Wine Over $100

Expert Reviews

James Suckling 98 Points | Aromas of blackcurrants, black cherries, hints of graphite, wet earth, and lavender. Sandalwood. Full-bodied with an impressive and refined structure that runs deep and vertical in the wine. Chewy. Hints of chocolate and hazelnut at the end. Needs five or six years to soften

Wine Spectator 95 Points | This throws off dense kirsch and linzer torte aromas and flavors, along with a mix of smoldering tobacco, leather, warm paving stone and licorice root hints that provide a brooding edge on the back end. Surprisingly backward for the vintage and impressively done. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

Winemaker Description

This wine is generous and complex with aromas of cherry cola, cassis and chocolate. Some savory notes and hints of citrus zest and mint. This wine is intensely aromatic and develops in the glass as layers are revealed. This full-bodied wine is powerful yet exhibits grace and finesse. A rich and dense mid-palate evolves into a muscular and graceful finish.

Expert Review - Vintage 2021 

Tasting Panel 100 Points | Awe-inspiring, with dramatically structured tannins, this wine possesses an opulence matched by its seductive texture of soft suede as well as its grip. Blueberry and pomegranate are intense and showy on the finish.

Vinous 95+ Points | The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Tomahawk Vineyard emerges from the youngest block on the vineyard, planted nearly twenty years ago. Readers will find a pure, voluptuous wine that is immediately engaging. Succulent dark cherry, plum, espresso, licorice, incense and new leather fill out the layers effortlessly. I imagine the Tomahawk will require only modest cellaring.

Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points | The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Tomahawk Vineyard is slightly brighter and more perfumed than the Ganymede, offering a brilliant array of crème de cassis and black raspberries as well as spicy oak, graphite, and spring flower notes. It has classic Stags Leap vibrancy and complexity, is medium to full-bodied, and has plenty of polished tannins as well as a great finish. It deserves 4-6 years in the cellar, and I suspect this will be very long-lived. It's a gorgeous wine that shows the style of the vintage to a T.

Decanter Magazine 94 Points | From a small group of vines at the southern edge of the Stags Leap District estate property called Tomahawk Vineyard. A very pretty and elegant wine with fantastic blackberry fruit nuanced by white pepper, sage, and iron-volcanic minerality. Medium to full-bodied with juicy mixed berry fruits, very fine tannins that have a granularity, which builds with intensity before getting wiped clean away by rather scintillating acidity that has a crisp, citrusy quality. Long, lean, and focused, with hints of bay laurel on the finish. A really lovely effort.

James Suckling 94 Points | Notes of ripe blackcurrants, blackberries, pinewood, grilled herbs and spices. Full-bodied, dense and structured with very fine, velvety tannins.

Wine Spectator 93 Points | Juicy, solid and focused in feel, with a core of black currant and blackberry preserves backed by licorice and singed apple wood notes, plus a hint of sweet tobacco through the finish. Drink now through 2040. 1,289 cases made.

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2020 

Burghound 93 Points |  Here too the restrained if wonderfully broad nose is gloriously spicy if perhaps not quite as floral on the mostly dark berry fruit scents. There is the same lovely purity and excellent energy of the Clos St. Jacques but with more size, weight and power and particularly so on the hugely long and more complex finish. However, this is also more structured and overall, it's likely that this will require fully 20 years to reach its full maturity. *Burghound Don't Miss!*

Decanter 97 Points | The colour is deep in 2020, with ripe plum and cherry fruit scented with spice and minerals rolling from the glass on the initial attack. The texture on the palate is concentrated but never heavy, with tannic reserves that suggest that this will age for decades. Superb. One of the great treasures of the house, Clair has nearly one hectare here, planted in 1912. The fruit is is chilled after picking and the fermentation starts slowly, with about 30% whole clusters. (Charles Curtis)

Vinous 96 Points | The 2020 Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru has a fabulous, pixelated bouquet with ebullient, brambly red fruit interlaced with minerals. Real pedigree here. The palate is medium-bodied with a sappy, saline entry. Great depth, cohesive with just the right amount of salinity. This lingers long in the mouth. Irresistible, surfeit with class. (NM)

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2019 

Antonio Galloni - Vinous Media - 97 Points "The 2019 Barolo Pira is powerful and deep but also very closed. There's so much energy here but readers will have to be patient as this classically austere young Barolo clearly needs time. Hints of pine menthol licorice and dried herbs appear with some reluctance. I would not dream of touching a bottle anytime soon. Superb."

Bruce Sanderson - Wine Spectator - 96 Points "A distinctive white pepper aroma leads off followed by flavors of strawberry sour cherry mint menthol and iron. Despite the lightness and ethereal quality the texture reveals viscosity and intensity. Balanced and complex ending with terrific length. Best from 2027 through 2045."

Winemaker Description 

Castello dei Rampolla d'Alceo is a premium, proprietary blend of Cabernet and Petit Verdot grapes exclusively from the renowned Panzano in Chianti region of Tuscany. This organic and biodynamic red is sure to tantalize your taste buds with its complex bouquet and flavor profile.

Expert Reviews - VIntage 2009

Vinous 96 Points | The 2009 d'Alceo comes across as much more classic in style and structure than the 2008. According to Luca di Napoli, the trick to 2009 was harvesting on the early side. Freshly cut flowers, sweet red berries, plums, mint and licorice all take shape in the glass Over the last few months, the 2009 d'Alceo has softened a bit, releasing expressive, floral aromatics, brighter shades of fruit and striking inner perfume, but it remains quite vibrant in the context of a vintage in which so many wines are quite a bit riper in style. The 2009 is a wonderfully deep, resonant d'Alceo that should offer a wide drinking window starting in a few years. It certainly looks like Rampolla nailed the vintage.  Drinking 2019 - 2039.

Antonio Galloni, 96+ | My absolute favorite wine of 2022 was a bottle of the Castello dei Rampolla 2006 d'Alceo that I had the good fortune to drink at dinner during a work event in Tuscany last year. I remember the wine vividly, and if I were to review it again, it would certainly merit a perfect score. With that profound inspiration in mind, I feel especially optimistic toward this outstanding group of new releases from Maurizia di Napoli and her talented team. This historic estate has farmed according to organic and biodynamic methods since 1994, making it one of the first in Italy to do so. In truth, I have found some inconsistencies along the way over the many years I have reviewed and adored these wines. Such is the magic of artisanal winemaking. But thanks to that memory of that 2006 d'Alceo, I remain in awe of Castello dei Rampolla today. 

Please call us or text us at 212-724-6767 for current bottle photographs. 

Contact us for current bottle picture. 212-724-6767 (text or call). 

Call or Text us at 212-724-6767 for current bottle photographs

Expert Reviews 

Wine Spectator 92 Points | The 1966 is just about at its peak. Medium red color with an amber hue. Shows plum, iodine, tobacco and mint aromas. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and plenty of sweet plum, it goes on and on at the finish.--Latour vertical. Drink now.

Wine Advocate 96 Points | The 1966 Latour remains an exemplar of the vintage, certainly one of the best, if not the best Left Bank wine of the vintage. Here, served blind, its quality was a beacon, quintessentially Pauillac with that trademark graphite seam through the intense black fruit, cold stone and a touch of tobacco. It remains undimmed by its age (though this was served from a magnum of impeccable provenance). The palate is medium-bodied and that graphite theme continues unabated, flanked by beautiful, precise and pure vestiges of black fruit. 'Pure class' are the final two words of my tasting note and at 50 years old, they sum up this immensely impressive Château Latour. (NM)   (10/2016)

Please call or text us at 212-724-6767 for current bottle photographs. 

Call or text us at 212-724-6767 for current bottle photographs

Expert Reviews

Wine Spectator 89 Points | Pale garnet; cedary nose, with vanilla nuances; very concentrated; shows elegant, stylish cassis and tea flavors, but lacks the density and vigor of Mouton and Latour; also not up to the Imperial bottle tasted earlier.

Wine Advocate 90 Points | Tasted at the 'First Growth' lunch in London. Nice clear colour. The bouquet definitely has more vigour then previous bottles encountered, with sandalwood, cigar box and cedar to the fore. Not a complex nose, but nicely defined and unashamedly 'classic' in style. The palate is medium-bodied and well-balanced, good level of ripeness, elegant; harmonious but aloof. The second half is conservative but still fresh with just a touch of piquancy right on the finish. This Lafite is not going to go anywhere, but this shows that good bottles can still be pleasurable. 

Winemaker Description

The history of the vineyards of Lafite is quite old. In a field that was already planted with vines, Jacques de Ségur structured the vineyards in the late seventeenth century and the reputation of this wine was already well established. His son Alexandre expanded the field in 1695 by marrying the heiress of Latour. Nicolas-Alexander was born from this union. He is the one who built in the early eighteenth century the prestige and reputation of Lafite, the wine is already acclaimed in Versailles and also in the British Kingdom.

Upon the death of the latter, Lafite knows a succession of owners, it will be auctioned after the Revolution, but the quality will be maintained at the highest level thanks to the care of its commissioners, the family of Joseph Goudal. Chateau Lafite will be classified 1er Grand Cru Classé in 1855.

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Expert Review

Vinous 94 Points | This perfumed beauty displays fireworks in a glass with its kaleidoscopic nose of super spicy, floral and cool red and dark berry nose. The middle weight flavors are less concentrated and powerful than those of the Grands Ech but markedly finer with a caressing and sophisticated mouthfeel that carries over to the rich finish that once again tightens up noticeably on the impeccably well-balanced and strikingly persistent finish. While at least some patience will also be required this classy effort should be approachable sooner than the Grands Ech. 

Call or text us at 212-724-6767 for current bottle photographs.

Expert Reviews

Wine Spectator 98 Points | Superb, but I have had an even better bottle of this wine; usually it's worth two points more. Equal in quality to the perfect 1961. Thick and rich, with berry, cherry and tobacco character, it shows layers of ripe fruit and velvety tannins that go on and on at the finish. Exciting wine. --Latour vertical. Drink now.  (8/2000).

Wine Advocate 96 Points Dark garnet with an amber edge, the 1959 Latour reveals a touch of volatile acidity in the nose, along with aromas of melted caramel, tobacco, and jammy red and black fruits. As the wine sat in the glass, notes of minerals, coffee, spice, and underbrush emerged. There is still copious tannin in the finish (I am not sure it will ever be fully resolved), but this sumptuous, complex, fragrant, super-rich Latour cuts a broad swath across the palate. Fully mature, it is best consumed over the next decade.  6/2000) 

Winemaker Description 

95% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc Average age of vines is 42-45 years. 30 acres producing 4,000 cases. 

Bottle Photos taken - November 2024 

Expert Reviews

Wine Advocate 96 Points | More elegant and refined than the Napa Cab, the 2019 Insignia features restrained cedar and vanilla notes (despite spending two years in 100% new French oak) and delicate herbal shadings accenting cassis and black cherry fruit. Full-bodied, velvety and somewhat open-knit on the palate, it turns plush and long on the finish, adding a touch of warmth. Production this year is approximately 17,000 cases, reflecting the increased volume coming from recently replanted vineyards. It's remarkable what a good job they continue to do with this bottling year after year, without compromising on quality.

Jeb Dunnuck 99 Points | Another beautiful wine from this team, the 2019 Insignia is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon but includes smaller amounts of Merlot and Malbec, brought up all in new barrels, sourced from seven estate vineyards. It has a classic varietal and incredibly complex nose of crème de cassis, freshly sharpened pencils, green tobacco, and damp earth, with a kiss of background sappy spring flowers. Seemingly from a cooler year with its freshness, vibrancy, and herbal, floral character on the nose, it's nevertheless full-bodied and beautifully concentrated on the palate, with ultra-fine tannins, a seamless, layered mouthfeel, and a gorgeous finish. Unquestionably up with the finest vintages of this cuvée, this is legit awesome juice that’s going to offer incredible pleasure over the coming 20-25 years. Hats off to winemaker Ashley Hepworth.

James Suckling 98 Points | A very aromatic Insignia with pencil-shaving and graphite highlights to the dark fruit and blackberries. Full-bodied yet tensioned and vertical with very fine tannins that run deep and layered in the wine. Needs time to come together but fantastic tension and structure. Try after 2027.Vinous 96 points The 2019 Insignia is a bold explosive wine. Sumptuous dark fruit mocha leather sweet spice and tobacco are all amplified in an Insignia endowed with tremendous textural intensity and plenty of soft contours. I imagine the 2019 will age well for years but it will also drink well with minimal cellaring.
  

Winemaker Description

This wine comes from plots of bush-trained vines on poor, sandytextured soils in the Rioja Alta area. The vines are an average of morethan 35 years old and smaller yields. They are harvested with great care and transported to the winery in small containers. Alcoholic fermentation takes place in stainlesssteel tanks at a controlled temperature of 28ºC, with prior bleeding-off and a long maceration of three weeks in contact with theskins. Ageing in French and American oak barrels (90%-10%) over 28 months, followed by subsequent bottle conditioning for at least 4 years until it is leaves the winery.

AWARDS
93 Silver Medal · International Wine Challenge (v. 2011).

90 Puntos · James Suckling (a. 2010).

90 puntos · Guía Repsol (a. 2010).

90 puntos · Wine Spectator (a. 2009).

91 puntos · Wine Enthusiast (a. 2009).

91 puntos · Wine Wine Advocate (a. 2008).

SENSORY EVALUATION

Look: Ruby red with a noticeable rim. Excellent brightness and clarity.

Aroma & palate: On its first contact with oxygen, it appears clean but reticent. Then, sweet notes of oak appear, cinnamon, clove and candied fruits. Infinite nuances that change with the passage of time.

On the palate, it is subtle and pleasant, with great finesse uponentry and through the mid-palate.

The tannins are extremely well polished and it has a serene acidity that maintains a long finish.

SERVING & FOOD PAIRING

White meat, oven-baked fish. Cured meat and dark chocolate desserts. 

93 Silver Medal · International Wine Challenge (v. 2011).

Winemaker Description

2017 Timeless Napa Valley is a harmonious wine that deftly balances elegant integration of both high acidity and supple fruit to create a wine with ageworthy structure and character. Notes of pomegranate and cherry on the nose are met by subtle aromas of wisteria, licorice and mint. Carried by essences of rose, plum and tart red fruit, a mouthwatering ripple of bright acidity meets delicate tannins and balancing, savory flavors of minty balsam, cozy mulling spices and stewed black fruits on the palate. 

Winemaker Description

Ruby-red color. The nose is complex and elegant. Notes of dry flowers, hay and rose petal, accompanied by a hint of chamomile. It is fresh, balanced, silky, enveloping and full-bodied on the palate. The tannins are prominent yet well-integrated. The finish is long and persistent. We recommend decanting a few hours before serving.

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2020

Jeb Dunnuck 98 Points | A medium red hue, the 2020 Barolo Rocche Di Castiglione offers more complexity and is more nuanced in the glass, with notes of dried raspberries, tangerine, roses, dried herbs, and cedar. Medium-bodied, it is crunchy with an elegant feel but has balanced structure and retains a somewhat more chiseled feel that’s true to the vintage. It has a lot to enjoy now and also has a wide drinking window. Drink 2025-2050.

The Wine Advocate 96 Points | The Vietti 2020 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is a very delineated wine with sharp ferrous notes, cherry cola, redcurrant and chalky mineral. It is extremely precise in terms of its aromas. The effect is direct and layered, showing different sides and increasing complexity as it opens in the glass. Dried floral notes, purple flower and iris also appear delicately. The chalky tannins feel abrupt at this young stage, but this wine is built to last nonetheless. Only 3,512 bottles were created.

Vinous 96 Points | The 2020 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is a magical wine from a magical site. It marries finesse and volume to a degree that is not found in most of the other wines in this range. Castiglione Falletto is the center of the Barolo production zone, literally and figuratively, the place where many different soil types meet. As a result, the wines often possess mind-blowing balance, which is very much the case here.

Winemaker Notes

Expert Review

Expert Review

Vinous 97 Points Josh Raynolds writes |  Glass-staining ruby. Exotically perfumed black and blue fruit, incense and candied licorice scents, along with mineral, olive and exotic spice overtones. Seamless and expansive on the palate, offering deeply concentrated yet lively blackberry, boysenberry, cherry-cola, salty olive and floral pastille flavors that show outstanding energy and mineral lift. Slow-building tannins grow on a strikingly long, focused finish that strongly echoes the licorice and mineral notes.

Winemaker Description

Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label is the signature champagne of the House. Dominated by Pinot Noir, it offers the perfect balance of structure and finesse. Golden-yellow in color, with a foaming necklace of tiny bubbles. It is pleasing to the nose; initially reminiscent of yellow and white fruits, then of vanilla and later brioche. Note the fine balance between the fruity aromas coming from the grape varieties and the toasty notes, the result of the three years of bottle aging. The first sip delivers all the freshness and strength so typical of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label with a symphony of fruit following (pear, lemon). It is a true member of the Brut family, well-structured, admirably vinous.

Expert Reviews

James Suckling 92 Points | This has aromas of grapefruit, citrus peel, quince, toast and almonds. It’s medium-bodied with creamy, fine tannins. Silky texture. Nutty complexity at the end.

Decanter 91 Points | Noticeable fruit intensity and fresh notes of red fruits, fresh blueberries and a small amount of quince. Interesting and quite demanding. Blend : 55% Pinot Noir, 15% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay.

Wine Spectator 90 Points | A crisp and lacy Champagne, with a hint of smoke underscoring flavors of poached apricot, pastry cream and pickled ginger. An overtone of Mandarin orange peel ties it all together.