Rheingau Rieslings Rise Again and the Purity of Bordeaux 2020: Weekly Tasting Report (Jan 18-24)

Our tastings of more than 500 wines during the past week were heavy on Bordeaux 2020 and Burgundy, which we will continue to evaluate over the coming weeks, while Senior Editor Stuart Pigott was busy catching up on late-released wines from German producers while he awaited delivery of almost 500 samples from Beaujolais and his annual deep dive into that dynamic region of France

There were a few German stunners, most notably two rieslings from August Kesseler in Assmannshausen in the Rheingau that Stuart said tasted dry, but don’t quite meet the analytical criteria for dry wines and the German designation “trocken.”

“The August Kesseler Riesling Rheingau Berg Schlossberg Alte Reben 2021 is one of the dry wines of the vintage, with amazing exotic fruit and floral honey aromas, plus gigantic minerality,” Stuart said. “It beautifully reflects the special personality of this precipitously steep site exactly where the river Rhine turns northward. The light there is really spectacular.”

READ MORE TOP 100 WINES OF GERMANY 2022

Stuart asked August Kesseler about why this wine, and his almost as spectacular August Kesseler Riesling Rheingau Berg Roseneck Alte Reben 2021, were not dry GGs as in previous vintages. He replied, “They refused to ferment out to complete dryness, but that’s how many great rieslings were a century ago and they can still taste amazing!”

Given the naturally high acidity of the 2021 vintage, the few grams per liter of residual sugar are barely perceptible, and Stuart is convinced that the combination of this balance and the wines’ great freshness will give them a lifetime measured in decades, although he added that they were already exciting.

“The interesting thing is that when I first met August in the late 1980s, he was obsessed with revolutionizing Rheingau pinot noir,” Stuart said. “He succeeded in that, and his 2020 pinots are excellent for the extreme drought year, but his rieslings from the last half-dozen or so vintages shone at least as brightly as the red wines for which he’s well known.”

The other pinot noirs that impressed Stuart last week were the 2019s from Christian Dautel in Bonnigheim, one of the young winemakers turning the Wurttemberg region, near Stuttgart, upside down.

“Not so long ago the region was best known for pale, thin reds from the trollinger grape, and, of course, for Mercedes Benz,” Stuart said. “Given the fact that the climate of this region is now comparable with Burgundy a generation ago, it’s logical that Wurttemberg should produce some great pinot noirs.”

Stuart said the super-elegant and super-silky Dautel Pinot Noir Württemberg Forstberg GG 2019 and the richer more powerful Dautel Pinot Noir Württemberg Schupen GG 2019 are great examples of what’s possible in this region, given the new climatic situation.

“They’ve both got sensational mouthfeel and finesse, the two things that were still lacking a decade ago. Christian Dautel really nailed those things,” Stuart said. “Of course, those are the things we look for in great red Burgundy. Prices in Wurttemberg are much more friendly, though.”

BORDEAUX FINESSE

In our Hong Kong tasting office, Senior Editor Zekun Shuai was exploring Bordeaux 2020s, with plenty of the wines coming from Medoc, Haut-Medoc and the Right Bank. A few offerings from St.-Emilion and Pomerol jumped out during his tastings, with two wines from Vignobles Dauriac excelling. The Château Destieux St.-Emilion 2020 shows impressive class, depth and silky concentration, while La Clémence Pomerol 2020, coming from a 2.8-hectare parcel planted to merlot and cabernet franc, is all about lead pencil finesse with cassis, iron and of sweet tobacco leaf, carrying plenty of structured, fine-grained tannins to a lingering, layered finish.

The Right Bank is showing plenty of potential in the 2020 vintage, with the best combining finesse, structure and gravity, and some showing well-judged opulence. The merlot- and cabernet franc-based reds from this very warm vintage, with enough locked-in freshness and balance plus good concentration and a flattering ripeness, are very approachable now even though their peaks may be a few years away.

Two of these are notable more for their richness than their racy fruit freshness and high acidity, giving them eminent drinkability. The Château Feytit-Clinet Pomerol 2020 is an opulent expression with layers, filigree, plushness and velvety tannins, while the Muse du Val St.-Emilion 2020 is a modern St-Emilion that delivers ornate plushness, ripeness and conviviality with its melted, lush tannins and creamy finish, yet it remains refined, with poise and depth.

Another impressive Bordeaux from our weekly tasting was the Château Marsau Francs Côtes de Bordeaux 2020, but here it is the purity that defines the racy blue fruit, with impressive freshness from merlot and hints of fresh mushrooms and tree bark rendering extra complexity. The fruit is bright yet tactful, and the tannins are firm but well ripened.

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Two Super Tuscans from Tenuta dei Sette Cieli also stood out in our tastings. The pure cabernet franc Tenuta dei Sette Cieli Toscana Scipio 2019 is a delicious and more fluid red coming from the 400-meter hill that overlooks Bolgheri. It shows punchy and fresh currant and tomato leaf notes with its mineral and tobacco character. Meanwhile, the Tenuta dei Sette Cieli Toscana Indaco 2019, which is a blend of malbec, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, offers impressive depth and fresh fruit, followed by a precise and juicy finish.

– Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor, and Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor

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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