A Fresh Look at Campania, Plus Surprising Spatburgunders: Weekly Tasting Report (Sept 4-10)

We rated 648 wines from 10 countries in our latest round of tastings, with James taking a fresh look at the offerings of the Italian region of Campania, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott tapping into some awesome German pinot noirs, Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery and Executive Editor Jim Gordon checking out some terrific California chardonnays and Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt continuing her deep dive into South African wines.

James' recent quick trip to Campania, in southern Italy, left him feeling inspired. The combination of old vines, unique grapes and vast volcanic landscape was breathtaking in so many places, and the people were dedicated and full of character. It was surprising that the wines of the region are not more popular, he thought to himself.

He first visited the region in 1983 as a young journalist with The Wine Spectator, spending a few days with the Mastroberardino family, who still make excellent wines. At the time, “Mastro” wines were on just about every top Italian restaurant’s wine list on the East and West Coast of the United States, making Campania as popular as Tuscany or Piedmont. However, the evolution of fine Italian wines has grown exponentially over the past 40 years, and now Campania seems left behind.

Perhaps the development of names such as Feudi di San Gregorio, Galardi and Donnachiara can change this along with others? The vineyards are all there and the terrain has not changed.

“This is a unique place with unique terroir,” emphasized Pierpaolo Sirch, the CEO of Feudi di San Gregorio, during James’s three-day visit. “I had to work full-time here with this incredible terroir, vineyards and people.” Sirch is also known as one of Italy’s greatest vineyard specialists with his consulting firm, Simonit & Sirch in Friuli.

James certainly felt some of the vibe on his trip. He said it was like going back in time in Italy – like the world had forgotten Campania. The highlight was visiting the dal Re vineyard in the area of Taurasi. Some vineyards of aglianico are more than 180 years of age. “They should be in a movie called ‘Jurassic Vines,’” he only half joked.

The tree-like old vines looked more like apple trees standing about eight to nine feet high. The vines were in a pergola type of trellising. Each had a few bunches of grapes ready to pick. The wines from the vineyard are bottled under the moniker Irpinia Aglianico Serpico by Feudi di San Gregorio. They tend to be rather hard and unforgiving, but there’s an intrinsic nature to them that only the old vines can deliver.

James actually preferred the single-vineyard Taurasis from more modern and manicured vineyards, including those from the sites of Feudi Studi Rosamilia, Piano di Montevergine and Gulielmus Riserva.

He also was happy to revisit the vineyard of Galardi, which makes a complex red of aglianico and merlot under the name of Terre di Lavoro. It’s about a two-hour drive north of the dal Re vineyard. James roamed the various mountain vineyards of the property with co-owner Allegra Selvaggi and was impressed with the diversity of expositions and the influence of the various forests surround the plots. Their new current release, 2021, is terrific quality.

Please also check out the Campania whites in this report from the fiano and Greco varieties, which are of compelling quality, particularly from Donnachiara.

SPATBURGUNDER SURPRISES

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott spent two very intense days at the official first presentation of the new release single-vineyard GG wines in Wiesbaden and was rewarded for his toil with the greatest German pinot noir he has ever experienced.

The Bernhard Huber Spätburgunder Baden Wildenstein GG 2022 is the first German wine from this grape ever to receive a perfect score. It has everything you could want from a great pinot noir, beginning with the combination of mind-blowing concentration plus incredible precision and delicacy. The enormous wide spectrum of black, blue and red berry aromas is complemented by notes of forest floor and licorice, and the texture on the palate is a dream of heaven, but no imitation of Burgundy.

Winemaker Julian Huber made another 2022 wine that is very close in (superb) quality, the Bernhard Huber Spätburgunder Baden Schlossberg GG 2022. Stuart loved the incredible concentration and freshness, which he said hits like a giant wave. It has fabulously fine tannins on the extremely long and intense finish.

It is now exactly a decade since Julian Huber had to interrupt his studies at the Geisenheim Wine University to take over running the family winery after the death of his father, Bernhard. “I made some pretty bad mistakes at the beginning,” he said, “but I always tried to learn from them, and that’s how the wines got better and better.”

No less exciting for Stuart were a trio of dry rieslings from the Pfalz, the first region in Germany to really shine in this category during the 1980s and early 1990s. Anyone who is still skeptical should try the Christmann Pfalz Riesling Idig GG 2023, which has intense flinty character like a young Grand Cru Chablis. The wine’s enormous power pressed into a sleek silhouette, the almost endless finish a masterpiece of minerality.

The two other dry riesling stars from the Pfalz are both from the Kastanienbusch vineyard, one of the highest-altitude sites in the region with a so-called rotliegendes soil. This looks like red slate but is actually a very fine grind sandstone that formed under desert conditions more than 250 million years ago.

The stunning Dr. Wehrheim Riesling Pfalz Kastanienbusch GG 2023 marries great concentration and elegance, but at the extremely long and expressive finish wet stone minerality cascades over your palate. The Ökonomierat Rebholz Riesling Pfalz Kastanienbusch 2023 is wilder with incredibly intense wild herb and berry aromas. Stuart felt like a giant wave of stony minerality washed over him on the palate, but the wine ends filigree. Scroll down to see the tasting notes for the stunning 2022 vintage pinot noirs from these two producers, which are the best they have ever made.

There were also amazing dry rieslings from wineries that have been working extremely hard in recent years to reach the very top. Kathrin Puff has been the winemaker for the Rheingau’s legendary Kloster Eberbach winery since 2018, and she has hit a new high with the Kloster Eberbach Riesling Rheingau Baikenkopf GG 2023. Not yet released, it is extremely compact and stony with incredible brilliance.

More immediately appealing thanks to its wonderful peach and apricot fruit is the Schlossgut Diel Riesling Nahe Goldloch GG 2023, which is both succulent and elegant. However, it too ends at the mineral end of the riesling flavor spectrum, with intense crushed rock character.

On his way to Austria for two weeks of deep submersion in the wines of the Alpine republic, Stuart made a brief stop at the Gurdau winery in the Czech Republic's Moravia rgion. Founded by Zdenek Hort just over a decade ago, this project is all about rediscovering high-altitude hillside vineyards that fell out of cultivation in 1945, and the ambitious team of manager/sommelier Marian Nemec and winemaker Marek Sedlacek, plus the owner’s son, Vasek Hort, have made a slew of highly original wines from the last vintages.

The most amazing of these is an exception to their focus on dry whites. The Gurdau Riesling Moravia Venice Kurdejev Cibéby 2021 is somewhere between an off-dry German auslese and an Alsace vendange tardive. It is extremely focused and refreshing with a driving mineral that beautifully underlines the tense interplay of natural grape sweetness and dazzling acidity.

CHARDONNAY SHINES ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST

Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery has been tasting chardonnay produced in Sonoma County and the newly formed San Luis Obispo Coast AVA, from both the new and old wave of California winemakers that are pushing the limits of quality while finding the balance of freshness, power and vineyard expression.

Ryan was on site for the first day of harvest at Hanzell, located in the Moon Mountain District AVA of Sonoma County. This started off with an early morning juice sample tasting in the laboratory overseen by head winemaker Michael McNeil.

Hanzell is steeped in history, holding perhaps the oldest chardonnay vineyard in California, planted in 1953, along with the oldest stainless steel temperature-controlled tanks in the world, both of which are still preserved to this day.

This historic 1953 chardonnay planting, known as Ambassadors block, was on full show in the Hanzell Chardonnay Sonoma County Moon Mountain District 2021. It displays an old-vine character and good depth, giving both power and restraint on the palate with a medium-bodied mouthfeel and generous texture, which is cut through with high-tension acidity.

A taste of the 10-year-old version of the same wine – the 2014 vintage – displayed a developed nose and complex notes of lanolin, lemon rind and crushed rocks that were altogether fresh and mineral, with many years of enjoyment still ahead.

Both wines feature the 1953 planting, along with additions from the estate’s 1972 and 1976 heritage plantings. All of the vines are organically farmed with no tillage and with help from grazing sheep to diversify the vineyard ecosystem.

Following the California coastline farther south, Scott Hawley of Torrin makes chardonnay with a linear backbone, building wines that are mineral-driven accompanied by an underlying power set to unravel in years to come.

Based in Paso Robles, Hawley is sourcing from the newly formed San Luis Obispo Coast AVA, which gives a fresh, oceanic influence to the wines. This was on full display with the Torrin Chardonnay San Luis Obispo Coast Lagom Spanish Springs 2021, which comes with a tightly bound aroma and generously textured palate that is fresh in bright acidity.

As is often the case, Napa Valley red wines were among the top-rated California bottles that Executive Editor Jim Gordon tasted. Two tied for his highest scores, the first being veteran winemaker Chris Phelps’ Ad Vivum Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Yountville Sleeping Lady Vineyard 2021. It’s full-bodied, broad and deep, and easy to sip now or hold onto for later.

Equally impressive was one of four Bordeaux-variety wines from a producer new to us. The Perus Red Wine Napa Valley Alessio 2019 offers dense black fruits and a massive structure, particularly noteworthy in this generally supple and easy-drinking year.

Ridge Vineyards also stepped into the spotlight with an intense 2021 chardonnay from their home base at Monte Bello Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains as well as an impressive lineup of reds. The latter included classic zinfandels and red field blends made from California heritage varieties grown farther north and bottled by winemaker Shauna Rosenblum – yes, from the family that founded Rosenblum Cellars, and remembered for their powerful zins.

The Ridge Vineyards Sonoma County Dry Creek Valley Lytton Springs 2022 was the favorite, boasting equal parts rich fruits, savory notes and spices. This bottling is known to age and improve for decades. Close in quality are Ridge’s 2022s from the Pagani Ranch, Evangelho and Botticelli vineyards.

Jim also tasted a notable lineup from Brian Talley on the Central Coast. His Talley Vineyards Chardonnay Central Coast Arroyo Grande Valley Rosemary’s Vineyard 2022 and sibling bottling, Talley Vineyards Pinot Noir Rosemary’s Vineyard 2022, were especially smooth yet fresh, with gorgeous fruit flavors.

But the top score in the Talley line went to the creamy, viscous and vibrant Chardonnay Central Coast Arroyo Grande Valley Rincon Vineyard 2022. The Talleys are a long-time farming family who still grow vegetables but started planting vines in 1982. All their wines today come from their own vineyards.

VELVETY SOUTH AFRICAN PINOTAGE

This week’s South African tastings include top wines from Stellenbosch, where in the warm Simonsberg mountain area the Kanonkop winery produces a superbly ripe and velvety pinotage. The Kanonkop Pinotage Black Label 2022 is deliciously spicy with intense notes of sage, black fruit, olive and spice, and is consistently a great example of the varietal. Just as impressive is their Bordeaux-style blend, the cabernet sauvignon-dominated Paul Sauer 2021, which is full-bodied and classy with refined, silky tannins.

From the cooler Helderberg area in the south of Stellenbosch, Uva Mira’s chardonnays were the highlight of the latest releases that Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt tasted with winemaker Christiaan Coetzee over Zoom. In particular, The Single Tree 2021 is a deliciously nutty, broad and flavorful chardonnay, with richness of fruit balanced by a stony minerality and a long and intense finish. The icon Uva Mira Chardonnay Stellenbosch 2021 is also long and concentrated, with an electric freshness to the creamy mouthfeel. Both are very limited bottlings, however; check out their full range below which also includes excellent syrah and cabernet franc.

There’s also a multi-regional wine in the notes below from Australian giant Penfolds’s collaboration with Bordeaux’s Dourthe. The Penfolds II is a blend of 2020 vintage merlot from Bordeaux with 2021 vintage cabernet sauvignon from South Australia, which makes it both multi-regional/continental and multi-vintage! It’s their second release of this limited bottling and is superbly polished and plush with black-plum character and well as cocoa, graphite and tobacco aromas.

You’ll notice a smattering of Burgundy in this report, including a Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2019 from Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret, made with fruit from two parcels at the upper end of the clos. The 2019 is still an infant with its dark fruit concentration and firm tannin frame. Another concentrated and deep pinot noir is the Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos des Varoilles Monopole 2018 from Philippe Cheron, spicy and enveloping with bitter cocoa and clove aromas. For less extortionately-priced Burgundy, look out for Domaine Joliet’s wines from Fixin, like the red Clos de La Perriere La Cuvée Camille 2022 and the white Clos de La Perriere Blanc 2022; even better value is to be found in Domaine Sylvain Pataille’s wines from Marsannay.

Some of the other highlights from our Hong Kong office this week include Quinta do Noval’s dry red wines from the Douro. The iconic Port house bearing the name of its vineyard leads the way in the Douro for table wines, highlighting the power of local grapes like touriga nacional and touriga franca, as well as the potential of international varieties in the Douro. Take the Vinhas da Marka 2020 - a field blend of over 30 different traditional varieties from a 1.45-hectare plot of old vines planted in 1930. It’s full-bodied, intense and brooding, full of dark fruit and peppery spice, but still young and with a long life ahead. Claire also liked Quinta do Noval’s Petit Verdot Duriense 2021, an elegant red in spite of its rich black-fruit and potpourri character, with impressively soft and polished tannins for a grape that often produces tannic wines. Check out Quinta do Noval’s Syrah 2021, Touriga Nacional 2021 and Douro Reserve 2021, too.

– James Suckling, Stuart Pigott, Ryan Montgomery, Jim Gordon and Claire Nesbitt 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.

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.