Wine Store

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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Vinous 89 - The 2019 Chianti Colli Senesi is a pleasantly bold, hearty wine packed with black cherry, game, leather, plum and spice essences. Pretty floral notes appear in the glass to brighten the finish. Readers will find a wine that is very typical of the Colli Senesi appellation.

Wine Spectator 87 - A core of black cherry and plum fruit is wrapped in a cloak of wild herbs, menthol, earth and dusty tannins in this red, which ends with freshness, if on the astringent side.

Wine Advocate 87 - This is an easy, no pretense wine with toasted nut, dry flower and simple fruit or cherry aromas. The Fèlsina 2019 Chianti Colli Senesi Berardenga delivers freshness and good primary intensity over a lean body and texture.

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Maker's Notes - The Nobile is the most representative of our terroir. Here the main star is the Sangiovese which in Italian means “Jupiter’s Blood”. A wine for the Gods. Spontaneously fermented, the Blood of Jupiter naturally deserves our greatest attention, which is why we age the grapes from every single plot separately for 18 months in oak barrels and large casks. Luscious and majestic, Nobile enchants you with its fragrant mulberry notes and delicate cinnamon hints, making you feel like an Olympian.

Jeremy's Notes - This wine has a special smoothness and elegance that evokes simple luxury.  It is not bold or super-concentrated but rather palate-caressing and silky. This pairs well with most food but is an outstanding no-food sipper and we all need those.

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Wine Advocate 90 - Even if they are not quite from the Duero zone but from Bierzo, I also tasted their whites produced with Godello grapes, including the 2018 El Zarzal, which has 13% alcohol, very good acidity and low pH. It was produced with fruit from vines averaging 15 years of age, fermented in oak at controlled temperature and matured in French 2,500-liter oak foudres with the lees for eight months. It's expressive and aromatic, with some grape-pulp aromas, somewhat floral and with a spicy touch. It's varietal and clean, with integrated oak, a medium-bodied palate and a refreshing finish, serious and with a mineral twist.

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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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Wine Advocate 90 - The flagship wine that carries the name of the project is currently the 2016 Cepa 21, produced with youngish Tempranillo matured in French barrique for 12 months. It has some spicy and smoky notes from the élevage in oak, which gives it a showy profile. It's ripe without excess with a sweetness of fruit that coats the palate and makes it a bit jammy. There are plenty of tannins to stand up to food

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Vinous 90 - The 2016 Caronne Sainte

Gemme is raised for 12 months in 25% new oak. It has a generous raspberry and blackberry scented bouquet with just a touch of cigar box, though I would have liked more personality expressed. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin. There is commendable depth here,

the acidity well judged and it sports excellent purity and length on the finish.

There is a tender quality about this Caronne Sainte Gemme underneath that

more obvious power.

Wine Advocate 88 - The 2016 Caronne Ste Gemme is medium garnet-purple colored and quite woody to begin, with a core of cassis and plums with menthol and dried herbs. Medium-bodied, taut and savory in the mouth, it has a chewy finish.

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Wine Advocate 91 - The second wine in the price hierarchy is the 2017 Almirez, produced with vines aged 10 to 35 years old from their 72 hectares of vineyards in the villages of Valdefinjas and Toro. It fermented in stainless steel and matured in French oak barrels, 30% of them new, the rest second use, for 14 months. 2017 is one of the driest years with one of the earliest harvests ever, but surprisingly enough, the wines feel lighter, fresh and aromatic, expressive and open and do not show any heat. Furthermore, it feels like a fresher year in the sense that the wine integrates the oak quite well. The change here, as Marcos Eguren explained, has been in the toast of the barrels, something they started in 2015; they have lighter toasts, from a long and slow toasting of the oak, and the barrel respects the fruit a lot more. Fine-tuning continues.

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WA 92 - The oak-aged 2016 I Sistri (100% Chardonnay) opens to a soft golden color with bright luminosity. There is a lot of character and aromatic intensity here, thanks to the optimally ripened quality of fruit. You get warmer tones of peach, pear and apricot, but you also get cooler tones of mint and white almond. Twelve months in oak give this wine a mid-weight feel with toasted flavors and creamy density.

Vinous 88 - The 2016 I Sistri is a pretty wine, with good varietal character in its lightly tropical, citrus and floral notes. This mid-weight, nuanced Chardonnay will drink well for the next few years.

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Wine Advocate 91 - The 2018 Reserva Única was produced with Tempranillo and 3% Graciano fermented destemmed with indigenous yeasts selected from their vineyards and matured in oak barrels, 60% French and 40% American, for 24 months, including malolactic. The wines from 2018 are more delicate, have very good precision and feel fresh but have structure and balance and incisive tannins, and this is a very good example of it.

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WA 90 - Boasting a mid-weight style, the 2015 Chianti Classico Riserva exhibits a firm and tightly knit texture that is carefully interwoven with dark fruit, spice, leather and gravel. I really love the fact you can taste those crushed rocks in this new generation of wines from one of my favorite Italian appellations, Chianti Classico. Those aromas offer a level of elegance that is specific to this beautiful territory. This wine is a blend of 90% Sangiovese with 5% Canaiolo and 5% Mammolo aged in large oak casks.

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Wine Advocate 92+ - 2011 was a warmer and riper year, but there's not a huge difference between the 2011 Viña Bosconia Reserva and the 2010; this is perhaps mellower, with more integrated acidity. It's 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.3 and 6.7 grams of acidity measured in tartaric acid per liter, and it fermented in the 144-year-old oak vats and matured in used American oak barrels for five years.

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Vinous 91 The 2015 Barbera d'Alba Gepin is terrific. Dark, rich and voluptuous, but with plenty of structure, the 2015 expresses all of the natural intensity of the year while retaining a very appealing sense of translucency. Succulent dark cherry, plum, spice, leather, mint and dried herbs add to the wine's forward, racy personality.

CRU/JRM  Aged one year in large oak casks.  Good depth on the nose - cherries and stone - quite expansive and plush on the palate with dense fruitiness and some minerality.  Excellent balance and fair density with good length.

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Wine Advocate 89 - The third vintage of the new organic Tempranillo produced without added sulfur is the 2018 La Felisa. It reached 13.5% alcohol and kept healthy acidity parameters in a cooler year than 2017. The wine was produced with grapes from vines aged 15 to 25 years old, fermented with 18 days maceration and matured for seven to 10 months in oak barrels. It has a tender nose with floral notes, somehow delicate and expressive, coming through as fully developed, perhaps a little fragile, aromatic and very open. It feels like it's developing quite quickly, even if it has quite a lot of tannin. I'd opt for drinking this sooner rather than later.

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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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Wine Advocate 96 - The 2010 Viña Tondonia Reserva has all I expect from a Reserva from Tondonia, complexity, elegance and evolution, a developed nose with notes of forest floor and wild berries, herbs and flowers, a touch of iodine, brick dust and very fine, polished tannins. It has the seriousness and elegance of Tondonia. This is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho (they use the masculine form of the name of the grape) and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in the ancient oak vats from when the winery was created 144 years ago and matured in well-seasoned, American oak barrels for six years.

Wine Spectator 93 - This elegant red is fine and creamy on the palate, with notes of sun-dried cherry, iron, spiced orange peel, graphite and mocha that slowly unfurl. A bit high-toned on the nose as well as loaded with mineral aromas. Muscular tannins are deftly integrated, while savory dried mint and eucalyptus notes play on the lasting finish. Tempranillo, Garnacho, Graciano and Mazuelo. Drink now through 2030.

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Wine Advocate 93 - Compared to the 2014 vintage, the 2015 Colección Privada is explosive, showy and hedonistic. It jumps out of the glass with a mix of flowers, wild berries and exotic spices, really showy. There is additional freshness here, and the wine seems to have taken the aging in oak (16 months in brand new barrels, 50% American and 50% French) much better than the 2014. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Colección Privada.

Wine Spectator 92 - This big red is light-footed, as fresh acidity and well-integrated tannins support the broad texture. Plum and blackberry flavors mingle with toast, licorice and black olive notes, leaving a savory finish. Drink now through 2030.

Vinous 93 - Lurid violet color. Highpitched red/blue fruit, floral pastille, spicecake, coconut and allspice aromas, along with a smoky mineral quality that emerges with aeration. Sweet, nervy and seamless in texture, offering juicy, spice-accented raspberry, blueberry and mocha flavors that deepen and fan out on the back half. Shows excellent clarity and repeating florality on a very long, spicy finish that's given shape by supple, even tannins.

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WA 93 - The 2011 Victorino is produced with Tempranillo grapes from 35 hectares of ungrafted, old vineyards in the villages of Valdefinjas, Toro and Villabuena del Puente, which fermented with yeasts selected from their own vineyards and aged in new French oak barrels for 18 months. This is the fruitier and more approachable of the three wines I tasted from them, with aromas of clean, ripe, terse fruit, with hints of violets and a pinch of spices mixed with echoes from the soil. The palate is full-bodied, with glossy tannins, dense and ripe, with very good acidity, balanced and elegant. It’s approachable, but should develop more complexity with time in the bottle. 40,000 bottles produced. Drink 2014-2019.

Wine Spectator 93 - A firm structure supports the plush texture of this rich red. Savory notes of espresso and anise mingle with a deep core of plum, black olive and mineral. Not that expressive now, but harmonious nonetheless. Best from 2016 through 2026.

Vinous 92 - Dark purple. Powerful aromas of cassis, licorice, roasted coffee and cocoa powder. Juicy and broad in the mouth, offering dark fruit liqueur flavors lifted by sexy floral and oak spice qualities. Shows real intensity on the creamy, clinging finish, which features polished tannins and a note of smoky minerals.

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Wine Spectator 93 - Ripe, fresh and racy in feel, with a well-detailed beam of plum, blackberry and anise notes, laced with violet, white pepper and black olive accents. The sleek finish features an iron hint vibrating like a tuning fork. Drink now through 2036.

Vinous 93 - Bright purple. Powerful dark berry, cherry, incense and licorice scents are accompanied by building vanilla and floral pastille flourishes. Fleshy blueberry, bitter cherry and spicecake flavors stain the palate and pick up a smoky bacon nuance on the back half. Unwinds steadily with air and finishes chewy and impressively long, displaying alluring sweetness, an echo of florality and youthfully gripping tannins.

Wine Advocate 92 - A blend of grapes sourced from Reynard and Croix St Pierre (near the top of the appellation), the 2017 Cornas Temenos shows greater depth and richness than Les Arenes, with blackberry and black cherry fruit in reserve behind notes of crushed stone and pencil shavings (it's aged in 228-liter oak, 15% to 20% new). Medium to full-bodied, it's firmly structured and promising for the future.

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Wine Advocate 94 - The Begali Lorenzo 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is a beautiful wine that shows ample ripeness, with balance. It shows elegant restraint, but it is also exuberant and fully loaded. Its opulent character is very much in line with the hot vintage and the basic promise of Amarone that always prioritizes big intensity and lots of brooding fruit. This estate opts for more Rondinella in the blend, clocking in at about 35%, with 60% Corvina and 5% other complementary grapes. Rondinella adds much of the darkness and the extra concentration you see here. It is aged in French tonneaux and botte for three years. The Lorenzo Begali house style offers oak contours and renderings with extra softness and textural density.

Vinous 93 - Dark, rich and deeply seductive, the 2017 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico lifts up with notes of crushed blackberries, balsamic spice, smoke and lifting hints of mentholated herbs. It’s silky, coating the palate in glycerol-like textures contrasted by saturating black fruits, salty minerals and bitter cocoa. A fine layer of tannin clamps down hard, leaving only purple-tinged inner florals and hints of black licorice to resonate throughout. The 2017 does a wonderful job of straddling both the savory and sweet side of Amarone, but it will require a good amount of cellaring to fully flesh out.

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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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Wine Spectator 92 - Coffee, licorice and boysenberry flavors are ripe and generous in this round red. Spicy sassafras and chocolate notes add interest. Balsamic acidity and chewy tannins give this backbone. Shows density and length. Drink now through 2029. 666 cases made.

Wine Advocate 90 - We jumped ahead to the 2014 Malabrigo, as they didn't produce it in 2012 or 2013. The oak is more evident as we go up the price ladder, and this pure Tempranillo, which went through malolactic in barrel where it matured for 18 months, is definitively oaky. The nose is dominated by spice, smoke and toast aromas. The palate is medium to full-bodied with plenty of tannins, a bit grainy, with a dry finish and moderate to low acidity. There are notes of barbecue and smoky bacon that will please many. For fans of oaky Tempranillo. 8,000 bottles were filled in February 2017.

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Wine Advocate 94 - One of the gems in the vintage is the 2013 Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes, which comes from both the Bessards and Grandes Vignes lieux-dits on Hermitage Hill. Completely destemmed, then vinified in stainless steel and concrete tanks, the wine is aged 18 months in 30% new French oak; it offers terrific notes of dark fruits, graphite and ample minerality in a full-bodied, layered, ripe profile. It’s more approachable than the Les Bessards, yet will still have three decades of longevity.

Vinous 93 - Brilliant violet. Complex mineral- and smoke-accented scents of dark fruit liqueur, violet and olive paste gain urgency from a smoky mineral quality . Juicy and sharply focused on the palate, offering sappy blueberry and bitter cherry flavors that deepen and become sweeter with air. Shows excellent depth and vivacity and finishes spicy and very long, displaying a resonating floral quality and building tannins.

Wine Spectator 92 - Ripe for the vintage, with a fleshy core of plum compote and raspberry coulis flavors, backed by ample cocoa-edged grip that melds through the loam- and anise-accented finish. Best from 2017 through 2023.

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