Pushing the Limits in Napa, Plus a Turning Point in Valtellina: Weekly Tasting Report

A nearly perfect-scoring bottle from Keplinger Wines in Napa Valley heads this week’s tasting report of 453 offerings, 319 of which are from California, with the rest from Italy. Of the California wines tasted, 76 scored 95 points or higher – with most of these from Napa's cool, restrained and highly regarded 2023 vintage.

Helen Keplinger is known in Napa for her precision and light touch, producing wines of poise, elegance and charm. This is exactly what she achieved from the grand cru-level site Vine Hill Ranch vineyard in the 2023 vintage. Her Keplinger Napa Valley Oakville Vine Hill Ranch 2023 is magnificent, showing a reductive edge, a tense and nervy palate as well as striking minerality that lends focus and purity. Firmly integrated tannins balance the textured mouthfeel and long finish. This is an excellent example of a 2023 cabernet sauvignon at its very best from a truly remarkable vintage that will age for decades to come.

But it’s not just cabernet sauvignon that stands out among the California wines. There are also several interesting and well-balanced offerings made under the direction of consulting winemaker Toni Biagi. Biagi has pushed the limits and reimagined two well-defined California varieties that can sometimes struggle to find their true identity in Napa – zinfandel and chardonnay. The results are both compelling and attractively priced.

The Mabon Zinfandel Napa Valley Rutherford Heritage Blend 2023 (96 points) is one such wine. It may reshape the way many think about zinfandel. Bright red and black fruits, spice, dried herbs, flowers, raspberry and licorice fill the nose, while the palate is full-bodied with bright acidity and tense, nervy tannins that bring freshness and energy.

For Staff writer and Critic Ryan Montgomery, the standout wine from the hands of Biagi was the Mabon Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Hyde Vineyard 2023 (98). Sourced from the famed Hyde Vineyard, it reflects the modern, reductive style of chardonnay while remaining true to the site. Aromas of minerals, preserved lemons, wet stones, salted nuts, gun smoke, beeswax and grapefruit rind lead into a tightly wound palate with a textural, rounded mouthfeel and a long line of acidity. A saline, mineral finish completes a wine that will appeal to lovers of both Napa chardonnay and great white Burgundy.

Also from Carneros is an exciting new producer, Sphaerics, a passion project from the husband-and-wife team of Brian Ball and Laura Jones. Both previously managed the Skipstone winery gether in Sonoma, and they bring extensive wine experience to their new project. Ball oversees the business and distribution, while Jones crafts the wines while still also being the head winemaker for Skipstone. She honed her craft at Aubert Wines and Domaine Armand Rousseau in Burgundy.

While their Sonoma wines featured heavily in last week’s report, it is the Carneros bottling that stands out here, particularly for its value. The Sphaerics Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Overline 2024 (96) is seductive and precise, with a taut palate, a long line of acidity and generous texture. A mineral-edged finish gives the wine a distinctly old-world feel. At $65, it significantly overdelivers, offering a Burgundy-inspired style built on precision, focus and balance.

There are lots of other great Napa offerings to check out in the notes below, including from Kerr Cellars, Kinsman Eades, Pahlmeyer, Hourglass, Annulus and more. Many of these are cabernet sauvignons, but cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc and the previously mentioned chardonnay and zinfandel also feature.

Valtellina's New Direction

Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli was on a tasting journey in the Valtellina wine region of Italy, which he said may be approaching a turning point as expectations are increasingly focused on new technologies – particularly the potential use of drones to “water” the vineyards, as locals say when referring to the application and monitoring of vineyard treatments.

The dry-stone terraces of this valley, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape in the far north of Lombardy, are remarkably steep, with gradients that almost always reach double digits. Their beauty is no less striking than that of Porto or the Mosel, yet here the backdrop is provided by the Alps.

Valtellina’s defining characteristic is that it is a closed valley running west to east, warmer near Lake Como and cooler toward the eastern end. Yet vineyard climate must also be understood through altitude, according to a double gradient: west to east and from the valley floor upward.

“A 200-meter elevation difference here is not the same as in the Langhe - it creates enormous variations” Danilo Drocco, the technical director at Nino Negri, explained to Aldo. Rosemary and lavender grow among the vines, and annual rainfall averages around 800 millimeters (compared with roughly 700 millimeters in the Chianti Classico region).

Marco Fay, of the Sandro Fay winery, argues that while this is certainly heroic viticulture, “we are not pandas – ours is also sustainable viticulture.” The evidence can be found in wines that continue to improve year after year, beginning with Valtellina Superiore bottlings – and not only with Sforzato wines, which remain the region’s more ambitious expressions.

This more transparent expression of nebbiolo, with “tannins that ripen before sugars because these rocky terraces do not synthesize large amounts of them” as a study by the Universities of Milan and Turin has suggested, is a gem of balance and complexity even in its youth, without sacrificing aging potential. But it remains difficult to draw definitive distinctions among the Valtellina Superiore subzones, although Valgella often shines for its elegance and Sassella tends to offer creamy and graceful tannins, while Inferno and Grumello frequently deliver the most powerful, rich and rugged expressions.

Among the standout tastings during Aldo’s tastings were two riservas. On one side was the Arpepe Valtellina Superiore Buon Consiglio Riserva 2018 (96), a wine distinguished by its record-setting 130 days of maceration, with stunning sweet violet and rose bud aromas allied to blood orange, stony minerality and wild strawberry.

On the other side was the Balgera Valtellina Superiore Riserva del Fondatore 2010 (98), a fully mineral wine with filigreed aromas of crushed stones, licorice, tar, extremely fresh prunes and depth of dark wild fruits. This is a full-bodied, firm, extracted and large wine, with an endless aftertaste of graphite minerality.

The Nino Negri Sforzato di Valtellina Sfurzat (95) was the leading wine of its category with the 2022 vintage – a spicy and fresh offering with milk chocolate, vibrant strawberries, red cherries, tar and violet candy. It’s also full-bodied and shows firm, austere tannins, crisp acidity and velvety depth.

Among the region’s younger and most dynamic estates, Tenuta Scersce deserves special mention for its transparent, contemporary style.

Recent tastings also yielded a few gems from Piedmont. Alongside several classic and outstanding Barbaresco and Barolo wines such as the Ceretto Barolo Brunate 2022 (97), one underdog in particular stood out: the tense and youthful Tenuta Santa Caterina Sorì di Giul 2019 (96). This is a 100 percent, pure freisa wine that is perfumed with aromas of mint, red fruit, beets, balsamic, eucalyptus and cream. It has a medium to full body and is crunchy with firm and angular tannins, crisp acidity and a bony yet balanced structure.

– Ryan Montgomery and Aldo Fiordelli contributed reporting.

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. 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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