Bubbles Flow from Laurent-Perrier and Krug, plus the Swiss Side of the Rhone: Weekly Tasting Report (May 1-7)

Over the last two weeks, some of the JamesSuckling.com team, including James, tasted new releases of icon Champagnes from the top houses of Laurent Perrier (LP) and Krug. James spent a lunch in Tuscany at his house with one of the owners of LP, Lucie Pereyre de Nonancourt, and LP’s commercial director, Edouard Cossy, tasting their soon-to-be-released No. 24 Grand Siècle in magnum while Associate Editor Andrii Stetsiuk visited the region of Champagne to check out Krug's newly built Joseph winery in the village of Ambonnay.

The magnums of N.24 Grand Siècle are released five years later than the normal N.24, with extended lees aging in the big bottle. James said it showed more fruit and intensity than the regular bottle N.24, which he had by chance the week before at a friend’s house. He believes that the longer contact with yeast in the magnum gives more body and flavors just like lees contact in barrels or vats for whites. The N.24 Grand Siècle will be released this fall. It rated one point higher than the original release. It’s a blend of 55 percent chardonnay and 45 percent pinot noir and from the 2007, 2006 and 2004 vintages.

Meanwhile, Andrii tasted the latest releases of the Krug Grande Cuvée (172nd edition) and Krug Rosé (28th edition), both of which were created around the harvest of 2016 – another complicated year with a lot of rain between May and June followed by a hot summer.

 LUCIE PEREYRE DE NONANCOURT AND EDOUARD COSSY ON THE NO. 24 GRAND SIÈCLE

"We lost a portion of the crop due to the heat spikes, during the summer" said Julie Cavil, the cellarmaster of Krug. The 172nd edition includes 58 percent of the 2016 vintage and 42 percent reserve wines, with the oldest dating back to 1998 and sourced from 146 lots spanning 11 different years. The result is a very classic Krug Grande Cuvée with notes of dried lemon, spices, and a subtle brioche note as well as a textured and caressing palate that’s steady and refreshing at the end.

The 28th edition of the Krug Rosé includes 62 percent of the 2016 vintage and 38 percent reserve wines, with the oldest from 2010. It’s a blend of 32 different lots spanning six vintages and shows a beautiful peach-pink hue with a coppery glint and offers fresh floral notes, red berries, and peach skins in both the nose and palate. It has intensity and power with elegance.

James also reviewed some exceptional wines from the Veneto producer of Inama as well as Barolo’s legendary Giuseppe Rinaldi. The former, according to James, makes the best carmenere in Italy and perhaps Europe with its debut Super Veneto red, the Capital O. James upgraded the rating by one point from last year just after bottling and notes how the integration of extra fine tannins is truly exceptional. Bordeaux consulting enologist Stephane Derenoncourt is lending a hand in the winemaking and his deft hand for balanced reds is coming through in the wine.

MATTEO AND ALESSIO INAMA ON THEIR VINTAGE SELECTION 2016

James also tasted a very cool single-vineyard Soave with the two Inama brothers, Matteo and Alessio, that they simply call “Vintage Selection,” which is a white aged for seven years on its lees in stainless steel vats. It’s from the 2016 vintage and proves that Soave can age like top white Burgundy.

Giuseppe Rinaldi is the complete opposite compared with the Inama red project. Their wines are among the most traditional in the Langhe. They are structured yet harmonious Barolos, which showed through in the 2019s James rated. He also reviewed their Cannubi S.Lorenzo – Ravera 2001, a blend that was spectacular and ageworthy, showing depth and lots of bark and mushroom character.

PLUSH WINES FROM THE SWISS SIDE OF THE RHONE

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott has been following the wines that Gilles Besse makes at Jean-Rene Germanier in the Valais, Switzerland, for a long time. Because this is the Swiss section of the Rhone Valley, it makes a lot of sense that after traveling to the French Rhone he turns his attention to them. The fact that the highest-rated wine is a syrah confirmed this logic.

The Jean-René Germanier Syrah Valais Cayas Reserve 2020 would have no trouble standing next to a row of Cote Rotie from the Northern Rhone, because it shares their virtues: richness and warmth with very fine tannins and spicy finesse. It is as plush as it is concentrated  with an extremely long finish. And nothing about this wine feels in the least heavy or exaggerated, in fact the harmony is stunning.

It isn’t easy to pick out another wine from this producer, since there were so many highlights, but the Jean-René Germanier Cornalin Valais Chamaray 2019 is a beautifully crafted expression of the native cornalin grape with deep savory, licorice and smoke aromas. It is very structured but plusher than most examples of this idiosyncratic native Swiss grape. Like the Cayas syrah, it is matured for 24 months in small oak casks.

Scroll down through the notes below to find the other gems from this little-known great winemaker. Besse has been in charge of winemaking at Jean-Rene Germanier since 1993 and was one of the small group who revolutionized winemaking in the French Rhone during this period. That applied equally to indigenous varieties like the white heida and red cornalin as well as French varieties like pinot noir and syrah. He also performed a minor miracle with the workhorse white fendant (chasselas) grape. Maturation on the lees for the whites and the use of new oak for the reds were applied cautiously so as not to lose the cool climate profile of the region.

Tasting Manager Kevin Davy and Stuart are in the final stages of tasting for the forthcoming 2024 Rhone Report, and Stuart was very impressed by the new wines from Domaine A. Berthet-Rayne in Cairanne. Currently Cairanne is the rising star of the Southern Rhone due to the work of young winemakers like Alexandra Berthet-Rayne and a group policy of pursuing organic and sustainable viticulture. Cairanne is rightly gaining the reputation as the place to go for elegance in the Southern Rhone.

The Domaine A. Berthet-Rayne Cairanne Blanc Les Perchettes Vin Méthode Nature 2023 is one of the most original natural wines Stuart has ever encountered, with a nose like a whole field of wildflowers. It is incredibly fresh and precise for a natural wine and the texture on the concentrated palate is pure silk, making it unique in this category. However, it was the highest-rated wine of this producer’s new wines by a small margin. Even with the humble Cote du Rhone appellation, they showed Stuart some remarkable wines.

Back in Germany, Stuart ran into the first exciting ice wines in a long time. The reason for the virtual disappearance of this category in recent years is climate change: today even Germany doesn’t get the kind of hard frosts necessary to make this special style of dessert wine! 2021 was the last vintage in which this was possible.

The Hexamer Riesling Nahe Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Eiswein 2021 has a cornucopia of tropical fruit aromas and an enormous amount of energy driving the dangerously refreshing finish. The almost savagely mineral acidity is one of the hallmarks of riesling ice wines from the Nahe region. As the name of the super-zesty and succulent Hexamer Riesling Nahe Sobernheimer Domberg Auslese -5°C 2021 says, it was picked at only minus 5 degrees Celsius – not quite cold enough for legal recognition as an ice wine. It is still a fantastic wine.

These ice wines are rare not only because they can only be made in limited quantities, but also because the next vintage could lie a decade or more away!

- James Suckling 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.

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.