New Zealand’s Bordeaux Doppelgangers, Plus Stellenbosch Sophistication: Weekly Tasting Report (Oct 25-31)

Our latest Weekly Tasting Report comprises 445 wines from five countries, with the JamesSuckling.com tasting team variously dispersed around the world, from New Zealand and South Africa in the Southern Hemisphere to Germany and China in the north.

James just returned to Hong Kong from New Zealand after a 10-day tasting trip, and he admits that it’s easy to get fixated at the moment with only pinot noir and chardonnay when you think about the best wines of New Zealand. However, lots of other excellent bottles are out there, which was clearly illustrated in James’ and Associate Editor Johann Kwon’s tastings in Martinborough over the past week.  Four of the top five wines from New Zealand in this report are either Bordeaux blends or syrahs, plus there’s also a heavyweight sweet riesling from one of James’ neighbors in Martinborough.

The Bordeaux blends are a short ferry ride from Auckland on Waiheke Island, which James said reminds him of Newport Beach, California, in the 1970s, except that there are some excellent vineyards instead of beaches and tennis courts. The top reds are from Destiny Bay and Stonyridge, and they are dead ringers for Bordeaux wines of yesteryear, such as from top vintages in the 1990s and 1980s. They are better crafted, though. The two reds in this report from Puriri Hills, about an hour’s drive from Auckland in the appellation of Clevedon, are equally noteworthy.

Meanwhile, Trinity Hill in Hawkes Bay is long known for making exciting syrahs. Two of their top bottlings, the 2020 Homage and 2021 Gimblett Gravels, show a sophistication and reserve that past vintages may have slightly lacked. In fact, James noted last week in his tastings many excellent quality syrahs from a range of appellations with more tension and precision than in the past. Maybe it’s simply the excellence of 2020 and 2021?

Check out all the different varietal wines – and not just from pinot noir or chardonnay –  from New Zealand below including cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, chenin blanc, gamay, merlot, riesling and others. There’s even a fantastic albariño, also from Waiheke Island.

A WEALTH OF SPATBURGUNDER

In Europe, it was Senior Editor Stuart Pigott who was turning toward the home stretch with his work on our Germany Report, and he discovered some very impressive pinot noirs (spatburgunder), that show what great things were possible in the 2020 vintage. This was especially evident in a pair of wines from the Friedrich Becker winery at the southern tip of the Pfalz region. In fact, they both come from the French side of the border, which is just a couple of hundred meters from the cellar.

Stuart couldn’t decide if he prefers the enveloping richness of the Friedrich Becker Spätburgunder Pfalz La Belle Vue Monopol 2020, which begins so delicately and then builds to an extraordinary climax at the finish, or the enormous fine tannins of the Friedrich Becker Pinot Noir Heydenreich Monopol GG 2020, with its tantalizing aromas of heather and roses alongside earthy, meaty and smoky notes.

He was also very impressed by winemaker Fritz Becker’s first vineyard-designated chardonnays from the 2019 and 2020 vintages – you can read the tasting notes below for details.

The Nahe region has a cool-climate reputation, and its dry white wines from the riesling grape have always been less generous but more elegant than those from the warmer Pfalz further south. However, Caroline Diel of the Schlossgut Diel winery in the Nahe has quite a reputation for pinot noir. Her Schlossgut Diel Pinot Noir Nahe Caroline 2020 is her best red wine to date, with a brilliant harmony of black and sour cherry aromas with delicate vanilla, the fine tannins beautifully supporting the surprisingly full-bodied palate. There’s a wonderful freshness at the finish, too.

Also look out for her very impressive dry rieslings and her Schlossgut Diel Nahe Cuvée Victor Trocken 2019, with its stunning combination of concentration, textural complexity and classical elegance.

In Germany’s Saale-Unstrut region, Klaus Luttmer’s Winzerei Lüttmer garage winery has just 0.7 hectares of vineyards. Quantities are very small because of the tiny yields, but his reds from the fruhburgunder grape, a mutation of pinot noir, are unique. The Winzerei Lüttmer Frühburgunder Saale-Unstrut Pinot S Handwerk 2022 has very complex aromas of black raspberry, wild blackberry and sour cherry with delicate spicy nuances. It is really velvety on the highly structured, medium-bodied palate.

Stuart finds it difficult to know which of the wines the Aldinger winery close to Stuttgart in the Württemberg region of Germany to single out, because there were stunning dry whites from the chardonnay, riesling and sauvignon blanc grapes, plus an amazing sparkling wine and some terrific reds. Of the latter, the Aldinger Württemberg GJA Aldinger Reserve 2018 really stood out.

This Bordeaux-style blend has stacks of recurrent and blackcurrant fruit, but also notes of moss, bark and savory. Enormous drive is married to very fine tannins and although five years old it is just reaching best drinking form. In total, this was the best group of wines winemaker Matthias Aldinger has shown us to date.

The dry whites from Domaine FL in Savennieres, in France’s Loire valley, are a complete contrast, having a crystalline purity and racy acidity. Stuart first bumped into them two years ago and was amazed to find out that this domaine is based on the vineyards of Chateau de Chamboureau, whose wines he drank back in the mid-1980s when he was a student in London.

The most amazing of the five terrific wines from Domaine FL’s 2020 vintage was the profoundly mineral Domaine FL Savennières Chamboureau 2020, with its cornucopia of floral, citrus and stone fruit aromas. It is breathtakingly precise and pure at the almost endless finish.

STELLENBOSCH SOPHISTICATION

Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt and Tasting Manager Kevin Davy continued their tastings in South Africa over the past week and found a stunning diversity of wines produced from Stellenbosch, where they were based. The top-scoring South African wine this week is the Mvemve Raats Stellenbosch MR de Compostella 2021. It’s a Bordeaux-style blend that takes the best fruit each vintage from across Stellenbosch (including Simonsberg-Stellenbosch, the Helderberg mountain area, and Polkadraai Hlls). From a cool and excellent vintage, it’s seamless and sophisticated, with super-fine tannins and gentle waves of black fruit. It’s a joint-venture production from winemakers Mzokhona Mvemve and Bruwer Raats.

Raats also focuses on chenin blanc and cabernet franc in the cool Polkadraai Hills ward of Stellenbosch under his own Raats Family Wines, and we were equally impressed by his two latest “Eden” wines. The Raats Chenin Blanc Polkadraai Hills Eden High Density Single Vineyard 2022 is a cool, mineral and concentrated chenin blanc made with fruit from high density plantings, uncommon in the Western Cape. The Raats Cabernet Franc Stellenbosch Eden High Density Single Vineyard 2021, meanwhile, is a tiny 560-bottle production: it’s firm, precise and well-framed, a cabernet franc to compete with top chinon or Bourgeuil from the Loire.

We found freshness in chardonnays, too. Three stood out this week. Both the Leeu Passant Chardonnay Stellenbosch 2021 and Uva Mira Chardonnay Stellenbosch The Single Tree 2020 are produced from fruit grown at 400 meters elevation on the Helderberg foothills, nine kilometers from False Bay, where vineyards experience “a more climatic maritime expression,” according to Leeu Passant winemaker Andrea Mullineux. Her 2021 chardonnay is beautifully fresh and saline. Contrast this with the creamy, aromatic and concentrated Uva Mira Single Tree 2020. And check out a fantastic chardonnay made with extended barrel ageing, inspired by oxidatively-handled whites from Rioja: the Leeu Passant Klein Karoo Radicales Libres 2017, released six years from harvest, is long, deliciously nutty and almost oily in texture.

And we have to mention two excellent expressions of pinotage, both from 2020: a warm and relatively smooth vintage with good rain. The Kanonkop Pinotage Simonsberg-Stellenbosch Black Label 2020 is produced from the estate’s oldest pinotage vines (70-year-old bush vines) planted on a warm, north-facing site. It exudes gorgeous aromas, from pine cones and dried herbs to blue and black fruit, with great persistency. L’Avenir Pinotage Stellenbosch Single Block Block 02 2020 is another harmonious offering that envelops you with its spiciness and velvety texture.

Also in Stellenbosch, look out for cabernet sauvignon-led wines from Glenelly, Kanonkop and Le Riche; chenin blanc from Kaapzicht, Scions of Sinai and Stellenrust; and syrah from Savage and Uva Mira. And as a bonus from further west in Constantia, south of Cape Town, we liked the Klein Constantia Sauvignon Blanc Constantia Clara 2022 for its verve and precision.

– James Suckling, Stuart Pigott and Claire Nesbitt 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.