Finding Clarity in Napa 2020, and Chile’s Elegant and Balanced 2021: Weekly Tasting Report (Feb 8-14)

It’s impressive to taste high-quality 2020 wines from Napa Valley when thinking about what winemakers went through that year. Not only was it a very hot and dry growing season for their vines, but it was also complicated by two damaging wildfires as well as the COVID pandemic. Winemakers who actually had the luck and courage to make clean wines, both red and white, showed a real sense of relief as well as satisfaction. And their wines are all the more exciting, if unadulterated, if there is real quality in the bottle.

“After multiple tastings and analyses, we came out clean and we were confident that we could make a clean vintage and an outstanding wine,” said Tod Mostero, the winemaker for Dominus and Ulysses. These two wines were some of the best 2020s I tasted over the past week out of the more than 100 wines I tried.

Mostero’s wines, particularly the reds, can have an extraordinary clarity in aromas, which is ironic because that would be the first element compromised by smoke taint. Aromas of citrus, flowers, forest floor and fresh berries were common in the best wines I tasted over the last week or so, while the structure and flavors of wines ranged from being completely normal for an outstanding vintage, with ripe fruit and tannins – think of another hot year like 2015 – to having crunchy and vivid palates and character, from fresh raspberries and lemons to black currants and cherries. The latter were from wineries that picked very early ­– even mid-August, for some.

“In 2020 we realized that our farming methods to pick earlier allowed us to make it happen, and in ‘21 and ‘22 we took that even further,” said Corey Empting, the head of winemaking for Harlan and Bond. Their reds are so floral and fresh with ripe and firm tannins and a vivid energy and impressive length. They have been picking earlier, sometimes in mid-August, ever since 2017, another fire year.

“These wines are not really outliers from what we did in the early 1990s,” said Will Harlan, the head of all the Harlan wine projects and one of the owners. Most of his 2020s were either 99 or 98 points. They are unique bottles for 2020. “It was ironic and a surprise,” he said. “It forced our hand and accelerated this process [of picking earlier yet ripe grapes] by five to 10 years. It is very validating. Taking this risk paid off.”

For many others it was more painful. Some wines I tasted were obviously treated for smoke taint and show a leaner and sometimes stripped character from various winemaking methods such as reverse osmosis and charcoal filtering as well as blending in other vintages. Some winemakers are open with their technique to reduce the noticeable levels of elements that give smoke taint to their wines – from aromas of charcoal flavors to wet ashtrays and campfires, not to mention burnt lemons that also burn your throat.

“We did the best we could,” one winemaker told me last week. “Our reds are very good quality, and we tell customers to watch the evolution of the wine. They are for early drinking.”

So far from what I have tasted, I haven’t found many wines with noticeable smoke taint, but it’s well known that it can come through later in the bottle. I tasted a wine today that had a touch of smoke taint a few days ago, but it came through clearly this afternoon with a bitter ash character in the finish.

“We spent 30 years building our reputation and I couldn’t afford to take the risk,” Bob Shepard, one of the owners of Amici Cellars, said on why he didn’t bottle any 2020s. “It’s just something we didn’t want to do, and we didn’t want to sell something that was not up to our normal quality level.”

READ MORE TOP 100 WINES OF THE USA 2022

CHILE'S ELEGANT AND BALANCED 2021

We also had a great week of tasting in Chile’s Central Valley, with plenty of wines rising to the top of our weekly ratings, including the 100-point Seña Valle de Aconcagua 2021.

2021 will be remembered as an exceptional vintage by many winemakers. Some consider it on par with 2018 in terms of the quality of the fruit. But most winemakers and viticulturists we talked to tell us that the vintage was cooler than 2018, delivering wines that are probably less opulent but will have long aging potential. For Aconcagua Valley, 2021 was a great year for wines seeking finesse, purity, and nuance, and these are the words that define Seña this year.

“It is a very elegant and balanced vintage in Aconcagua Valley, and it is a Seña vintage,” said Seña and Viñedo Chadwick winemaker Francisco Baettig. “It was moderately cool, and we had a spring that was slightly warmer than the historical average, which gave perfect conditions to flowering and fruit set, but in summer it was slightly cooler than the historical average with no heat peaks, so we had long, soft ripening conditions, which is great for acidity with moderate alcohol,” he said.

Senior editor Zekun Shuai found 2021 to be one of the purest renditions of Seña, calling it “a creek of red fruit that burbles with poise and elegance.” The tannins show incredible cohesiveness and integration, which are seamless but tense. It is a fine wine that is perfectly balanced and almost effortlessly drinkable now but will quietly unfurl complexity in the next 20 years. It is one of the finest and purest Señas in a very long time.

The 2021 Seña was not the only wine that hit the sweet spot for impeccable balance, and 2021 wasn’t the only vintage that demonstrated such promise. A few 2020s also showed incredibly well. One of the best was the Emiliana Valle de Colchagua Los Robles Estate Gê 2020, a wine that delivered vibrancy and drinkability from a hot and dry vintage.

“It is the first vintage that we did not include cabernet sauvignon at all and the first vintage that we added 1 percent garnacha,” said winemaker Noelia Orts.

The 2020 Emiliana Gê has more vibrancy than usual and an even stronger Mediterranean character, given its blend of 50 percent syrah, 42 percent carmenere, 7 percent malbec and the touch of garnacha. There is a little less concentration but more brightness, purity and freshness.

It's also worth mentioning that Emiliana is now reviving the long-forgotten brand Maycas del Limarí, and has produced an exceptional pinot from the 2021 vintage. The Maycas del Limarí Pinot Noir Valle de Limarí 2021 is a slightly austere but savory expression, showing an attractive, crystalized minerality to the nose and palate.

A few consistent producers from Colchagua and Cachapoal can be found at the top of the ratings in this report, such as Montes and VIK, who delivered some rich and opulent reds. Viña Koyle also showed commitment with their carmeneres and Mediterranean expressions, with most of their offerings coming with a fine austere edge with impressive purity and precision. Viu Manent has fine-tuned their Viu Manent Valle de Colchagua 1, and the 2020 and 2021 are showing much more malbec expressiveness and transparency.

The Neyen Malbec Valle de Colchagua Espíritu de Apalta Limited Edition 2021 is another great and unique malbec, coming with low pH and bright acidity. Finally, P.S. Garcia delivered a great petit verdot from 2020 – “a tamed beast,” according to Zekun, and probably one of the best petit verdots ever from Chile, if not the world. 

READ MORE TOP 100 WINES OF CHILE 2022

ONE OF A KIND FROM COTE DE BROUILLY

In Europe, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott made further progress tasting through a small mountain of Beaujolais samples at his home near Frankfurt, and he made an important discovery.

“I had never heard of Domaine Dupre Guyon before I was knocked out by the five samples they sent us,” he said. “Each one impressed, and the Domaine Dupré Guyon Côte de Brouilly La Rose de Brouilly 2017 was the richest and most sensual red I’ve ever tasted from this appellation. I didn’t know that kind of wine was possible in Cote de Brouilly!"

Dry white Beaujolais from the chardonnay grape is mostly made in tank, the result being crisp and bright, but often a bit simple. “The Domaine Dupré Guyon Beaujolais Villages Blanc Le Clos des Mûriers 2021 also didn’t get the full oak treatment, but had a wonderful elegance and complexity,” Stuart said.

He also grabbed the opportunity to catch up on the 2021 vintage at one of the largest and oldest producers in the Franken (sometimes called Franconia) region of Germany, Burgerspital, a charitable foundation founded more than seven centuries ago in 1316.

“Exceptionally for Germany, the 2021 wines from Burgerspital are more exciting than their wines from the 2020 vintage. None more so than the two dry GGs – the Bürgerspital Silvaner Franken Würzburger Stein-Harfe GG 2021, which has a great Burgundian-type richness, and the super-elegant and super-mineral Bürgerspital Riesling Franken Würburger Stein-Berg GG 2021.”

Of course, the strength of these wines begs the question, how did they do it? Robert Haller, the estate director of Burgerspital, replied, “We never did as much traubenhalbierung as in 2021, and it really paid off!"

"Traubenhalbierung," or the halving of grape clusters, is a special form of green harvesting used in Germany. Before veraison, the lower third to half of each cluster is cut off. "When you get the timing right and it’s done professionally, this makes the rest of the cluster stretch, resulting in a looser cluster that’s less prone to rot," Stuart explained. "That means you can let the clusters hang longer and still harvest clean grapes, which was the key to top quality in 2021."

Finally, Associate Editor Andrii Stetsiuk said the highlight of his tasting week in Hong Kong was from a heritage winery in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. Seppeltsfield is renowned for its Centennial Collection, which consists of an unmatched and continuous line of tawny wines, spanning every vintage from 1878 to the present day. As the sole winery in the world to offer a 100-year-old, single-vintage wine annually, the estate holds a unique position in the industry.

Andrii had a Zoom tasting with Seppeltsfield’s chief winemaker, Fiona Donald, and marketing head, Lauren Mudge, of their just-released Vintage Tawny South Australia Para 100 Year Old 1923 and found it to be a unique, deep amber-colored, essence-like tawny that generously enriches your palate with dark chocolate, crushed walnuts and delicate dried fruit undertones. Check out the interview, below, and try to find a bottle of this aged beauty while they’re still available.

– James Suckling, Editor/Chairman; Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor; Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor; Andrii Stetsiuk, Associate 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.