A Classy White Bones, Otago’s Style Shift and the Mosel’s Great Leap Forward: Weekly Tasting Report

The top-scoring wine for this week, the Catena Zapata Chardonnay Mendoza Adrianna Vineyard White Bones 2023, remains in a class of its own, according to Senior Editor Jacobo García Andrade, who tasted this great Argentine offering during his visit to the country last month. Sourced from a specific parcel within the Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary, at 1,445 meters above sea level, the White Bones is named after the vineyard’s distinctive soil profile. The parcel is marked by extremely poor soils where runoff and precipitation have created a thin calcareous deposit about 30 centimeters below the surface.

While comparisons to grand cru sites are frequently made, they ultimately feel superfluous – this is a chardonnay that speaks with its own voice. Fermentation is slow and the temperature controlled; a method that allows for a full expression of the site’s character. Winemaker Alejandro Vigil employs an inventive approach to irrigation, ensuring that each soil type receives the same amount of water, allowing the vines to respond naturally to their environment.

The 2023 vintage was a low-yielding one that resulted in admirable reds, but the White Bones continues to stand out as a compelling reminder of the extraordinary potential of white wines in the Uco Valley.

For 2023 whites from Argentina, the Susana Balbo Wines Torrontés Paraje Altamira Torrontés de Raíz Naranjo Signature Limited Edition 2023 remains one of the most distinctive expressions of the variety. Torrontes, a cross between criolla chica and Muscat of Alexandria, belongs to the family of intensely aromatic, terpenic grapes like moscatel. While sometimes overlooked for its predictably expressive nature, that very intensity is its strength – it is a variety that refuses to go unnoticed.

Balbo’s version undergoes an extended 10-day skin maceration, followed by 12 months of aging in used 225-liter French oak barrels. The result is a wine with striking aromatic complexity and textural depth – an irresistible example of what careful, site-sensitive winemaking can achieve with this variety in Paraje Altamira.

The Trapiche Chardonnay Gualtallary Valle de Uco Terroir Series Finca El Tomillo 2023, meanwhile, is an outstanding example of what Gualtallary's high-altitude terroir (some vineyard reach 1,650 metes of elevation) is capable of. A canonical take on Gualtallary, this wine delivers concentration alongside the region’s hallmark tension – with its exquisite sharpness and volume in seamless balance.

Otago's Style Shift

Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery was recently in New Zealand for the harvest of James’ vineyard in Martinborough, and while he was there tasted wines from both the North and South islands, including some of the latest releases from Central Otago. Ryan found an interesting shift in the style of 2023 red wines made in Central Otago compared with what was tasted on the North Island, which was heavily influenced by La Niña weather pattern.

The 2023 vintage in Central Otago witnessed a cool, dry season that resulted in long hang times, slow ripening and excellent phenolic development. A dry autumn allowed for extended time on the vine, yielding pinot noir with vibrant acidity, refined tannins and clarity of fruit.

Ryan noted this when tasting the Mt. Difficulty Pinot Noir Central Otago Bannockburn 2023, which he described as having a perfumed aromas of dark cherries, dried rose petals, cocoa beans and pencil as well as Asian spices and citrus peel complemented with seamlessly integrated tannins and bright acidity cut through a creamy, textural, medium-bodied palate. This was echoed when tasting the Terra Sancta Pinot Noir Central Otago Bannockburn Shingle Beach  2023, a complex and highly attractive wine with lovely aromas of blood oranges, wild berries and dried herbs.

James also found a freshness and purity when tasting the Prophet's Rock Pinot Noir Central Otago Olearia 2023, which he described as having very subtle aromas of flowers, peaches and lavender that follow through to a medium body with fine tannins that are integrated and fresh. James and Ryan found that the 2023 wines of Central Otago, particularly pinot noir, were both pure and vivid, but with plenty of aging potential.

Leap Forward in the Mosel

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott visited the headquarters of the Wegeler group of wineries – which together comprise 36 hectares in the Central Rheingau, 12 hectares in the Middle Mosel plus the tiny Krone winery in Assmannshausen, Rheingau – to catch up on the current wines and forthcoming releases.

Richard Grosche has been the director since the 2021 harvest. “A big part of my job is to support our winemakers – Michael Burgdorf in the Rheingau and Norbert Breit in the Mosel – and help them achieve the best possible results,“ he said. The wines Stuart tasted made it clear that he's been very successful in this undertaking.

For the Mosel winery, the leap forward is particularly striking. The Wegeler Riesling Mosel Doctor GG 2023, with its combination of brain-rattling minerality and great delicacy, is the best wine this winery has made in a decades. However, the whole range of 2024 entry-level, village and Kabinett wines had excellent balance and finesse.

The Wegeler Riesling Rheingau Berg Schlossberg GG 2023 is the other Wegeler estate’s stunning pendant to the Doctor GG, with intensely stony and salty minerality, plus the characteristic exotic aromas of this great Rheingau site. It is the superstar in a spectacular row of Rheingau riesling GGs.

And for anyone who finds the GGs too expensive, try the Wegeler Riesling Rheingau Oestricher Trocken 2024, which has the same kind of weight plus stacks of mineral power and freshness. The spring 2024 frost damage in the Rheingau is partly responsible for the strength of Wegeler’s 2024 wines. It cut yields to an average of below 30 hectoliters per hectare ­– about half of normal.

Meanwhile, the Tesch winery in the Nahe is at a turning point as Martin Tesch’s son, Johannes, progressively takes over responsibility. 2024 was the first vintage in which he was in charge of the cellar alone. Stuart finds no obvious stylistic change, although Johannes Tesch said that’s not something he wants. “I’m very lucky to be taking over something so stylistically coherent and with such a high quality level,” he told Stuart.

The star in his range of single-vineyard dry rieslings in the 2024 vintage is the Tesch Riesling Nahe Karthäuser Trocken (Brown Label) 2024, which has great wild herb and wet-stone complexity plus terrific drive and focus.

After studying at the Geisenheim wine university, Tesch worked for the Dr. Loosen and Egon Muller-Scharzhof wineries in the Mosel, and Stuart feels this shows in the purity and subtlety of his 2024 wines.

Stuart also tasted a mini-vertical of Tesch dry rieslings from the St. Remigiusberg vineyard site, which has volcanic soil. This can sometimes lead to wines with a striking austerity, but this site tends to give offerings with ample fruit as well as firm structure. The Tesch Riesling Nahe St.Remigiusberg Trocken (Orange Label) 2012 is stunningly elegant for this good but unspectacular vintage. The Amalfi lemon freshness at the finish is great for a dry wine of this age. This is partly due to the screw cap closure, which the wine has been under for 12 years.

Quiet Revolution 

Set to debut on May 26, Travaglini’s newest release marks a quiet revolution in the cellars of one of Alto Piemonte’s most storied estates. For the first time in its history, the winery has produced a single-vineyard wine: the Vigna Ronchi, a 2019 Gattinara Riserva drawn from a site deeply rooted in the volcanic soils that define this northern Piedmont denomination, which is best known for its pure expression of nebbiolo.

The release is more than just a new label – it’s a symbolic passing of the torch. Founded by Giancarlo Travaglini, a traditionalist and man of another era who famously championed blends (as seen in the estate’s hallmark Tre Vigne and Gattinara Riserva), the winery is now under the stewardship of his daughter and granddaughter. The Vigna Ronchi is their statement piece.

Structured yet refined, the 2019 Riserva is layered and austere, offering notes of dried cherries and red currants, with earthy undertones of meat, tar (goudron) and dried flowers. The tannins are full and elegant, the wine powerful but lifted by a vivid acidity. Dense, savory and lightly smoky, it is a stylish wine built to last.

Equally reassuring is the news that this new flagship has not come at the expense of the rest of the range. The 2021 Gattinara – a standout vintage – delivers the same high level of quality, while the Tre Vigne remains consistent, with only the relative simplicity of the 2020 vintage setting it slightly apart.

– Jacobo Garcia Andrade, Ryan Montgomery, Stuart Pigott and Aldo Fiordelli contributed reporting.

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by James Suckling and the other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports.

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