RAEN Magic, Plus Taming Barbaresco’s Difficult 2022: Weekly Tasting Report

Executive Editor Jim Gordon found three perfect wines from his tastings over the past week, all from California’s Sonoma County, although none was a cabernet sauvignon. Rather, a Sonoma Coast chardonnay and pinot noir from RAEN wines, and a beautiful Sonoma County cabernet franc from Vérité, earned the headlines.

Let’s start with two whites made by RAEN co-founder Carlo Mondavi and his winemaker Melanie McIntrye, who sat with Jim at Mondavi’s house in Napa to taste their brilliant range of 2023s. It’s a vintage we’ve been waiting for, given that the long, cool and peaceful growing season seemed perfect for producing the kind of well-balanced, acid-energized wines that California winemakers are now perfecting. And that we love!

The RAEN Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Lady Marjorie 2023 is named for Mondavi’s grandmother, whose husband was California winemaking icon Robert Mondavi. The Lady Marjorie wine is striking for its stony, floral aromas that lead to fresh and ripe fruit flavors backed by racy acidity. It offers pear, citrus and white flower flavors, lifted by the acidity but also creamy and lingering on the finish.

As far as whites go, the Lady Marjorie was only surpassed by the perfect-scoring RAEN Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Fort Ross-Seaview Charles Ranch 2023. This elegant, vivid, technically light-bodied wine at just 12.5 percent alcohol bursts with energy while layering enticing creme brulee, lemon curd and kiwi flavors on a wonderfully creamy texture.

Two pinot noirs from RAEN were equally eye-opening, concentrated and electric. Both were fermented, unusually for California, with 100 percent whole clusters included. “The magic that the stems do,” Mondavi said, “is to add a tiny bit of potassium to the wine.” Besides adding complex savory flavors, the stems can help a wine with a moderately high pH of 3.7 by lifting the body while also keeping it crisp and balanced.

Earning a perfect score, the RAEN Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast Freestone Occidental Bodega Vineyard 2023 is fascinating for its steely acidity and complex flavors of red cherries, red plums, raspberries, violets, wild herbs, wet stones and chalk. As with the Charles Ranch chardonnay, the alcohol is 12.5 percent, much lighter than many of its Russian River Valley pinot peers, which usually weigh in at 14 percent or higher.

A whisker lower in score is the RAEN Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast Fort Ross-Seaview Sea Field Vineyard 2023, which shows great tension between bold, dramatic fruit and mineral flavors and a chalky, firm and brightly crisp texture.

McIntyre described the 2023 vintage on the Sonoma Coast as cool, but not as cool as 2018, and with none of the dramatic issues that 2022 experienced, from shatter in the spring that cost half the crop, to a severe heat event in September.

“2023 was the best year since we started in 2013,” McIntyre said. “We harvested a month later than usual – Oct. 5 for the Bodega Vineyard pinot instead of early September. We never pick in October. The hardest part for me was just getting itchy. We were ready to pull the trigger on harvest.”

Jim also rated dozens of red Bordeaux-style wines, the most memorable of which were made by the Vérité winery, which is based in Sonoma County’s Chalk Hill district. He tasted in Vérité’s grand, chateau-style barrel chai with three members of the Bordeaux family that co-founded Vérité in 1998 with Californian Jess Jackson, who is best known for starting the Kendall-Jackson winery.

Pierre Seillan is the father. He partnered with Jackson, made the wine for many years and along the way coached his daughter, Helene Seillan, to take over, which she has. Pierre Seillan’s son, Nicolas, runs the family’s Chateau Lassegue in St.-Emilion, Bordeaux.

Vérité wines are perennially at the very top level of California winemaking, and the 2021 wines they poured are no exceptions. It was a very good, concentrated and age-worthy vintage in both Sonoma and Napa counties. Vérité is one of the last to bottle and sell its reds, so the three that Jim tasted add a sort of concluding flourish to an outstanding vintage.

The Vérité Sonoma County Red Wine Le Desir 2021 is as near perfect as cabernet franc can be in California. It contains 87 percent cabernet franc, 10 percent merlot and 3 percent malbec but not a trace of cabernet sauvignon. Pierre said it reflected his “desire” to prove that the main grape variety of St.-Emilion could make beautiful wine in Sonoma County.

“I understood that if you can have cabernet franc in the Loire as well as Bordeaux, that we could do something interesting here in Sonoma with the influence of the Pacific Ocean” which Sonoma County borders, Seillan said. “The cool climate influence can help to make an exceptional cabernet franc. We have made 24 vintages now and they prove it is one of the most exceptional grapes in the world if you put it in the right spot.”

To Jim it may be the finest cabernet franc wine made in California, so tightly wound and precise, smooth and silky on the surface, but with intense flavors and tannic energy underneath.

Vérité’s two other reds were almost equally remarkable. The Vérité Sonoma County La Muse 2021 is elegant but with some muscle behind it. This merlot-based wine is dazzling for its velvety texture and pure fruit flavors. The Vérité Sonoma County La Joie 2021, meanwhile, is made from 71 percent cabernet sauvignon blended with merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot for a sense of drinkability and freshness despite its muscular character. It offers amazing layers, finesse, detail and interest.

Raving about the two wineries above doesn’t leave space to add more but be sure to check out all the California reviews below this article. You’ll see glowing tasting notes on a raft of wines from Aaron & Claire Pott and Daughters, Freemark Abbey, The Hess Collection, Robert Mondavi, Hoopes and others.

INNOVATIVE GRUNERS

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott tapped into an exceptionally diverse range of European wines during his tastings over the past week, the most remarkable of which was the Zillinger Austria Hirschensuperreyn 2023.

Stuart said it was one of the most innovative gruner veltliners he has encountered in a long time, owing to the “spectacular interplay” of lees complexity alongside candied citrus and pineapple fruit, as well as for the way it glides over the palate. It’s made from biodynamically grown grapes and bottled unfiltered with a very small sulfite addition, so some may consider it a natural wine.

Stuart added that he loved all the other 2023 gruner veltliners from Herbert Zillinger, each of which pushes the envelope for the grape variety in a slightly different way.

And it might seem impossible that there’s an appellation in France’s Loire Valley that we have never tasted any wines from before, but Saint-Pourcain is one. It’s a remote outlier hundreds of kilometers from the region’s most famous vineyards, with just over 600 hectares of vineyards, many on granitic soils.

The Domaine de Bellevue Saint-Pourcain Cuvée Centenaire 2020, a blend of 60 percent pinot noir and 40 percent gamay, is a remarkably complex and well-structured red wine for what many readers will consider the middle of nowhere France. These vineyards lie between the Loire, Southern Burgundy and the Northern Rhone wine region at the northern edge of the Massif Central. It has a lovely vitality for 14 percent alcohol due to the cool climate. The winemaker is German-trained Melanie Pfeffer.

Stuart also tasted some interesting wines from the Czech Republic and said that the J. Strávek Frankovka Moravia Reserva 2022 proved that the frankovka (blaufrankisch) grape can make for some serious wines. He found a wealth of berry fruit married to complex forest floor and clove aromas in the wine, with tannins that are quite pronounced for the grape but well integrated.

Another he liked, the Gala Vinařstvi Ryzlink Vlašský Moravia Hermes 2023, is a dry white from the welschriesling grape, with plenty of peach and orange blossom character plus a wonderful bright in spite of the rich flavors. Both wines, Stuart said, are more proof that some Czech winemakers are seriously working to improve quality.

TAMING BARBARESCO'S DIFFICULT 2022

Barbaresco producers have described the 2022 vintage, which is set to be released this year, with a single word: difficult. The primary reason? Drought. The vines endured extreme stress, and harvest took place two or even three weeks earlier than average – and nearly a month earlier than the 2024 harvest.

For nebbiolo, a grape that depends on a long growing season to develop its full complexity and depth, such an early harvest posed a challenge. What seems to be missing in these wines is a dark, austere and powerful character. But this is Barbaresco, after all, not Barolo. The charm of the 2022 Barbarescos lies in their transparency, the delicacy of short macerations and extractions – often without submerged cap – and the producers’ ability to embrace nebbiolo’s precocity much like guiding an adolescent, enhancing its fragrance and crispness.

“It was a difficult vintage for everyone – hot, dry and very early, with high alcohol and slow fermentations,” explained Luca Giacosa, a rising talent in Barbaresco and a third-generation winemaker. “We had to harvest in two stages: first to remove dried and scorched grapes, then for the actual harvest. By late September, everything was already in the cellar, three weeks ahead of schedule. The vines were under tremendous stress. At Montefico ... this drought forced us to uproot part of the vineyard because the vines never recovered.”

Yet, one of the vintage’s standout wines emerged from this vineyard: the Carlo Giacosa Montefico 2022, an elegant and vibrant Barbaresco that is remarkably restrained, with notes of blood orange, licorice, wild strawberry and potpourri. Full-bodied and velvety, it shows a fine balance between acidity and tannins, and it will be ready to drink in two to three years.

Asili, a Barbaresco’cru renowned for its finesse, struggled due to its exposure, as did many of the region’s top sites. A notable exception was Ceretto’s Barbaresco Asili 2022, which showcases fresh, clean notes of watermelon, wild strawberry and blood orange, with an elegant yet substantial frame. Also worth noting are Albino Rocca’s Barbaresco Cottà 2022 and the winery's debut vintage of the Barbaresco Ovello Vigna Loreto 2022, with the former offering complexity and earthy minerality while the latter leans toward a savory, citrus-driven profile.

Among the village-level Barbarescos, the Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco 2022 stands out for its intense floral aromas, red fruits, balsamic notes, and a creamy palate. Another underdog gaining traction is the Lodali Barbaresco 2022 Lorens, which combines graceful sweet and yellow fruit notes with more classic wild strawberries and bergamot on a precise, refreshing yet still austere frame. Among the cru-designated wines, Montersino impressed in both Albino Rocca’s and Virna’s interpretations.

Meanwhile, the cooperative winery Terredavino delivered one of the vintage’s surprises: a village-level Barbaresco that stays true to the appellation’s floral, fresh yet traditional profile, with a balsamic and structured finish. It’s certainly a top contender for the best-value Barbaresco.

– Jim Gordon, Stuart Pigott 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.