Hints of Beauty in Burgundy’s 2022, Purity from Tuscany and Rediscovering Vernatsch: Weekly Tasting Report (June 19-25)

Executive Editor Jim Gordon and Senior Editor Stuart Pigott have just finished their deep dive into the 2022 vintage in Burgundy, and the good news is that it is a great and abundant vintage. Stuart, for whom 1990 was the first Burgundian vintage that he tasted intensively, concurred with many winemakers who compared 2022 to 1990. What makes both these vintages stand out? Consistent excellence in both the red and white wines from regional appellations to grand crus, from north to south.

Although both Jim and Stuart found a bounty of beautiful wines and a significant number of great wines (95 points or higher) one truly perfect white wine stood out for each. For Jim, that was the Joseph Drouhin Montrachet Grand Cru Marquis de Laguiche 2022, which he described as having layered and complex aromas leading into poached pear, hazelnut and cream flavors on a full-bodied palate, where there is a deft balance, great depth and incredible length.

The comparable wine for Stuart was another Montrachet masterpiece, the Bouchard Père & Fils Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru Domaine 2022, which has astonishing Amalfi lemon, pineapple and wildflower aromas, plus flint and wet stones. On the extremely concentrated palate it has overwhelming minerality, yet it is so precise and finely nuanced. Grand cru wines are often very limited production (which we include in our tasting notes), but this comes from plots on all of the terraces of this legendary grand cru totaling 2.33 hectares (the entire site is 7.47 hectares in size).

Hot on the heels of both these perfect-scoring wines  was another grand cru white Burgundy with global distribution, the Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2022, which has an almost perfect integration of vanilla oak with a wide spectrum of citrus and stone fruit on the very concentrated mid-palate, then a huge wave of chalky minerality at the incredibly long finish.

Louis Latour was also right at the front with a handful of their red grand crus, of which the most extraordinary is the Louis Latour Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru Les Quatre Journeaux 2022, which has a totally fascinating floral beauty and is incredibly silky with breathtaking finesse through the super-long finish.

The Chambertin grand crus can often be massive wines, but for Jim the Louis Jadot Chambertin Grand Cru Close de Bèze 2022 was as balanced and elegant as it was rich, walking the line between generosity and structure. And who could resist the wealth of rose petal, violet and baked cherry aromas that this wine offers? So, one of the many virtues of the 2022 red wines is that they almost always retain excellent balance.

And it wasn’t just the grand cru wines with their hefty price tags that were in the upper echelon of our ratings this week. The Jean-Claude Boisset Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Chaignots 2022 is a wonderful example of an excellent, affordable Burgundy wine, with an incredible complexity of forest berry, summer flower, candied orange and wet earth character. Stuart was staggered by its interplay of richness, super-fine tannins and off-the-scale energy.

One tendency in Burgundy that has become apparent in recent years but has found fuller expression with the 2022 vintage is the way some winemakers actively pursue the ultimate in finesse. The Maison Champy Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Ile des Vergelesses 2022 is an extraordinary example of this, from the top site of an underrated commune. The combination of great red fruit and summer flower aromas with hazelnut puree and wet stone character on the super-silky palate is nearly perfect. This is a career highpoint for winemaker Dimitri Bazas.

Jean-Claude Boisset’s winemaker, Gregory Patriat, is another who frequently pursues this direction, and he has done it in 2022 with the Jean-Claude Boisset Corton Grand Cru Les Renards, although Corton grand cru is an appellation widely associated with big and brawny wines. This one is muscular, but in the way that a marathon runner is, and that taut strength is overlaid by fascinatingly delicate aromas of red berry fruit, smoke, earth and grilled artichoke.

There are so many wonderful wines that can't be mentioned here. Just scroll down to discover this wealth of Burgundian Beauty.

Stuart and Jim each just got back to their respective homes, and there are a quite a few wines that they and the Hong Kong team need to taste before we can publish our annual Burgundy report. It will reveal more about how the 2022 vintage became an unexpected superstar, and tell the story of Stuart's and Jim’s adventures on the long and winding road to Burgundian nirvana.

PURE AND FRESH FROM TUSCANY

The highlight of our Italian wine tastings this week was a cabernet-led blend from Maremma, at the coastal, southern end of Tuscany. Super Tuscan producer Monteverro’s latest edition of its flagship wine, the Monteverro Toscana, is pure, fresh and subtle, with fine and creamy tannins alongside dark-berry and hazelnut flavors. It will be even better on release and with a couple more years in bottle. The Monteverro Chardonnay Toscana 2021 also impressed James when he tasted it, and this is perhaps their best bottling yet, showing more subtlety, freshness and complexity than previous years. Just as exciting is Monteverro’s syrah-grenache blend, the Tinata 2021, which was partially aged in concrete eggs and shows spicy clove and white-pepper undertones to the dark fruit.

Also from Tuscany, two bottlings of sangiovese captured our attention. Podere Poggio Scalette’s Il Carbonaione 2021 is a perfumed, polished expression that has concentrated notes of cedar, blueberries and potpourri, with focus and firmness that will allow it to age nicely. From the Chianti Classico region, Villa Trasqua’s Gran Selezione Nerento 2018 is likewise structured and firm, with richer spice character as well as a stony minerality.

Check out the wines we tasted from Umbria, too, like Tenute Lunelli’s Carapace 2019. Typical of a sagrantino from Montefalco, it’s full-bodied and tannic, but the tannins are well-integrated and polished, making it a more inviting, perfumed rendition. Montefalco sagrantino bottlings from Antonelli, Fattoria Colsanto, Spachetti and Valdangius also shined in our tastings.

Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt also tasted the range of Palmer & Co.’s Champagnes, including a magnum release of their Vintage Collection 1985, disgorged last year after 38 years on the lees. Palmer is one of the few Champagne producers that still uses traditional secondary fermentation in bottle for their large formats, rather than the more popular transfer method, even for jeroboams and larger. This 1985 bottling is part of their late-release Collection line and is delicate and aromatically complex with a surprisingly fresh palate.

Palmer’s Champagne Solera Brut Rosé NV once again impressed. It’s mostly chardonnay with some pinot noir and meunier, blended with a large proportion (45 percent) of reserve wines, as well as eight percent of red wine from a 45-year-old solera system. It’s focused and spicy, displaying salty undertones to the gingerbread, spiced-apple and pink-grapefruit aromas. It’s a serious rosé Champagne and can easily contend with higher-priced vintage rosés.

Also in our Hong Kong office, we tasted one of the most fresh and drinkable PX (Pedro Ximenez) sherry wines we have ever had. Despite its sheer unctuousness, with cough syrup-level sweetness and 15.5 percent alcohol, the Bodegas Toro Albala Montilla-Moriles Don PX Convento Selección 1964 still blows your mind, and it left Senior Editor Zekun Shuai to wonder how a wine with almost 400 grams of residual sugar can go down so easy. You could finish a small glass on its own, Zekun said, or indulge with dark chocolate ice-cream, Arabic dates or a brownie.

REDISCOVERING VERNATSCH

Despite having all the ingredients for a trendy wine – it’s pale in color, fresh, fruity, low in alcohol and also affordable – vernatsch is at risk of extinction in the Alto Adige region, as Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli found out at the recent “Vernatsch Cup” at the Vigilius Mountain Resort in Lana. The event awards prizes to the best vernatsch wines of the previous vintage from the areas where it grows.

This indigenous grape variety ranks last in the region in terms of planted hectares, after more common varieties like pinot noir, chardonnay, gewurztraminer or even lagrein, according to the Bolzano Chamber of Commerce. Even more alarming is the fact that the crop declined by 100 hectares over the past year in Alto Adige and is now down to 467 hectares under vine as grape producers aim for bigger profits by selling other varieties, such as pinot grigio or pinot noir, to local cooperatives.

In Germany, by comparison, vernattsch, or trollinger as it is known there, takes up an estimated 2,000 hectares of vineyards. That’s because it’s still a popular wine in the daily lives of South Tyroleans. But despite its decline in Alto Adige, a new generation of wine lovers seems to be rediscovering its pleasures, and rightly so because it has a distinct personality and a very strong identity.

The St. Magdalener from Cantina Terlan, for example, stood out during the tasting for its blueberry yogurt and violet candy nose alongside a crunchy palate. And the Franz Gojer - Glögglhof St. Magdalener Classico Alto Adige Vigna Rondell 2023 shows an almost pinot-like elegance on both the nose and palate. Untermoserhof - Georg Ramoser's Hub & Leith 2022 shines for its freshness, juicy and vibrant character with rustic tannins and refined finish.

The Nals Margreid Vernatsch Alto Adige Galea 2023, meanwhile, comes with fruit freshness and a tantalizing juniper touch with vibrant tannins, while Ritterhof's Kalteresee 2023 has a beguilingly sweet spice and flowery nose. Cantina Girlan's Alte Reben was one of the best 2022s, showing elegance and a juicy finish even from such an austere vintage.

The best examples of vernatsch have fresh aromas, an often pinot-like elegance, light bodies and juiciness, a hint of spice, silky tannins and a savory if not mineral finish.

– Stuart Pigott, Claire Nesbitt, Zekun Shuai and Aldo Fiordelli 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.