Gaining Clarity in Champagne, and Fine-Tuning Super Tuscans: Weekly Tasting Report (July 5-11)

Our tastings over the past week covered 685 wines from seven countries, with a heavy focus on a few of the major wine-producing countries in the world – Italy, Australia and France. Senior Editor Stuart Pigott was in France with James Suckling and Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt, and he was struck by the enormous stylistic diversity among some of the Champagnes he tasted, especially the single-vineyard offerings of Champagne Marguet in Ambonnay. Benoit Marguet-Bonnerave, the head of the winery, does things differently since he converted his vineyards to biodynamic cultivation back in 2009.

“The difference is not just in the vineyards, but also in the cellar,“ he explained. “For example, we are not afraid of volatile acidity. In fact, I feel a bit of it really adds something."

Volatile acidity is like vinegar and results in a “lifted” nose. If it's too obvious, then it’s definitely a fault. However, a smaller amount of volatile acidity is a key element in some powerful reds from places as diverse as Napa Valley to Chateauneuf du Pape and Amarone della Valpolicella, adding to their aromatic appeal. Its role in white and sparkling wines is rarely discussed, except when it’s a flaw.

This is a daring way of seeing and doing things in this region, where winemakers can be obsessive about clarity. This was certainly no problem with the Marguet Champagne La Grand Ruelle 2018, which is flinty and fragrant with aromas of flint, wild berries, smoke and Malabar black pepper. This pure pinot noir, from vines planted in 1967, has an incredible balance of mineral energy and transparent substance.

But it was difficult to decide whether La Grande Ruelle 2018 or the pure chardonnay Marguet Champagne Ley Beurys 2018 was the more extraordinary wine. The latter is almost blindingly fresh and dangerously chalky, and the super-focused palate features concentrated bergamot and Amalfi lemon character, building to a driving chalky finale.

These are just two examples from a totally distinctive range that should please those looking for minerality and mystery in their Champagnes but who don’t demand stacks of fresh fruity aromas. And fans of old vintage Krug (some of which also had some volatile acidity) will also be delighted.

At the other end of the spectrum was the Deutz Champagne Amour de Deutz Brut Rosé 2013 – proof that rosé prestige cuvee Champagne doesn’t need to be rich and opulent. This rosé masterpiece is brimming with red berry and delicate spicy aromas, but it is sleek, incredibly focused and precise. The touch of saltiness ignites the staggering freshness at the finish. It was the pinnacle of a strong showing from Deutz, which is still better known in France than around Planet Wine.

These are all Champagnes that will need to be hunted down. However, if you are looking for extreme rarity it will be hard to top the Pommery Champagne Les Clos Pompadour Millésime 2004, of which only 2,000 magnums were made from a brand that’s globally distributed. It was the first time Stuart had even seen, let alone tasted, this Champagne from the only substantial vineyard within the city of Reims!

This unique Champagne tastes like a top Chassagne-Montrachet white Burgundy with bubbles. The textural richness and remarkable vitality for almost 20 years of age make it stand out.

Don’t worry that you can’t find the Champagnes from Louis Roederer below. James and the team had an amazing tasting dinner at this famous house with more than a dozen vintages of Cristal. These wines will be given a separate story that will appear in a couple of weeks.

Tasting Manager Kevin Davy was also in France on a tasting mission in Languedoc, where he encountered the Vin de France Les Célis 2021 from Domaine Cassagne et Vitailles in the Terrasses du Larzac area. This new, 1,000-bottle release is made exclusively from old grenache vines from Les Celis vineyard, which is comprised of a moon-like rocky soil type known as ruffe – a very powerful and sometimes unpredictable terroir. In this case, it gave rise to a pure, ethereal, rock-infused wine with a very aromatic and complex nose. The palate is charming, enveloping and velvety, yet it is not lacking in either character or power, and it develops toward an ultra-long finish.

It's a complex exercise to produce such a wine: aerial and subtle yet very aromatically intense with depth and length. This is the signature of a truly great bottle.

We are also busy tasting Italian wines, mostly super Tuscan and Chianti Classico at the moment, in our office near Arezzo. We are discovering many excellent wines despite the hot growing seasons of current releases such as 2020, 2021 and 2022. The latter was particularly hot and parched, just like many other parts of Europe. What James took away from conversations with various winemakers is that the vineyards in many parts of Tuscany are becoming acclimated to the heatwaves during the summer, particularly when the winters and springs are mild. Rain in the spring also helps, especially with soils that retain more moisture such as clay and limestone mixtures.

Many winemakers seem to have fine-tuned their viticulture and winemaking to produce fresher and crunchier wines despite the onslaught of drought, heat and sunshine. The 2021 was slightly cooler, with more rain during the growing season in the summer and harvest time. The top bottles of 2021 have a little more complexity and structure than 2020 and are reminiscent of 2019.

Wines not to miss in this report include those from Petrolo, Inama, Barone Ricasoli, Castello di Ama, Fontodi, Il Borro, Querciabella, Brancaia, Castello di Rampolla, Castello di Bossi and Duemani. Petrolo leads the pack with a new release of their awesome barrel-fermented trebbiano, which is made like a grand cru Burgundy, while Fontodi has a late-released Flaccianello della Pieve from 2019 that’s structured and persistent. Il Borro has a new single-vineyard pure cabernet sauvignon that is vivid and lightly herbal in a real way. And Barone Ricasoli, Brancaia, Castello di Ama and Querciabella all have some fantastic Chianti Classico Gran Seleziones to ponder.

A DECADE OF QUINTET

Mount Mary is possibly the finest producer of Bordeaux blends in Australia, if not the New World. Its style is of understated discretion, with the wines unraveling slowly with time. While the Yarra Valley has come to be known for many things, particularly pinot noir and chardonnay, Mount Mary’s red Quintet and white Triolet remain the region’s apogee of complexity and refinement.

The Quintet is a red, cabernet-dominant Bordeaux blend. The percentage of the blending agents is dependent on the whims of any given vintage. The vineyard is planted to cabernet sauvignon (50 percent), merlot (25 percent), cabernet franc (15 percent), malbec (5 percent) and petit verdot (5 percent). The Triolet comes from a vineyard comprising 75 percent sauvignon blanc, 20 percent semillon and 5 percent muscadelle.

Mount Mary winemaker Sam Middleton arranged a 10-year vertical of Quintet with Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW, which included the yet-to-be released 2021, alongside a couple of bottles of Triolet – the 2021 and 2012, both superb.

“Tasting a bevy of wines such as this, endowed with the complexities of time, is a very different experience than tasting young and embryonic releases, particularly when the wines have such a track record,” Ned said of the vertical. “It is easy to suggest that 2021 is the finest release to date. The vintage was on the cooler side, but long and dutifully warm enough to achieve immaculate physiological ripeness in the grapes.”

Middleton opined that "quality and quantity came together nicely” in the 2021, and indeed, the tannins are ball-bearing precise, taut and sinuous, directing flavors of damson, currant and graphite to scintillating length.

While the wine is compact and distinctly mid-weighted as it has always been, Middleton revealed that he picks the reds later than he once did: “Pick when the green is gone, without flavors ever being super ripe,” he noted.

Ned suggested that if any of the Quintets deserved a rating of 100 in its current state, it would be the legendary 2015. “The nose is one of a beguiling beauty, from mulch, tea leaf and camphor, melding with the ineffable whiff of the nether nether that marks all great wine," Ned said. "To be churlish, the tannins are a little edgy, elucidating the greater refinement of the tannin management today."

Another vintage of significant personality is 2016. According to Middleton, “everything ripened at once, with a super short time between veraison and picking." As a result, the wine “is its own beast,” marked by a Rhone-like aromatic spectrum.

Ned’s favorites: 2021 and 2015, followed by 2018, 2016 and 2012.

- Stuart Pigott, Kevin Davy, James Suckling and Ned Goodwin MW 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.