September 2024 Tasting Report: A Riot of Rieslings, Italian Time-Tripping and Napa’s Light Touch

We remained on course to hit our goal of tasting more than 40,000 wines for the year by rating 2,754 bottles in September from a record 22 countries. Italy led the way with 957 bottles rated, followed by France with 418, the United States with 349, Germany with 246 and Austria with 179, but it was the latter two countries that gave us the lion’s share of our highest-scoring bottles.

Nineteen of the 20 wines we rated 100 or 99 points came from Germany and Austria, with 16 of those being rieslings. Of the 100-pointers, four were rieslings and one was, gloriously, a German pinot noir, or spatburgunder.  In fact, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott said it was the greatest German pinot noir he has ever experienced, and it was definitely the first German wine from the grape we’ve ever given a perfect score to.

The single-vineyard Bernhard Huber Spätburgunder Baden Wildenstein GG 2022, Stuart said, is a “combination of mind-blowing concentration plus incredible precision and delicacy” with a texture on the palate that “is a dream of heaven, but no imitation of Burgundy.” Another of winemaker Julian Huber’s pinot noir creations from 2022 was close behind in superb quality – the Bernhard Huber Spätburgunder Baden Schlossberg GG 2022, which Stuart loved for its incredible concentration and freshness, which he said hits like a giant wave.

The other 100-point German offering was the Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2023 – a dessert wine with the essence of dried apricots, mangos and papayas with a monumental freshness.

Winemaker Wilhelm Weil was able to demonstrate his mastery of the dessert wine category with this offering, which is based on the stringent selection of single shriveled berries. An even bigger favorite of Stuart from Weil was the sensational Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Monte Vacano Trocken 2022, the fifth vintage of a single-parcel dry riesling that was fermented and matured on the lees for 22 months in neutral oak casks.

And even more German riesling excitement from the Rheingau came by way of the Kunstler winery’s Riesling Rheingau Aeterna 2019, which winemaker Gunter Kunstler recently released.

It’s a wine that combines extremely concentrated candied orange, apricot and fresh almond aromas with a driving minerality that “takes your breath away,” according to Stuart. And Kathrin Puff, the winemaker for the Rheingau’s legendary Kloster Eberbach winery since 2018, hit a new high with the Kloster Eberbach Riesling Rheingau Baikenkopf GG 2023, which is extremely compact and stony with incredible brilliance.

And from Germany’s Pfalz region came a trio of superb dry rieslings, including the Christmann Pfalz Riesling Idig GG 2023, which has intense flinty character like a young Grand Cru Chablis, the stunning Dr. Wehrheim Riesling Pfalz Kastanienbusch GG 2023, which marries great concentration and elegance, and the wilder and incredibly intense Ökonomierat Rebholz Riesling Pfalz Kastanienbusch 2023.

Our other 100-point rieslings were from Austria’s “often great” 2023 vintage and its most famous appellation, the Wachau. The F.X. Pichler winery gave us twin, perfect dry rieslings with their F.X. Pichler Riesling Wachau Ried Steinertal 2023 – “the pinnacle of a racy, stony riesling with incredible Amalfi lemon and wild herb freshness” – and the F.X. Pichler Riesling Wachau Ried Kellerberg 2023g, which is all about peach and mango yet is super-focused and the ultimate in minerality.

The late-picked Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Austria Ried Singerriedel Smaragd 2023 was the third Austrian 100-pointer, which nailed a super-cool and bright finish and sits “very comfortably” at 13.5 percent alcohol, in contrast with many of the other higher-alcohol wines from the vintage.

SPANISH WONDERS AND TIME-TRIPPING IN ITALY

Spain gave us our other 99-point wine that wasn’t from Austria or Germany in the Artadi Viña El Pison 2022, which along with its El Carretil offering are the best illustrations of how Spain’s great vineyards can adapt to extreme weather and produce amazingly consistent wines. El Pison’s melted, dissolved tannins and long, minerally finish were especially striking, according to Senior Editor Zekun Shuai.

Zekun was also struck in his September tastings by the best value wine he has encountered so far this year from Spain, the Bodegas y Viñedos Ponce Bobal Manchuela Pino 2023, which comes from a small, limestone-rich plot with vines over 40 years old, and only costs about $30. Another notable Spanish wine was the great Ribeira Sacra red, the F. Algueira Ribeira Sacra Dolio 2020, which Zekun believes is the best vintage he has tasted so far from this project.

While at his Italian base in Tuscany during September, James took time to visit Campania and Sardinia. His trip to the latter region was like going back in time in Italy, he said, with some vineyards of aglianico more than 180 years of age – or so old that they should be called “Jurassic vines,” he quipped.

But amid all the tree-like old vines throughout the vast volcanic landscape he saw, there was also a palpable sense of rebirth, as if Campania was still evolving along with such names as Galardi, Donnachiara and Feudi di San Gregorio, the latter of which bottles wines under the label, Irpinia Aglianico Serpico by Feudi di San Gregorio. Although the Feudi di San Gregorio wines tend to be hard and forgiving, James said, “there’s an intrinsic nature to them that only the old vines can deliver.”

James also roamed the various mountain vineyards of the Galardi winery with co-owner Allegra Selvaggi and was impressed with the diversity of expositions and the influence of the various forests surround the plots. Their new release, the Galardi Campania Terra di Lavoro 2021, also impressed.

In Sardinia, James took in the ancient vineyards of Mamoiada, about a two-hour drive inland from the coastal town of Olbia, another repository of old vines but planted in barren granite soils. Many of the wines James and Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli tasted there – including during a lunch they organized for 30 producers – were old-school and high in alcohol, but there were also fresher, lighter wines. One of the standouts was from Marco Bacci of Tuscany (Castello di Bossi and Renieri), who is producing a new red under the label “Blue Zone.”

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From the well-known Sardinian estate of Capichera, meanwhile, where the vineyards and winery are undergoing a huge revamp under the (newish) ownership of Carlo Bonomi, came a marked improvement in their whites, which are made from vermentino, including the Capichera Isola dei Nuraghi VT 2022 and Capichera Isola dei Nuraghi Santigaìni Bianco 2017.

James also reviewed the new releases of single-vineyard Nero d’Avolas from Feudo Maccari, the Sicilian estate owned by the Moretti family of Tuscany. The wines, Guarnaschelli and Sultana, are now in their second vintage with the 2022 releases, and although they are slightly less structured than the 2021s, their clarity and drinkability are obvious.

And out of the northern Italian region of Alto Adige, Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli noted a few standout wines: the Alois Lageder PInot Noir Alto Adige Krafuss 2022, a very classic, layered, complex, tense and concentrated offering; the Cantina Girlan Alto Adige Flora Riserva 2021; and the  2021 Riserva from Castel Juval – a unique Alto Adige pinot noir that is more mineral and tense alongside a substantial chewiness that makes it a great food wine.

CABERNETS AND MORE FROM NAPA AND BEYOND

In the United States, Executive Editor Jim Gordon tapped into a slew of Napa Valley reds that impressed him, with two of the best being veteran winemaker Chris Phelps’ full-bodied and deep Ad Vivum Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Yountville Sleeping Lady Vineyard 2021 as well as the Perus Red Wine Napa Valley Alessio 2019, which offers dense black fruits and a massive structure, particularly noteworthy in this generally supple and easy-drinking year.

But it was Napa Valley 2022 chardonnays and cabernet sauvignons from Tor Kenward’s Tor Wines that really impressed, dispelling any notions that the “heat dome” vintage produced only average wines. Guided by the light touch of Tor winemaker Jeff Ames, their Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Beresini Vineyard Cuvée Torchiana 2022 is broad, indulgent, luscious and lingering, while among Tor’s reds, the Napa Valley Black Magic 2022 is an incredibly dark and delicious blend based on cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot while the Napa Valley Pure Magic 2022 is equally stunning but more sleek, elegant and minty.

Ridge Vineyards also stepped into the spotlight with an impressive lineup of reds, including the Ridge Vineyards Sonoma County Dry Creek Valley Lytton Springs 2022, which boasts equal parts rich fruits, savory notes and spices. Also from the 2022 vintage,  the Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Pritchard Hill 2022 shows the classic structure, power and freshness of mountain grown fruit from this 67-year-old family estate, and it’s full of delicious blackberries and complex cedar, earth, graphite and dried herb flavors.

From 2020, the Duckhorn Napa Valley Red Wine The Discussion 2020 is a cabernet sauvignon-dominant blend and the winery’s most expensive bottling. It’s layered, however, with a good portion of the winery’s first love, merlot, giving it an ultra-smooth texture and delicious creme de cassis flavors with scarcely noticeable, silky tannins.

STELLENBOSCH STUNNERS

A few wines of note that Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt tasted from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa were the superbly ripe and velvety Kanonkop Pinotage Black Label 2022 and Kanonkop’s Bordeaux-style blend, the cabernet sauvignon-dominated Paul Sauer 2021, which is full-bodied and classy with refined, silky tannins.

And from the cooler Helderberg area in the south of Stellenbosch cane Uva Mira’s The Single Tree 2021, a deliciously nutty, broad and flavorful chardonnay, as well as their icon Uva Mira Chardonnay Stellenbosch 2021, which is long and concentrated, with an electric freshness to the creamy mouthfeel.

We also tasted some terrific dry red wines from the Douro region of Portugal, led by Quinta do Noval’s Vinhas da Marka 2020, a full-bodied and intense field blend of over 30 different traditional grape varieties, and the Petit Verdot Duriense 2021, an elegant red in spite of its rich black-fruit and potpourri character, with impressively soft and polished tannins for a grape that often produces tannic wines. Quinta do Noval’s Syrah 2021, Touriga Nacional 2021 and Douro Reserve 2021 are also worth checking out.

And from the country’s  Bairrada region, Filipa Pato, the co-owner and winemaker at Filipa Pato & William Wouters, makes one of the best baga wines in her 2021 Nossa Missão, which is crafted from centenarian, pre-phylloxeric baga vines planted in the stony, clay-limestone soils of Bairrada. It’s a wine of remarkable balance and depth, combining elegance with concentration, fine tannins and lively acidity.

And we also went to the mountainous region of Shangri-La, China, where the eponymous Shangri-La Winery is flexing its high-altitude chops with exceptional cabernet sauvignons and chardonnays. Their top wines were the Shangri-la Winery Chardonnay Shangri-La Sheng Yu Legend 2022, which comes with huge intensity punctuated by concentrated, sweet lemon notes alongside bright, mouth-watering acidity, as well as the rich and opulent Shangri-la Winery Shangri-La Sheng Yu 2018.

Finally, from Hungary came the “Royal Flush” of sweet Royal Tokaji’s Aszu Puttonyos wines that Associate Editor Andrii Stetsiuk tasted via Zoom with company director Kovacs Adorjan Zoltan. The wines, from 2018, included five soon-to-be-released bottles from Royal Tokaji’s classified vineyards, collectively referred to as the Royal Flush:  Szt. Tamas (First Growth), Betsek (First Growth), Nyulaszo (First Growth), Mezes Maly (Great First Growth) and Birsalmas (Second Growth). The wines showed impressive freshness and drinkability alongside elegance and balance, and they also featured delicious fruit, floral notes, and often savory and mineral nuances.

– Vince Morkri, Managing Editor

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