Americas
The North American wine producing reputation can largely be attributed to the global fame and success of Napa Valley and Sonoma County in the United States. Although technically ‘new world’, its wines have the same devoted fan base (and often first-growth prices) as many classic European wines. Free from the shackles of European winemaking law, one can find a variety of cooler climate Cabs, Merlots, Pinots, Chardonnays and Rieslings that will entice all wine lovers.
South America is an exciting new melting pot of styles and flavours with a range of soils types and altitudes – taking international varietals and finishing with French winemaking techniques, or in the case of Argentinian Malbec, adopting a largely unloved grape and making it their own.
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Americas
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Vinous (97-100)
The 2019 Monte Bello, tasted from barrel, is insanely beautiful. Vibrant, deep and pulsing with energy, the 2019 simply has it all. How will it turn out in bottle? I can’t say just yet. But this barrel sample shipped across the country is positively dazzling, so the wine’s potential is clear. The 2019 offers superb fruit density, with mid-weight structure, bright acids and plenty of tannin. It could very well turn out to be epic.د.إ4,635.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (98)
Aged in 100% new oak, the 2022 Monte Bello blends 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, selected from 18 of 21 lots by blind tasting. After assemblage, the wine spent 21 more months in barrel. The vineyard starts at 1,600 feet and goes up to 2,700 feet at top, and is spread out across 4 different ranches, Klein, Rousten, Torre and Perrone, the wines getting more tightknit and ageable as the vines move up the mountain. By the end of harvest, Monte Bello is split into 55 different blocks, which are then picked and fermented separately. Year after year, this is a “wow” wine, herbal, lightly spiced in oak, with a lovely creamy, velvety texture and a backbone of well-resolved tannin supporting a medium-bodied, balanced spirit of mountain garrigue. These wines typically age 20-25 years or more.د.إ2,415.00 -
د.إ4,450.00 -
د.إ4,880.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (97-100)
From a great site in the foothills of Howell Mountain, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb Vineyard is going to flirt with perfection on release. Possessing full-bodied richness and depth as well as massive concentration, it’s nevertheless as graceful as they come, with stunning purity and finesse in both its tannins and texture. Offering exotic black fruits, green tobacco, olive, and subtle background oak, I suspect 4-5 years of bottle age will be warranted, but this is a special wine in the making.د.إ9,175.00 -
د.إ4,820.00 -
Vinous (94)
The 2018 Pinot Noir Summa Vineyard is another gorgeous wine. In almost any other range, it could be the highlight, but the Rivers-Marie 2018s are brilliant across the board. In the glass, the 2018 offers a striking balance of floral intensity, fruit and structure. All of that makes the Summa the most complete and satisfying wine to drink in the early going. Rose petal, mint, exotic spice and earthy tones add complexity throughout.د.إ4,565.00 -
James Suckling (96)
Focused nose, showing fresh red chili chocolate with cigar, truffle, mint, olive and grilled meat. This is a medium-to full-bodied red with incredibly juicy and bright fruit and fine, caressing tannins that linger in the long, creamy but precise finish. Elegant and extremely drinkable with complexity. on top of 38% malbec, 25% syrah, 15% cabernet sauvignon, 14% grenache and 8% petit verdot. The real deal. Second wine of Seña. Drink or hold.د.إ1,010.00 -
(3x75cl) 2018Vinous (95)
Dark ruby. A complex bouquet evokes red and blue fruit preserves, incense and lavender, and smoky mineral and oak spice accents build as the wine opens up. Juicy and well-concentrated yet lively on the palate, offering intense raspberry, cherry liqueur, boysenberry and baking spice flavors and a hint of licorice on the back half. Delivers solid punch and betrays no rough edges on an extremely long, vibrant finish that repeats the floral and spice notes.د.إ2,050.00 -
James Suckling (100)
The aromas of blackberry leaves and iodine are wild and exotic here with mussel shells and earth underneath. Full-bodied, tight and chewy with powerful tannins that show muscle. It’s structured and powerful. Dense and very, very deep. Don’t touch this until 2025.د.إ3,600.00 -
James Suckling (98)
This is such a beautifully nuanced red with tobacco, dried herbs, wet earth and currants. Some leather and rose petals, too. Full-bodied and chewy, yet refined with great polish. It’s rich and intense at the same time. Very focused center palate. Broad layers of tannin and fruit. A blend of 72% cabernet sauvignon, 19% carmenere, 6% cabernet franc and 3% petit verdot. Better after 2024, but already a joy to taste.د.إ2,580.00 -
Decanter (98)
Founded by Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Concha y Toro in Puente Alto, Almaviva excels with its Bordeaux-inflected reds created by Michel Friou. Its 2019 cuveé – 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Carmenere, and the rest made up of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot – enjoyed an extraordinary year resulting in a fragrant nose of dark fruit, lavender, eucalyptus, blackcurrant and cigar box aromas. The refined palate has a fresh core and velvety feel.د.إ2,460.00 -
James Suckling (98)
Fresh and deep nose, full of blueberries, minty cassis, mussels, cigars, dark spice and roasted sesame oak, which will need a year or two to fully integrate. A medium-to full-bodied Almaviva with supple, silky tannins and a wealth of black and blue fruit that provides a lot of charm now. Voluptuous and flattering on the palate, hallmarked by its tension and taut texture. Very long. This is the 25th anniversary bottling. 68% cabernet sauvignon, 24% carmenere, 6% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot. Drinkable now, but better from 2024.د.إ2,405.00 -
James Suckling (99)
What fabulous perfumed aromas of lavender, blackcurrants, graphite, tapenade and hints of sweet tobacco. So complex and sophisticated. Medium- to full-bodied with tannins that have an incredible finesse and length. It goes on for minutes. It’s all about elegance and class. There’s harmony and freshness for a dry year. Seductive and so long. 72% cabernet sauvignon, 23% carmenere, 4% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot. Drinkable now, but one for the cellar. Drink from 2028.د.إ2,800.00 -
James Suckling (94)
Aromas of blueberries, blackberries and fresh flowers. Very cool and pure. Medium-bodied with fine, linear and very integrated tannins that are compressed and silky-textured. New second wine of Almaviva. Needs time to open. Try after 2024.د.إ819.00 -
Wine Advocate (94)
The current release of their second wine is the 2020 Epu. It's selected from the same terroir and vineyard in Puente Alto, one of the most reputed places for Cabernet Sauvignon in Chile, but from the younger vines (five- to 20-year-old vines) and harvested a little earlier to preserve acidity and fruit. In the warm and dry 2020 vintage, the wine was produced with a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Carmenere, 5% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, usually higher in Cabernet and lower in Carmenere than Almaviva. It has red ripe berries, the textbook blackberries and cassis and some creamy oak. It's ripe at 14.8% alcohol and has mellow acidity, good freshness and balance, with a pH of 3.71 and 4.8 grams of acidity (tartaric). It matured for 12 months in French barriques, 10% new and 90% second use. The wine has a bright nose with a clean note of baked "morrón" peppers intermixed with red berry compote. It has a velvety plate with the luxurious texture of the modern Bordeaux, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins. It's approachable and round but should reward some time in bottle. This is a pretty serious Epu. 75,000 bottles produced. It was bottled at the end of 2021 and the first days of 2022. This is the second vintage sold through the Place de Bordeaux négociant system.د.إ1,105.00 -
Jancis Robinson (17.5)
Just a hint of reductive funk on the nose with citrus blossoms and citrus savoury flavours underneath. Much more mid-range tones on the nose compared with the Sta Rita Hills wines, with notes of stone fruit – a touch of white-peach pit and nectarine skin – with passion fruit and loam on the nose followed by loam, quinine and even a bit of green olive alongside a fresh saline savour on the palate, carrying plenty of fresh acidity throughout. A very different wine than the Sta Rita Hills. While the Sta Rita Hills wines are finessed and energetically wound, the Bien Nacido, in comparison, is savoury and earthy with more breadth across the palate while still made in a restrained style. It is clearly just a different site and soil type. Lots of flavour and power of presence for such a low-alcohol wine. The quinine note nips tight the edges to bring more tension to an otherwise broader palate expression. Lots of length. (ECB)د.إ2,340.00 -
Jancis Robinson (17+)
Floral and citrus aromatics carry into a savoury, lively, saline and citrus palate that leaves even the tactile effect of saline on the palate through the long finish. Flinty accents also persist throughout. While the aromatics are pretty and lifted, they transform into a palate of power. There is initially less complexity here than the other Sta Rita Hills wines but more power of presence. This wine is the most palate-filling as well. It wants a bit of time in bottle to integrate and gain finesse, which it certainly has, but it is showing as restrained exuberance currently instead. Allow it some time in the cellar before opening. (ECB)د.إ2,340.00 -
(12x75cl) 2021Wine Advocate (96+)
The 2021 Chardonnay Romance has layered scents of apricot, quince, matchstick, almonds, panna cotta and pie crust. The medium-bodied palate is powerful and expressive, with a highly concentrated core of nuanced fruit and expansive spice and savory accents. It has a luxuriously satiny texture and vibrant acidity that combines with its mineral character to create a long, shimmery finish. With all that flavor and energy, it will be long lived in bottle.د.إ3,659.00 -
Decanter (95)
It was a great pleasure to visit Rajat Parr in Santa Barbara at the beginning of this year and to see some of the extreme sites his team are farming. Since 2011, Raj and his winemaker Sashi Moorman have been producing consistently thrilling Chardonnays and the 2014s may well be their best to date. This wine, which hails from a vineyard planted in 1971 by the pioneering Richard Sandford, is beautiful, opening in the glass with a complex bouquet of lemon zest, tart pear, tangerine oil, subtle hazelnut and a lick of noble reduction. On the palate the wine is concentrated, intense and deep at the core, with great cut and energy through a finish that tingles with minerality. At 12% alcohol this is very far from the caricature of California Chardonnay, and readers who are about to get stung by 2015 Burgundy pricing should give this a serious look.د.إ2,340.00 -
Wine Advocate (100)
The prodigious 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, including fruit from some of the oldest Cabernet vines still in existence in Napa. This full-bodied classic displays notes of forest floor, earth, crème de cassis, blackberry liqueur, licorice and some pen ink. It is dense, full-bodied, prodigiously rich, massive in intensity, yet relatively light on its feet. This great ballerina of a wine has extraordinary ripeness but pulls back from the edge before going over the top. There are 1,000 cases of this classic, which should age effortlessly for 30+ years.د.إ14,515.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (100)
Scheduled to be released in March of this year, the deep ruby-colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon would give the 2015 Château Margaux (that’s what leaped into my head as I tasted this) a run for its money and is an utterly perfect bottle of wine that does everything right. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from very old, dry farmed vines in what was previously known as the J.J. Cohn Vineyard, its deep purple color is followed by a heavenly perfume of blueberries, spring flowers, lead pencil, exotic spices, and graphite. Slightly more focused and poised than the M. Etain release, with full body, ultra-fine tannins, and no hard edges, it’s a wine of incredible elegance paired with remarkable intensity, and it’s rare to find a wine that marries both so effortlessly. As with the vast majority of truly great Cabernet Sauvignons, it’s great today and will be great in 30 years.د.إ11,200.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (100)
Pure perfection in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Scarecrow’s 2018 reveals a dense purple hue as well as an incredible bouquet of pure crème de cassis, toasted spices, chocolate, darker currants, and graphite. This carries to a full-bodied, dense, off-the-charts sexy 2018 that has the vintage’s purity and freshness backed up by flawless balance, a layered mouthfeel, and building yet elegant tannins. This cuvée is hard to resist given its texture and wealth of fruit, but it will ideally be given 3-5 years and should evolve for 30 years or more.د.إ8,965.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (100)
Pure perfection from Napa Valley, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is, as always, all Cabernet Sauvignon from an incredible site in Rutherford that spent 21 months in 70% new French oak. Incredible aromatics of crème de cassis, darker currants, smoke, tobacco, and assorted floral notes all define the bulk of the bouquet, and it’s full-bodied, with a multi-dimensional, layered texture, ultra-fine tannins, and perfect balance. This is such a magical site, and this wine consistently checks in with the greatest wines of the world. It already offers pleasure yet should have 30 years of overall longevity. Hats off to winemaker Celia Welch and the team at Scarecrow.د.إ8,815.00 -
Wine Spectator (94)
'#1 in Wine Spectator Top 100 2022' - Packs in generous steeped plum, boysenberry and mulberry flavors backed by a broad swath of roasted alder and bittersweet cocoa. Brimming with dense fruit, and is squarely in the not-shy style. The long finish has a serious loamy tug, too. Best from 2023 through 2035. 10,000 cases made.د.إ2,965.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (100)
The 2015 Screaming Eagle is another monumental wine from this address, and it's one of those cases where if you afford it, you should buy it. A blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc, this magical elixir boasts a deep purple color as well as a blockbuster bouquet of blueberries, creme de cassis, violets, incense, and cedarwood. Reminding me of the 2015 Château Margaux with its off the charts class and purity, it’s full-bodied, thrillingly textured, and has a finish that just won't quit. This legendary wine is going to keep for 30-40 years.د.إ33,395.00 -
Jeb Dunnuck (100)
Another perfect wine is the 2012 Screaming Eagle which checks in as 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc. While just as good as the 2013, it’s made in a very different style and has a lush, opulent, sexy profile as well as the hallmark crème de cassis, white flowers, graphite and spice. With a silky, full-bodied, seamless texture, incredible complexity, ultra-fine tannin, and blockbuster length, this quintessential Screaming Eagle will continue drinking beautifully for 20-25 years.د.إ38,160.00 -
James Suckling (100)
The subtle and nuanced aromas to this are so enticing with perfumed, floral, blackcurrant and blackberry character. Roses, too. Some lavender. Full-bodied yet so refined and polished with the most transparent and polished texture. Firm and seamless. So beautiful now. Give it three or four years to come around, but this already sings.د.إ33,510.00 -
Wine Advocate (100)
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Screaming Eagle soars out of the glass with vibrant notions of ripe blackberries, black cherries and fresh red and black currants plus wafts of licorice, candied violets, cedar chest and clove oil with a beguiling touch of sea spray. Medium-bodied with jaw-dropping elegance, the palate is finely textured and yet built like a brick house with a super taut backbone and exquisitely knit acidity. The intense black and red fruit flavors are accented by layers of mineral and floral notions, finishing with incredible length and depth. Undeniably stunning. “I loved it!” winemaker Nick Gislason told me when I asked him for his thoughts on the 2018 vintage. “Everything is just really perfumey with a lot of verve and a lot of freshness. It’s a wholesome vintage, if that makes sense? The canopies were big and healthy; there was a lot of life in the vineyard. After 2017, it felt like the bloom that comes afterward.” He went on to say, "We made a little 2017 red. Only four barrels of the Cab! Ten barrels of The Flight. Only from grapes that came in before the fires—mainly Merlot and a couple of blocks of Cabernet." Whereas Screaming Eagle is mainly sourced from Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the western side of the estate, there is one plot of old Merlot (1980s plantings) on the eastern side of the vineyard that continually makes the backbone of this Second Flight/The Flight. This is planted on very gravelly, well-drained soils. Gislason explained, “The Cabernet Sauvignon for The Flight is always about being fresh, light and perfumey, without the firmer tannins that Cabernet can sometimes give. There is a ‘fresh’ end of the property that this tends to come from. There is some other Merlot on the other side of the property that doesn’t have the acidity, perfume or brightness we’re looking for. We don’t use this in The Flight.”د.إ34,360.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
The 2017 Sauvignon Blanc is 100% Sauvignon Blanc, coming from a small section of estate vines closer to the Napa river. It is entirely fermented in French oak, but only about 5% is new. The grapes are pressed straight to barrels and kept on their gross lees. The wine is fermented using native yeasts. This vintage, the nose is not at all shy—it comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant scents of ripe peaches, passion fruit and musk perfume plus wafts of honeycomb, elderflower, ripe gooseberries and lemongrass with a waft of Bosc pears. The palate is super intense and yet ethereally weighted, light-bodied and oh-so-fine, elegant and refreshing, featuring a whole array of chalk and sea spray sparks, creating a shimmer to all the many citrus and stone fruit layers, finishing with great length and energy. There is a truly interesting phenolic texture to the palate that reminds me of some Chardonnays, particularly Burgundian examples. Winemaker Nick Gislason commented that the gross lees contain a lot of phenolic content, which is where the wine picks up that textural component. Love it!د.إ74,685.00
