A Sardinian Journey, China’s Chardonnay Heights and Rising Above Napa’s Heat Dome: Weekly Tasting Report

We rated 807 wines over the past week, with Senior Editor Zekun Shuai tapping into some excellent chardonnays from the mountainous region of Shangri-La, China, Executive Editor Jim Gordon finding some standouts among Napa’s hot 2022 vintage, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott continuing his riesling journey in Germany and Senior Editor Jacobo Garcia-Andrade Llamas filling us in on the baga wines of Bairrada, Portugal.

But we start with the fascinating wines and vineyards James uncovered during his three brief but eventful trips to Sardinia, the famous Italian island, this summer. One of the main highlights was a visit to the ancient vineyards of Mamoiada, about a two-hour drive inland from the coastal town of Olbia. Earlier in the year, James had heard from several Italians that Mamoiada was home to some of the oldest vines in Italy, planted in barren granite soils. Naturally, he had to see it for himself.

In August, James and Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli spent a day exploring the region’s old vineyards and tasting around 50 wines. They also organized a lunch for about 30 producers, who took charge of the event, offering an array of local delicacies – primarily pork dishes. The roasted pig, in particular, was the standout.

READ MORE BAROLO ANNUAL TASTING REPORT: 2020 GOES DOWN EASY

Mamoiada is one of the few “blue zones” in the world – regions known for having some of the highest percentages of centenarians. James initially assumed the locals maintained their longevity through diets rich in fresh fish, vegetables and olive oil. To his surprise, the residents informed him they didn’t eat fish at all; instead, their diet consists mainly of pork, goat, and cheese – hardly any vegetables. So much for the Mediterranean diet!

The wines they tasted were similarly "old school," with many of the local favorites exceeding 15 percent alcohol. Cannonau, the local name for grenache, dominated the selection. However, there were also fresher, lighter wines in the mix, and both James and Aldo appreciated the authenticity of everything they tried.

EXPLORING THE REVAMPED CAPICHERA ESTATE WITH CARLO BONOMI

The vines of Mamoiada lived up to their reputation – old, pure and glorious. Many were over 100 years old, with the total vineyard area covering about 600 hectares. One of the standout wines they tasted came from Marco Bacci of Tuscany (Castello di Bossi and Renieri), who is producing a new red under the label "Blue Zone."

Meanwhile, the wines James tasted from Capichera, a well-known Sardinian estate, were entirely different. Located about an hour from Olbia and much closer to the coast, Capichera’s wines were polished and deeply terroir-driven. Carlo Bonomi, whose family owns one of Italy’s top financial funds, Investindustrial, bought Capichera about a year ago. He has since initiated a significant revamp of the vineyards and winery. James noticed a marked improvement in the whites, which are made from vermentino. Be sure to check out the ratings.

In addition to Sardinian wines, James also reviewed the new releases of single-vineyard Nero d'Avolas from Feudo Maccari, the Sicilian estate owned by the Moretti family of Tuscany. The wines, Guarnaschelli and Sultana, are now in their second vintage with the 2022 releases. Although these wines are slightly less structured than the 2021s, they showcase the clarity and drinkability that James highlights in this report.

CHINA'S CHARDONNAY HEIGHTS

The mountainous, mystical region of Shangri-La, China, provided us with some of our top wines this past week, with its biggest producer, the eponymous Shangri-La Winery, flexing its high-altitude chops with exceptional cabernet sauvignons and chardonnays among its wide portfolio of new offerings.

Among its white wines, the Shangri-la Winery Chardonnay Shangri-La Sheng Yu Legend 圣域传奇霞多丽干白葡萄酒 2022 stood out as a prime example of what a powerful chardonnay can be, and it reminded Senior Editor Zekun Shuai of our Chinese Wine of the Year in 2023, the Xiao Ling Chardonnay Shangri-La Hong Po 霄岭红坡霞多丽 2021.

The Sheng Yu Legend, however, hails from Jiang Po, a small village perched at an altitude of over 2,600 meters. Its huge intensity is punctuated by concentrated, sweet lemon notes, and the bright, mouth-watering acidity give it a beautiful balance – an impressive testament to the terroir and the region’s potential for making its own unique, ambitious chardonnays.

On the red wine front, Zekun tasted the Shangri-la Winery Shangri-La Sheng Yu 香格里拉酒庄圣域干红葡萄酒 2018 alongside the 2019 and 2020 vintages, and it emerged as the freshest expression of the trio, exhibiting a bit less savoriness and a tad more brightness and firmness, all while maintaining its rich, opulent nature.

RISING ABOVE THE 2022 HEAT DOME

Topping the list of our 155 California tasting notes is a brilliant lineup of Napa Valley chardonnays and cabernet sauvignons from a well-connected vintner that James and Executive Editor Jim Gordon first met 40 years ago.

Tor wines are named for founder Tor Kenward, who enjoyed a whole career in wine marketing and public relations for Beringer Vineyards before becoming a wine producer himself in 2001.

Kenward started as a home grape grower and winemaker while at Beringer. Then, as part of his educational outreach, he began coaching wine writers and trade members, including Jim, on how to make wine. Ultimately he went pro, with a lot of valuable connections and experience already in his pocket.

The rest is history, as Kenward’s concept of producing only Bordeaux-style reds and chardonnay from the top blocks of top vineyard sites in the top appellations of Napa Valley has repeatedly paid off in plush yet structured and complex wines.

Tor’s 2022s, both red and white, dispel any notions about that “heat dome” vintage producing only average wines. Guided by the light touch of Tor winemaker Jeff Ames, their Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Beresini Vineyard Cuvée Torchiana 2022 is the highest-rated California white in this report: broad, indulgent, luscious and lingering.

Two other Tor wines tied for tops among reds. The Napa Valley Black Magic 2022 is an incredibly dark and delicious blend based on cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot from two famous Oakville vineyards that Kenward wouldn’t name for the record. The Napa Valley Pure Magic 2022 is equally stunning but more sleek, elegant and minty. It’s a co-fermented cuvee of cabernet franc, petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon.

During the tasting with Jim, Kenward and Ames also uncorked a superb, mineral and savory-scented 10-year old white from another all-star vineyard. The Tor Chardonnay Napa Valley Hyde Vineyard 2014 is hitting its fascinating stride now, as is the ever-so-slightly more mature Tor Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Hyde Vineyard 2015.

Check out the Tor’s other noteworthy new releases in the tasting notes below.

ROBERT WEIL'S RIESLING SYMPHONY

The standout wine for Senior Editor Stuart Pigott this week is, exceptionally, not a perfect scorer, even though he uncovered one in the Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2023 – an essence of dried apricots, mangoes and papayas with a monumental freshness.

Robert Weil has specialized in producing dessert wines of this kind in extremely limited quantities for decades, and 2023 is another vintage in which winemaker Wilhelm Weil demonstrated his mastery of this category, which is based on stringent selection of single shriveled berries (in 2023 more often shriveled through dehydration than botrytis). All the Robert Weil TBAs, BAs and Auslese Gold Cap of the 2023 vintage belong in this category.

But Stuart suggests moving the spotlight to the dry wines immediately behind Weil's TBA masterpiece, most notably the sensational Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Monte Vacano Trocken 2022.

It is the fifth vintage of this single-parcel dry riesling that comes from the steepest and stoniest part of the famous Grafenberg site of Kiedrich. It was fermented and matured on the lees for 22 months in neutral oak casks and has just been released. Back in 2020, the release of the 2018 vintage established a new Ultra-Premium category of dry wines above the Grosses Gewachs, or GGs.

The GGs were launched in Germany with the 2001 vintage and were then the ultimate in single-vineyard dry whites and reds. Production quantities for these wines range from barely a thousand bottles per vintage (which we consider not very serious) up to 40,000 bottles  per year for Wilhelm Weil’s own Grafenberg GG, the largest production wine in the category. And that quantity is the reason Wilhelm Weil came up with the idea of creating a more exclusive and expensive wine positioned above his Grafenberg GG.

For Stuart, the Monte Vacano is the best vintage yet, although it comes from 2022, the wines of which are often merely charming and playful. Here is a deeply structured and profoundly mineral expression of the vintage that is untypically compact and tightly wound with incredible length and precision.

Wilhelm Weil emphasized the continuity of this wine, saying “previous generations of my family produced Monte Vacanao, but the last vintage before 2018 was the 1921.” That gap says as much about the turmoil of the 20th century as about the many weak and poor vintages when James and Stuart first began tasting the wines of Germany back in the 1980s.

The new vintages of the Robert Weil Monte Vacano quickly gained company as it became the crystallization point for the ambition of German winemakers determined to shoot for 100 points and three-figure prices for their best dry rieslings. We can hardly blame them for having this wish, given that we encourage it by spotlighting the wines with the highest ratings! The latest addition to this category is the Künstler Riesling Rheingau Aeterna 2019 that winemaker Gunter Künstler just released. “The idea was to produce a special wine like the Unendlich of F.X. Pichler or Weil’s Monte Vacanao,” Kunstler explained.

There’s no doubt that he succeeded. The wine combines extremely concentrated candied orange, apricot and fresh almond aromas with a driving minerality that takes your breath away.  It spent a full year maturing on the lees in a 2,000-liter barrel of neutral German oak, then four additional years in bottle. Production is therefore limited to 2,500 bottles plus 120 magnums.

“I didn’t plan to wait five years,” Kunstler explained, “but each year we tasted it again and it always needed more time.”

Apart from the late release, the wine reminds Stuart of Kunstler's Hölle Auslese Trocken 1988, which was his breakthrough wine 25 years ago, but the Aeterna 2019 is at an even higher level. Raising the bar is the essence of 21^st-century German winemaking ambition!

BAIRRADA'S BAGA BOUNTY

In Portugal, Bairrada is one of the only wine-producing regions to have historically embraced a single grape variety. Known for its resilience, baga is uniquely suited to Bairrada’s cool Atlantic climate, as Filipa Pato, the co-owner and winemaker at Filipa Pato & William Wouters, explained to Senior Editor Jacobo Garcia-Andrade Llamas.

The region, just an hour’s drive south of Porto, experiences high rainfall – between 1,000 and 1,200 millimeters annually – making mildew a common challenge. Baga is very resistant to mildew, which explains the variety’s ubiquity in the damp region. However, while baga can stand up to mildew, its thin skin leaves it susceptible to black rot, which is a constant threat in this humid environment.

Filipa’s most singular wine is the Nossa Missão, which is crafted from centenarian, pre-phylloxeric baga vines planted in the stony, clay-limestone soils of Bairrada. The vineyard, tucked in a gently hilly area between the towns of Muertede and Casal, sits on Jurassic-era limestone. Pato and Wouters manage 20 hectares, divided into 36 micro-parcels. The head-trained vineyards formerly had long arms that had given away to the ground, requiring extensive restoration with stakes to lift the vines off the ground. The vineyard is now mostly planted with baga, although about 10 percent comprises other local varieties like bical, sercial and castelao.

The vines grow without any structured layout, making mechanized farming impossible. Even horses can't navigate the complex landscape. As a result, Pato and Wouters introduced an unconventional team to assist with vineyard management: sheep and pigs. Sheep graze the grass between the vines until bud break, after which six pigs take over. These pigs, a crossbreed of Vietnamese and local Bisaro pigs, are small enough to weave through the vines, naturally aerating the soil while keeping the grass in check.

The grapes used in making the Nossa Missão are partially destemmed and undergo a three-week maceration. The wine is then aged for 18 months in foudres. The 2021 Nossa Missão is a wine of remarkable balance and depth, combining elegance with concentration, with fine tannins and lively acidity.

Other outstanding examples of the variety tasted during the trip include the Quinta de Baixo Bairrada Poerinho Garrafeira 2015 and the V. Puro Baga Bairrada Outrora 2019.

– James Suckling, Zekun Shuai, Jim Gordon, Stuart Pigott and Jacobo Garcia-Andrade Llamas 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.