February 2024 Tasting Report: Napa’s Sterling Reds, Argentina’s Fine-Tuned 2021s and Ungrafted Elegance from Germany

The sheer variety at the top of our ratings for February is striking: we gave out perfect scores to six different types of wines from five countries. They included a chardonnay from Argentina, a syrah and two Bordeaux blends from Chile, a cabernet sauvignon from California, a riesling from Austria and a sparkling wine from Germany.

Out of the 2,828 wines we tasted during the month from 11 countries, the United States gave us the biggest bounty of 775 bottles, followed by Argentina’s 747 and Chile’s 525. Our tastings from the U.S. were focused on Washington and California, but it was a Napa red from the 2021 “redemption vintage” that earned one of our perfect scores.

The 2021 vintage in Napa and Sonoma followed a disastrous 2020, when many winemakers didn’t bottle any wines because of the smoke effects from multiple wildfires that year. And it was a few terrific quality, under-the-radar 2021 wines that caught James’ attention. The perfect-scoring Grace Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley St. Helena Cornelius Grove 2021 was one of them. It’s an old-vine hillside cab made by the Napa star winemaker Helen Keplinger that James called “history in the glass” and shows the unique microclimate of the hillside area while exhiviting “exquisite balance of intense fruit and sublime tannin quality.”

There were plenty of other Napa 2021 reds that reflected the same qualities, including the Continuum Napa Valley Sage Mountain Vineyard 2021, which Continuum owner and winemaker Tim Mondavi called “quite wonderful. It is perhaps the most transparent red Mondavi has made at Continuum since its inception in 2005.

And Executive Editor Jim Gordon found the small Napa winery Potts’ Seven Stones Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2021 to be nearly perfect, “perfumed in violets and roses and packed with raspberries, red cherries and ginger.”

Tod Mostero at Christian Moueix’s Dominus Estate in Yountville gave us the enticing Dominus Napa Valley 2021, a blend of 95 percent cabernet sauvignon and 5 percent cabernet franc with a cashmere texture that makes it tempting and delicious already, according to James, and the Dominus Napa Valley Napanook 2021 and Ulysses Napa Valley 2021, from Oakville, were nearly as impressive.

Also check out three other 2021s from the French-owned estate Cathiard Vineyard. The top wine among these, the Cathiard Vineyard Napa Valley 2021, is made from 45-year-old cabernet sauvignon vines and shows refinement with energy and focus.

The 2021 vintage was also the focus of our Washington tastings, which was a low-yielding vintage from poor fruit set and heat spikes, yet the top wines from the year are balanced and vibrant. You can read our reportage on Washington wines in our recently published annual tasting report on the state, by Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt.

As usual, Cayuse Vineyards produced one of the top wines in the state from the 2021 vintage with its perennially great Cayuse Vineyards Syrah Walla Walla Valley Bionic Frog, which is always one of the best syrahs to be made in the U.S. Another sterling syrah is from K Vintners and winemaker Brennon Leighton, whose K Vintners Syrah Yakima Valley Motor City Kitty 2021 is electric, savory and earthy, with a seemingly unending finish. Also from Walla Walla Valley is the 2021 Hors Categorie, is deep and powerful syrah with a solid tannin frame and intense blue and black fruit aromas.

A few Washington grenaches were equally impressive, with the powerful, super smooth K Vintners Grenache Walla Walla Valley The Boy 2021 leading the way and the Cayuse Vineyards Walla Walla Valley God Only Knows Armada Vineyard 2021 an effusive, woodsy and funky wine from biodynamically grown grapes, like all of Cayuse’s wines.

Cabernet sauvignon and Bordeaux-style wines are still popular in Washington, of course, and among the best are the offerings of Snohomish-based Quilceda Creek. Several of their wines crowded up against the 100-point mark,  with their opulent and balanced Cabernet Sauvignon Horse Heaven Hills Tchelistcheff 2021 right at the top of the list.

REGAINING FORM IN ARGENTINA

For Argentina, 2021 was also a comeback vintage of sorts after the challenging 2020 season, and Achaval Ferrer regained its form with the fresh and eclectic Achaval Ferrer Malbec Mendoza Finca Altamira 2021. Its blue fruit and violet character 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 captivating 2020s, it is a delight to witness Achaval Ferrer’s resurgence in crafting exceptional old-vine malbecs,” Senior Editor Zekun Shuai said of it.

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 florality with nervy pepperiness and mountain herbs than in past vintages.

And from the terrific wine estate way down south in Argentina’s Patagonia region, Chacra produced some dynamic wines from the 2023 vintage despite the limited production due to a spring frost. One was the Chacra Chardonnay Patagonia 2023, which James tasted and came away impressed  by its purity of fruit and transparency, as well as its crunchy and flawless nature.

James also spent some time with Matias Riccitelli, whose white wines “have an honest and almost naked quality to them, showing their origins as well as viticultural excellence." And Riccitelli’s malbecs are among the most captivating in South America, with the Matias Riccitelli Malbec Los Chacayes Valle de Uco 2021 “flawless in its expression of high-altitude malbec.”

Alejandro Vigil of El Enemigo and Catena Zapata delivered his assortment of powerhouse wines, led by two superb 2021 cabernet francs – El Enemigo Cabernet Franc El Cepillo Mendoza Gran Enemigo Single Vineyard 2021 as well as El Enemigo Cabernet Franc Gualtallary Gran Enemigo Single Vineyard 2021.

And one of Vigil’s wines that “defied expectations by not being a malbec,” the Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard White Bones, received a perfect score from us for a second time, solidifying its status as one of the most idiosyncratic chardonnays not only in South America but worldwide. From the 2022 vintage, Catena Zapata’s Adrianna Vineyard malbecs also impressed with the Mundus Bacillus Terrae and Adrianna Vineyard River.

The 2021 vintage also featured in our Chile tastings, surprising us with two cool, temperate and perfect-scoring offerings from the Apalta wine region in Colchagua Valley – 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 other perfect scorer from Chile was the Vik Valle de Cachapoal Vik 2021, which Senior Editor Zekun Shuai said was “the best-ever version of the cabernet franc/cabernet sauvignon blend I have ever tried, with a full body, superb intensity and silky tannins that grow on the palate, showing great length that goes on for minutes. The depth is legendary.”

Stay tuned for Zekun’s tasting report on Chile, which we will post soon.

UNGRAFTED ELEGANCE

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott was back in the Pfalz region of Germany, and his first stop was the Eymann winery, which he first visited in the early 1990s when Rainer Eymann was one of the first organic producers in Europe with consistently high wine quality. His son, Vincent, is now in charge, and he uses a combination of biodynamic, precision viticulture and a serious commitment to biodiversity to craft radical terroir wines like the Eymann Riesling Pfalz Fuchsmantel Trocken 2022, a staggeringly refreshing wine from ungrafted vines planted in 1930.

The stony brilliance of the wine is extraordinary for the extreme drought vintage. They also make some amazing pinot noirs, including the Eymann Spätburgunder Pfalz Mandelgarten 2019, which is simultaneously, rich, suave and graceful, as well as the Eymann Spätburgunder Pfalz Sonnenberg 2020, which is more vibrant, with staggering mineral energy and racy freshness.

The Knipser winery in nearby Laumersheim also made some amazing pinot noirs, including the recently released Knipser Spätburgunder Kirschgarten GG 2019 and Knipser Spätburgunder Pfalz Steinbuckel GG 2020

But it was at the Stefan Winter winery in Germany’s Rheinhessen region that Stuart really hit paydirt. Winter has risen from a rising underground winemaking star to sitting at the edge of international prominence, and his breathtaking sparkling wine, the perfect-scoring Winter Sekt Rheinhessen Pure Brut Nature 10/18 NV, may push him over the top. “The super mineral acidity and fine mousse on the extremely concentrated palate give it a primordial energy, while the finish is a kaleidoscopic image of saltiness and leesy complexity,” Stuart said of the wine, the first  German sparkling wine to receive a perfect 100 rating.

The other wine Stuart gave a perfect score to was a very mature beauty from Austria – the Prager Riesling Wachau Wachstum Bodenstein Smaragd 1999, which he called “one of the most extraordinary Austrian white wines of modern times,” because it marries the pristine coolness of the very high-altitude Smaragd vineyard with the ripe stone fruit of this great vintage.

And in his tastings of French wines, Stuart uncovered a few stunners from Domaine Amélie & Charles Sparr in Alsace, both from the 2022 vintage. Both the incredibly concentrated Domaine Amélie & Charles Sparr Pinot Noir Alsace Montagne des Roses 2022 and tremendously structured Domaine Amélie & Charles Sparr Pinot Noir Alsace Amour Interdit 2022 are among the Sparrs’ best bottles ever, a result of “major green harvesting, 100 percent whole cluster and short maceration” that gave them the fruit-driven pinots.

BEST'S BEST

Finally, from Australia, Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW was struck by a duo of wines from Best’s, among Australia’s oldest family-owned vineyards situated in Great Western, abutting the Grampians ranges. One, an exception to the adage that Australian riesling can be challenging for those accustomed to the juicier, more balletic Germanic way, was the Best’s Riesling Great Western Foudre Ferment 2023, which is fermented under the aegis of ambient yeast in a large Austrian cask, giving it a succulent, prodigiously textural style that harks back to the way things were once done. The other, Best’s Pinot Noir Great Western 2023, boasts pretty aromas of damson, red cherry, aniseed, crushed musk and lilac with nothing facile, overtly whole-bunch or medicinal about it, as is often the case, Ned said.

Ned also cooed about McLaren Vale’s cool 2023 vintage, with the offerings of Brad and Kendra White of Camwell Wines front and center. Although they only make about 200 cases each year, Ned said he could drink their wines “in large drafts every day due to an eminent poise between structural attributes and fruit, all compressed into a bone of tension.” Their Rosé Pétillant 2023 is exceptional for the idiom, and equally impressive is their Skin Contact Viognier 2022 and Vermentino 2022, each a briny interplay of stone fruits, salt bush and preserved lemon pucker.

And from Tasmania, Ned said the wines of Bellebonne in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley were deserving of an international profile, with their sparkling expressions coming with “the tensile glint and chalky composure of top Champagne.”

Bellebonne winemaker Natalie Fryar produced the hedonistic and crowd-pleasing Bis Rosé, while Ned’s favorite expression was the Bellebonne Blanc de Blancs 2017, a steely offering with the dosage winnowed down to an agreeable 5 g/L, parlaying complexity and a tensile finish that is forceful, detailed and exquisite.

– Vince Morkri, Managing Editor

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