90 Wine Enthusiast

With 25% Malbec in the blend, this powerful wine is full of dark tannins and rich black fruits. A succulent character contrasts with the wine's massive density. Drink from 2023.

98-100 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

Tasted on multiple occasions and one of the legendary wines in the making from this vintage, the 2022 Château Larcis Ducasse clocks in as 86% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc that's still resting in 55% new French oak. A hypothetical blend of the 2005 and 2018, it's a deep, powerful, opulent Saint-Emilion offering an incredible array of black cherries, blackberries, smoked tobacco, chocolate, and graphite-driven aromas and flavors. With a rich, full-bodied, expansive mouthfeel, it has ultra-fine tannins, beautiful symmetry in its tannins, acidity, and fruit, no hard edges, and a killer finish. I was lucky enough to taste this on four separate occasions and I thought it had the potential to be a perfect wine every time.

98-99 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

This is really precise with a lazer-guided fine tannin structure throughout the wine, and juicy and electric texture. It’s so refined and polished. Endless. Wonderful young wine with a terrific future.

97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Independent

A blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Cabernet Franc, the 2022 Larcis Ducasse is deep garnet-purple in color. It wows as it powers out of the glass with bright, expressive notes of juicy blackberries, fresh black cherries, and warm plums, followed by suggestions of Indian spices, iron ore, iris bulb, and crushed rocks. The full-bodied palate is laden with rich, seductive, and amazingly energetic black and blue fruits, framed by super-ripe, velvety tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing with epic length. This 2022 is a triumph!

96-98 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

The 2022 Larcis Ducasse is a huge, inky wine. A firm backbone of structure lies behind all of that opulence, yielding a wine that is both extravagantly rich and super-classic. That’s a pretty appealing combination in my book. Dark red-toned fruit, spice, leather, tobacco, incense and mocha emerge, but only with great reluctance. The 2022 is packed to the core. I don’t imagine it will be ready to drink anytime soon, but is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage. The blend is 84% Merlot and 16% Cabernet Franc, a bit more Franc than usual, aging in equal parts 225- and 500-liter barrels. Tasted four times.

97 Georgina Hindle - Decanter

Smells gorgeous, black fruits, milk chocolate and floral notes. Supple and lively, crystalline and pure, you get both the juicy, fleshiness of the dark and concentrated fruit but with tension and detail and definition. Clarity and bite, this really works and delivers everything you want in terms of tannins, minerality, freshness and density. Controlled and purposeful and keeps a quiet confidence and strong intensity the whole way through. Clearly powerful, but refined and sophisticated. Compelling, darkly seductive and oh so drinkable. A fantastic wine in the making. Harvest 9 - 23 September. Ageing 16-18 months; 60% new barrels, 40% one wine (225L and 400L). Derenoncourt consultants.

96 Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

You feel the fingerprint of the limestone here, from a team that is never afraid of austerity in a young wine is young. It opens to show creamy black and red fruits, with steely acidity that keeps the ripeness in check. 34hl/h yield, 50% new oak and for the rest 500l casks for ageing

94-95 William Kelley - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

A fleshy, opulent wine, the 2022 Larcis Ducasse bursts with aromas of rich, creamy berry fruit mingled with aromas of licorice, bay leaf and spices. Full-bodied, broad and enveloping, it's a textural, layered wine with a ripe core of fruit, supple tannins and an expansive finish. More dramatic and unabashed than the 2020, this will appeal to readers who place a premium on flamboyant extravagance; but samples tasted later during my visit to Bordeaux exhibited greater freshness and precision.

96 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

A full-bodied Brunello with lots of plums and cherries, as well as orange-peel character. It’s creamy and round-textured. Soft and chewy tannins. Shows the warmth and ripeness of the 2017 vintage. Drink after 2023.

95 Monica Larner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Carlo Ferrini's Giodo 2017 Brunello di Montalcino is plush and softly layered, and the wine has plenty of fiber and cherry to absorb the power that comes naturally to this vintage. This is Carlo's seventh leaf (or vintage) of Brunello from his family-run estate, and it's nice to reflect on the consistency of style and quality achieved since this new venture emerged. Giodo has the advantage of coming onto the scene when international regard and understanding for Brunello was highest (think back to the excellent 2010 vintage). Carlo has not disappointed. He brings us a modern, forward-thinking wine that is rooted in local Tuscan winemaking tradition (just think, one of his first stints was at Soldera Case Basse years ago). This vintage brings home that signature Giodo personality with black cherry, dark fruit and elegant earthy end notes. At about 18-years-old now, his vines are entering an interesting chapter of their lifespan, and we can expect more great results from this estate. Production for this wine is 12,000 bottles.

92 Tim Atkin, MW

The second wine of Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a wine for claret drinkers rather than points junkies. Typically floral and refined, with very gentle oaking, it’s a more serious wine than it seems at first, showing supporting tannins, a twist of vanilla spice and refreshing acidity. Drink: 2020-25

91 Decanter

This is a very enjoyable wine. There’s subtle and welcoming grilled oak on the nose with smooth brambly fruits and acidity that is present but balanced. The tannins are well integrated with touches of menthol on the finish and a certain restraint that give clues to the appellation. It definitely works as an entry point to the main Grand-Puy-Lacoste bottling. Harvest was from 18 September to 4 October. 45% new oak.

90-91 James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com

Soft and silky second wine of Grand Puy Lacoste. Medium to full body, juicy fruit and a velvety tannic finish.

93 Wine Spectator

"Beautifully balanced and refined in texture, this displays exotic ground spice and floral accents to the flavors of poached white peach, Meyer lemon and candied ginger, with hints of pastry and honey. Offers a lasting, mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2023. 2,917 cases imported. -AN" (11/13)

92 Wine & Spirits

"If chardonnay could be a red wine, it might have the red fruit flavors of this blanc de blancs. Perhaps it’s the floral aspects that turn its chamomile and yellow flower notes toward violets, or the deep earth tones adding color to the flavor. The fruit is persistent, sunny in the middle, then shaded by an almost tannic character to the lees that places the wine with food, particularly roast veal." (12/13)

92 Wine Enthusiast

This floral wine, with its jasmine and bitter orange aromas, is ripe and full of rich potential. It is fresh with density and an edge of structure from the skin contact during fermentation. Drink from 2025. — Roger Voss

92 Wine Enthusiast

There's an elegance to the nose of this bottling that combines charred wood with purple flowers and boysenberry jam. It's still very structured and somewhat rigid on the palate, where espresso bean flavors meet with black currant, charred beef and light mint. Drink 2020–2030.

92 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com

A youthful deep ruby and all from West Sonoma Coast fruit, the 2021 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is highly floral and aromatic and offers more lift, with pure red raspberry, wild rosemary, and spice. Medium-bodied, it’s bright with wild cherry and pine and has good structure, ripe tannins, and fresh acidity.

95 Wine Enthusiast

Dark ruby to the eye, this wine has a bouquet of dark fruits of the wood and herbes de Provence. Muscular tannins offer a backdrop to well-integrated acidity and Mission fig, black-cherry, mocha and marjoram flavors. The enduring finish is noted for a burst of cranberry.