the pipeline, so readers will have to be on their toes to grab a bottle or two. Made from the same pre-Phylloxera parcel of Grenache, it's incredibly intense this vintage, boasting enough purple raspberries, black cherries and Asian spices to send me almost into sensory overload. Yet for all the flavor, this full-bodied wine is velvety-silky in feel, with a long, elegant finish.

Vinous 94 - Opaque ruby. Highly expressive aromas of mineral-tinged red berries, incense and licorice candy, along with a suave floral nuance that builds as the wine opens up. Appealingly sweet and seamless on the palate, offering penetrating raspberry, cherry, spicecake and candied lavender flavors that are braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Finishes silky, sweet and impressively long, with gentle tannins and lingering floral pastille and exotic spice notes.

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Wine Advocate 90 - The NV Triple B (but referred to only as Brut Bio at the time of tasting) is entirely sourced from organically and bio-dynamically farmed vineyards; it blends 50% Pinot Noir with 30% Chardonnay and 20% Meunier. There was no malolactic fermentation here. Very clear and discrete on the nose, with aromas of red apples, lemons and rhubarb, this is a fresh and elegant, lovely, clear and refined Champagne with a very nice purity. Very stimulating and bright.

Maker's Notes - Slightly yellow copper-coloured robe, delicate and dense bubbles

Intense and varied nose of fresh fruit and perfectly ripe. Initial notes of vine peach an

red fruits. Notes of stewed fruit (apple-pear-cinnamon) and crystallised fruit (quince,

mandarin orange). Overall it is complex and smooth. The attack phase is pleasantly

intense with the characteristic elegance of 2013 vintage. Its minerality is in harmony with the terroir and the estate’s viticulture practices. The finish offers a remarkable salinity

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Wine Advocate 90 - Disgorged in December 2018, the latest rendition of Besserat de Bellefon's NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée des Moines exhibits a toasty, reductive bouquet of bread dough, smoky citrus rind and green orchard fruit. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and nicely balanced, with a frothy mousse, lively acids and a clean, harmonious finish. This is a well-made Blanc de Blancs that reflects this marque's recent progress.

Maker's Notes - "Sculpted from the rocky soil of its terroir, BB Blanc de Blancs offers

a magnificent chain of creamy bubbles of incredible precision. The nose is intense, mineral and saline, with fresh citrus aromas

intermingling harmoniously with floral notes of honeysuckle and acacia. A finely-honed palate with superb structure and magnificent amplitude. Translucent and pure, citrus and lemon compose a symphony of absolute elegance."

Cédric Thiébault

Cellarmaster, Champagne Besserat de Bellefon.

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Wine Advocate 97 - I’m increasingly convinced that Pierre Larmandier produced Champagne’s wines of the vintage this year, and the 2011 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Vieille Vigne du Levant only compounds that suspicion. Unfurling in the glass with a deep and complex nose of citrus zest, crisp yellow apples, smoke, warm bread, mandarin oil and oyster shell, it’s full-bodied and fleshy but incisive, with huge concentration, bright acids and a long, intensely saline finish. Totally transcending the reputation of 2011, it has many of the textural properties of a great white Burgundy, married with the cut and chalky grip of Champagne’s Côte de Blancs.

Maker's Notes - This is a Champagne which should be tasted for its own qualities as an aperitif, to accompany poultry with morels, and this cuvée will happily stand its ground with dishes cooked in cream. It must be allowed time to open up, so that you can appreciate its power, complexity and exceptional length. It should be kept for two years (it will gain in depth) and much longer, even, if that’s how you like it.

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