Australia’s Old-Vine Splendor, Fresh Takes from Sonoma and Consistently Languedoc

The JamesSuckling.com tasting team rated 676 wines over the past week, finding exceptional quality in a number of bottlings from Australia, the United States and France. Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery was in South Australia, where he encountered some historical vineyards producing site-driven reds as well as high-end, reductive styles of chardonnay that compete with the world’s finest.

As pruning was underway at Standish Wines in the Barossa, Ryan visited Dan Standish and tasted his brand-new 2023 releases. Standish is a fifth-generation Barossan with winemaking and grape-growing in his blood. He makes wine with purpose, focusing on site and nurturing that through to the bottle, crafting wines that always show precision, a silken-like texture and a wonderful aromatic profile.

The cool 2023 vintage brought some real gems, including the Standish Wine Company Shiraz Barossa Valley The Standish 2023, which is all about perfume with integrated blue and black fruits that speak of polish and refinement. The wine comes from ancient vines planted in 1912, in complete harmony with tannins and flavor development.

That old-vine character is also evident in the Standish Wine Company Eden Valley Lamella 2023, an extraordinary wine made from 100 percent whole-cluster fermentation from vines planted in 1858. It’s spiced, perfumed and textural, with a firmly built structure that will live for decades, yet delicious now, showing all the hallmarks of a world-class syrah. Most of Standish’s wines represent great value, but given the low production and excellent quality, prices can rise quickly – and the wines are extremely hard to get.

In the Clare Valley, home to one of Australia’s most revered yet reserved producers, Tony and Lita Brady at Wendouree have been at the helm since 1974, quietly shaping one of the country’s most important estates. They took over from the Birks family, who first planted vines at the Clare Valley site in 1893. Under their stewardship, Wendouree has remained fiercely traditional, producing classical and refined reds from dry-grown, ungrafted vines.

Ryan met with Tony Brady, who is as intriguing and classical as his wines. The only way to buy their wines, outside a small amount of independent retailers, is to write a letter to get an allocation. He hand-writes back to the buyers each year – no email, no fax, no phone.

Ryan tasted the Wendouree Cabernet Malbec Clare Valley 2022, though not with Brady, as he never tastes at the winery with visitors. It’s a plush and rounded wine with ultra-refined tannins and a succulent, moreish finish. The wine comes from old, own-rooted, dry-grown vines: cabernet sauvignon from 1983, 1971 and 1973, and malbec from 1898, 1919 and 1920. The blend is typically 60 percent cabernet sauvignon and 40 percent malbec.

Continuing the theme of old vines, Ryan visited Australian wine icon Brian Croser in the Adelaide Hills. Croser first planted his Tiers Vineyard in 1981 to the gingin (wente) clone, making focused, classy and moreish styles of chardonnay. The newly released Tapanappa Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Piccadilly Valley Tiers Vineyard 2024 is, as always, excellent on release and will age for many years. It sits on the edge of reduction, with struck match and flint aromas. The palate is tightly wound, with high-tension acidity and generous underlying power, edged by saline notes and yeasty autolysis.

Croser is an international wine traveler and helped with the establishment of Argyle Winery in Willamette Valley, Oregon. He has also maintained a close relationship with the Bollinger Champagne House since the 1970s. His son-in-law, Xavier Bizot of the Bollinger family, now runs Terre a Terre and Daosa in Wrattonbully and the Adelaide Hills, continuing the Croser-Bollinger link.

Sparkling has become part of the Brian Croser story, and along with Terre a Terre and Daosa, is made at the family’s winery in the Adelaide Hills. Ryan tasted the pure and refined Daosa Sparkling Adelaide Hills Piccadilly Valley Blanc de Blancs Late Disgorged 2017 with Bizot, which shows remarkable tension and a mineral drive. The freshness is balanced by underlying power, coming from 90 months on tirage before disgorgement in May 2025. An Aussie fizz with a European touch – and worth investing in.

Fresh Takes from Sonoma

Our top-scoring California pinot noirs and chardonnays this week came from three producers in Sonoma County: Summer Dreams and Ferren on the Sonoma Coast and Arista, in the Russian River Valley.

Summer Dreams is a project from Jayson Woodbridge, the dynamic owner of Napa Valley’s Hundred Acre winery, who met with James last week in California. Woodbridge says that he makes his pinot noirs with the same dedication he gives his cabernet sauvignons –wines that are vineyard-driven with punchy, rich personalities. His whites under the Summer Dreams label, which are mostly chardonnays, by contrast show notable freshness and tension.

Regardless of color, Woodbridge seeks the influence of the sea and other distinctive elements of the Sonoma Coast that highlight the uniqueness of its terroirs. He seems genuinely infatuated with the area, constantly imagining new single-vineyard and parcel selections each year with his team and his son, Cameron.

James’ favorite wines were the Summer Dreams Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast The Wedge 2023, which he described as fresh with aromas of ripe strawberry, iodine and polished tannins, as well as the evocatively named Walking on Venice Beach 2024, a sauvignon blanc he says is racy and zesty with aromas of sliced lemons, green mango with tangy acidity alongside a vivid finish.

Staff Writer and Taster Courtney Humiston, meanwhile, had a Zoom tasting session with Mark Williams and Matt Courtney of Ferren Wines in West Sonoma Coast to check out their 2022 vintages.

Inspired by their iconic Russian River Valley neighbors like Rod Berglund, Burt Williams and Tom Dehlinger (Joseph Swan, Williams Selyem, Dehlinger Wines, respectively), who planted some of the earliest vineyards in the Russian River Valley, Williams, who took the reins of Arista in 2012, has steered the winery away from what he calls cutting-edge winemaking techniques and toward a classic way of working, focusing on historically cool-climate pockets and heritage clones like Old Wente and  Calera.

"We made a deliberate decision not to innovate or tinker just for the sake of it," Williams said. One of his most important decisions he made was bringing in winemaker Matt Courtney from the legendary Sonoma Coast winery Marcassin, who refers to himself, somewhat cheekily, as a a "stodgy traditionalist."

In conjunction with joining Arista, Courtney founded Ferren, a brand focused on extreme western Sonoma Coast pinot noir and chardonnay, including some choice vineyards he worked with during his tenure at Marcassin. He now makes both Ferren and Arista wines at the Arista winery, where he is firmly committed to long and slow barrel fermentations using only native yeast and very little movement or manipulation of the must and wine along the way.

Staff Writer and Taster Courtney Humiston recently tasted the full lineup of Arista and Ferren with Williams, and she found their wines to be among some of the best pinot noir and chardonnay from Sonoma County that we’ve tasted so far.

Even in a warm year like 2022, Courtney noted that the two brands – Arista, from the Russian River Valley and Ferren, committed to western Sonoma Coast – offer balanced, elegant and distinct single-vineyard expressions from their respective appellations.

At the riper end of the spectrum, the Ferren wines showcase all the salinity, tension and earthiness you hope to find in coastal vineyards, while Arista wines are plush and powerful, with wonderful purity of fruit. The Ferren Chardonnay Silver Eagle Vineyard 2022 is a wonderfully aromatic and substantial wine with loads of salinity, botanical aromatics and mineral-laced acidity. The 2022 pinot noir from the same vineyard shows aromas of crushed mixed berries with woodsy touches of bay laurel and wild thyme blossoms along with seamless layers of minerality, dark fruit and fine tannins.

Arista's 2022 chardonnay from El Diablo Vineyard, planted by Ulysses Valdez in 2002 for Aubert, is an energetic and serious wine with wonderful length, layers and linear acidity. "It's a warmer corner of the Russian River Valley, but because it's east facing, it gets most of the sunshine in the morning and retains acidity really well," Williams said.

Consistently Languedoc

In Hong Kong, Tasting Manager Kevin Davy evaluated the latest releases from Languedoc winery Domaine Cassagne et Vitailles, spanning four distinct vintages – 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. These wines exemplify the winery’s commitment to consistency and terroir-driven expressions, showcasing vintage variation while maintaining exceptional quality. The Combarels range from the 2024 vintage, comprising one white and two reds, display immediate charm and approachability. True to form, these wines are crafted for earlier enjoyment, and the cooler 2024 vintage enhances their vibrant, accessible character.

Another highlight was Cassagne et Vitailles’ trio of grenache cuvees, all labeled under the Vin de France appellation due to their exclusive use of the grenache variety. The Cassagne et Vitailles Vin de France Les Célis 2023 stands out as a textural, racy and savory wine, vividly reflecting its terroir; the Crouzets cuvee leans toward a fruit-driven profile but retains a transparent, succulent quality; the Cassagne et Vitailles Vin de France Les Homs 2023 shows a pristine and tactile character with subtle fruit notes complemented by aromas of wet stones and forest floor.

Wild herbs, stones and floral nuances consistently define Cassagne et Vitailles’ wines, adding layers of complexity and balance to the generous, fruit-forward nature of grenache in these southern regions.

The tasting also included Les Chausmes from the drier 2022 vintage and the Cassagne et Vitailles Terrasses du Larzac Clas Mani 2021, each showcasing a distinct style with greater power, complexity and aging potential. Les Chausmes is structured and full-bodied, with generous fruit lifted by a vibrant note of peppercorns, adding balance and energy. The Clas Mani 2021, the highest-rated wine of the tasting, excelled in the cooler vintage. It offers depth and fine-grained tannins, with a controlled yet voluminous profile that promises further development with extended cellar aging, justifying its later release.

Across different profiles, vintages and appellations, the wines of Cassagne et Vitailles share a profound sense of place rooted in the Terrasses du Larzac. The estate’s dedication to quality shines through in every cuvee, each contributing to a cohesive vision of excellence.

– Ryan Montgomery, James Suckling, Courtney Humiston and Kevin Davy contributed reporting.

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. 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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