August 2022 Tasting Report: Italy Calling and the Legends of Spain

We stayed well ahead of our goal of tasting 30,000 wines for the year by uncorking another 2,605 bottles in August from 16 countries including the usual suspects like Spain, France and Germany all the way to China, Greece and even Canada, but it was Italy where we really killed it. James and the tasting crew rated 1,504 Italian wines, with almost a third coming from Sicily, which we also covered in our annual report on the region.

James hadn’t been to Sicily since 2018, but the improvement in wine quality since that time has been vast, especially the offerings from the Etna area, which is buzzing with activity as the wine scene there gains ground. One of the best Etna reds was one James had with a grilled, aged Sicilian steak at a bistro on one of the roads winding up the slopes of Mount Etna. The

Frank Cornelissen Terre Siciliane Munjebel 2020 is a low-sulfur wine that is softly textured and deeply flavored, with a freshness and lightness on the palate. But there were plenty of other Etna reds worthy of praise, including the Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso Calderara Solttana Prephylloxera La Vigna di Don Peppino 2020 and Girolamo Russo Etna Rosso San Lorenzo Piano delle Colombe 2019, each made from ancient vines grown on their own rootstock in small areas called “contrade,” which are akin to the crus of Burgundy.

Whether the Etna reds have the nature and personality to improve with age is a great question, given their more tannic and acidic profile, but they’re all good when young, according to James. On the other hand, Etna whites, the majority of which are made from carricante, have excellent aging potential, judging from the few whites the tasting team rated, which had been in bottle five to 10 years.

Veneto wines also shined during the month, especially from the respected producers Inama and Zenato. The former delivered another textbook Soave, the enticing Inama Soave Classico Foscarino 2020. It’s a wine whose mineral quality “takes your breath away,” according to Senior Editor Zekun Shuai, but Inama’s carmeneres were equally eye-opening. The tangy and deliciously peppery Inama Carmenere Veneto Più 2019 had a the focused nose full of dried herbs and spicy, peppery character, while the Carmenere Colli Berici Capital O Riserva 2018 showed impressive depth and concentration but was still fresh and spicy with posh, seductive tannins.

Meanwhile, Zenato’s two Amarone standouts, the Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2017 and Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Sergio Zenato Riserva 2016, were a reminder of how ultra-ripeness and richness do not necessarily preclude freshness and poise, and were also among the best wines we’ve ever tasted from Zenato.

And as usual, there were plenty of striking wines from Tuscany during the month. One Tuscan producer that really hit the mark was Tua Rita. Its Syrah Toscana Per Sempre 2020 may be one of its best syrahs ever, while a syrah it makes in amphora, the Syrah Toscana Keir 2020, is also excellent. If you’re looking for a single-vineyard Chianti Classico, try the Castello di Ama Chianti Classico Gran Selezione San Lorenzo 2019, which has a lovely balance and finesse thanks to the addition of tiny amounts of merlot and malvasia, while Ama’s merlot legend, L’Apparita, is one of the most powerful James remembers since its inception in the 1980s.

There were also a few Barolos of note, namely the Damilano Barolo Cannubi Riserva 1752 2015, a selection of the best parcels the Damilano family controls of the original plot of Cannubi, arguably Barolo’s most famous vineyard, as well as the Massolino Barolo Vigna Rionda Riserva 2016 – a Barolo riserva that shows the magic of the great 2016 vintage with its power and richness yet finesse at the same time.

We also wrapped up our tastings of Spanish wines for the year last month (you can read the annual report on Spain here), with our top bottles from the country coming from a few legendary winemakers. One of them, Alvaro Palacios, gave us a few premier bottles from the 2020 vintage. One, the cult-like (and expensive) Priorat L’Ermita, proved itself to be the king of garnacha-based reds despite coming from a challenging, mildew-affected vintage. Tasting it, Senior Editor Zekun Shuai said, “was a truly unforgettable experience.”

Palacios also impressed with La Baixada 2020, Les Aubaguetes 2020 and the Gratallops 2020, with the latter probably the best introduction to Alvaro Palacios’ top wines from Priorat – “a racy blend of vineyards with nimble, red berry fruit and an almost pinot etherealness that is beguilingly sweet and sultry,” according to Zekun.

And if ever there was a Spanish wine that lit a fire for James, it was the Numanthia Termanthia Toro IPSE NV, a timeless wonder that James gave his highest compliments to, calling it a “crazy” young wine, even though the blend of 2014, 2015 and 2016 vintages was produced from ancient vines of up to 200 years old. It’s also reflective of the current trend in Spain to make more transparent and drinkable wines for today’s market, which we expanded upon in our Spanish report. There was also one sherry of note from Spain that we rated highly, the new edition of  Jerez Tio Pepe Fino Tres Palmas from Gonzalez Byass, a  unique selection of Tres Palmas that drinks as a fino but is still very intense and pungent, with cooked apricot, ginger, and lemons, as well as a sour bread and briny character.

GERMAN AND FRENCH SURPRISES

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott tasted the best France and Germany had to offer, and he uncovered some interesting surprises, including a Lieu-Dit wine (one that comes from single vineyards that aren’t classified as premier cru or grand cru), the Paul Kluber Riesling Alsace Breitenberg 2019.

Stuart found vibrant aromas of yellow peach and lemon curd and said of it, “A lot of concentration is crammed into the sleek body. It’s as exciting as many grand cru wines!”

And Provence delivered an amazing commitment to a rosé in the Château d’Esclans Côtes de Provence Garrus Rosé 2021 – an intense, ample and full-bodied wine with impressive tension and purity that can be considered a consistently great rosé.

In Germany, Stuart was focused on the 2021 vintage, which was heavily impacted by sometimes perilous climatic conditions, including flooding and heatwaves. For some, though, the year proved bountiful, especially for a few producers of dry whites. Among the producers who got the grape ripeness they wanted was Weingut Keller in the Rheinhessen, which gave us the perfect-scoring Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Brünnenhäuschen Abts E GG 2021 and Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Pettenthal GG 2021. The owner of Keller, Klaus-Peter Keller, said he wrangled perfection by working with very small yields and waiting. “Either you complain, or you really do something, like we did.”

The Nahe region and the Nierstein area of the Rheinhessen also did well in 2021. Kai Schatzel of the Schatzel winery in Nierstein proved this with his Schätzel Riesling Rheinhessen Pettenthal Kabinett (Auction Wine) 2021, a sensational Kabinett that marries the lightness of the category with astonishing concentration and a wild flintiness that sets this masterpiece alight. The Thorle brothers, Johannes and Christoph, also showcased the top end of what the Rheinhessen produced with their Thörle Riesling Rheinhessen Hölle Beerenauslese 2021 and Thörle Riesling Rheinhessen Hölle Trocken 2021.

And although 2021 was a heterogeneous vintage in Germany, particularly at the lower level of the quality scale, the best bottles from the 2021 vintage taste ripe and racy, with impressive richness and aromatic complexity. This was especially true of some 2021 GGs from Heymann-Lowenstein in the Terrassenmosel sub-region of the Mosel. The super-mineral and very focused Heyman-Lowenstein Riesling Mosel Uhlen Roth Lay 2021, in fact, was one of the stars of the vintage.

Finally, there was one particular wine of note from Hungary that Stuart found, the Royal Tokaji Essencia 2009, which he called a “truly extraordinary dessert wine.” After fermenting until 2017 it was given five years bottle aging before release and is now only available in halves. “Wine really doesn’t get more concentrated than this!“ Stuart commented.

Have a look below at our tasting notes for the month and pick out your favorites. It’s hard to go wrong at the top end, but there are many wonderful choices throughout the list…

– Vince Morkri, Managing Editor