Locations
Login
Reviewers
- All Staff Reviews
- - Operations Culver City (1)
- Aaron Hughes (10)
- Adam Winkel (96)
- Alex Pross (794)
- Alex Leonardini (54)
- Andrew Nunes (1)
- Cary Herrman (3)
- David Othenin-Girard (338)
- Dejah Overby (147)
- Gary Westby (541)
- Jacques Moreira (703)
- Jason Marwedel (73)
- Joel Nicholas (29)
- John Majeski (296)
- John Downing (80)
- John Flanigan (1)
- Jonathan Parnell (3)
- Kai Pedreno (3)
- Kate Soto (11)
- Keith Mabry (433)
- Kerry Kennell (1)
- Kirk Walker (276)
- Lilia McIntosh (44)
- Matthew Landau Hassan (4)
- Michael Benoit (7)
- Michael Pires (14)
- Michael Hulihan (1)
- Orazio Campoli (5)
- Rachael Ryan (2)
- Ralph Sands (222)
- Ryan Woodhouse (899)
- Ryan Moses (616)
- Sal Rodriguez (32)
- Scott Beckerley (306)
- Scott Turnbull (61)
- Simon Li (3)
- Tom Martinez (1)
- Will Blakely (27)
K&L Email Alerts
Sign up to receive custom alerts, new arrivals and the latest happenings from K&L Wines
Staff Favorites - Thomas Zacharia
|
Reviews
2021 Newton "The Puzzle" Spring Mountain Bordeaux Blend
Review Date: 07-10-2026
The 2021 Puzzle is Newton's mountain Cabernet blend at its most generous, dense and dark. It pours rich and dark, chocolate and mocha lifting out of the glass, before turning soft and fabulously friendly on the palate. Chalky dark fruit abounds, with a generous, almost decadent finish. Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon from Newton's high volcanic sites, filled out with the a supporting cast of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.
Price:
Hidden
2021 Groth "Oakcross" Oakville Proprietary Red
Review Date: 06-23-2026
Here's a magic trick: pull fruit from your Reserve Cabernet Block, the same block that goes into your $150 Reserve, which is the same wine that earned Robert Parker's first 100-point score for a California Cabernet back in 1985, and fold it into a Proprietary Red instead. Instead of $150, you pay under $60, and presto, you've got this unbeatable deal of a bottle.
What lands in the glass is California in its Sunday best with a Bordeaux accent. The fruit is dense and dark and almost brooding, with an inky core framed by the kind of gravelly, fine-grained structure the Left Bank of Bordeaux built its name on. Power and polish in the same mouthful. At under sixty dollars, calling this a steal undersells this bad boy.
2025 Lagrange, St-Julien
Review Date: 06-01-2026
The 2025 Lagrange has really beautiful and potent aromatics. The palate is juiced up and robust, with light spice character and easy tannins. This is super tasty right out of the gate today, and will be irresistible after some short-term cellaring.
Price:
$47.99
2025 Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan
Review Date: 06-01-2026
The 2025 Les Carmes is crystalline with crunchy character and lots of floral aromatics. On the palate, the wine is like a diamond, precise with a broad mid palate and a superbly focused finish. Savory characteristics abound with olives and cardamom alongside a very pretty core of black fruit. Airy and fresh on the finish, almost a weightless concentration. Gorgeous!
Price:
$114.99
2025 d'Issan, Margaux
Review Date: 06-01-2026
This is a ripe style, but very nicely balanced as well. Very dense, chewy, and focused with dark fruit, cloves, mocha and well integrated tannins. Intense yet elegant with a core of real power.
2025 Brane-Cantenac, Margaux
Review Date: 06-01-2026
The 2025 Brand Cantenac rings in at 80% Cabernet, with 18% Merlot, with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Carmenere around the edges. The aromatics are impressively pure, while the palate is full of black cherry, and fresh bouquets of violets. Delicious and well structured, with thrilling acidity. It's a wine full of small details that draw you in, and freshness that keeps you interested. A great value, and an even better wine! Well done to the Lurtons.
2025 Haut-Bailly, Pessac-Léognan
Review Date: 06-01-2026
Haut Bailly's 2025 is composed of 55% Cabernet, 36% Merlot, and remainders of Cabernet Franc and petit Verdot. Yields were quite low, clocking in at 26.6 hectoliters per hectare, compared to an average of around 35-40 in most years. Fortunately, the wine is as lovely as it is scares. Soaring, luscious aromatics with an undertone of warm spice. The palate is richly fruited with great density and breadth, and soft, integrated tannins. In my notes, I dubbed the 2025, "boldly elegant," and looking back, I can't help but concur!
2025 Mouton Rothschild "Aile d'Argent" Bordeaux Blanc
Review Date: 06-01-2026
This has super ripe and generous aromatics, with boat-loads of exotic citrus fruits. The palate is full of has passionfruit curd, with a rich creaminess that rides fresh waves of acidity impressively. Yum!
2025 Le Petit Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac
Review Date: 06-01-2026
Always a vineyard selection, the 2025 Petit Mouton has a higher percentage of Merlot than in previous years. The supple Merlot-focused core is sweet-fruited fresh, and very silky. There’s ripeness and power aplenty, and the wine finishes with a refreshing note of acidity.
Price:
$179.99
2025 Réserve de la Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac
Review Date: 06-01-2026
The 2025 Reserve de la Comtesse flatters with silky dark fruit, a plush mid palate, and impressive structure. The core is inky dark, full of black licorice, mocha, and ripe blackberries, with an impressively persistent finish. Well done!
2025 Pichon-Lalande, Pauillac
Review Date: 06-01-2026
The 2025 Pichon Lalande is full of entrancing juxtaposition. Ripe, but classic, structured, but expansive. The aromatics are deep and dark, with a palate to match. A perfectly ripe, satiny dark fruit core, wrapped in supreme structure. This is already quite exuberant and expressive!
Price:
$149.99
2025 La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan
Review Date: 06-01-2026
The aromatics on the 2025 La Mission demand your attention. They're so beautiful and pure, full of dark berries and spice tones. The palate is supple and creamy, with a showering of red and dark fruits, superbly integrated tannins, and a long, persistent finish. This is elegance incarnate in a bottle. I loved it!
Price:
$224.99
2025 Giscours, Margaux 6-Pack in OWC
Review Date: 06-01-2026
2025 is the first vintage made in Giscours' new fed cellar. A greater number of gravity fed vats will help provide more precision and gentler extraction. The 2025 is very clean and precise with buckets of energy and vivacity. Aromatically pure and fabulously elegant, with a meaty mid palate of concentrated dark fruits. This is a stellar showing!
2025 Palmer, Margaux
Review Date: 05-21-2026
This is one of the wines people throughout the week of En Primeur couldn't stop talking about, and with good reason. The aromatics are immediately captivating with gorgeous red fruits and bouquets of red florals. I found myself going back for sniff after sniff trying to capture what it was I found so entrancing, but in the end, words fail! You'll just have to buy a bottle and find out for yourself. On the palate, it's lovely and plush with a darker blue fruits creeping in alongside ample structure to tie things together. A superb Palmer that will no doubt age with grace.
2025 Angélus, St-Emilion
Review Date: 05-21-2026
Angelus recently put their finishing touches on their gorgeous new cellar, which utilizes conical fermenters for gentler extractions. The 2025 has joyful, bright and effusive aromatic. The palate is expansive and precise, with an undertone of spice. It’s sappy and startlingly pretty, with well integrated tannins The 50% Franc shines beautifully in this vintage, adding intrigue and depth to alongside the lushness of the merlot which rounds out the other half of the blend.
2025 Lynch-Bages, Pauillac
Review Date: 05-19-2026
More harvest stats ahead, as Lynch Bages noted this was their earliest since 1989, but with half the production. This is decadently fruited, with chewy, powerful tannins. A high octane, classically powerful Lynch Bages, full of structure and aging potential.
2025 Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac
Review Date: 05-19-2026
2025 is the final vintage Lafite produced in their historical cellar, and the wine is a fitting swan song. Beautiful dark aromatics, the palate is all silk and supple texture, with startling freshness and mineral electricity. This was really elegant and already quite entrancing even out of barrel, with superbly integrated tannin, and plenty of flesh to convince me there are even more exciting days ahead.
2025 Cheval Blanc, St-Emilion
Review Date: 05-08-2026
If you're a fan of Cheval Blanc's glorious Franc dominated expression, buy now or forever hold your peace - yields were down 50% in 2025 and all of their wine is being released during En Primeur. The good news? The wine delivers with elegant and lifted aromatics, a juicy and vibrant palate complex fruits, all carried along by excellent mineral freshness. Even at this young stage the wine is super promising with great persistence and focus.
2025 Pontet-Canet, Pauillac
Review Date: 04-27-2026
Lovers of Pontet Canet, rejoice! Alfred Tesseron's estate emerges from the unique challenges of the 2025 vintage victorious, carrying the Pauillac standard high. Harvest at Pontet Canet took place two weeks later than several other Pauillac estates, and that decision appears to have paid off in accentuating their style. This is a powerful release with a rich, decadent palate full of cocoa and mocha, alongside dense dark fruits. A fully fleshed out core of fruit is balanced by chiseled tannins, and a fresh backbone of acidity keeps this bottle humming with energy. An admirable showing to say the least, and one that will thrill regular buyers of this wine, and new tasters alike.