2015 Buselli Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville

2015 Buselli Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville

with No Comment $90-$100Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaOakvilleUSA

BUSELLI

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
OAKVILLE 2015

2015 Buselli Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville
Italo and Rosalia Buselli planted their family vineyard in 1990 on the Eastern slopes of the Vaca Mountains in Oakville, neighboring Tierra Roja Vineyard, and across Silverado Trail from Screaming Eagle. The vineyard site receives fog-infused mornings and warm sunny afternoons as the vines dig deep into the rocky, volcanic soils bringing concentration and complexity to the fruit.
 
This 100% estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon was carefully crafted by winemaking team Stacy Vogel and Tim Milos, focusing on a pure and unpretentious approach without fining or filtering, allowing for full expression of the terroir. The 2015 vintage saw 24 months in 90% new French oak and has nearly six years of bottle age showing brilliantly now and with plenty of longevity ahead for those who wish to cellar this beauty.
 
BUSELLI
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
OAKVILLE 2015
Retails at: $150
 
 
 
“The gorgeous Buselli Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 begins with an opulent nose of ripe black cherries, ripe figs, sweet pipe tobacco, and violets. It is powerful on the palate, which builds on the aromatics with dark chocolate, bright red fruits, concentrated sweet black fruits, and vanilla spice. This beauty is luxuriously rich, decadently supple, and pristinely balanced, with polished fine-grained tannins. The abundant, complex red and black fruits that build to a very long, focused finish is everything I look for in the finest quality Oakville Cabernet Sauvignons.”
96 Points
2018 Bruna Grimaldi Camilla Barolo Piedmont Italy

221118 2018 Bruna Grimaldi Camilla Barolo Piedmont Italy

with No Comment $40-$50BaroloBaroloItalyKevin VogtPiedmont

BRUNA GRIMALDI

CAMILLA BAROLO
PIEDMONT, ITALY 2018

2018 Bruna Grimaldi Camilla Barolo Piedmont Italy
Bruna Grimaldi and her husband Franco Fioriono grew up in the hills that join Grinzane Cavour to Serralunga d’Alba, where grape growing and high-quality wine production are a big part of family traditions. The Camilla Barolo is made in a classic style with extended maceration to gently extract color, tannins, and the aromatics essential for high-quality Nebbiolo wines with long aging potential.
 
The fruit comes from specially selected vineyards, including the famed Badarina in Serralunga that belonged to Bruna’s mother, the Bricco Ambrogio site Bruna and Franco purchased in Roddi, and the Grimaldi family’s original property in Grinzane Cavour. The regional blending incorporates harmony and balance in the wine, aged in large Slavonian oak barrels and French oak tonneaux for a minimum of 30 months before being further matured in the bottle before release. These techniques create a compelling wine with an impressive range of diverse flavors and complexity.
 
BRUNA GRIMALDI
CAMILLA BAROLO
PIEDMONT, ITALY 2018
Retails at: $50
 
Your Price: $42
 
 
“This is an ambitious, all-encompassing blend that is especially accessible in 2018. It offers a harmonious bouquet with wild berry and rose. The tannins are soft and yielding, and you can start enjoying this Barolo without waiting too much longer.”
91 Points
2020 Domaine Parigot Bourgogne Rouge Burgundy France

2020 Domaine Parigot Bourgogne Rouge Burgundy France

with No Comment $30-$40BurgandyFranceKevin VogtRed Burgandy

DOMAINE PARIGOT

BOURGOGNE ROUGE
HAUT-CÔTES DE BEAUNE
“CLOS DE LA PERRIÈRE”
BURGUNDY, FRANCE 2020

2020 Domaine Parigot Bourgogne Rouge Burgundy France
Domaine Parigot is a family wine estate run by Marie, Regis, and their son Alexandre. They source fruit from eighteen communes, including Meloisey, Savigny-Les-Beaune, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, and Chassagne-Montrachet. Of the 44.5 acres the winery works with, 37 are dedicated to Pinot Noir and tended to by “Lutte raisonée,” which focuses on a natural approach to the vines, using forces outside of nature only when the vines are struggling to produce healthy fruit.
 
The viticultural team hand-harvests the fruit each vintage, meticulously sorting the fruit in the vineyard and again at the winery, ensuring only perfectly ripe berries make their way into fermentors. ‘Clos de la Perrière,’ located upper slopes of the Côtes de Beaune, was highly regarded by the Cistercian monks, and the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune 2020 red Burgundy over-delivers quality in all the best ways, with concentrated flavors, complexity, spice, and brightness.
 
DOMAINE PARIGOT
BOURGOGNE ROUGE
HAUT-CÔTES DE BEAUNE
“CLOS DE LA PERRIÈRE”
BURGUNDY, FRANCE 2020
 
Your Price: $39.99
 
 
“The 2020 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Clos de la Perrière is perfumed and exotic, bursting with aromas of sweet berries and plums mingled with rose petals, incense and Indian spices. Medium to full-bodied, supple and seamless, with a sweet core of fruit, ripe, powdery tannins and lively acids, it concludes with a saline finish. Once again, this numbers among the very best reds produced in the Hautes-Côtes.”
91 Points
2019 Famiglia Bianchi Gran Corte Valle De Uco

2019 Famiglia Bianchi Gran Corte Valle De Uco

with No Comment $30 and underArgentinaKevin VogtProprietary Red

FAMIGLIA BIANCHI

GRAN CORTE
VALLE DE UCO 2019

2019 Famiglia Bianchi Gran Corte Valle De Uco
Bodegas Bianchi’s family heritage dates back to 1928, when Valentin Bianchi acquired his vineyard, fulfilling one of his greatest dreams. Valentin’s son Enzo was a visionary and winemaker at the estate for over 50 years. His deep passion and determination set a precedent for the legacy of Argentine wines that continues today.
 
The Gran Famiglia Bianchi line celebrates the 90th anniversary of the founding of the winery and the ongoing dedication to keeping the family values and high standards alive in their wines. The 2019 Gran Corte is a blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Malbec, 10% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc, aged ten months in French oak barrels and proudly delivers the superior essence of the Uco Valley terroir.
 
FAMIGLIA BIANCHI
GRAN CORTE
VALLE DE UCO 2019
Retails at: $30
 
Your Price: $28
 
 
“Notes of mulberries, dark plums, chocolate, toasted hazelnuts and baking spices. Full-bodied with fine tannins. Fruity and layered with a rich, flavorful finish. Malbec, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. Drink or hold.”
92 Points
2016 Hentley Farm Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley

2016 Hentley Farm Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley

with No Comment $30 and underAustraliaCabernet SauvignonKevin Vogt

HENTLEY FARM

CABERNET SAUVIGNON  
BAROSSA VALLEY 2016

2016 Hentley Farm Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley
Hentley Farm is a quality-driven boutique winery in the rolling hills west of the Barossa Valley, producing terroir-expressive wines from Australia’s uniquely diverse soils. The family vineyards rise from shallow clay over limestone soils on a gentle, east-facing slope that catches the early morning sun, resulting in perfectly ripe fruit and complex flavors.
 
The 2016 growing season received much-needed rain after a dry winter and early spring, followed by consistent, warm temperatures ideal for full ripeness and flavor development. The wine team blended fruit from three Cabernet Sauvignon blocks with premium fruit from the Northwestern part of the valley and vinified by a combination of techniques, including whole bunch addition and extended maceration to ensure a range of complexity and optimal balance.
 
HENTLEY FARM
CABERNET SAUVIGNON  
BAROSSA VALLEY 2016
Retails at: $28
 
 
Your Price: $25
 
 
“Youthful violet. Ripe blackberry, cherry, pipe tobacco and woodsmoke on the powerfully scented nose. Fleshy and expansive in the mouth, offering spice-laced, concentrated black and blue fruit flavors and subtle notes of candied licorice and menthol that build in the glass. Picks up energy with air and finishes on a bitter cherry note, delivering solid thrust, mounting tannins and impressive persistence.”
92 Points
2019 Scarlett Cabernet Sauvignon Mcgah Family Vineyard

2019 Scarlett Cabernet Sauvignon Mcgah Family Vineyard Rutherford Estate

with No Comment $60-$70Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaUSA

SCARLETT

CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
MCGAH FAMILY VINEYARD
RUTHERFORD ESTATE 2019

2019 Scarlett Cabernet Sauvignon Mcgah Family Vineyard
Scarlett Wines comprises four generations of wine growers working their family vineyards in Rutherford. The McGah family owns and operates the winery, formerly known as McGah Family Cellars, which rebranded in 2015 to celebrate its flagship wine named after the founder’s daughter— Scarlett. The winemaking philosophy encourages “equal parts heart and soul, art and science,” resulting in supremely balanced, classically styled, and delightfully approachable wines that are unique and compelling.
 
Award-winning winemaker Mike Smith began learning his craft by working for free for three harvests with Thomas Rivers Brown before being offered a full-time position as a winemaking assistant and later working with a collection of brands, including Maybach Family, Tamber Bey, Carter, and Rivers Marie. The beautiful 2019 vintage is another fantastic growing season for Napa, and this indulgent estate Cabernet Sauvignon proudly represents its Rutherford heritage.
 
SCARLETT
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
MCGAH FAMILY VINEYARD
RUTHERFORD ESTATE 2019
Retails at: $74
 
Your Price: $65
 
 
“Beautiful, sweet cassis and blue fruits as well as lots of violet and floral notions emerge from the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, a full-bodied, rich, concentrated barrel sample with wonderful purity of fruit, a good sense of freshness, and serious length on the finish. This promising, elegant yet powerful wine is going to shine with short-term bottle age and keep for two decades.”
93-95 Points
2019 Larkmead Firebelle Napa Valley

2019 Larkmead Firebelle Napa Valley

with No Comment $90-$100Kevin VogtNapaProprietary RedUSA

LARKMEAD

FIREBELLE
NAPA VALLEY 2019

2019 Larkmead Firebelle Napa Valley
The historic Larkmead estate was founded in 1895, making it one of the oldest family-owned properties in Napa Valley. The winery’s secret sauce lies in its vineyard, which borders the Napa River and Selby Creek at the conjunction point of two colluvial fans, where an accumulation of ancient riverbed gravel, clay, and loam, gives the wines a hillside-grown structure.
 
Firebelle gets its name from Lillie “Firebelle Lil” Hitchcock because of its extraordinary balance of elegance, softness, power, and expression. The 2019 growing season was perfect for Merlot which comprises 43% of the Firebelle blend, adding plush tannins and gorgeous aromatics with a backbone of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon giving concentration and balance.
 
LARKMEAD
FIREBELLE
NAPA VALLEY 2019
 
Your Price: $99.99
 
 
“Combining 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Merlot from the property, this is a showcase of savory earthiness and supple tannin. Inky dark, it offers a wealth of balanced red fruit, notes of tobacco, gun smoke and dried herb, with an understated elegance that shines.”
95 Points “Cellar Selection”
2020 Widows Peak Pinot Noir by Beau Vigne Sonoma County

2020 Widows Peak Pinot Noir by Beau Vigne Sonoma County

with No Comment $30-$40Kevin VogtPinot NoirSonomaSonoma CoastUSA

WIDOW’S PEAK

BY BEAU VIGNE
PINOT NOIR
SONOMA COUNTY 2020

2020 Widows Peak Pinot Noir by Beau Vigne Sonoma County
Beau Vigne’s signature style was developed by founding winemaker Dave Phinney, making rich, balanced, multidimensional wines, with Robert Parker calling the boutique estate “one of my favorite wineries.” Kirk Venge succeeded Dave Phinney, and Julien Fayard, former Director of Winemaking for Philippe Melka, is the mastermind behind the wines known for producing California varietals with a French twist.
 
The Widow’s Peak Sonoma County Pinot Noir was sourced from a single vineyard in the Green Valley of the Russian River Valley, with several aspects and microclimates creating a range of diversity within the vines. The grapes producing the 2020 wine are from four separate clones, including 667, 777, and two California Heritage clones. The fermented juice spent eight months in 40% new French oak, delivering a wine that energetically showcases the complexity of the variety.
 
WIDOW’S PEAK
BY BEAU VIGNE
PINOT NOIR
SONOMA COUNTY 2020
Retails at: $85
 
 
 
“Beau Vigne 2020 Widow’s Peak Sonoma County Pinot Noir opens with lush notes of ripe red plum, maraschino cherry, Christmas cake, vanilla, cocoa powder, and earth. The wine is full-bodied on the palate with flavors of sweet red fruit, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, cola, and espresso bean. The rich flavor intensity carries into a long finish, and the spice component will make a perfect match for holiday pairings.”
93-94 Points
2019 Fontaine Du Clos Vacqueyras Rhone Valley France

2019 Fontaine Du Clos Vacqueyras Rhone Valley France

with No Comment $30 and underCotes du RhoneFranceKevin VogtRhone ValleyRhone Valley

FONTAINE DU CLOS

VACQUEYRAS 2019
RHONE VALLEY, FRANCE

2019 Fontaine Du Clos Vacqueyras Rhone Valley France
Domaine Fontaine du Clos’ foundation was built upon years of farming and nurturing a vine nursery that supplies vineyards throughout France. The estate accounts for over 40 grape varieties on 250 acres planted in Vaucluse, Vacqueyras, and Côtes du Rhône. The deep-rooted connection to the fruit through farming eventually became a passion for wine production that Céline and Jean-François Barnier nurture today.
 
The Vacqueyras AOC lies at the foothills of the Dentelles de Montmirail range and benefits from cool mountain breezes at night, which helps maintain bright acidity in Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre grapes. The 2019 vintage produced a structured, bold red with a vibrant freshness that was a stunning beauty among several Napa Valley Cabernets, thoroughly impressing our tasting panel.
 
FONTAINE DU CLOS
VACQUEYRAS 2019
RHONE VALLEY, FRANCE
 
Your Price: $29.99
 
 
“Penetrating and very complex, the Fontaine du Clos Vacqueyras begins with a vibrant nose including black currants, elderberry jam, multivitamins, fresh wild mushrooms, animal blood, crushed granite, dandelion greens, and peppermint hints. These elements combine on the palate with concentrated blueberries, Italian herbs, marionberry syrup, menthol, and slightly chalky tannins. This stunner is a medium-full-bodied wine with an intense concentration of fruit and nearly unheard-of complexity and length at this price. While the name is a mouth full, the wine is even more so… in a good way. Anyone who tries this beauty will most likely love it.”
94+ Points
2018 Laird Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2018 Laird Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

with No Comment $50-$60Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaUSA

LAIRD

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY 2018

2018 Laird Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Ken Laird is the third generation of his family in the farming business, swapping tobacco growing for cultivating wine grapes after moving to Napa Valley and purchasing his first parcel in 1970. Following Robert Mondavi’s advice, he and his wife Gail transformed an old prune orchard into a vineyard with Bob’s guarantee that the Laird’s Cabernet Sauvignon would be “the highest harvest price paid in the Valley.”
 
The Lairds have continually expanded their land holdings over the last 50 years, becoming the largest family-owned vineyard owners in Napa Valley with a deep understanding of the minute factors influencing each microclimate. Their 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon arose from three of their favorite vineyards, Flat Rock, Mast Ranch, and Linda Vista Ranch, aged in 40% new French oak for 21 months giving a robust style of wine with firm, elegant tannins and a delightful balance.
 
LAIRD
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
NAPA VALLEY 2018
Retails at: $65
 
Your Price: $55
 
 
“Fruity nose of baked blueberries, ripe blackberries, cherry pie, sweet spices, licorice, tobacco leaves and chocolate. Full-bodied with firm, polished tannins. Beautifully rich, succulent core of blue and black fruit. Better from 2023.”
93 Points