February Specials
Torremilanos
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2024 Torremilanos Montecastrillo
It's soft and easy to drink, clean and balanced, and with good ripeness and elegance. It reveals an enticing perfume of Asian spices, incense, lavender, licorice, and blackberry. Dense on the palate with a bit of structure, this succulent, forward effort is an excellent value.
Schiopetto
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2021 Schiopetto Friulano DOC Collio
The 2021 Friulano is youthfully understated with a pretty bouquet that mixes lemon zest with mint and crushed rocks nuances. It washes across the palate with a tension-building mix of citrus-tinged acids and salty minerals as a core of tropical melon evolves toward the close. The 2021 finishes on a more delicate note, yet long with pretty inner florals that linger on and on. There’s a beautiful balance and underlying power here that will guarantee a lovely maturation in bottle.
Vinous Media
92+ Points
Pierre Prieur & Fils
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2022 Pierre Prieur & Fils Sancerre Les Monts Damnés Blanc
The 2022 Monts Damnés shows the classic power and tension of this steep Chavignol vineyard. The nose opens with white peach, lime zest, crushed oyster shell, and fresh herbs, layered with subtle notes of flint and wet limestone. On the palate, the wine is precise, vertical, and mineral‑driven, with a core of citrus, green apple, and stone fruit framed by the vineyard’s signature saline cut. The texture is both silky and tightly coiled, carrying impressive concentration without losing lift. The finish is long, chalky, and mouthwatering, showing the depth and structure that make Monts Damnés one of Sancerre’s most prized sites.
Ioppa
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2017 Ioppa Ghemme DOCG
The 2017 Ghemme is a very polished wine. Kirsch, sweet red cherry, cedar, mint and pipe tobacco are all amplified in this layered, beautifully resonant Ghemme. All the elements are impeccably balanced. This is impressive. The 2017 spent 27 months in cask.
Vinous Media
92 Points
Volpe Pasini
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2018 Volpe Pasini Grivo Pinot Grigio DOC Friuli Colli Orientali
Bright straw yellow with a pinkish tinge. Strawberry, flowers, pear, yellow apple and minerals on the inviting nose and in the juicy mouth. Nicely glyceral and tactile on the long finish. From grapes grown in the areas of Togliano and Prepotto. Pinot Grigio was always the most famous wine made by Volpe Pasini. According to current owner Emilio Rotolo, Volpe Pasini was the first estate in Italy to try oak with this variety (back in 1982). Today, though, Volpe Pasini shies away from oak
Vinous Media
91 Points
Tenute Sella
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2022 Tenute Sella Orbello Coste della Sesia Nebbiolo
The 2022 Orbello shows the lifted, alpine character that makes northern Piedmont so distinctive. The nose opens with bright red cherry, cranberry, rose petal, and a touch of wild strawberry, layered with hints of spice, dried herbs, and crushed stone. On the palate, the wine is lively, medium‑bodied, and beautifully transparent, with Nebbiolo’s signature fine tannins wrapped around a core of red fruit, citrus peel, and mineral tension. A subtle savory note—tea leaf, dried flowers, a whisper of earth—adds depth without weighing the wine down. The finish is clean, long, and gently tannic, showing the precision and freshness typical of the Alto Piemonte hills.
Le Piane
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2020 Le Piane Mimmo
Tasted alongside the 2019, the 2020 Mimmo is a bit more generous and easier to appreciate in its youth. Succulent dark red cherry, sage, menthol, licorice and herbs are nicely amplified in a wine that marries fruit intensity with structure.
Vinous Media
92 Points