October 2023 Tasting Report: Germany’s 2022, New Zealand’s Shining Syrahs and Into East Asia

Although our October tastings of 2,017 wines didn’t uncover any perfect-scoring bottles, they did give us the chance to wax lyrical about Germany’s 2022 vintage, which gave us six of our top-rated wines during the month.

It all started with Senior Editor Stuart Pigott’s visit to the Kunstler winery, which produced one of the most exciting ranges of wines Stuart has rated this year. Winemaker Gunter Kunstler’s work in the Marcobrunn vineyard in the Rheingau was on full display for Stuart, and he found the Künstler Riesling Rheingau Marcobrunn GG 2022 to be “an almost perfect giant that stands as tall as a Burgundian grand cru.”

But there were several other standout wines from Kunstler from 2022, despite it being a vintage that was frequently interrupted by rain showers. Stuart said Kunstler “pulled off a miracle” with his Künstler Riesling Rheingau Marcobrunn Auslese 2022 – a rich and succulent wine that smells more like a dry wine with extraordinary purity and precision – and he added to the bounty with some stunning pinot noirs, most notably the Künstler Spätburgunder Rheingau Assmannhausen Höllenberg GG 2020.

Another vineyard site Stuart focused on, the steep Scharlachberg in the Rheinhessen region of Germany, produced a breakthrough in the 2022 vintage for the Riffel winery in the Riffel Riesling Rheinhessen Scharlachberg Trocken 2022, whose “brilliance and gigantic stony minerality … must be tasted to be believed,” Stuart said.

Great things were also possible from Germany’s 2020 vintage, especially with spatburgunders, or pinot noirs, as shown in the enveloping richness of the Friedrich Becker Spätburgunder Pfalz La Belle Vue Monopol 2020, as well as the tantalizing Friedrich Becker Pinot Noir Heydenreich Monopol GG 2020, And Caroline Diel of the Schlossgut Diel winery in the Nahe region gave us her best wine to date, the Schlossgut Diel Pinot Noir Nahe Caroline 2020, with its fine tannins beautifully supporting the surprisingly full-bodied palate.

In neighboring France, Stuart was in the Cote du Lot region, which is most famous for its full-bodied and often quite rustic reds from the Cahors appellation. And yet it produced an excellent dry white from chardonnay in the Domaine Belmont Côtes du Lot Montaigne 2020, which Stuart said was on par with a Chablis premier cru thanks to its forthright, chalky character, positive austerity and a cool elegance. The Domaine Belmont Côtes du Lot Dolmen 2020 is even richer and creamier, Stuart opined, with aromas of fresh honeycomb and melted butter and lots of licorice, pear and hazelnut.

And Stuart found some great whites in Alsace, too, notably the Domaine Marcel Deiss Alsace Grand Cru Schlossberg 2020, which he called “a truly spectacular wine that should delight anyone who loves mineral dry whites or rieslings. And from the same producer came the no less amazing Domaine Marcel Deiss Alsace Grand cru Altenberg Bergheim 2019, which is “just beginning to reveal its profundity at the incredibly complex finish.”

Finally, from the Loire Valley came the “profoundly mineral” Domaine FL Savennières Chamboureau 2020, which Stuart called “breathtakingly precise and pure at the almost endless finish.”

NEW ZEALAND'S BORDEAUX TURN

James made a quick tasting trip to New Zealand during the month, where he found lots of excellent bottles outside the country’s plentiful pinot noir and chardonnay bottlings ­– namely a bevy of Bordeaux blends and syrahs. Tops among them were reds from Destiny Bay and Stonyridge, which James called “dead ringers for Bordeaux wines of yesteryear” except better crafted.

And two of the top syrahs he encountered in New Zealand were from Trinity Hill in Hawkes Bay – the 2020 Homage and 2021 Gimblett Gravels, which he said both showed sophistication and reserve that past vintages may have slightly lacked.

Staying in the southern hemisphere, Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt and Tasting Manager Kevin Davy found a few standout wines in the Swartland region north of Cape Town, where astoundingly fresh and concentrated old-vine chenin blanc came from the likes of David & Nadia, Sadie Family Wines, Mullineux and A.A. Badenhorst.

READ MORE NEW ZEALAND ANNUAL REPORT: CRAFTING ITS OWN WINE WORLD

Right at the top of the list was Sadie Family Wines’ new cuvee, the 2022 Rotsbank, from bush vines planted in 1987, but a few of their white blends, including the 2022 Skerpioen, which is made from co-fermented chenin blanc and palomino, and the 2021 Palladius, a wild blend of 35 percent chenin blanc with equal parts of 11 other white varieties, were equally exciting in “a wonderfully fresh and intense” way.

Meanwhile, David & Nadia’s 2022 Skaliekap shows vivid aromas of citrus and wild herbs and a fantastic tension and acid structure, while their 2022 Platbos, Hoë-Steen and Ronderlei single-vineyard chenin blancs also impressed, along with their 2022 grenache.

From Bruwer Raats in Polkadraai Hills ward of Stellenbosch came another cool chenin blanc, the Raats Chenin Blanc Polkadraai Hills Eden High Density Single Vineyard 2022, and he also made a great cabernet franc – the tiny-production Raats Cabernet Franc Stellenbosch Eden High Density Single Vineyard 2021, which is “firm precise and well-framed,” according to Claire.

And the Porseleinberg winery made one of the best syrahs we have ever tasted from the country with its 2021 bottling. Claire called it “a flavor explosion on the palate, from black fruit to grilled herbs, peppercorns and iron, packaged in a firm structure and made with 100 percent whole-bunch syrah picked at leisure from a cool vintage.”

READ MORE SOUTH AFRICA ANNUAL REPORT: FINDING BEAUTY IN THE EXTREMES

INTO EAST ASIA

Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW was tasting away in Japan during the month, where he encountered Takahiko Soga, the 51-year-old founder of the eponymous Domaine Takahiko in Hokkaido, who aims to make softer wines that pair wonderfully with the local cuisine.

Takahiko’s winery, founded in 2010 in Yoichi, just west of Sapporo, is mostly to pinot noir, with some Zweigelt, and the volcanic, alluvial and fecund soil found there provides the soft water that Soga prizes, although it’s also a hothouse for botrytis. But Takahiko uses the latter to his advantage, as he did with his Takahiko’s Blanc de Noir 2020, which is crafted from 100 percent botrytized fruit and “is superb,” according to Ned.

And Ned found a “starkly different idiom of wines from Hokkaido,” at least in terms of purity of fruit, alpine aura and scintillating length, that included the Nikki Hills Winery Kerner Hokkaido Hatsuyuki 2022.

Ned uncovered some amazingly structured wines in Matsumoto, at the foothills of the Japanese Alps in Nagano prefecture. Delicious examples of merlot, quality cabernet and zweigelt. Included the Villa d’Est Merlot Nagana Tazawa 2018 – “a dead ringer for a luncheon claret and ready to drink in large drafts with a gentle chill” – and the Goichi Wine Merlot Nagano Hayashi Winery 2020, which is a bit plumper and more complex.

And in neighboring Yamanashi prefecture, Japan’s largest wine-producing region, the  neutral variety koshu is used “as a template for a more diverse table,” with its textural detail and aroma coming either via lees handling as with muscadet, or via extended maceration, to deliver scents of ginger and spice, placated by koshu’s inherently chewy texture.

The Aruga Branca Yamanashi Clareza Sur Lie Distincta Mente 2022 is an example of deft lees work, while the MGVS Koshu Yamanashi K2 2020 and Seven Cedars Winery Koshu Yamanashi Barrel Fermented 2022 are richer, “replete with a lick of oak to evince just the right amount of authority.” Perhaps most exciting, Ned said, is the 98 Wines Yamanashi Nogi White 2020 and its pear drop, gingerbread and freshly lain tatami riffs.

READ MORE JAPAN ANNUAL REPORT: NURTURING AN IDENTITY, ONE WINE AT A TIME

Finally, Senior Editor Zekun Shuai began his annual tasting of Chinese wines in Ningxia, where cabernet sauvignon continues to reign supreme, with the Kanaan Winery Ningxia Crazy Fang 迦南美地魔方红葡萄酒 2021 and Silver Heights Ningxa Emma’s Reserve 爱玛私家收藏红葡萄酒 2020 exemplifying how the variety continues to excel in the country.

And after years of biodynamic viticulture and winemaking, Silver Heights, one of the leading producers in Ningxia’s Helan Mountain East Foothill region, recently received its demeter certification – the first to do so in China. Owner and head winemaker Emma Gao showcased her visionary winemaking with her excellent pinot noir, Jiayuan, from the cloudy, whole-cluster-fermented 2019 version to the bright, limpid, whole-berry-fermented 2022.

Zekun also took a trip to Shandong Peninsula for the unveiling of the highly anticipated 2021 vintage of Domaine Long Dai, a winery in Yantai Penglai’s Qiu Shan Valley under the ownership of Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite. There, the CEO of DBR Lafite, Saskia de Rothschild, and Long Dai’s winemaking team introduced the 2021 Long Dai, which Zekun called “a velvety expression of the vintage, highlighted by the highest percentage of marselan so far.”

– Vince Morkri, Managing Editor

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