February 2022 Tasting Report: James Finds His Inner Napa, Bordeaux Shines Again and Rhone Comes into Focus

We published 1,984 wine ratings in February, from 14 countries. Here’s how the tastings broke down (you can click “sort by” in the notes search engine below to search by each individual country): Argentina, 800 (Mendoza, 717); Australia, 2; Canada, 4; Chile, 2; China, 12; France, 744 (Bordeaux 195; Rhone, 340); Germany, 21; Hungary, 2; Italy, 177; Portugal, 24; Slovakia, 1; South Africa, 14; Spain, 39; U.S., 142.

February was a month of perfection at JamesSuckling.com. We rated eight wines a perfect 100 points, with five of them from the rockstar 2019 Bordeaux vintage, two coming from Napa’s equally exciting 2019, and the eighth from one of James’ favorite appellations, Hermitage in the Rhone Valley. The latter was among the hundreds of samples from Rhone that Senior Editor Stuart Pigott tapped in his tasting room in Frankfurt before heading straight to the region to talk with producers there. He will compile all his findings in a special report on Rhone that will be available soon on JamesSuckling.com.

The focus of the Rhone tastings has been the 2020 and 2019 vintages, both drought years with almost no rainfall during that summer but which led to “exuberantly rich wines in 2019 and ripe (sometimes overripe) but more classically balanced results in 2020,” according to Stuart.

Our 100-pointer from Rhone during February, the red M. Chapoutier Ermitage L’Ermite 2019 is a perfect example of syrah from Hermitage, showing unbelievable concentration and exquisite refinement. But there were a few other beauties from Rhone that we tasted, including the incredibly deep and vibrant Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin 2020, the same producer’s regular Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2020, which was a “wow” wine for us at just a fifth of the price of the Jacques Perrin bottling, and the spectacular white Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L’Orée 2019, a pure varietal marsanne that proves Rhone can have dazzling elegance.

READ MORE OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK: OUR TOP 100S OF 2021

But of course it was Bordeaux 2019 that shined the most in February. The chateau quartet of Lafleur, L’Eglise Clinet, Haut-Brion and Cheval Blanc each made incredible wines, and James was especially impressed with Lafleur, which in his eyes may be France’s greatest domain at the moment. Other top 2019s included Cos d’Estournel, Angelus, Leoville Las Cases and Troplong Mondot, as well as the whites of Cos.

“The 2019s keep impressing me and I am convinced that the vintage will deliver some of the most pleasurable young wines ever, like the 2015s did,” James said. And perhaps Lafite Rothschild winemaker Eric Kohler put the 2019 in simpler terms when he told James during Zoom interview, “You love them always.”

Meanwhile, Haut-Brion received two perfect scores for both its white and red from the vintage. The last time that happened was in 2010 when James was a senior editor with the Wine Spectator. All in all, 2019 adds up to another classic Bordeaux vintage, joining 2018 and 2020 as a trilogy of fantastic quality. And perhaps the best thing about 2019 is that there are literally hundreds of excellent-quality bottles for between $20 and $50 a bottle – many fresh and refined wines that are beautiful to drink young but will age for decades ahead. Our special report on Bordeaux 2019 covers it all, and you can read it here.

NAPA TEMPTATIONS

The two perfect-scoring wines from California came from Napa wineries Eisele Vineyard and Futo. James said that three of Futo reds he tasted were “absolutely stunning,” including the Futo Napa Valley Oakville 2019.

“They had the opportunity to pick dozens of parcels of their 22 acres of vineyards in Oakville and Stag’s Leap District at just the right moments and maturity, and made 42 different lots of wine and then blended them for each of the three bottlings,” James said of the Futo lineup.

But look for plenty of more ratings from Napa and beyond, because James is now in California after being two years in Hong Kong without having a chance to leave, and he is on the mother of all road trips through wine country as he makes up for lost time and producer visits.

He started his trip at the Premier Napa Valley wine trade auction, where he tapped into Napa’s 2021 vintage, praising the reds he tasted for having dense palates and creamy tannins, likening 2021 to 2016. He also tried a number of 2020s, which he said “were very good quality, clean and fruity with some herbaceous character.” Time will tell how each vintage stacks up to 2019 and ’18.

He also attended a dinner in honor of international participants, where he tasted the stunning Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2017, which he said “highlighted the evolution to more transparent winemaking” occurring in Napa.

His first official visit to a producer was at Realm Cellars, where he met owner Scott Becker and winemaker Benoit Touquette to taste and compare 2019 and ’18, which Touquette said were “two great vintages back to back.” Becker added that ’19 was “the capstone to a decade of growth and evolution of the brand and for us.”

For James, 2018 and 2019 are “two vintages representing a contemporary type of Napa reds that are focused in balance and harmony with drinkability. Yet they also have the structure to age very, very well.” The wines of Tim Mondavi’s Continuum Estate, James said, proved his point, with the 2019 bottling “another illustration of how 2019 allowed great winemakers to produce precise and curated wines that emphasize their unique provenance and character. And it shows that the best winemakers are now at the top of their games with their viticulture and winemaking.”

Yet another wine that illustrates the incredible structure and sophistication possible in the 2019 vintage is the Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2019, which James called “a reference point for me now." Frederic Engerer, who leads the estate, said of it in an in-person interview with James, “it’s the greatest wine we ever made here.”

Argentine wines also featured prominently in our February tastings, and we rated an even 800 bottles from the country, with 717 of those coming from Mendoza. The country has had four excellent vintages in a row in 2017 through 2020, with the newer releases running the range of excellence, from inexpensive clean and super-drinkable bottles to balanced and well-structured gems. A great example is the 1853 Old Vine Estate Malbec Mendoza Selected Parcel 2019. “It’s hard to think where you can buy a 95-point red made from vineyards planted in 1910 that costs about $24 a bottle, or even less,” James said of it.

As for Argentina’s 2021 vintage, we have tasted some nice wines from it so far, but unfortunately Mendoza had rain during part of the harvest and cool and overcast weather at the end, so it was a challenging vintage. We will, however, keep tasting more wines from that vintage in the coming months to get a better feel for its level of quality.

We also had a few ratings on 2018 Barolo, Beaujolais and on a notable merlot from Chianti Classico – the upgraded Barone Ricasoli Toscana Casalferro 2018. And don’t miss what is the best wine we’ve ever tasted from China, the Ao Yun Shangri-La 2018, which “shows fantastic clarity and precision as well as fine structure and length,” James said. It’s setting the quality bar high for wine in China, which we plan to taste extensively this year along with all the other top wine regions and some lesser-known ones. For now, James’  focus is on California but he is heading up to Oregon and Washington with Associate Editor Nathan Slone at the end of the month. Stay tuned, as always.

READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF ARGENTINA 2021

– Vincent Morkri, Managing Editor