Jeb Dunnuck (100)

Another perfect wine is the 2016 Thorevilos, and my notes on this beauty were laced with expletives. Full-bodied, mammoth-sized aromas and flavors of cassis, crushed flowers, dark chocolate, rare meat, and Asia spices all emerge from the glass. With incredible mid-palate depth, building tannins, and a seamless texture, it has flawless integration of its fruit, tannins, and acidity, no hard edges, and that rare mix of power and elegance. It’s already hard to resist yet will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and keep for 20-30 years or more.

Wine Advocate (99)

Even better than the awesome 2016, Abreu's 2017 Thorevilos Proprietary Red takes those familiar piney-herbal notes and combines them with redder, more vibrant fruit flavors, evocative of cherries and raspberries. Yet even with this greater freshness, the wine remains full-bodied, concentrated and velvety in feel, with a tremendously long finish. This is undeniably tannic, but ripe, and it should have a long, graceful evolution in the cellar.

Wine Advocate (99)

Even better than the awesome 2016, Abreu's 2017 Thorevilos Proprietary Red takes those familiar piney-herbal notes and combines them with redder, more vibrant fruit flavors, evocative of cherries and raspberries. Yet even with this greater freshness, the wine remains full-bodied, concentrated and velvety in feel, with a tremendously long finish. This is undeniably tannic, but ripe, and it should have a long, graceful evolution in the cellar.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

One of the finest Napa Valley wines to pass my lips, the 2018 Thorevilos offers an incredible level of purity, concentration, and balance. Revealing plenty of creme de cassis, white flowers, spicy oak, and tobacco-like aromas and flavors, this beauty hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a multi-dimensional texture, ultra-fine tannins, and a great, great finish. Coming from a site just outside St. Helena and mostly Cabernet Sauvignon (with a good chunk of Cabernet Franc), this is pure perfection in red wine. Although it can be drunk today, it really needs to be forgotten for 4-5 years, but it's going to cruise for 30, 40, if not 50 years.

Jeb Dunnuck (98+)

Another wine from this estate that’s going to flirt with perfection at maturity is the 2019 Thorevilos, which comes from a new vineyard located just outside of St. Helena, not far from the original site, which was renamed to Ecotone. This awesome 2019 reveals a deep purple hue as well as a smorgasbord-like array of ripe currants, crème de cassis, violets, flowery incense, and tobacco leaf. The palate is pure gold as well and is full-bodied, with a layered, elegant mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and just everything in the right place. Already complex and nuanced, this remarkably complete, heavenly 2019 will benefit from just a few years of bottle age and keep 20, 30, possibly 40 years. What an incredible example of Napa Valley and hats off to Brad Grimes. A new site but the same incredible quality.

Vinous - Antonio Galloni (95)

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon is in the zone right now. Crushed flowers, red-toned fruit, mint, mocha and cedar grace the bouquet. Still vibrant and fresh, the 2014 has aged impeccably. It shows the mid-weight style of the year nicely. The 2014 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. This was only the third vintage for Bart and Daphne Araujo's Accendo, a winery that is now run by their children, Jaime and Greg.

Hailing from Napa Valley’s historical vineyards, Accendo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 is a testament to the craftsmanship of esteemed vintner, Bart and Daphne Araujo. The encompassing 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 8% Petite Verdot varietals have been expertly blended to unfold a wine of exquisite depth and elegance. Aged for 22 months in French oak barrels, this masterpiece reveals a luscious array of blackberries, cassis, and plum notes, with subtle essences of tobacco and cedar.

Acquiring a 98+ rating from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Accendo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 showcases the extraordinary Araujo methodologies, reminiscent of a Bordeaux quality, but with Californian accents. Limited in production and crafted from organically farmed vines, it presents a unique opportunity to savour the Araujo's legacy. Choose Accendo Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 for an experience of luxurious refinement and unparallelled stature in winemaking.

Vinous (94)

The 2019 Malbec Finca Altamira hails from Paraje Altamira, Uco Valley, and was aged for 13 months in 80% new French barrels. A rich, reddish-purple in the glass. The complex aromas feature plum with hints of country herbs, camphor and thyme accompanied by whiffs of violet and mint. The aging process adds notes of tobacco and cedar. In the mouth, it delivers a nuanced, high-pitched flavor supported by a juicy, relaxed and polished tannic structure. A characterful, energetic wine that ends with a compact but lingering fruity flourish.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

Pure perfection in Cabernet, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Alejandro Bulgheroni is all varietal and comes two-thirds from Oakville with the balance from sites in St. Helena and Rutherford. Aged 20 months in 70% new French oak and put together by Philippe Melka and Michel Rolland, it has an incredibly pure, full-bodied, massive yet weightless style that I suspect couldn’t be achieved anywhere outside of Napa Valley. Cassis, blackberries, leafy herbs, lead pencil shavings, and tobacco leaf are just some of the nuances here, and it’s full-bodied, deep, and concentrated on the palate while maintaining an ethereal, seamless, utterly perfect balance between its fruit, alcohol, tannins, and acidity. As good as it gets, it needs just 2-4 years in the cellar and will evolve gracefully for at least 20-25 years.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

A flagship best barrel selection, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Alejandro Bulgheroni checks in as 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc from a mix of Oakville and St. Helena fruit that spent 22 months in 72% new barrels. It's another inky-hued, glass-staining wine revealing incredible aromatics of pure crème de cassis, black raspberries, flowery incense, new leather, and chocolate. These all carry to a full-bodied, flawlessly balanced, utterly heavenly 2021 that has ripe, polished tannins, no hard edges, incredible purity, and a great, great finish. finish. It needs 4-5 years to show its full potential but will be a 30+ year wine.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

Possibly the wine of the vintage, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard is another incredible wine from this estate that has everything: stunning complexity, full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and incredible length. Revealing a dense purple color as well as Graves-like notes of blackcurrants, cold fireplace, graphite, chocolate, and smoked tobacco, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and ultra-fine tannins. Based on 99% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc that was brought up 20 months in 70% new French oak, this thrilling 2018 offers pleasure today yet will evolve for 30-40+ years. Hats off to the team at Alejandro Bulgheroni!

Jeb Dunnuck (97+)

Also a classic expression of its terroir, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard boasts a ripe, opulent, powerful style as well as notes of darker currants, tobacco, lead pencil, chocolate, and gravelly earth. I always find a Graves-like richness as well as a sense of earth from this site, and this beauty has it all in spades. Full-bodied, ripe, and polished on the palate, it stays relatively compact and will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age.

Decanter (99)

Winemaker Matt Sands has turned out perfection from the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard in St. Helena with his Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in 2021. Here, a barrel sample offers Cabernet Sauvignon as 92% of the blend, with Cabernet Franc filling out the rest. In the typical Lithology style, this is an inky black wine with a sumptuously silky and satiny profile, but in 2021, there is freshness, lift, and tension. The full-bodied palate offers fine, intricate tannins that are assertive yet harmonious with the dark berry fruit. At the same time, a rich vein of iron-like minerality and earth mingles with fragrant cedarwood, herbs and slivers of dark chocolate on a long and satisfying finish—polished, expressive, and delicious, all from an exceptional site in a terrific vintage. I am absolutely a candidate for a 100-point wine and will taste it again in the early months of 2024.

Decanter (100)

It is an absolute stand-out wine that is just seamless, with a purity of dark fruit flavours and spices balanced by threads of distinct minerality, freshness, and tension. Pure blackberry and black cherry fruit notes are tinged with bright capsicum. The depth and intensity of this wine are just as bewildering as the freshness conveyed on the palate. The dusty tannin backbone, a classic quality of the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane vineyard in St. Helena, frames a panoply of savoury spices, crushed herbs, liquorice and black ironstone minerality, delivering a perfect Cabernet Franc in the heady, rich, opulent and mineral-driven style Lithology is known for, but with tremendous energy in the 2021s, which conveys a real elegance to match this wine’s intensity.

Jeb Dunnuck (97+)

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard is more closed aromatically, yet still offers impressive red, blue, and black fruits as well as savory herbs and dried flower nuances. It too is full-bodied, with a focused, tight, straight style on the palate that warrants 4-5 years of cellaring.

Jeb Dunnuck (100)

Pure perfection, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is a nuclear fruit bomb of a wine, offering massive richness and depth while being as graceful as a ballerina, with no sensation of weight or heaviness. Classic To Kolan crème de cassis, black raspberries, flowery incense, spice, and tobacco notes all define the bouquet, and it’s full-bodied, with a layered, multi-dimensional texture, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. It has another 2-3 decades of prime drinking ahead of it. This cuvée is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced from four blocks in To Kalon, aged 20 months in 82% new French oak.

Decanter (100)

Proprietor Alejandro Pedro Bulgheroni established this label in 2014. Entirely estate fruit, comprising beautiful rich berry scents, oak, crushed rocks and a saline minerality tinged with dark chocolate. Enveloping, full and broad-shouldered. Saturated dark berry fruit, chocolate layer cake, vanilla and dried herbs de provence round out this Cabernet with its fierce tannins that are nicely integrated.

Decanter (99)

Lithology’s Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Franc is a riveting, opulent, flashy red, embodying everything there is to love about a full-flavoured California red wine. Loaded with blue fruit that will surely mellow with age, but for classicists looking forward to a finesse-driven Cabernet Franc, look elsewhere. This is larger-than-life Cabernet Franc, and there’s no denying the delicious factor, fueled by layers of blueberry, plum, and boysenberry fruit tinged with sweet cedar spices. A generous dose of minerality overtakes the mid-palate, and dusty tannins build on the finish, which gains in savoury saline edges. One can see a window into the future of this wine, which is bright and more refined as it will eventually shed some of its youthful exuberance.

Introducing the exquisite Alma Fria Campbell Ranch Chardonnay 2021, a stellar creation from the cool coastal climes of California's Sonoma County. Made by Alma Fria, a family-owned winery with a robust dedication to sustainability and nuanced wine craftsmanship. They masterfully cultivate their vines on the edge of the Pacific, with deft hands and insightful practices that extol respect for the land.

The 2021 vintage encapsulates this philosophy effortlessly. It is a beautifully complex blend, expressive of its surroundings and the particularly challenging yet rewarding weather conditions of that year. The Alma Fria Campbell Ranch Chardonnay 2021 captures the essence of the Campbell Ranch vineyard's unique terroir, delivering vibrant orchard fruit notes and hints of brioche.

They've produced a brilliant Chardonnay of subtle power, laced with hints of citrus, which develops a profound mineral freshness on the palate. The delicate use of oak adds a compelling creaminess and toasty finish. A distinguished choice for discerning wine connoisseurs.

Discover the luxurious Alma Fria Holtermann Pinot Noir 2022, a distinguished spectacle of the Alma Fria range. This wine is sourced from California’s reputable Sonoma Coast, renowned for producing some of the world's exceptional Pinot Noir grapes. Deeply rooted in the fog-cooled hills, the vineyards provide a distinctive maritime influence, creating a complex and balanced wine.

Meticulously crafted, the Holtermann Pinot Noir 2022 is an expressive amalgamation of dark cherries, roses, forest floor, and spice. Aged tastefully in French oak for 14 months, this premium wine showcases the Drew family’s commitment to viticultural professionalism, fine-tuned over several vineyard generations.

Revel in the garnet-toned, medium-bodied Alma Fria Holtermann Pinot Noir 2022, a testament to sustainable cooling climate viticulture, with its layers unveiling a symphony of savoury woodland fruit with an elegant hint of minerality. A wine that gratifies both the palate and spirit, it is truly a magnificent exhibit of winemaking brilliance.