Chile’s 2021 Stunners and the Pfalz’s Radical Terroir Wines: Weekly Tasting Report (Feb 7-13)

The JamesSuckling.com tasting team rated 781 wines from eight countries over the past week, with James and Senior Editor Zekun Shuai continuing their epic tasting mission in Chile and Argentina, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott delving into the dry whites and reds of the Pfalz region of Germany and Executive Editor Jim Gordon tapping into some terrific cabernet sauvignons and zinfandels from California.

In South America, the 2021 vintage continues to surprise us with its cool and temperate conditions, especially the Apalta wine region in Chile’s Colchagua Valley, which gave us two perfect-scoring wines – the exquisite Clos Apalta Valle de Apalta 2021 and Clos du Lican Apalta 2021, from sister wineries owned by Domaines Bournet Lapostolle.

The latter, a pure syrah that wowed James and Zekun, comes from a three-kilometer-long vineyard nestled within a ribbon-like forest of granite-rich soils with southeast-facing exposure. The impressive 10-hectare plot of syrah vines was planted in 2004 and 2005 by a team headed by Bournet Lapostolle viticulturist Igor Jimenez and chief winemaker Andrea Leon.

“We don’t mention syrah on the label – it is the place that we want to highlight,” Leon said. While she describes herself as “Rhone-esque,” the Clos du Lican Apalta 2021 showcases an even more Mediterranean essence than its Rhone counterparts. It exudes an alluring, pure bouquet of violets and lavender, intertwined with garrigues and black licorice notes. The wine was first made in 2018, with the debut vintage in 2019. There is also a small parcel of viognier in the higher part of the vineyard that is individually bottled as the Clos du Lican Apalta Côte de Madame; check out the tasting notes for the 2021, '22 and '23 vintages below.

We also finished up our tastings of Mendoza, Argentina wines, with the spotlight on the 2021 vintage. After a challenging and difficult 2020 season, Achaval Ferrer has regained its form, presenting top-notch wines that seamlessly blend rich fruit with plush, silky tannins. Among the four 2021 “Finca” line of wines tasted by Zekun, the Achaval Ferrer Malbec Mendoza Finca Altamira 2021 stood out as the freshest and most eclectic.

“For us, our Finca wines are always 100 percent malbecs and the wines have to show not only the quality but also the place from the old vines,” said Achaval Ferrer’s head winemaker, Gustavo Rearte. The 2021 Finca Altamira's blue fruit and violet florality are built upon a hedonistic reservoir of melted tannins, exhibiting freshness, polish and a superb length that lingers for over a minute. Following the jammier and less captivationg 2020s, it is a delight to witness Achaval Ferrer’s resurgence in crafting exceptional old-vine malbecs.

The cool fine-tuning from 2021 also panned out in the Trapiche Malbec Cabernet Franc Mendoza Iscay, which is getting more pristine and purer, showing more floral character with nervy pepperiness and mountain herbs than in past vintages. After a small vertical tasting with technical director Marcelo Belmonte of Grupo Peñaflor, which owns Trapiche, Iscay's transition toward finesse and even more freshness becomes clear. The flesh and fruit from malbec and the tension and fine-boned freshness of cabernet franc make it a classic Mendoza blend, setting a new benchmark for the combo.

EYMANN'S RADICAL TERROIR WINES

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott felt a sense of nostalgia when he travelled to the Pfalz, because this was the first German wine region he started to explore as a teenager back in the 1970s. That was before climate change made itself felt, but even then the rather warm, sunny climate of this region provided the cradle for the rediscovery of dry white and red winemaking in Germany.

His first stop was the Eymann winery in the little-known village of Gonnheim. Stuart got his first taste of Eymann wines in the early 1990s when Rainer Eymann was one of the first organic producers in Europe with consistently high wine quality. Back then, organic wines could be pretty rough and/or dirty. Since 2015 the Eymann wines have been made by Rainer’s son, Vincent, who uses a combination of biodynamic, precision viticulture and a serious commitment to biodiversity to craft radical terroir wines.

The Eymann Riesling Pfalz Fuchsmantel Trocken 2022 is a near-perfect example of that, a fundamentally mineral and staggeringly refreshing wine from ungrafted vines planted in 1930. The stony brilliance of the wine is extraordinary for the extreme drought vintage. Vincent Eymann has been making wines from the Fuchsmantel and another terraced vineyard site, the Schlossberg, since 2017. His vineyards there are niches surrounded by trees and scrub, which is a total contrast to the sprawling vineyards on the Rhine plain that are typical for the Pfalz.

In a way this makes Eymann’s pinot noir reds even more extraordinary, because they come from the latter kind of vineyards. The Eymann Spätburgunder Pfalz Mandelgarten 2019 is simultaneously, rich, suave and graceful with super-fine tannins and a deep, structured finish with stacks of wet stone minerality. The Eymann Spätburgunder Pfalz Sonnenberg 2020 is even more vibrant, with staggering mineral energy and racy freshness.

The Pfalz has always been able to excel in a variety of different wine styles, but Stuart was still taken aback by the Eymann Sekts, or sparkling wines, because until very recently this was a field in which the Pfalz did not excel. The Eymann Sekt Pfalz Cuvée No. 418 Réserve Extra Brut NV has a unique nose of fino sherry, salted nuts and dried pears with a dark and spicy palate unlike anything else Stuart has ever tasted. It is a cuvee of 65 percent pinot noir and 35 percent chardonnay based on the 2018 vintage, with a small amount of reserve perpetuelle. Considering he’s been making sparkling wines for less than a decade, the consistent high quality Vincent achieves is very striking.

Stuart has also been following the Knipser winery in nearby Laumersheim for decades. Under winemaker Werner Knipser their wines always had a striking boldness, proving that German wines were not all delicate flowers. Werner’s son, Stephan, is now adding more freshness and finesse to them. That’s most striking in the range of pinot noirs, here also sold under the German name for the grape, spatburgunder. However, the single-vineyard wines are all from massal selection based on vines sourced in Burgundy.

There are so many impressive Knipser pinot noirs here that it wasn’t easy to single one or two out. However, the recently released Knipser Spätburgunder Kirschgarten GG 2019 really has a great cherry aroma that expands and expands as it aerates in the glass. There’s a delicate “sweetness” woven into the concentrated and beautifully structured palate that reminds Stuart of high-end red Burgundies. The first vintage of GG from the Steinbuckel site is also an amazing wine. It's hard to believe that the Knipser Spätburgunder Pfalz Steinbuckel GG 2020 has a very complex nose of red fruits, lemon peel and wild herbs. Stuart loved the wine's powdery tannins and the very chalky, refined finish.

Werner Knipser was among the first German winemakers to experiment with red Bordeaux varieties, and the Knipser Pfalz Cuvée X R 2018 proves that this was no vanity project. It is a very full-bodied and tannic red with great blackberry fruit plus dried herb and raw meat complexity. In spite of the wine's huge scale it has spot-on balance. The blend is 80 percent cabernet franc with merlot and cabernet sauvignon.

In the dry white wine field, the Knipsers were also pioneers of chardonnay in Germany but their dry rieslings are even better. For Stuart, the yet to be released Knipser Riesling Pfalz Steinbuckel GG 2022 is the best riesling Stephan Knipser has made to date. It is astonishingly cool and straight for the vintage with an extremely intense chalky character. Like all the Knipser riesling GGs, it has been made for long aging. Fermentation and sur lie maturation is in well-used 600-liter Halbstuck oak casks.

The Knipser cellar was also home to the mini-winery of Bernd Philippi, the legendary Pfalz winemaker who died last year. The Bernd Philippi Riesling Pfalz Kallstadter Saumagen Trocken 2022 has a terrific interplay of concentrated Amalfi lemon, apricot and passion fruit aromas with chalky minerality. It reminded Stuart of Bernd’s best dry riesling from the Saumagen site of the 1983 vintage – the wine that made his reputation. It is a fitting farewell to the man who made the first world-class dry German rieslings of modern times.

INTO THE SIERRAS

A handful of Napa Valley cabernet sauvignons and a selection of red Rhone types and zinfandels from California’s Sierra Foothills topped the U.S. tasting notes this week. Executive Editor Jim Gordon found two memorable cabs from the Adamvs estate on Howell Mountain – the Adamvs Cabernet Sauvignon Mountain Estate 2019 and Adamvs Cabernet Sauvignon Teres Estate 2019. The first is a monumental and mountain grown wine that could age well for decades while the latter is generous and plush, showing elegance along with brawn.

Equally outstanding were syrahs from the Terre Rouge winery in Amador County and zinfandels from sibling winery Easton. The Terre Rouge syrahs and other Rhone types are always among the very best offerings from the high-elevation foothills region, and the Terre Rouge Syrah Sierra Foothills Ascent 2020 is at the pinnacle of the portfolio. It’s a high-elevation wine that is right is up there with California’s best syrahs, with its spicy, vivid, peppery aromas meeting deluxe black fruit, star anise, oak char and graphite flavors that are gentle but taut on the palate.

As for zinfandel, a variety that almost every producer in the foothills region makes, you would have to search far to find a better example than the Easton Zinfandel Fiddletown Rinaldi Vineyard Old Vine 2020. It shows perfumed rose petals, cedar and cinnamon aromas, then ripe, juicy blackberry, black cherry, black pepper and star anise flavors for a classic zinfandel expression.

– Zekun Shuai, Stuart Pigott and Jim Gordon contributed reporting.

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