Stars in the Making in Beaujolais, and Upping the Ante In New Zealand: Weekly Tasting Report (March 13-19)

WineSearcher.com doesn’t yet give a U.S. price for the 2022 vintage because the wine hasn’t arrived there yet, but on the basis of the prices it gives for the last couple of vintages, you should be able to buy it for just under $30 when it does land. (Of course, prices in other markets will depend upon local taxation law and other factors). The problem will be to find any bottles of this new cult wine. Scroll through the notes below to find out about the alternatives from this producer that are almost as amazing.

“In complete contrast to 2021, in the 2022 growing season it was easy to manage the vineyards,” Neveu told Stuart. “It was much more difficult to get the winemaking spot-on, though, because of the high ripeness.” But she had two major factors on her side. First, 2022 was the first vintage she vinified completely in her new cellar. Second, she is assisted by Guy Marion, the former chief winemaker of the region’s powerhouse, Georges Duboeuf, who has more than 50 vintages under his belt.

This unique team plus a lot of well-cared-for 50-year-old-plus vineyards in the top sites of Beaujolais' Moulin-a-Vent and Morgon crus resulted in an incredible row of wines. It’s not all perfect at Domaine Anita though, as the tenacious Neveu is the first to admit. “We have some work to do before the wines from our vineyards in Chenas come up to the same level,” she admitted.

Stuart found a number of producers hot on the heels of Domaine Anita, most notably Domaine de Vernus.  He first tasted their wines last year, and he found a significant jump in quality this year when he tasted in their cellars.

Three great single-vineyard wines from 2022 stood out. The Domaine de Vernus Fleurie La Dîme 2022 is an unusually powerful wine for this cru that is often as floral as its name suggests. It will probably be the one that will attract the most attention from collectors due to the limited production. However, the stunning Domaine de Vernus Morgon Grands Cras 2022, with its great clarity of red and black berry fruit, plus the Domaine de Vernus Moulin-à-Vent Les Vérillats 2022, with its magnificent aromas of forest berries and red roses, deserve every bit as much attention. All have excellent structure and precision.

Chateau des Moriers is another Moulin-a-Vent producer with stunning wines, such as the Château des Moriers Moulin-à-Vent Vieilles Vignes 2019 and 2018, which are matured in a small oak cooperage that help build remarkably firm structure and give them enormous aging potential. They also have a meaty and earthy depth that makes clear why this Beaujolais cru long enjoyed as high a reputation as Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy. Winemaker Anne-Victoire Monrozier, who also makes very good wines under her own Miss Vicky Wine label, looks to be another star in the making.

Guillaume Goujon of Domaine Dupré-Goujon, which focuses on the wines of the Cote-de-Brouilly cru, is also headed for fame. His wines now all spend one year in wooden casks and a second year in concrete tanks. That certainly  helped make the Domaine Dupré-Goujon Côte-de-Brouilly Lieu dit L’Héronde 2021 one of the outstanding wines of this challenging vintage. The deep aromas of violets, mandarin oranges and spices, plus the stunning concentration, really make it stand out in the crowd.

Goujon also made one of the best dry whites Stuart has ever encountered in Beaujolais, the Domaine Dupré-Goujon Beaujolais-Villages Blanc Le Clos des Mûriers 2022.  The fascinating aromas of chamomile and fresh garden herbs are married to silky acidity and fine chalky minerality, giving the finish real charisma. The latter is a quality the region’s whites didn’t have before.

Scroll down through the notes to find the exciting top wines from a handful of other producers that are worth hunting down.

TOUGHING OUT THE DOWN YEARS

In between picking, sorting and fermenting grapes in Martinborough, James also rated almost 260 wines from New Zealand before finishing last weekend. He was very pleased with the quality of his pinot this year, which locals say could be a vintage comparable to recent top years. The wines he rated, however, were from a range of vintages from outstanding years such as 2020 and 2021 to challenging ones including 2023 and 2022.

The tougher years for New Zealand were the last two. Both 2023 and 2022 had problems with rain, and the cyclone in February 2023 on the North Island led to many difficulties, including deaths, flooding and landslides in such areas as Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay. Martinborough and other parts of Wairarapa were also affected.

“2022 and 2023 were the toughest years in my 30-year career,” admitted John Kavanagh, the chief winemaker for Te Kairanga in Martinborough.

Yet, there were some outstanding wines made despite the issues, which included botrytis. Later-ripening vineyards had an advantage in 2023 because the worst infection with mold was earlier in the harvest, so those who picked later had the chance for cleaner fruit.

Challenges also existed on the South Island in 2023, but some high-quality wines were produced throughout the key areas, from Marlborough to Central Otago. Whites look particularly terrific for the vintage. “You can really taste the difference in the wines in 2023,” said Stu Marfell, the winemaker for Vavasour in Martinborough. “The people who made wines to make good-quality wines did that. But those working to a price point didn’t.”

James said it was great to taste some 2021 and 2020 reds that he missed last year. The two are an excellent pair of vintages, with the top wines from 2020 showing slightly richer fruit and those from 2021 exhibiting more freshness and energy.

Some of the top-rated 2021s came from Terra Sancta, whose wines James recently discovered in the trendy restaurants of Auckland, although he has not had a chance to visit their vineyards in Central Otago. He likes the brightness of the wines, from top single-vineyard pinot noirs made from old ungrafted vines to an idiosyncratic multi-vintage blend of dolcetto, barbera and lagrein. The highly touted Trinity Hill Syrah Homage from 2021 is also close to the top in this report,  and it delivers its usual high quality although it shows a little more tension and dryness than in the past.

Top wines were also tasted this report from the wineries of Elephant Hill, Hans Herzog Estate, Mt. Difficulty, Te Motu Vineyard, Fromm, Domaine Thomson, Valli and Vavasour.

IMPERIOUS SEPPELTSFIELD

Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW was sampling his usual assortment of Australian wines over the past week before getting on a plane and heading to Burgundy for Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne in Beaune, France, an international tasting he calls “one of the most intriguing in the world.”

The wine that lingered well into Ned’s flight was the imperious Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny 1924, arguably Australia’s greatest expression of fortified wine and certainly among the world’s exemplars of depth, poise, scintillating length and oxidative complexities that glimpse the exotica of the Moroccan souk. And no, you are not reading a typo on the date. It really is that old!

The fidelity of the vintage was ensured with a strategic topping-up to mitigate an annual evaporation of around three percent. A blend of grenache, shiraz and mataro, at least as far as the records suggest, it’s a rare and exceptional release of museum stock that continues the legacy of the 1878 Para, the first wine in Australia to be aged in (old) oak for a century.

The wine boasts the hue of aged rum with hints of mahogany, segueing to scents of sticky date, clove, aniseed, cardamon and the rustle of Marrakesh. Spiced orange and leather varnish, too, before a snort of volatility sets it on a long and wild run, the sheer viscosity coating the palate and staining the tongue.

This is among the world's very greatest fortified expressions, and it can be opened and sipped as a wine of meditation for as long as you like. After enduring the ravages of oxidation and heat during production, it is close to indestructible.

– Stuart Pigott, James Suckling and Ned Goodwin MW 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.

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