Thank you for joining CultX. We are delighted to welcome you with a collection created to offer a first taste of what the CultX marketplace is all about.
Inside your welcome box are five hand-selected half bottles, chosen to represent the quality, character and calibre of fine wine available through CultX. Spanning Piedmont, Chile, Tuscany, Burgundy and Bordeaux, they offer a snapshot of the exceptional producers, regions and vintages you can discover on the marketplace. Start with a personal welcome from our CEO, Tom Gearing, then meet the producers and join sommelier Jan Konetzki for a guided tasting further down the page.
"Massolino’s classic 2017 Barolo sees most of its fruit come from Serralunga d’Alba, although a small percentage of the blend comes from Castiglione Falletto. Compared to its peers from this hot and dry growing season, this wine is delicate and almost fragile. It softly reveals cassis, red berries and exotic plum. A second wave of aromas introduces spice, red earth and rusty notes. These results achieve very good balance overall."
Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate, 92 pts
Drinking window: 2023 – 2038 | Published: June 2021
Massolino’s story is rooted in Serralunga d’Alba, one of Barolo’s most celebrated villages. The family estate dates to 1896, when Giovanni Massolino recorded the sale of a 750-litre barrel of wine. His son Giuseppe later helped establish the consortium created to protect Barolo and Barbaresco in 1934, and the family’s association with Serralunga has continued through four generations.
Their classic Barolo was first produced in 1947 and is made from Nebbiolo grown across several vineyards, reflecting the older Barolo tradition of blending sites rather than bottling a single cru. Ageing in large Slavonian oak casks is another long-standing part of the house approach.
The 2017 vintage followed the highly regarded 2016 with a very different growing season. Piedmont experienced prolonged heat and unusually dry conditions, with an early harvest and smaller yields in many vineyards. It was a year that demanded careful decisions in the vineyard, particularly around ripeness and picking dates. Massolino’s own team later remarked on how the vintage confounded expectations for such a warm season.
A fitting detail for a producer with deep local roots: the family began acquiring parcels in the renowned Vigna Rionda cru in 1956, strengthening a connection with Serralunga that had already been in place for sixty years.
“The first vintage to include Malbec in the blend and the first to exclude Cabernet Franc, the 2014 Seña is drinking beautifully today, showcasing textbook herbal and rising tones, a dark-fruited core, a hint of cracked leather and a rich, elegantly toasty backdrop. The mouthfeel is soft and alluring, framed by melting tannins and a generally sumptuous, velvety sense of richness.”
Matthew Luczy, The Wine Advocate, 95 pts
Drinking window: 2017 - 2032 | Published: April 2026
Seña began with an ambitious idea. In 1995, Chilean winemaker Eduardo Chadwick and Robert Mondavi created a joint venture intended to show that Chile could produce a wine capable of standing alongside the world’s established fine-wine names. The first vintage, 1995, was released in 1997, and Seña came to be described by the estate as Chile’s first icon wine.
Its vineyard lies at Ocoa in the Aconcagua Valley, around 40 kilometres from the Pacific Ocean, where the cooling influence of the Humboldt Current helps moderate the Mediterranean climate. The blend takes its cue from Bordeaux, but Carmenere gives it a deliberately Chilean identity.
The 2014 season had a difficult beginning. A severe spring frost in September 2013 damaged early buds, reducing the number of bunches and delaying development. Conditions improved as the season progressed, with warm, dry weather around flowering and early summer, followed by cooler temperatures during the final ripening period in February and March.
The result was a long, measured finish to a vintage that had started under pressure. The 2014 blend was led by Cabernet Sauvignon, alongside Carmenere, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Seña also farms its vineyard according to biodynamic principles, an approach that has become central to the estate’s identity.
“The Marchesi Antinori 2017 Tignanello (made with Sangiovese and smaller parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) is a dark, exuberant and inviting wine. I tasted my sample after a double decanting and was pleased by the profound nature of the wine and the immediate openness of the aromas. There is a symphony of dark fruit with black cherry, plum, spice and sweet tobacco [...] the mouthfeel is carefully crafted to maintain its softness and smoothness.”
Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate, 96 pts
Drinking window: 2021 - 2040 | Published: June 2020
Tignanello occupies a special place in modern Italian wine history. It is made by the Antinori family, whose involvement in wine can be traced to 1385, when Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the Florentine Winemakers’ Guild. More than six centuries later, the business remains in family hands.
Tignanello emerged during a period of experimentation in Tuscany. The vineyard was first bottled separately in 1970, and from the 1971 vintage the wine took the name Tignanello. It became notable for using Sangiovese with Cabernet, for dispensing with the white grapes associated with traditional Chianti blends, and for ageing Sangiovese in small oak barrels. Its label, designed by Silvio Coppola in 1974, carries the signature of Piero Antinori’s father, Niccolò.
The 2017 growing season was demanding from the outset. A mild winter encouraged early budbreak, before a cold spell in late April reduced the crop. From May through August, Chianti Classico experienced sustained hot, dry weather, with summer temperatures frequently above 30°C. Rain in September arrived at an important point, easing vine stress and supporting the final stages of ripening.
Harvest at Tignanello ran from 20 September to 6 October. The wine comes exclusively from the estate’s 77-hectare Tignanello vineyard, set on limestone-rich soils in the heart of Chianti Classico.
“The Nuits-Saint-Georges Damodes displays a beautiful deep dark ruby colour and aromas of red fruit and spices. It is generous on the palate, evolving towards smooth tannins. Very good ageing potential.”
Veronique Drouhin, Maison Joseph Drouhin
Maison Joseph Drouhin was founded in Beaune in 1880, when Joseph Drouhin, aged 22, took over a wine business in the historic centre of the town. Four generations later, the house is still run by the family, with Joseph’s great-grandchildren Philippe, Véronique, Laurent and Frédéric holding key roles. Over time, the domaine has grown to around 100 hectares across Burgundy, while the family has also maintained its négociant activity.
One unusual chapter came in 1987, when Robert Drouhin and his daughter Véronique established Domaine Drouhin Oregon, taking the family’s Burgundian experience to the Willamette Valley.
Les Damodes is a Premier Cru on the northern side of Nuits-Saint-Georges, above Les Boudots and close to Vosne-Romanée. The name has an intriguing local association, with Drouhin noting that “Damodes” may refer to a divine female trinity believed to protect the fruits of the earth.
The 2017 Burgundy season brought a welcome return to healthier yields after the frost-hit 2016 vintage. Budbreak came early, the Côte d’Or largely escaped serious spring frost, and warm, dry summer conditions kept disease pressure low. Harvest began early, with much of the Côte de Nuits picked during September.
“Deep garnet in color, the 2010 Rauzan-Ségla is youthfully reticent and closed to begin, slowly unfurling to offer notions of underbrush, black truffles, smoked meats and tar over a core of baked black cherries, prunes and crème de cassis plus touches of iron ore and crushed rocks. Full-bodied, concentrated and jam-packed with savory/earthy fruit, it has a rock-solid structure of firm, grainy tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing with great length and expression.”
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate, 96 pts
Drinking window: 2020 - 2050 | Published: April 2020
Château Rauzan-Ségla has been part of Margaux history since 1661, when Pierre de Rauzan acquired the estate that would take his name. By the eighteenth century, its reputation was already international, and Thomas Jefferson counted Rauzan among the Bordeaux estates he admired. In the 1855 Classification, Rauzan-Ségla was ranked as a Second Growth.
The modern chapter began in 1994, when the Wertheimer family, owners of Chanel, acquired the château and invested heavily in the vineyard and cellars. The connection with Chanel has occasionally crossed into design. Karl Lagerfeld created a special label for the 2009 vintage to mark the estate’s 350th anniversary.
The 2010 vintage followed the celebrated 2009, but developed a distinct character of its own. Bordeaux saw a remarkably dry summer without excessive heat, followed by sunny late-season weather and cool nights. This allowed a long ripening period, while naturally low yields increased concentration.
At Rauzan-Ségla, harvest ran from 23 September to 19 October. Only 45 per cent of the crop went into the grand vin, a blend of 60 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, 37 per cent Merlot, 2 per cent Cabernet Franc and 1 per cent Petit Verdot. For Margaux, 2010 is widely regarded as one of the landmark vintages of the modern era.
Discover the stories behind the wines in your Welcome Box with Jan Konetzki, one of Europe’s leading independent sommeliers. From their origins and what makes each bottle distinctive to tasting notes, serving tips and food pairings, Jan will guide you through each wine so you can get the most from every bottle. Open a bottle, press play and enjoy the tasting.
