Carmenere Spreads Its Wings, and Rioja’s Promising 2019: Weekly Tasting Report (May 18-24)

The JamesSuckling.com Tasting Team rated 515 wines over the past week from 11 different countries, but it was Chile  and the incredible range of bottles it’s producing at the moment that really stood out, led by the Colchagua Valley vintner Clos Apalta and its talented and intuitive chief winemaker, Andrea Leon.

Clos Apalta’s flagship cuvee, the Valle de Apalta 2019, is right at the top of our list of quality Chilean offerings. It’s a blend of 70 percent carmenere, 18 percent merlot, 8 percent cabernet sauvignon and 4 percent petit verdot that delivers class, depth and refined richness. With a higher amount of carmenere, this concentrated 2019 vintage is fine-tuned with a more savory, spicy edge threaded by firm, creamy and velvety tannins, rendering a silky and dense yet seamless palate.

"I think carmenere is now an established grape variety for Chile,” Leon said in a Zoom interview. “It is a very important blending varietal across the board because it brings color and spices. It always has some interesting texture. And it also makes a good statement for going solo."

Carmenere is also much pickier about terroir, she said. “Carmenere is not easy to grow, and it doesn't perform well everywhere. I think it’s wise to put diversity and appellation first,” she said. “It loves the sunlight and granite soils in Apalta.”

READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF CHILE 2021

Another of the top carmeneres that we rated, the Concha y Toro Carmenere Peumo Carmin de Peumo 2019, comes from a man better known as “Mr. Carmenere” to his colleagues, Marcio Ramirez. His passion for the varietal runs deep.

"I think carmenere has a lot of untapped potential, as long as it stays on the path of searching for its own identity,” Ramirez said in an email. “In the past, we tried to produce a more ‘universal’ style, but I think we have worked enough with the varietal and have enough maturity to be able to show it just as it is without feeling embarrassed by it or self-conscious.”

The Carmin de Peumo 2019 is beautifully rendered with aromas that you expect from a top carmenere – sweet tobacco leaves, red chili pepper, currants, dark chocolate, cigar box and a delicate touch of spice. The juicy palate with silky and immaculate tannins in a medium to full body delivers a coherent mouthfeel, making it immediately enjoyable.

Our other top picks from Chile include the Lapostolle Apalta La Parcelle 8 Vieilles Vignes 2018, which is 100 percent cabernet sauvignon from ancient, 100-year-old vines, and the Clos du Lican Apalta 2019, a varietal syrah from a new, single vineyard that shows a spicy verve and high-pitched complexity.

RIOJA'S STERLING 2019

We have also kicked off our annual tasting of Spanish wines, with the 2019 vintage from Rioja stretching the boundaries of quality in the country northward. It may well end up being one of Rioja’s best vintages ever.

Agustin Santolaya of Bodega Roda told us that 2019 was “the best vintage ever since 2001,” and the top wines of Rioja from this report do nothing to dispel that notion. Many wines are creamy, seductive, fresh, eclectic and complex, with a fabulous interplay between concentration and elegance.

The CUNE Rioja Real de Asúa 2019, Muga Rioja Torre 2019 and Contino Rioja Vina del Olivo 2019 are among the top wines we tasted that demonstrate the huge potential of 2019. We’re hoping to uncover more great bottles from 2019 as our tastings continue.

A few other producers also made some exceptional wines from older vintages. La Rioja Alta Rioja Viña Ardanza Reserva 2016 is an exemplar of how sexy a fine-tuned traditional Rioja can be. In this case, it’s all about length and aged, savory complexity, with hints of orange peels, truffles, dried mushrooms and walnut, yet it still has a certain freshness even though the primary fruit is not the protagonist here.

READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF SPAIN 2021

The Spanish wine we rated highest over the past week was the CUNE Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva 2016, a blend of 85 percent tempranillo, 10 percent graciano and 5 percent mazuelo. James Suckling described it as one of the greatest modern gran reservas today, with refined and bountiful tannins backed by intense and layered flavors.

Two Viñedo Singular offerings from Bodegas Proelio also caught our eye – the Bodegas Proelio Garnacha Rioja La Canal del Rojo 2017 and Bodegas Proelio Tempranillo Rioja Puerto Rubio 2018. Both these wines, from a new geographical indication in Rioja, are flavorful, evenly formed and immensely drinkable, with essential yet effortless concentration.

A couple of old-vine beauties we came across during the week were the Torres Priorat Mas de la Rosa Vinyes Velles 2019 and 2018. Both are layered, fresh and delicate yet have underlying intensity at the same time, with blue fruit, slate, black earth and blue flowers. Their taut, transparent texture on the palate with silky, polished tannins really set them apart. These are true Burgundian expressions from Priorat, a rugged landscape that used to be known for making dense, black, jammy and alcoholic wines.

Another notable aside to our Spain tastings was the consistency of albariño from the 2021 vintage. This gastronomically inclined varietal seems to be competing with sauvignon blanc in a few markets these days, and Spain is doing its level best to meet the growing demand for it with mineral, saline and zingy offerings. With prices for albariño on the rise, now is a good time to open a bottle and pair it with oysters, ceviche, sushi or sashimi.

IN PRAISE OF ITALIAN REDS

Meanwhile, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott was sampling more wines from the northeastern Italian regions of Trentino and Alto Adige, aka Sudtirol.

This week his stars were reds, most notably the Foradori Teroldego Vignetti delle Dolomiti Granato 2019, which Stuart said was “as stunningly vibrant as it is concentrated,” adding that “this must be the best ever vintage of Granato.”

Granato is made from the Teroldego grape that is indigenous to the Campo Rotaliano, a gently undulating plain surrounded by mountains that tower more than 1,500 meters above it. Together with the poor chalky soil they create a unique sub-Alpine terroir.

“All Elisabetta Foradori‘s new reds were very exciting Teroldegos, with the aromatic expressiveness we expect from this grape, and the Granato takes that to a very high level,” Stuart said.

The other remarkable red Stuart tasted was the Girlan Pinot Noir Alto Adige Mazon Vigna Ganger Riserva 2018. “This is a highly structured wine for the grape variety with a sophistication comparable with Grand Cru wines from Pinot Noir’s Burgundian homeland,” Stuart commented. “That’s a major achievement!”

– Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor, and Vince Morkri, Managing Editor

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.