Making Light of Napa’s 2022 Heat, an Alsatian Celebration and Sweetly Spanish: Weekly Tasting Report (Nov 13-19)

The 2022 California reds are coming out in full force now, mostly calming concerns that it would be a cooked or otherwise lesser year because of the historic, extreme heat event around harvest time in most regions.

This week’s report reinforces the view that many delicious, effusive wines were made and that the vintage offers pleasure in spades. The Arrow & Branch winery in Napa Valley makes an especially convincing case for the high-quality potential of 2022 Bordeaux-style reds.

Executive Editor Jim Gordon tasted with Arrow & Branch owner Steve Contursi and master winemaker Jennifer Williams at their new, expansive winery just north of the city of Napa. All of their reds were among the highest-scoring California wines for this week, topped by the stunning Arrow & Branch Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard 2022, and trailed closely by three others.

Williams said her team dealt with the crippling weather, with several days at or over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius), by cutting off any shriveled grape clusters in the vineyard, removing other nasty looking grapes on a sorting table at the winery and then declassifying some lots of young wine before making the final blends.

“These were climate conditions that the vines had never seen, ever,” she said, laughing at the enormity of it. She said the air was bone dry with almost no humidity, which increased the shriveling that degrades wine quality. But, she added, "the good growers got the fruit off the vine as soon as we needed it.”

Jim also reviewed the Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley St. Helena Estate 2022, an icon for elegance in a classic Napa style, and remarked on its pretty fruit and a rather soft texture. It’s not overly full-bodied, so it's a vintage that's drinkable young.

Check out the tasting notes for Cliff Lede’s impressive 2022 Napa reds as well. The Yountville winery’s Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Stags Leap District Poetry 2022 is a real highlight, showing great density, length and age-worthiness.

Jean Charles Boisset’s broad portfolio of Napa and Sonoma wines are also extensively covered in the tasting notes, led by Raymond Vineyard's cabernet sauvignons, which range from silky and almost sweet to powerful and structured. DeLoach wines are from the same Boisset group, showing multiple high-scoring chardonnays, pinot noirs and others.

AN ALSATIAN CELEBRATION

When Senior Editor Stuart Pigott traveled to Alsace, France, for the centenary celebration of Trimbach’s dry riesling Clos Ste. Hune, about which a separate report will appear shortly, he also visited a number of the region’s other top producers. The standout wines were two dry rieslings that show how Clos Ste. Hune has become a role model for the white wines of the region over the past few decades.

One of these wines, the Famille Hugel Riesling Alsace Schoelhammer Vendange Tardive 2015, is a bottling from a single parcel. Normally the Schoelhammer is a bone-dry wine, but in this exceptionally ripe vintage it is in the no man’s land between dry and off-dry. However, it handles this unusual balance spectacularly well. Drinking it is like descending into an expansive landscape of yellow fruit, dried herbs and spices. Somehow this monumental wine is also graceful. This extraordinary forthcoming release is an exception to the rule of bone dryness for the Schoelhammer, and also of the best vintages since the first release in 2008.

No less amazing is the Domaine Valentin Zusslin Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Pfingtsberg 2019, a giant of minerality that’s just beginning to awaken. The aromas of chamomile and wild herbs, licorice and anise are extremely complex. Best of all, there’s an incredible freshness for this vintage, and this helps create the rare combination of dynamism and delicacy.

The brother and sister team of Jean-Paul and Marie Zusslin also have been making great pinot noir reds for some years, so the greatness of the Domaine Valentin Zusslin Pinot Noir Alsace Bollenberg Luft 2019 was not surprising to Stuart. Anyone who thinks that Alsace pinot noir is a pale-colored and light-bodied red wine is in for a big shock, because this is extremely powerful and concentrated, with rooty, wet-earth and forest-berry complexity. Time has polished the huge tannin structure, and although this could age for a couple decades it’s already approachable.

Muré is another producer with a long-term commitment to making great pinot noirs, and the combination of the excellent 2022 vintage and a change in winemaking (using some whole clusters) has resulted in the haunting beauty of the Muré Pinot Noir Alsace Vorbourg Clos Saint Landelin 2022. The enveloping richness masks the imposing tannins, and the great red fruit plus dry forest floor aromas complete the compelling package. This and the other excellent 2022 pinot noirs from More are also the work of a brother and sister team, Thomas and Veronique Muré.

Melanie Pfister is one of the most daring winemakers in Alsace and until recently it was with her cool climate dry rieslings that she attracted the most attention, but after having worked at Château Cheval Blanc in St. Emilion, it’s hardly surprising that she should have serious red wine ambitions. The Mélanie Pfister Pinot Noir Alsace Rahn 2022 is not from a grand cru site (of which there are currently only three for pinot noir in the region), but it is an astonishing wine nonetheless. It has a sensational balance of superfine tannins, great concentration and an extraordinary freshness. That makes it feel lighter in body than it really is, but it’s this vitality that makes it stand out compared with the warmer, richer pinot noirs from producers like Albert Mann and those mentioned above.

That difference is all about terroir. Where Melanie Pfister is based in Dahlenheim, a short drive west of Strasbourg, it is significantly cooler than in the central section of the region. This confirms how far and fast Alsace pinot noir has come during the last five years. There are now just shy of 2,000 hectares of pinot noir in the region.

SWEET WINES FROM THE MOUNTAINS

Senior editor Jacobo García Andrade was in Spain over the past week, where he tasted  the offerings of Telmo Rodriguez’s Molino Real Mountain Wines project, which he runs under the aegis of his Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez with Pablo Eguzkiza in the Sierras de Malaga wine region of southern Spain.

The mosctatel-based sweet wines they make are crafted in the mountainous and remote region of Axarquia. The vineyards are located on rugged, rocky slate hills with inclinations exceeding 50 percent. They are rife with old, gnarled head-trained vines.

The wines are produced using a local clone of muscatel, with the grapes laid out on mats in the sun and sun-dried for about 15 days before being pressed in vertical olive oil presses and placed in barrels to ferment without any debourbage (separating out the juice from the solid particles).

The Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez Malaga Molino Real 2020 is sweet yet tender, featuring an enveloping satiny texture that remains well-defined and delineated. All the Molino Real wines are exceptionally crafted and balanced, with a tender, seductive sweetness perfectly countered by luminous acidity.

The elusive Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez Malaga Old Mountain 2012, of which only a single barrel is produced each year, is much more intriguing aromatically, showcasing subtle oxidation aromas alongside honey and the wild floral character of moscatel. Its concentration – both in density and acidity – is thought-provoking in terms of length and energy.

Jacobo also ventured about 600 kilometers to the north of Malaga to visit Domaine Dexaïe, a new venture located in Navarrevisca de Gredos, in Avila province. The winery is run by the couple Carmen de la Pascua and Emmanuel Campana, who have been working to revive old, terraced vineyards in a lieu-dit known as La Camilleja.

Amid towering granite rocks, holm oaks, oak trees and the occasional fig, they manage 10 hectares of vineyards, of which three consist of old vines planted around 1935. The entire vineyard is head-trained and features a massal selection they have cultivated themselves.

The various parcels are planted at altitudes ranging from 1,090 to 1,135 meters, with east and northeast orientations. The vineyard sits on a blend of granite soils and lime in a micro-valley that is influenced by northern winds that moderates temperatures. This unique climatic setting contributes to the production of crystalline, austere garnachas that evoke a sense of energetic austerity, beautifully enhanced by floral aromatics that render them irresistible.

The first two vintages produced are both outstanding, with the Domaine Dexaïe Cebreros Rex La Camilleja 2021 showing more austerity and mystery and exhibiting a strict and sculptural profile that promises to age gracefully over time. In contrast, the 2022 is more accessible and seductive, displaying floral notes and a more open character. These wines are delicate yet highly expressive, with compelling structures that are sure to leave a lasting impression.

CHILLING IN THE ADELAIDE HILLS

The Adelaide Hills wine region, sitting just 20 minutes northeast of Adelaide, is quickly gaining notoriety for its cool-climate wines, especially chardonnay. Sitting at elevations between 400 to 700 meters, it enjoys cooler temperatures and more rainfall than nearby areas like the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery visited the hills recently to taste both the old and new wave of producers.

Michael Hill-Smith MW and Martin Shaw are cousins who recognized the potential of Adelaide Hills from a young age, starting Shaw + Smith in 1989, driven by a vision to craft premium cool-climate wines. Today, working alongside winemakers Adam Wadewitz and David Lemire MW, the estate continues to burnish its reputation worldwide. This success is epitomized by the Shaw + Smith Chardonnay Adelaide Hills M3 2023, which is wonderfully constructed, showing polish with precise acidity and generous mouthfeel, giving notes of fresh pineapple, white peach, lime curd and shortbread biscuit.

One winemaker who honed his craft while working at Shaw + Smith is Michael Hall, who founded his namesake label in 2008. Hall took an unconventional path into winemaking, leaving his career as a jewelry appraiser in London to study oenology and work around the world for famed producers such as Domaine Leflaive and Meo-Camuzet in Burgundy, France, and Australian icons like Giaconda and Cullen, not to mention Shaw + Smith. Michael now applies his deft touch to chardonnays, which are of superb quality. His Michael Hall Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Piccadilly 2022 reflects his talent perfectly with its incredible polish and sophistication, and its medium- to full-bodied palate gives the wine a creamy texture and precise acidity with a mineral edge.

– Jim Gordon, Stuart Pigott, Jacobo García Andrade and Ryan Montgomery 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.

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