Ao Yun Hits a Peak, and Shattering Stereotypes in Prosecco: Weekly Tasting Report (April 10-16)

Our latest Weekly Tasting report spotlights the top score ever given to any Chinese wine. Moet Hennessy's Ao Yun 2020, which Senior Editor Zekun Shuai recently tasted with estate manager and winemaker Maxence Dulou in our Hong Kong office, is the freshest and best expression of Ao Yun yet, with lower pH, striking acidity and tension.

You have probably noticed the upward trajectory of our Ao Yun scores from an outstanding but not-yet-great 93 points for the 2013 vintage to its present peak. This is thanks to the relentless quest by Dulou and his team to improve and refine their offerings from their base in the foothills of Meili mountain in the northwest corner of Yunnan province. 2018 and 2019 were probably the best previous vintages of Ao Yun, but now 2020 has upended the narrative.

While 2019 was a remarkable vintage that showed concentration, depth and layers, 2020  feels like a classy, fine-tuned offering. It dials up the freshness while toning down the richness and opulence, making it extremely appealing and eclectic even in its youth. But make no mistake – this is a milestone vintage destined to age gracefully for at least the next two decades, thanks to its harmony of acidity, natural concentration and al dente, fine tannins

“It is a vintage of homogeneity,” Dulou said of the eighth bottling of Ao Yun. 2020 also offered some of the best climatic conditions yet for the wine. According to Dulou, after the rainier 2019 winter and a cooler, wet spring in 2020, the amount of water in the soil in the vineyards was perfect for quality budburst and homogenous growth. The dryer and warmer conditions that summer – quite distinct from the typically humid, cloudy and cool weather for the area – resulted in a healthy and early ripening season for the grapes. As fall arrived, bringing slightly more humidity than average, the vines ripened gradually. The harvest, from Sept. 21 to Nov. 12, was relatively late but was of moderate duration at 51 days.

The conditions helped give an even quality to the grapes from Ao Yun’s four hyper-complex vineyards, which comprise 28 hectares and 314 plots, and range in altitude from Xidang’s 2,200 meters to Adong’s 2,600 meters. The village “cru” wines from three of these vineyards that were bottled separately – the Xidang, Adong and Sinong – all represent better value than the the pricy Ao Yun and are similarly consistent in quality.

The Ao Yun, which is 60 percent cabernet sauvignon, 19 percent cabernet franc, 10 percent merlot, 6 percent syrah and 5 percent petit verdot, has a pH of just 3.35.

Because of the excellent weather conditions and a low but balanced yield of 900g/plant, as opposed to 2019’s even more concentrated crop of 800g/plant, the wine radiates more brightness, forging tension to the center palate with a little less opulence and richness than its predecessor.

The Ao Yun 2020 is already available for purchase through La Place de Bordeaux.

SHATTERING STEREOTYPES

Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW believes that Prosecco, particularly superior expressions from the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG, should be enjoyed as an inimitable style of wine from the north of Italy’s Veneto region, rather than the staple of blithe comparisons to other sparkling wine styles. But the comparisons arise in part because of this breathtaking region’s discombobulated narrative.

While most Prosecco is made with the charmat method  popularized in the 1960s, a small percentage of wines are crafted using the “metodo classico” approach. There is considerable debate as to which production technique constitutes tradition, although as with the serendipity of chance experienced elsewhere, seasonal changes in temperatures proved to be the catalyst for the refermentation of wines stored in uncontrolled cellars. This likely first occurred in small barrels in the 19th century, according to Umberto Cosmo, the co-owner of Bellenda wines. Later, with industrial-strength glass, bottling became feasible. This gave birth to the nondisgorged “col fondo” style and later, expressions that were refermented in bottle before disgorgement, to give clear and stable sparkling Prosecco.

The charmat approach then facilitated larger volumes of wine made more efficiently, while accentuating the glera grape’s typical spectrum of orchard fruits, citrus, dried sage and alpine hints. These aromatic traits vary, too, depending on vineyard site, producer and their approach, particularly when it comes to lees handling following the first fermentation.

Primo Franco of the Nino Franco winery is devoted to the unadulterated expression of glera without the invasive influence of autolysis and its lees-derived toasty notes. He believes glera to be an “aromatic variety that needs a little sugar” to express itself "without the hardness derived from metodo classico.”

Ned tends to agree, preferring the effusive rush of the better wines’ pettillance, acidity, orchard fruits and alpine whiff when young, juxtaposed against the depth and notes of truffle, chestnut and acacia-honey with age. And yes, how Prosecco can age!

Nino Franco’s suite of wines was stunning across the board, yet the wine from the walled single vineyard in front of the guesthouse, Grave di Stecca, proved stunning across vintages, which is ironic given that the regional tasting panel dismissed it as “atypical” in denying it DOCG status.

Cosmo, however, disagrees. He is an ardent champion of the metodo classico, believing it to be “the most transparent means to transmit terroir.” His profound 2018 cuvees, the Bellenda Vino Spumante Pluck Blanc de Noirs Metodo Classico Pas Dosé 2018 and Bellenda Vino Spumante Würm Blanc de Blancs Metodo Classico Pas Dosé 2018, attest to the quality possible. The Pluck is sinuous and muscular, bound taut by a salty rail of phenolics as much as freshness. A stunning blanc de noirs, there is no oak. Conversely, the Würm is a blanc de blancs that is bolstered with accents of small French barrels. Both nudge four years on lees and represent a degree of complexity that marks a shattering of stereotypes.

RICH AND BALANCED FROM CHATEUNEUF-DU-PAPE

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott and Tasting Manager Kevin Davy spent the whole of the past week in the southern Rhone to assess Chateauneuf-du-Pape’s 2022 vintage. They found rich and generous yet well-balanced wines despite the fact that 2022 was hot and dry.

The standout was the incredibly spicy and herbal Domaine de Ferrand Châteauneuf-du-Pape Garriguette 2022. Made by the modest winemaking genius Philippe Bravay from vines that his ancestors planted in 1904, 1910 and 1920, this masterpiece has incredible density and no less amazing tension. In many ways this is a classic Chateauneuf wine – a cautiously modernized version of the wines that James and Stuart tasted and drank back in the 1980s.

Back then, wines like the vibrant yet very silky and sensual Famille Isabel Ferrando Châteauneuf-du-Pape Columbis 2022, with its huge wave of blackberry fruit, did not exist. It is a fantastic example of the stylistic innovation that has made this region so diverse during the last decade.

The same must be said about the Domaine de la Solitude Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vin de la Solitude 2021, the highest-rated red from the region in this report. Its mind-bending combination of fruits, savory and balsamic complexity must be experienced to be believed. The way the huge tannins feel so delicate, plus the energy and purity of this wine, are no less astonishing.

Scroll down through the notes below and you will find that many of the Chateauneuf highlights are late-released wines from earlier vintages. A particularly important example of this is the Domaine de Pegau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Laurence 2019, which is very muscular, meaty and gamey with enormous density at the monumental finish.

Stuart and Kevin were also lucky to taste a number of mature wines from producers’ cellars, most importantly at Chateau de Beaucastel. They can’t remember ever tasting a better white from the region than the Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Roussanne Vieilles Vignes 2009  – an almost perfect mature, dry white with great waxy and nutty complexity.

It may sound counterintuitive that a region as warm as Chateauneuf du Pape could turn out such refreshing dry whites, but the cold, northwesterly Mistral wind is a major climatic factor in region, as the tasting team found out. A couple of times they found it hard to walk through the vineyards because of the force of the wind.

The other factor driving the development of the whites is winemaking innovation, and that was a major factor behind the Domaine Mont Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2023 with its expansive, yet subtle aromas of stone fruits. This wine really nailed the balance between creamy richness and salty freshness. For us, that’s what the winemaking of white Chateauneuf is all about.

These wines can have almost as much alcohol as the reds, with 14 percent on the label a common feature. The Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2023 stunned with its succulence, purity and transparency at just 13 percent alcohol. This wine was vinified in clay jars – a new fermentation vessel for this producer and the region.

– Zekun Shuai, Ned Goodwin MW and Stuart Pigott 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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