The Davies family has been making sparkling wine for 50 years, and this Blanc de Blancs has become their flagship. It’s 100 percent chardonnay and this vintage is firm and clean, with clarity to its pale, juicy apple fruit and savory, chalk-like notes from aging on the lees. Refreshing to drink on its own or with any shellfish.

Bold in texture and flavor, this wine offers toasty, lightly smoky aromas that segue to vanilla, toasted almond and baked apple flavors. The pinpoint bubbles tighten the texture just a bit for good balance before a creamy midpalate and finish take over.

This wine is delicious but subtle as it weaves tempting notes of raspberry and cream with toasted nut and baked bread nuances that provide complexity and layering. It has both a vivid crispness and a subtle smoothness that coats the mouth and helps the finish linger.

Aromas of currants and mint with hints of spices. Full-bodied, round and silky with lots of fruit and intensity. A little diffuse on the middle palate, but I like the richness. Drink in 2020.

Blended with 7% Malbec from the high-elevation estate and aged for 30 months in French oak, 87% of it new, this is a beautifully crafted, bold and substantial wine, rich and seductive in dark cherry and chocolate liqueur. Soft integrated tannins support well-behaved oak as nuances of forest pine and tobacco weigh in. Enjoy best 2025–2035.

This effusive, cheery and luxurious wine leads with fresh cherry aromas, coats the palate with strawberry and red-cherry flavors and finishes with even more fruit. It is tasty, soft and full bodied.

Novello. Lustrous mid ruby. Lots of depth and richness, yet at the same time sleek. Sweet, crushed red fruit run through by a spicy vein. Gorgeous succulent fruit, great focus and length and full spread on the finish with bags of ripe, grainy tannins. Endlessly long and succulent.

Novello. Beautifully lifted, perfumed and concentrated. Almost an explosion of fresh, crushed, sweet, red fruit. Great purity of fruit with firm tannins that never dominate. Vibrant acidity and succulence on a full, tannic, yet endlessly fine palate.

Novello. Lustrous mid ruby. Signature depth of fruit combined with finesse. Spice and minerals, cherry and raspberry with a suggestion of liquorice. There is a certain leggerezza but at the same time profound and deep but without being heavy. Fine, firm long grainy tannins clinging to the fruit. Composed energy. Easily one of the best-buy wines of the vintage – should be GV.

Lustrous mid ruby. Deep perfumed nose with a hint of pet shop. Alluring and complex with savoury hints intermingled. Minerally and balsamic notes. Impressive freshness and lightness of touch, yet long and with fine, powdery tannins. Iron and orange and sour cherry on the finish. The accent lies firmly on finesse and elegance.

The 2014 Montefalco Sagrantino 25 Anni is a steady and rich wine that shows dark primary fruit that is followed by a long succession of spice, smoke and tar-like aromas. You get the full Sagrantino package here, with ample muscle power and brawn. However, the wine's overall length and persistence is somewhat clipped in this challenging vintage.

The flagship wine to mark the estate's 25th anniversary, this is rich, powerful and voluptuous, offset by the cooler 2014 vintage. Crushed rose petals, white pepper and spice are joined by lots of finely textured, gravelly tannins which add nuance and balance.

A pure note of ripe black cherry is accented by licorice, rose hip, graphite and smoke details in this grippy, full-bodied red. Dense and chewy, with a long finish of mineral and spice. Best from 2022 through 2028.

Dense tannins are tightly knit to flavors of grilled plum and herb, espresso and baked black raspberry in this full-bodied red, with a smoky underpinning that lingers on the finish. Big and brooding, but well-balanced. Decanting or short-term cellaring will allow the flavor range to unwind and shine. Best from 2022 through 2029.

The 2015 Barolo Bricco Pernice is an exotic, beguiling wine. Blood orange, mint, sweet red cherry, star anise and a range of spice notes give the Bricco Pernice striking aromatic and flavor complexity. Medium in body, refined and super-expressive, the 2015 has so much to offer. Best of all, it will drink well with just a few years in bottle. It is such an effortless, gracious wine. Very polished, nuanced and elegant, this silky Barolo has a ton of structure but is also impeccable in its balance.

Cogno's 2016 Barolo Cascina Nuova is absolutely gorgeous. Pliant and expressive on the palate, the 2016 has a touch more mid-palate sweetness and texture than in the past, when the wine has been more nervous in feel. Sweet red cherry, blood orange, mint, wild flowers, cedar, sweet tobacco and anise all open up effortlessly. Silky tannins add to its considerable immediacy and appeal. This is such a pretty wine in its peer group and also a terrific example of how attractive more modestly priced Barolos are in 2016.

Valter Fissore ages this wine in stainless-steel tanks for just six months to create a raspy, racy nebbiolo with fresh flavors of cherry and strawberry brightened by a spray of orange peel. Chill it lightly and pour with roast chicken.

This is impressively cool for a wine from the warm 2017 vintage. It opens with flavors of red cherry and plum that reveal, with exposure to air, deeper layers of dried apricot and currant. The ripe, chewy tannins hold it all in balance.

The 2016 Barolo Ravera shows all of the energy and tension this site is so well-known for. Penetrating acids and veins of tannin give the Ravera its drive and overall feel. Naturally, the 2016 is going to need at least a few years to be at its best, but it has tremendous breeding and character to burn. White pepper, mint, sweet red cherry and citrus add to the wine's high-toned profile. This is another stellar wine from Cogno.”

The 2014 Barolo Riserva Ravera Vigna Elena is seamless in the glass, with stunning balance and all of the pedigree of this year. Medium in body and gracious, it shows elegant notes of rose petal, mint, white pepper, sweet tobacco and dried flowers. Sweet red stone fruit marry with a classic sense of austerity. All of the elements here come together in this stunning, gloriously beautiful Barolo from Cogno. Deeply expressive and intense, the 2014 Vigna Elena is not an obvious wine, but instead it is ethereal, lifted and with pure class.