Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pora (with 13,333 bottles released) is usually the first wine I taste each year when I review this set of Riservas from Produttori del Barbaresco. That's because it usually appears as the most delicate, and the intensity of each successive bottle increases after this one. But these schematics are a bit more difficult to align in a hot and dry vintage such as this that produced richer and more succulent fruit across the board. The Pora is redolent of red and purple fruit with a little more blackberry and plum compared to previous editions.

The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pajè is impressive on all fronts, but especially in terms of aromas. There's so much brightness here with red and purple fruits, rust and a dark note of clove or exotic spice. No element is out of place, but together they help to build the intensity of this balanced wine. It shows a soft, velvety texture, and perhaps there is a little more ripeness overall in this warm vintage. Production is 6,666 bottles. (ML)

One of the bigger productions (with 17,744 bottles) in the Produttori del Barbaresco's portfolio is the 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Ovello. All of the Riservas in this vintage are characterized by especially exuberant and bold aromas, and this bottle is a prime example. Cassis, wild cherry, tobacco, rusty nail and licorice build intensity. The wine is tapered and silky in texture, but it also offers a good amount of power (and 15% alcohol) to carry it through the aging process. (ML)

The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Muncagota plays some of its best cards in terms of texture, offering silky tannins, firmness and a long-lasting veil of fruit flavors. Cassis, wild cherry, camphor ash, spice and iron ore are aromatic protagonists. This wine is lean and compact but very linear and focused. Like the other Riservas in this group of new releases, the wine is fermented in steel and aged in large oak casks for 32 months. 10,000 bottles were produced. (ML)

The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano is darkly concentrated and among the richest wines in this series of single-vineyard Riservas. Montestefano is angular, textured and bold with dark fruit aromas, dried blackberry, toasted almond and cured tobacco. With this vintage, you get an age-worthy wine that offers brawn and power for drinking in the medium term, but it will become increasingly silky and slender with time. Dusty tannins and crushed stone appear on the long finish. There were 14,486 bottles produced. (ML)

More demonstrative out of the gates than the 2017 rendition, Bouchard's 2018 Meursault 1er Cru Genevrières is showing well from bottle, wafting from the glass with lovely aromas of ripe Anjou pears, citrus oil, fresh pastry and peaches. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and generous, it's charming and expressive, with an ample core of fruit, succulent acids and a nicely defined finish. This will drink well young. (WK)

WINE ADVOCATE 92 POINTS-"The latest rendition of Delamotte's NV Brut Blanc de Blancs is drinking very well out of the gates, offering up aromas of crisp orchard fruit and citrus zest mingled with hints of fresh bread and wet stones. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and precise, with bright acids and chalky grip, concluding with a dry finish, this is a classy, seamless wine that will offer a broad drinking window."-William Kelley (09/21)

Offering up wild, exotic aromas of blackberries, cloves and Indian spices mingled with notions of rose petal, bruised orchard fruit and cherry pit that evolve rapidly in the glass, the 2021 Pontet-Canet is medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with a layered mid-palate and refined tannins that assert themselves on the firm, saline finish. Always one of the Médoc's most singular, idiosyncratic wines, it will be interesting to see how it performs in bottle. (WK)

Already bottled, the 2021 Blanc de Lynch-Bages exhibits aromas of ripe grapefruit, musky peach and pastry cream. Medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy, with lively acids and a saline finish, it's a blend of 79% Sauvignon Blanc, 15% Sémillon and 6% Muscadelle. (WK)

The 2021 Léoville Poyferré shows considerable promise, wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet berries and plums mingled with spices, licorice and petals, framed by a deft touch of creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, supple and fleshy, it's a polished, charming wine with a pretty core of fruit, lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins, concluding with a penetrating finish. It's a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. (WK)