Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: The Kesselstatt 2006 Kaseler Nies-chen Riesling Grosses Gewachs represents one of the most concentrated distilled fruit aromas I can ever recall. The somewhat spiritous, bitte...

Wine Spectator: Dark and brooding, featuring saturated black currant, wild herb and mineral aromas and flavors, just hinting at animal. This is backward and tightly structured with tannins, y...

Wine Spectator: Remarkably knit and defined already, with bright, mouthwatering peach, apricot, persimmon and piecrust flavors. Long and pure. A beautiful wine. Good to see this estate back i...

Wine Spectator: This is a step up, with very plush layers of raspberry and blackber-ry confiture and plum sauce, liberally framed by a strong graphite note. Lots of black tea and toasty spi...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: The 2008 Passopisciaro emerges with gorgeous textural richness in its elegant, silky tannins. Despite its considerable concentration, the wine literally floats on the palate w...

Wine Enthusiast: Barrel sample. This wine has fine tannins that are relatively soft, with good acidity and dryness. It's not powerful, but with its fine black currant flavor and ripe fruit it ...

Wine Spectator: A hint of yeasty bread dough accents flavors of pippin apple, smoke, Meyer lemon and stony mineral. Firm and focused, with a raw almond note on the moderate finish. Drink now ...

Wine Spectator: This cuts a broad and creamy path, with lush blueberry fig and plum fruit all rolled together, backed by warm cocoa and anise notes. Toasty grip supports the finish but there'...

About this Wine: Geographic location :...

Wine Spectator: Dark, but with solid drive all along the way, as dark boysenberry, linzer torte and blackberry fruit courses along, held together by a prominent graphite spine. Long finish is...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Ruby-red. Wild, highly perfumed aromas of black and blue fruits, anise and spices. Dense and creamy but fresh, bolstered by very good energy to the blackberry, mulberry and cr...

About this Wine: Characteristics of the appellation:
A structured,  lively and mineral wine with good  length on the palate. Both straightforward and fresh, with exemplary concent...

Wine Spectator: Quite muscular, with roasted tobacco leaf and charcoal notes up front, backed by a core of blackberry, cassis and plum sauce. Thick but velvety tannins cruise in on the finish...

Wine Front: Smoke, spice and earth characters. Some herbal licks and a load of charry red cherry. Has a little olive tapenade and brine complexity, driving through a smooth, slightly sour...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Inky purple. Powerful blackberry and cassis aromas are complicated by suggestions of smoked meat, licorice and violet. Deeply concentrated, spice-accented cherry and dark be...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Light, bright gold. Complex, intensely perfumed scents of fresh pear, nectarine, licorice and smoky minerals. Sappy, palate-staining pit fruit and citrus flavors show a comp...

Wine Spectator: A ripe, flashy style, with lots of ginger, mango, creamed papaya and peach notes and a long, creamy finish that lets a grilled hazelnut note linger. A touch shy on zip on the ...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: The wine is dense, medium to full-bodied and, by all accounts, the richest and most concentrated of these cuvees, with one exception - the 2010 Cotes du Ventoux Il Etait Une F...

Stephen Tanzer's IWC: Ruby-red. Perfumed aromas of blueberry and violet. Suave and fine-grained but not overly sweet. Finishes with smooth tannins and a smoky quality. 87-89 points

About this Wine: Purchased in 1998 from the daughter of the local blacksmith - hence the name - the initial vineyard was primarily based on a gravel outcrop, assembled over the generations wit...