The saturated purple-hued 2017 Crozes-Hermitage Les Croix comes from clay and limestone soils in the commune of Beaumont-Monteux. Beautiful notes of cassis, sappy spring flowers, graphite, and pepper all emerge from the glass, and it hits the palate with ...
With vines adjacent to forests on white chalky soils, the Elio Grasso 2019 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is a luminous and very beautiful wine. Vintner Gianluca Grasso called this "the helicopter vintage" because he actually rented a helicopter to fly over the...
Very different from the Gavarini Chiniera, the 2019 Barolo Ginestra Casa Maté shows more bite, structure and a bigger tannic impact. Fruit was harvested a bit earlier, but healthy grape skins allowed for 52 days of maceration. This wine shows beautiful in...
The 2019 Barolo Monvigliero shows a medium dark garnet appearance with an especially focused quality of fruit. There is wild cherry and Japanese plum, but the Monvigliero cru also delivers crushed rose, earthy iris root, candied orange peel with clove and...
With some 7,000 bottles released, the Fratelli Alessandria 2017 Barolo Gramolere gives us a taste of fruit from Monforte d'Alba, as opposed to Verduno, where this winery is based. The Nebbiolo from this further-flung village shows deep power and equal gra...
The 2018 Barolo Gramolere is another gorgeous wine from Alessandria. It has the same translucent character I saw from barrel. The tannins remain a bit edgy, perhaps because of what appears to be a bit less fruit depth. Savory, floral and mineral notes ...
The Fratelli Alessandria 2018 Barolo San Lorenzo di Verduno opens to a delicate and ethereal personality with fluttering aromas of blue flower, cassis, candied grapefruit and white pepper. The bouquet is fragrant and lifted, giving way to a subtle but ver...