Laguna Cellar Wine of the Month - May 2023

R de Rieussec 2016 -  "The 2016 R de Rieussec has a strict and quite stony bouquet with dew-speckled green apples and a touch of freshly sliced pear. The palate is well balanced with touches of peach skin and nectarine, a crisp line of acidity with pleasant salinity towards the finish. Drink this dry white from the Rieussec team over the next five or six years." - Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate (4/28/2017), Ratings: 90

Château Gloria 2015 - "The 2015 Gloria is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot cropped at 51 hl/ha, matured in 40% new wood. It was picked between 21 September and finishing on 7 October with the Cabernet Sauvignon. It has a fragrant bouquet with dark cherries, cedar and touches of cigar box - classic Saint Julien in many ways, though it does not have the complexity of great recent vintages such as the 2010. The palate is well balanced, clean and pure with fine tannin. The acidity is nicely judged, not a million miles away from the 2015 Lagrange in terms of its refinement, but this has perhaps a touch more detail on the finish. Perhaps one of the more approachable Saint Julien wines this vintage, give this 4-5 years in bottle and then drink over the next 20 years." - Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate (4/27/2016), Ratings: 91, Drink: 2021-2040

Château Phélan Ségur 2015 - "The 2015 Phelan Segur, a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon and 47% Merlot aged in 50% new oak, is certainly one of the better offerings from the Saint Estèphe appéllation. For sure, the bouquet is restrained, kept on a leash, but it trots along with crisp blackberry and raspberry fruit, interwoven with an attractive pencil lead note. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannin. It is structured and quite bold, considering the storm that swept across the appéllation during harvest, clearly a lot of sorting here that engenders a clean and pure wine with appreciable mineralité and tension on the foursquare finish. If released at a sensible price, then this would be a recommended Saint Estèphe to consumer over 10-12 years." - Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate (4/27/2016, Issue 224), Ratings: 91-93, Drink: 2020-2038

Giodo 2017 - "From Carlo Ferrini's beautiful Giodo estate, nestled into one of the most idyllic little vineyard nooks found anywhere in Montalcino, the 2017 Giodo is a fresh and accessible expressions of Sangiovese. What comes through most here is the naked beauty of the fruit that shines with raspberry and summer cherry. This wine would make an ideal partner to veal cutlets seasoned with bay leaf or thyme. It opens to blue flower aromas with crushed stone, white pepper and pretty Mediterranean nuances. This wine never reveals any hint of the 2017 heat, and this is surely due to the ideal and romantically hidden-from-view positioning of the Giodo vineyards. Some 8,000 bottles were released in April 2019." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate (1/31/2020) Ratings: 92, Drink: 2020-2025