Fine Wine > Still > 92-95 Pts > $50-100

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The 2008 Barolo Brunate is gorgeous. An open, beguiling bouquet redolent of Christmas cake, plums, menthol and licorice melds into an expressive core of dark fruit. The mystery and allure of Brunate is on full display. The 2008 was quite open just after bottling, but it has begun to shut down..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"A restrained to the point of almost being mute nose reluctantly offers notes of green fruit and mineral reduction that precede broad-shouldered, robust and imposingly concentrated flavors that possess plenty of palate coating dry extract, all wrapped in a terrifically long, intense and deep..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The 2008 Fontalloro is the yin to the Rancia’s yang. It is also characteristically beautiful, open and expressive at this stage. Layers of sweet red fruit, flowers and spices blossom effortlessly from the 2008 Fontalloro. The intensely saline finish that is present in the Rancia is found in..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"There's fine integration between oak spice, raspberry, cherry and tobacco flavors in this racy Brunello, which has tension and precision, with a lingering spicy aftertaste. Shows excellent potential for aging."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The wine’s natural acidity, purity of texture and gentleness automatically make you think of food. Flavorwise, it’s all about raspberries and cherries, cured meat, cola, spices and smoky oak. It’s delicious to drink now with a great steak, roasted lamb or grilled tuna." (Steve Heimoff)

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"This has a little more of a hard edge to it, in the form of oak tannins. Yet the core is rich and creamy, with plenty of apple, peach, citrus and spice flavors. Has great length. Just needs some time."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The 2010 Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia shows off tons of concentration and sheer depth. Mocha, espresso, dark cherries and plums are some of the many notes that take shape in the glass. The 2010 is a decidedly powerful, virile wine endowed with considerable power. It will be interesting to see how..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"Superfresh and focused, delivering pure flavors of blackberry, black currant, violet and mineral, with a hint of tar. It's all backed by refined tannins and bright acidity, providing structure that should allow this to develop over the next 20 years ..."

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"The 2008 Barbaresco Bric Balin wafts from the glass with crushed flowers, dried cherries, tobacco and cedar. It is less overt than the Basarin, with the structural components playing a greater role in the wine’s balance. The energy and focus here are both attractive, while the oak seems to have..

Cellar/Tasting Notes
"A ripe, fresh and impressively layered nose speaks of both white and yellow orchard fruit that complements well the rich, generous and lightly mineral-inflected middle weight flavors that possess enough dry extract such that the palate impression is sappy yet firm and lingering."