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Wine Spectator 90 - A fun, open-knit red, offering lively kirsch, anise and blackberry cobbler notes, followed by a light dusting of lavender on the finish. Grenache and Syrah.

Maker's Notes - The colour shows an elegant, ruby-red hue. The aromas are delicate, dominated by red berries, such as wild strawberries and raspberries. In the mouth this wine is supple and seductive on the palate, light, easy to drink, with a deliciously fruity and fresh finish

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Vinous 90 - The 2019 Lucilla is deep, fleshy and superexpressive. Silky tannins wrap around a core of bright red berry fruit. Floral notes perk up the finish. Lucilla is a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Over time, the international varieties have become domesticated.

Wine Advocate 89 - The Castello di Farnetella 2019 Lucilla offers a medium-dark ruby color and nice, easy concentration. The wine is amply perfumed with cherry, fresh plum and summer lavender flower. Other recognizable aromas include baked clay and light spice. Let Lucilla join you on your next take-home pizza night.

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Wine Spectator 90 - A densely structured red, evoking blackberry, plum, earth and black pepper aromas and flavors. Saturated with fruit yet remains lively and long on the finish. Drink now through 2025.

Vinous 88 - The 2020 Dolcetto d'Alba is fresh and vibrant, with lovely blue/purplish berry fruit, lavender and

licorice. In 2020, the Dolcetto is a bit lighter in body and less persistent than in most vintages because of rain prior to

harvest.

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Wine Advocate 90 - Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 Fleur la Mothe offers up pronounced notions of cassis, blackberry pie and Black Forest cake with hints of pencil shavings, black olives and lavender. Medium bodied, the palate has an impressive intensity of crunchy black fruits with a lively backbone and well-managed, grainy tannins, finishing long and fragrant.

Vinous 90 - I was pleased to see that the aromatics on the 2018 Fleur La Mothe have gained more refinement and focus since I tasted it from barrel, offering blackberry and briar, touches of blue fruit and sous-bois scents emerging with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, fine weight and focus and just the right amount of grip on the structured finish. Allow 3–4 years in bottle, because this Cru Bourgeois can age seriously well.

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Wine Spectator 91 - Bright and cheerful, showing a burst of damson plum, bitter cherry and raspberry fruit flavors liberally laced with dried lavender, warm earth and tobacco notes. The finish features light mesquite accents. Accessible now. Drink now through 2030.

Wine Advocate 90-92 - The final blend from tank of the 2018 Chateauneuf du Pape Telegramme boasts delicate, floral aromas and hints of strawberries and raspberries. It's full-bodied but silky and tender, very charming, with decent length. I haven't been a huge fan of this cuvée in the past, but this is pretty darn good.

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Vinous 92 - The 2011 Brunello di Montalcino is one of the more successful wines of the vintage. Sage, lavender, iron, smoke and dark red cherry notes flesh out in a supple, inviting Brunello. A kick of Mediterranean warmth gives the 2011 its generous texture, with all of the elements very much in the right place. I would prefer to drink the 2011 over the next handful of years or so. This is a strong showing from Piancornello.

WA 91 -  Here's a pretty, ruby-colored Sangiovese from the heart of southern Tuscany. The 2011 Brunello di Montalcino shows a lot of purity and red fruit intensity with wild berry and dried cherries in pole position. The wine offers a good sense of depth and balance thanks to those warmer notes of light tobacco and spice that add complexity in a subtle and lasting way. This Brunello is also distinguished by the mouthfeel that is tonic and bright without feeling too ripe or thick. This is a silky and elegant wine with a medium finish.

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Vinous 93 - The 2014 Barbaresco Cottà, often a big, bombastic wine, is unusually refined in this vintage. The deep center of fruit that has always defined this wine is present, but there is more freshness and less of the heaviness that often marks this wine. Hints of blood orange, mint and rosewater give the 2014 an exotic upper register. Shades of blue/purplish fruit, lavender, mint and savory herbs add the closing shades of nuance.

Wine Advocate 93 - The 2014 Barbaresco Cottà does not offer the acute high notes that you get with the other beautiful Barbarescos from Sottimano in this vintage. The intensity is broader and flatter, so to speak, but overall, the wine's intensity is just as bright and compelling as the others, albeit in a more subdued manner. Dark cherry and blackberry segue to spice, anise and cured leather. The wine feels soft and rich in texture as well. Some 10% of the wine is aged in new oak barrel.

Wine Spectator 93 - Pretty cherry, floral, mineral and tobacco flavors line this racy red. There is an underlying density to the structure and a lingering aftertaste of fruit, iron, underbrush and tobacco. Best from 2020 through 2033.

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Vinous 95 - The 2014 Barbaresco Pajoré is broad, ample and super-expressive. Dark cherry, spice, lavender, licorice and leather flesh out in a multi-dimensional, complex Barbaresco endowed with myriad shades of nuance. Here, too, the tannins are fully ripe, which allows all the purity of the fruit to come through loud and clear.

Wine Advocate 94 - The 2014 Barbaresco Pajorè is a lovely wine with a firm and convincing sense of inner intensity and elegance. Red cherries and cassis rise from the bouquet, which is delivered with almost musical pulses of brightness that keep time and tempo. The wine's concentration is dark ruby and luminous. Dried mint, anise and licorice appears on the silky finish. The 1.5-hectare Pajorè vineyard is located in Treiso. Vines are up to 70 years old.

Wine Spectator 92 - Fresh thyme, cherry, tobacco and mineral flavors are the hallmarks of this firm, linear red, which is shy aromatically, but there is a core of sweet fruit. Fine length and freshness. Best from 2020 through 2032.

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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 96+ - The 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape La Crau is a hugely successful vintage, marked by scents of sun-warmed stones, garrigue, black cherries and black olives. Full-bodied, rich and velvety, it finishes with tremendous length and softly dusty tannins, which should help ensure a long, positive evolution.

Wine Spectator 93 - Silky and refined, with focused cherry puree, plum reduction and raspberry coulis notes racing through, infused subtly with rose petal, warm stone and lavender hints. Features nice perfume through the finish. Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Cinsault. Drink now through 2036.

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