The Azienda Agricola Pianta Grossa di Luciano Zoppo Ronzero surveils the busy route that passes through the heart of, Donnas. The vineyard elevations climb from 318 to 500 meters above the winery. Here the Pergolas pour shade and folliage over every steeply terraced ledge, and the vineyard overflows with delicious, ripe fruit. After climbing among the terraces for 30 minutes, we tasted 2 of their exceptional wines.
The Valle d’Aosta is:
A “living archive of pre‑industrial viticulture” preserving ancient clones and ungrafted vines
A region where native grapes dominate and DOC rules protect typicity (no international varieties permitted in DOC wines)
A place where extreme altitude, glacial soils, and heroic viticulture create wines of “electric acidity and crystalline aromatics”
Maitre de Cave presents its Bordeaux Primeurs 2025 Scores
At the beginning of June 2025, Maitre de Cave decided to rediscover the wines of Saint-Chinian. A delightful opportunity to taste red wines. I extend my heartfelt thanks to the winemakers who agreed to share their bottles with me. Congratulations and thanks again to the winemakers and the Maison des Vins.
Expressing the refined perfume and balance so characteristic of Château Margaux, this is an exhilarating wine with exceptional harmony and depth.
The palate is equally refined, offering a rich mineral backbone complemented by fresh spring flowers and a subtle touch of oak that lends structure while maintaining an elegant softness.
The wines included on our list of exceptional wines are divided equally among Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominance and Left Bank and Right Bank production. We would recommend reading through all the tasting notes available to you on the 2023 vintage and make any decisions based on that research. Quality, as well as inferiority, were spread evenly throughout the vineyards of Bordeaux in 2023.
We tasted almost the same number of wines that we tasted last year, and the average score is approximately the same. So, neither of the variables, quantity of wines tasted and average score, impacted the results from the 2023 vintage. The reason there are so many more Exceptional Wines is that the 2023 vintage is significantly better than the 2022. The best wines in 2023 are better, achieved higher scores, than the wines in 2022, and there are more wines that achieved an exceptional level of quality.
The 2023 Bordeaux vintage will be successful, with good to exceptional quality attained in all regions. As usual, it was a difficult vintage.
Terre de Vins Bordeaux Tasting has been one of my favorite annual events during the last decade. Every December, as a Maitre de Cave blogger, I reserve the weekend to make certain I can experience Bordeaux during the holiday season and two days of exciting wine and spirit tasting.
Following is a list of my favorite wines at the Tasting and their Ratings: