95 Points – Ned Goodwin, James Suckling.com May 2023
A different, fuller-weighted brood, boasting ample stone fruits, nutmeg and truffle. Savvy use of oak (tonneaux and larger format French) and extended lees ageing. A vineyard purchased in 1976, situated directly behind the town's castle. Lower altitude, with clay and limestone (rather than the more pervasive volcanics), finding effortless confluence with a winemaking approach that has long-defined this fuller-weighted, late-harvested, highly textural expression. While an outlier stylistically, there is often a fleck of botrytis, all tamarind and dried mango, that melds with the underlying tension to impart generosity and evince authority.
95 Points – Jeff Porter, Wine Enthusiast, September 2023
Rich yet linear, it is a wine of such profound balance that it can weaken the knees. The 2021 opens with rich and golden apples, honeysuckle, roasted hazelnuts and fresh clover honey. As the wine develops, the minerality shines and brings more nuance to the wine. The palate is textured, layered and so well structured that you might forget that this is wine, not art. Apricots, baked pear and sweet spices drive the palate toward that mineral edge on the finish.
