Barbaresco’s 2021 Bonanza and Napa’s ‘Generational’ Vintage

An exceptional lineup awaited Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli this past week in Barbaresco, where he tasted all the crus produced by the renowned cooperative winery Produttori del Barbaresco from what is already widely regarded as a fantastic 2021 vintage. It will stand as the most important legacy of Aldo Vacca, who is stepping down as managing director in two weeks to retire.

Taking his place is Luca Cravanzola, Vacca’s former deputy. The winery, which traces its roots to 1894 and was re-established in 1958, is one of the Langhe’s most influential estates. Today, it represents 53 families farming 120 hectares – the latter number having grown in recent years as more nebbiolo is being farmed due to steadily increasing international demand for Barbaresco wines, according to Cravanzola.

It was Cravanzola who introduced the Barbaresco Riservas, which were bottled last May and are set for release in spring 2026.

“2021 is a record vintage, with 140,000 bottles in total – a truly remarkable year for quality,” Cravanzola said, adding that such vintages “come along once every seven or eight years.”

The final 40 days of the 2021 season, Cravanzola added, “were unforgettable – a mythical vintage.” Harvest took place mostly after Oct. 15, just like in the old days. “The grapes were perfectly healthy; there was no rush,” he added. “The first picks were around Oct. 8, at four degrees Celsius" (39.2 Fahrenheit).

These are nine distinct crus, all within the township of Barbaresco: from those closest to the Tanaro river, such as Pora and Rio Sordo, to those adjacent to the village – Paje and Asili – and then farther out toward Ovello, including Montefico, Montestefano, Muncagota and Rabaja. Pora and Ovello are the largest crus, Paje and Montefico the smallest.

The crus are released exclusively as Riservas, all nine vinified and aged in exactly the same way. The approach is traditional, with 40 days of submerged-cap macerations and 36 months in large, wooden Slavonian barrels of 25 to 50 hectoliters, followed by a year in bottle. All the wines are offered at the same price – around US$60 on average – and each is produced in roughly 16,000- to 20,000-bottle batches.

Among the winery's Barbaresco DOCG Riserva 2021 wines, the Pora is the most approachable and open, while the Rabaja sits at the opposite end of the spectrum as the most powerful. The Ovello is the most austere; the Asili is fresh and elegant; and the three “M” crus show a crescendo of tannic structure – from the Montefico, which combines freshness and power, to the Montestefano and Muncagota, which are both of larger grain. The excellent Paje closes the series, able to synthesize the two souls of the territory: grace and power.

Even in the warm 2022 vintage, which has nonetheless yielded a delicious 2022 Barbaresco Classico, all the crus will again be produced, though volumes will be half of 2021. As for the Don Fiorino Riserva, the last release was from 2016, bottled in 2023, and the next one will likely not arrive before 2029.

Napa's 'Generational' Vintage?

In California, Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery journeyed through some of Napa Valley’s great vineyards over the past week during a focused session with Swiss-born winemaker Jean Hoefliger.

Hoefliger presented an exceptional range from his many Napa Valley projects, spanning Merryvale Vineyards, AXR, Michel Rolland collaborations and The Debate. Of the nearly 70 wines Ryan tasted with him in over a few days, many approached perfection – a testament to Hoefliger’s precision and the character of the cooler, more refined 2023 vintage. It was a year in which some of Napa’s finest vineyard sites and meticulous winemaking aligned, delivering wines marked by harmony, balance and purity.

AXR emerged as a standout in this heavy-hitting lineup, offering a clear view into how the cool vintage shaped some of Napa’s most celebrated vineyards. The tasting began with perhaps the most famous of these sites, the AXR Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard 2023. This is a wine that can only be described as truly exceptional – it’s all texture and minerals and almost perfect in every sense. Aromas of black currants, blackberries, crushed stones, olive tapenade, scorched earth and cured meat lead into a palate with no hard edges, finishing in a seamlessly silken sweep.

The same precision carried through to the AXR Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Sleeping Lady Vineyard 2023, which shows a balance of savory notes and freshness with all the class and polish of the vintage on full display. Aromas of black currants, tobacco leaves, crushed stones and dried herbs frame a tightly wound palate with fine-boned tannins and a mineral-edged mouthfeel that lingers for minutes. It’s a well-constructed wine that will only gain complexity over time.

This sentiment continued with a tiny vineyard surrounded by the sites of Screaming Eagle – the Harbison Vineyard. Jean’s AXR Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Harbison Vineyard 2023 reflects the prestige of this bottling, sourced from all three Harbison parcels with neighbors like Dalla Valle and Screaming Eagle. Minerally, savory and fruit-driven aromas of black currants, tobacco leaves, crushed stones, black olives and crushed blueberries lead into a silken, seamlessly integrated palate with pure, refined tannins.

These AXR releases are just the start of the 2023 Napa cabernets hitting the market, and wow – what an almost generational vintage the valley was given.

Diversely German

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott was in the final stages of wrapping up his Germany tastings for the year, with the performance of the Weingut von Oetinger in the Rheingau really standing out among a diverse array of offerings he tasted over the past week.

Achim von Oetinger and his winemaker, Lutz Loosen, made an extraordinary range of 2024 dry rieslings, and Stuart particularly loved the enormous juiciness and structure of the Von Oetinger Riesling Rheingau Marcobrunn GG 2024, with its aromas of Mirabelle plums and dried flowers. Here’s a wine that lives up to the reputation of this legendary site.

The only problem with von Oetinger is that his wines are all more or less limited production. In spite of a slew of very high ratings, he had no candidates for our recently published Top Wines of Germany 2025 report because of low quantities. This results from the way each parcel of vines is vinified separately. Many of these are small, like his holding in the Marcorbunn, which is a mere 0.12 hectares in size. Together with a small yield, that means there was only one small cask of this great beauty.

Stuart also traveled to Stuttgart to taste a range of red GGs from the Wurttemberg wine region, of which Stuttgart is the capital (as well as being the headquarters of Mercedes-Benz). Wurttemberg used to be the sluggard among Germany wine regions, in spite of a relatively warming dry climate that made good red wines possible a generation ago.

Bizarrely for a region that has long been a technological powerhouse, the problems was technical in the grape-growing winemaking sense. Stuart has closely followed how that has changed dramatically since the last turn of the century, with the wines rapidly gaining in refinement over the last five years.

The Dautel Spätburgunder Württemberg Forstberg GG 2022 is a wonderful example of that process of fine-tuning. This pinot noir supernova has expansive forest berry aromas and every bit as much wet-stone freshness. The way the mineral acidity and vibrant tannins interlock in this high-altitude pinot noir is dazzling.

At once dense and delicate, the Karl Haidle Lemberger Württemberg Berge GG 2023 is an effortlessly beautiful masterpiece with great black cherry and pomegranate aromas. The finish is extremely long and bright with graceful tannins.

Scroll down to find the other exciting Württemberg red wines from these producers, plus some stunning examples from Graf Adelmann, Aldinger and Graf Neipperg. Together they convinced Stuart that this region has made an important step forward.

Caroline Diel of Schlossgut Diel in the Nahe has long been one of Germany’s most versatile winemakers and Stuart was very impressed by the new spatburgunder reds, sparkling wines and riesling Kabinetts that her French husband, Sylvain Taurisson-Diel,showed him. Not many German wineries manage to shine in so many radically different styles as this!

2024 was a challenging vintage for many types of dry wines in Germany, and almost a complete flop for dessert wines, but it was ideal for light-bodied riesling Kabinetts. Stuart‘s favorite is the super-sleek and vibrant Schlossgut Diel Riesling Nahe Pittermännchen Kabinett 2024, which has an immense drive on the dangerously energetic crystalline finish.

– Aldo Fiorelli, Ryan Montgomery and Stuart Pigott 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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