Press

By Sara L. Schneider

When it comes to wine critics’ scores—whether they sway you in any meaningful way or not— there are some thresholds that arguably matter. A bottle tagged with a 90 on the 100-point scale is in decent standing (if not in stellar position) on shop shelves, but drop that a single point, and it will languish; no one goes out looking for an 89. Halfway into the 90s is another milestone: Scores of 95 and over are downright impressive. In that range, the critics might quibble about nuance and style, but if their numbers are all clustered north of 95, they agree the wine is terrific.

The most compelling achievement, of course, is the century mark. Fully aware of the bragging rights (and marketing bonanza) riding on that perfect-100, critics don’t give it lightly. It’s the one score they’ve put the most serious thought into, and can back up with meaningful high praise. 
Alas, in light of the aforementioned marketing bonanza, most 100-point wines are elusive, unicorn bottles—the prize for the collector prescient enough to snag a ground-floor membership with the promising producer on his or her way to the top. But not all.
Periodically we scan the market for bottles deemed perfect by one or more of the most respected critics, which you can also order on the spot. Our most recent finds range from Napa Valley to Italy. As for the arguments about why they deserve their 100-point scores, we’ll let the critics themselves do the talking. 

Immortal Estate 2016 Impassable Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County

“… All Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2016 Impassible Mountain (28 months in 85 percent new French oak) … is a magical, blockbuster, yet ethereal-styled Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma. With a kaleidoscopic array of crème de cassis, sagebrush, tobacco, cedar pencil and awesome minerality, it has incredible concentration, full-bodied richness and a skyscraper- like mouth-feel, yet it also stays weightless, elegant and flawlessly balanced. There are few estates coming close to this level of quality in Sonoma with Cabernet Sauvignon, and if you want to taste pure perfection from Sonoma, try this wine! It’s still a baby, and I suspect it will need 8–10 years to hit maturity, but it’s going to evolve for 30–40 years.” –Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com