Finessing Alsace’s 2023, Purity from Adelaide Hills and a New Voice in Italy: Weekly Tasting Report

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott was in Alsace, France, over the past week to get a first taste of the best wines of the 2023 vintage there. One of the first things that struck him was not only the very high quality of the dry whites, but that the best of them had a finesse and purity that was rare only a decade ago.

No wine embodied this more than the perfect Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Hengst 2023. How could a dry riesling be more refined, concentrated and precise than this giant of subtlety, Stuart wondered.

And there was an embarrassment of riches among the 2023s from brother and sister team Maxime and Sophie Barmes. Anyone who thinks Alsace wines are too heavy (a quite common prejudice) should taste the Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Alsace Clos Sand 2023, which has under 12 percent alcohol but comes with an incredible density of Amalfi lemon flavor, plus great smoky lees character and wet-stone minerality.

Their Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewürztraminer Alsace Grand Cru Hengst 2023, meanwhile, marries enormous concentration and structure with a dynamic freshness. Stuart had never before encountered such a unique combination of aromas of strawberry, raspberry, roses and acacia blossoms, and the wine’s super-focused finish is light years removed from what you would expect!

Then there is the Domaine Barmes-Buecher Pinot Noir Alsace Grand Cru Hengst 2023, which is astonishingly, dense, compact and tightly wound with seemingly a supernatural depth of wild blackberry, bitter chocolate, blood orange and blood aromas.

Another pinot noir that blew Stuart’s mind was the one tasted just down at road at Domaine Albert Mann, the established leader of the Alsace pinot noir pack. The Albert Mann Pinot Noir Alsace Les Saintes Clairs 2023 is seductively silky yet has an incredible chalky intensity that takes your breath away.

Stuart thinks that 2023 is the best-ever vintage for dry whites for the Barthelme family and their team at Albert Mann. For Stuart, the star is the Albert Mann Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Schlossberg 2023, a giant of granitic minerality that is simultaneously very compact and very graceful. It is packed with Amalfi lemon and lemon blossom aromas, the wet-stone character expanding dramatically at the finish.

Also made from riesling primarily from the Schlossberg Grand Cru site (although these things don’t appear on the label) is the very limited production Albert Mann Alsace L’Epicentre 2023. It tastes like an essence of white peaches, but it is the purity of this perfect dessert wine that left Stuart speechless.

And at Domaine Weinbach, Stuart encountered the overwhelming beauty of the Domaine Weinbach Gewürztraminer Alsace Grand Cru Furstentum Sélection des Grains Nobles 2022. Passion fruit and mangosteen flavors don’t get more intense than this, but the aromas of yuzu, shiso and dried mint miraculously lift the wine. The final impression of this very limited-production dessert wine is of unbelievable freshness.

This producer is most famous for dry rieslings from the Schlossberg Grand Cru, and the Domaine Weinbach Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Schlossberg Ste. Catherine 2023 continues an extraordinary run during the last vintages. It seems to vibrate fundamentally, and the interplay of lightness and delicacy with darkness and depth must be tasted to be believed.

These are just two examples from an incredible range of 2023 whites and 2022 reds that is packed with other highlights. Scroll down to find the others.

Adelaide Hills Purity

The Adelaide Hills shiraz and chardonnay from the 2023 vintage that Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery tasted over the past week were striking for their purity and precision, despite the cool, wet weather of that year.

Ryan started in the lesser-known Mt Torrens, a slightly lower and warmer part of the appellation, where he tasted the Michael Hall Shiraz Adelaide Hills Mount Torrens 2023. Ryan has been tasting Hall’s wines since his premier vintage in 2007 and was taken aback when tasting this 2023 release. Typically, this vineyard struggles in even the best vintages, but it flourished in the wet and cool year.

Hall stated that it’s “his best bottling from this vineyard so far,” and Ryan noted that it was among the finest shiraz wines to come out of the region. It’s a seamlessly constructed offering with finely tuned tannins and a plush, midweight mouthfeel that provides great power while remaining refined and polished – in other words, a syrah that will age well for decades.

Ryan also visited Shaw + Smith, where he tasted the Shaw + Smith Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Lenswood Vineyard 2023 with CEO David Le Mire. The founders of Shaw + Smith – Michael Hill Smith (Australia’s first Master of Wine) and enologist Martin Shaw – focus on Adelaide Hills chardonnay, shiraz and sauvignon blanc, with their chardonnay being one of Australia's benchmarks for the variety.

The newest release of the Lenswood Vineyard is mineral-edged and steely, with a highly strung palate, precise acidity and an energetic mouthfeel that leads to a medium-bodied experience with brooding power that will resolve with time in the bottle.

A New Voice in Italy

Finding something genuinely new in classic Italian wine regions like Langhe and Monferrato isn’t easy. These are lands steeped in tradition, where history clings to every hillside and cellar. And yet, even the most conservative corners of Italian wine are not immune to renewal. Whether through the quiet revolution of a new generation or the rediscovery of ancient practices, a fresh current is flowing through Piedmont.

A telling example is Bovio, a winery nestled in the village of La Morra. Once known more for its hospitality and on-site restaurant than its wines, Bovio has, in recent years, emerged as a name worth watching closely – especially for those drawn to finesse in nebbiolo.

The wines’ hallmark is their tannic elegance – fine-grained and architectural. Much of this can be credited to the family’s holdings in some of Barolo’s most esteemed Menzioni Geografiche Aggiuntive (or MGAs, which highlight wines from specific regions in Piedmont with unique characteristics): Gattera, Annunziata, Parussi, Arborina and Rocchettevino. But some credit must go to Matteo Franchi, the young winemaker who joined the estate in 2015.

This year marks another milestone: Bovio’s first-ever Barbaresco, made possible thanks to Franchi, who also runs his own project, Bricco Ciarla, in the Barbaresco area. Still, the wine that truly stands out for Bovio is their Barolo Gattera Riserva 2019.

There is an amazing depth in this wine – dark and saturated with notes of black cherries and blood oranges, coffee grounds, wild strawberries and red currants. Full-bodied and unapologetically powerful, it shows the strength of dusty yet ripe tannins, anchored by crisp acidity. It’s austere yet polished and should hit its stride in 2029.

From the heart of Piedmont, another wine deserves closer attention: Monferace. Not a formal appellation, Monferace is a collective effort to revive a historic expression of grignolino, a grape variety often dismissed as rustic, light and meant for early drinking.

Grignolino, nebbiolo’s rough-around-the-edges cousin, is known for its spicy, low-alcohol profile, and it rarely sees the inside of a cellar for long. But Monferace is different. Here, grignolino is aged for at least 30 months in wood, aiming to recapture a lost tradition – and the results, especially as warming vintages bring fuller tannin ripeness, are quietly thrilling.

The Tenuta Santa Caterina Grignolino D'Asti Monferace 2020 is one to seek out. Complex and focused on evolution, with matured blood oranges, yellow stone fruits, smashed roses and a core of red berries, it delivers energy through firm and dusty yet ripe tannins wrapped in orange zest. The finish is vibrant, super long and precise.

Argentine High

Finally, Senior Editor Jacobo García Andrade recently visited Quebrada de Humahuaca in Jujuy, Argentina’s northernmost winegrowing region. Roughly 260 kilometers from the Bolivian border and 1,360 kilometers from Mendoza, it’s among the most remote corners of Argentina’s wine map.

Driving from the provincial capital, the landscape transforms dramatically – from sugarcane fields and subtropical rainforest to the arid, jagged mountains of Purmamarca, painted in surreal colors.

Viticulture is relatively new here, with most projects under a decade old. One standout is El Bayeh, a small winery founded by Daniel Manzur with the help of winemaker Matías Michelini. It focuses on local criolla varieties – mostly mission and related crosses – grown in tiny, traditional centenary vineyards scattered across the region. Their El Bayeh Criolla Quebrada de Humahuaca Criolla de la Quebrada 2024 is a pale, ethereal red with striking freshness and character.

From an even more elevated vineyard, at 2,700 meters, comes the Huichaira Jujuy Cielo Arriba 2022. It’s a cofermented blend of syrah, malbec and cabernet franc made by Alejandro Sejanovich and the Nieva family at Huichaira Vineyards. It’s vibrant, textured, profound and a clear example of the potential of high-altitude reds.

Bodega Kindgard, run by Diana “La Tana” Bellincion, also deserves mention for its Bodega Kindgard Quebrada de Humahuaca Purma 2022, which is further proof that Quebrada de Humahuaca is emerging as one of Argentina’s most distinctive new wine frontiers.

– Stuart Pigott, Ryan Montgomery, Aldo Fiordelli and Jacob García Andrade contributed reporting.

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.