Argentina’s Chardonnay Surprise, Napa’s Balanced and Refined 2021 Reds and Great Washington Syrahs: Weekly Tasting Report (Feb 21-27)

High scores from Argentina and Chile highlight our latest Weekly Tasting Report, with James and Senior Editor Zekun Shuai checking in with some marvels after their extended tasting trip to the two Andean countries. Right at the top of the list is an Argentine wine that defies expectations by not being a malbec. The Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard White Bones secured a perfect score from us for a second time, solidifying its status as one of the most idiosyncratic chardonnays not only in South America but worldwide.

Over the past five or six years, the White Bones has consistently displayed greatness, always presenting itself as a unique chardonnay with a captivating blend of aromas and textures. The 2022 White Bones exhibits an herbal and spicy lift reminiscent of green ginger, chopped spearmint and green curry, and also has a strikingly bright and crystallized acidity and mineral-rich tension embodying a thought-provoking austerity, making it an excellent companion for Thai or Vietnamese cuisine. However, if you dine at Catena Zapata’s restaurant in Mendoza, wine will take center stage, with the food menu crafted to perfectly complement the wines, as Laura Catena explained.

Alejandro Vigil, the head winemaker at Catena Zapata, said his overall impression of the 2022 vintage was that it was the best year he has ever seen, even surpassing the lauded 2019 and 2021. “2022 was similar in terms of cool temperature of 2021, but it was not as rainy,” he said.

Catena Zapata’s Adrianna Vineyard malbecs also impressed with the 2022 vintage, delivering concentration and freshness in both fruit and tannins. The Mundus Bacillus Terrae and Adrianna Vineyard River are both charming, but each in a very different way. The River shows beautiful austerity with more mineral claws of tannins and less flesh, while the Mundus Bacillus seems fleshier, rounder and almost more decadent in nature, with brooding depth demanding time to fully unravel its complexity.

In addition, Catena Zapata is introducing new wines from the Cordon el Cepillo region of Mendoza, including the inspiring Catena Zapata Chardonnay Mendoza Angélica Sur Vineyard White Colluvium 2021. This chardonnay, stylistically akin to the White Bones rather than the White Stones, boasts delightful floral and gingery aromas. “El Cepillo is the sexiest place apart from Gualtallary,” said Vigil, who is obsessed with the colluvial soils of El Cepillo, which he said he had never seen anywhere else in Mendoza. Currently, Catena Zapata is working with Doña Paula and Trivento to get El Cepillo bestowed with its own IG (geographical indication) designation.

The top wines this week also include some deep, concrete-fermented malbecs from Zuccardi, which give us reason to believe that Argentina’s transition toward more gastronomic wines is a trend that’s here to stay. “To be gastronomic, you have to focus on the grapes, and for a long time over-ripeness, over-oaking and over-extraction haven been the greatest enemies of making gastronomic wines in Argentina,” Jose Alberto Zuccardi said.

His powerful yet polished and pristine Zuccardi Malbec Valle de Uco  Paraje Altamira Finca Piedra Infinita Gravascal 2021 and Malbec Gualtallary Finca Las Cerrilladas 2021 showcase filigreed tannins as well s fresh black and blue fruit in remarkable depth and concentration. Despite their depth and intensity, these wines eschew sweetness, instead embracing a naked and exquisitely refined expression of their terroir.

The top wines from Chile hail from Viña Koyle in Alto Colchagua and Tabali in Limari. Cristobal Undurraga has made soulful Mediterranean-style wines from the 2022 vintage, and his Viña Koyle Garnatxa Alto Colchagua Cerro Basalto Los Lingues Vineyard 2022 is the best to date – one that reminded Zekun of a super fresh and fine Gredo garnacha. His flagship Auma 2020 has transcended the vintage, delivering a racy and almost endlessly long and linear red blend from a challenging year. Additionally, Tabali’s outstanding chardonnays Limari's pinot noirs deserve recognition, especially the savory Tabli Pinot Noir Valle de Limarí Pai 2020, an otherworldly pinot that’s reminiscent of a fine Barolo, and the irresistibly briny, salty and delicious Tabali Chardonnay Valle de Limarí Caliza 2022, a true testament to the region’s limestone-rich terroir.

NAPA'S BALANCED AND REFINED REDS

In California, James rated a fascinating mix of Napa cabernet sauvignons and cab blends topped by 2021s from Dominus and Cathiard, plus a few dozen other new releases including Anderson Valley pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris from Long Meadow Ranch.

Outstanding examples of 2021 Napa reds continued to roll, revealing the balance and refinement achieved by top winemakers like Tod Mostero at Christian Moueix’s Dominus Estate in Yountville. The Dominus Napa Valley 2021 is a blend of 95 percent cabernet sauvignon and 5 percent cabernet franc with a cashmere texture that makes it tempting and delicious already, James said. The Dominus Napa Valley Napanook 2021 as well as the Ulysses Napa Valley 2021, from Oakville, were nearly as impressive.

Mostero reflected that 2021 was a drought year with plenty of high temperatures but no horrific heat events as in 2022. (In fact, Dominus decided not to release any 2022 wines for that reason.) Small berries and high phenolics gave his 2021 wines a tight, compact character that makes them seem almost weightless. “2021 is reeled in and refined, in the same vein as 2013 and 2018, the other recent great vintages with no extreme heat spikes,” Mostero said.

James also gave high scores to three 2021s from another French-owned estate just a few miles north, Cathiard Vineyard. He found the estate’s top wine, the Cathiard Vineyard Napa Valley 2021, made from 45-year-old cabernet sauvignon vines, refined, with energy and focus.

More top wines this week are from Washington State, where our editors Jim Gordon and Claire Nesbitt were based for 10 days. At the very top is a syrah from Walla Walla Valley, the 2021 Hors Categorie, which is deep and powerful with a solid tannin frame and intense blue and black fruit aromas. It’s produced from syrah grapes biodynamically grown on a steep slope, a unique higher elevation site in the valley away from owner Christophe Baron’s other vineyards (like Cayuse) in the Rocks District. Hold on to this one, though, as it will only improve with time.

The No Girls wines – the historically reflective and wryly named range crafted by resident vigneronne Elizabeth Boursier since 2008 – also stood out. The No Girls Syrah Walla Walla Valley La Paciencia Vineyard 2021 in particular is arrestingly aromatic, with notes ranging from red berry fruit to Chinese five spice and Sichuan peppercorns.

Another great syrah from the Rocks District is the Delmas Syrah Walla Walla Valley SJR Vineyard 2021. It’s savory, briny and peppery, with flavors that stay on your tongue for minutes, cofermented with 9 percent viognier, and made using a large proportion of whole-cluster fermentation shaping the aromatics and tannin tension. And check out the tasting notes below for a few more standout syrahs from producers like Reynvaan, Delille, Dossier, Latta and Force Majeure.

We also tasted the inaugural 2021 vintage releases of Dossier, a new winery based in Walla Walla Valley. They work with a range of grapes across two dozen vineyards, from viognier to sauvignon blanc, syrah and Bordeaux varietals. We were most impressed with two of their highest tier “Reserve” wines: both the cabernet-led Halo Reserve Dissertation Red Blend 2021 and the Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Halo Reserve 2021 show sophistication, intensity and elegance, all rolled into one. These two will set you back at least $200 each, though, and are more limited in production than their flagship and core wines, all in the notes below.

Top-scoring cabernet sauvignons and Bordeaux-style blends from Walla Walla Valley were also produced by Figgins, in particular the Estate Red 2021 – a mouthwatering blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and petit verdot – as well as by Seven Hills, with their cabernet-led blend Pentad 2021.

From an hour’s drive to the west, Red Mountain proved, as expected, to be a source of top-notch cabernet. The Col Solare Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain Tenuta 2021 showcases a pure expression of cabernet sauvignon alongside their flagship Col Solare Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain 2021, which is blended with a small proportion of cabernet franc. Canvasback, Delille, Force Majeure and Kiona also made excellent cabernets to look out for below.

And reflecting the Columbia Valley as a whole are Matthews’ Bordeaux-style wines from the first vintage of new winemaking team Alex Stewart and Hal Iverson. The wines are opulent yet silky, with intensity and weight that bode well for aging. Check out their Reserve Claret, Cuvée Reserve and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, all from 2021.

COMING ON STRONG IN TASMANIA

Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW was invited to Tasmania recently to taste some exciting wines. While the producer Bellebonne has long marked the lips of certain Australian commentators, the word is not yet on the international street. Ned strongly suggests that it should be.

The conversation about which regions are capable of making sparkling expressions with the tensile glint and chalky composure of top Champagne verges on effete, yet for Tasmania’s verdant Tamar Valley and surrounding region it rings true. While Bellebonne’s production site is situated just outside of Launceston in the Tamar Valley, the fruit is sourced from cooler pockets, largely in the northern sub-zone of Piper’s River.

Interestingly, it was here that Champagne house Louis Roederer made its first foray into the New World in 1987, joining forces with the now defunct Tasmanian label Heemskerk. Isolation and a myriad of complex mesoclimates made the venture more challenging than anticipated and Roederer retreated to the more benign climate of Sonoma, perhaps forsaking quality in the process. Bellebonne, drawing inspiration from other Tasmanian success stories, such as House of Arras, plays a very different hand. The stakes have been raised to a very high caliber.

Bellebonne winemaker Natalie Fryar liberated herself from corporate clutches in the name of personal expression, crafting Bellebonne’s inaugural vintage in 2015. As she says, one “doesn’t get quality from dragging hoses in the winery, but by talking to people who are making the decisions – the right decisions – on the ground.”

When Ned suggested that the hedonistic Bis Rosé is a crowd pleaser, boasting a slightly higher dosage (8g/L) than the other cuvees, Fryar shot back, “That is exactly what it is supposed to be,” expressing an affection for judicious levels of sugar to promote the Maillard reaction and the autolytic notes of brioche and shiitake dashi that come with it.

Ned’s favorite expression was the Bellebonne Blanc de Blancs 2017, a steely offering with the dosage winnowed down to an agreeable 5 g/L, parlaying complexity and a tensile finish that is forceful, detailed and exquisite. “This is superb domestic sparkling, able to take on the finest expressions in the world, be it Champagne or otherwise,” Ned said, bestowing his highest score yet for a New World fizz.

– Zekun Shuai, Jim Gordon, Claire Nesbitt and Ned Goodwin MW 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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