Super Tuscan ‘Wow,’ Plus California’s Cab and Pinot Parade

What is the identity of Super Tuscan wines today?  Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli made it his mission to find out when he tasted through the latest releases from some of Tuscany’s most celebrated estates in June.

The unmistakable “wow” factor he looks for while tasting Super Tuscans came through loud and clear in the Il Nicchio 2021 from Tenuta il Nicchio, one of our highest-rated wines from June. Aldo called it “a study in tension and grace … dark, structured and vibrant with a surefire Mediterranean depth. And no less expressive, he said, was the Percarlo 2021 from Tenuta di San Giusto a Rentennano – a wine he found “full of fresh nuances and built on a powerful, nervous structure, with tremendous aging potential.”

The same level of “wow,” he said, was unmistakable in wines including Marchesi Antinori’s Solaia, Castello di Bossi’s Girolamo, and Fontodi’s Flaccianello della Pieve – with precision, finesse and depth the hallmarks of each.

In northern Italian region of Lombardy, where winemakers are shifting their sights toward traditionally vinified Valtellina Superiore and Riserva wines – bottlings that capture the essence of fresh grapes, the land, and its microclimates – Arpepe and Balgera continue to shine, Aldo said.

From the former, the Arpepe Valtellina Superiore Sassella Rocce Rosse Riserva 2018 dazzles with a perfumed nose of rosemary, cherry pit, dried orange peel, balsamic herbs, all underlined by unmistakable stony minerality, while from the latter, the Balgera Valtellina Superiore Valgella Vigneto Quigna Riserva 2016 delivers radiant clarity and lifted aromas of red currants and citrus.

And in Irpinia, winemakers are still hewing to tradition with their great, ageworthy reds – wines celebrated for their depth, structure and gravitas. Aldo found the Joaquin Taurasi Riserva della Società 2015 to be a wine of unapologetic power, while Mastroberardino’s Taurasi Radici 2020 “marries power and finesse with ease,” with notes of freshly ground black pepper, smoke, forest floor and an earthy minerality paired with a full body and velvety tannins.

From Italy’s cool mountain region of Valle d’Aosta, meanwhile, the high-elevation vineyards there produced impressively precise wines including the Rosset Syrah Valle d'Aosta 870 2021 and Grosjean Pinot Nero Valle d'Aosta Les Frères 2022.

California's Cab and Pinot Parade

Dozens of outstanding 2023 and 2022 pinot noirs and cabernet sauvignons have been rolling out of Northern California wineries lately, and this is especially true of ’22, a vintage that has yielded many perfectly drinkable offerings and some great ones, too, despite the heat dome of that year, according to Executive Editor Jim Gordon.

Right at the top are the Cornell Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County Fountaingrove District Estate 2022, from the west side of Spring Mountain in Sonoma County, and the Bryant Family Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2022. The first was picked before the heat dome hit in September, while the latter is “packed with fruit and tempting spice flavors and built for long-term aging,” Jim said.

More great 2022 cabs came from renowned vintner Paul Hobbs. His Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard 2022 is remarkably cool, composed, floral and broad in texture, while the Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Coombsville Nathan Coombs Estate Cristina’s Signature 2022 feels sleek, poised and elegant, almost like a pinot noir.

As for 2022 pinot noirs, the Rhys Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains Horseshoe Vineyard 2022 is a muscular red from a high-elevation vineyard that’s unusual for its power, structure and potential for aging. And almost as spectacular, Jim said, are the Rhys Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains Alpine Vineyard 2022 and Rhys Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains Horseshoe Hillside 2022.

Sonoma-based Stephane Vivier, meanwhile, showed out with his 2023 pinot noirs, with the Vivier Pinot Noir Petaluma Gap Gap’s Crown Vineyard 2023 and Vivier Pinot Noir Sonoma Mountain Van der Kamp 2023 equally brilliant single-vineyard bottlings that show wonderfully distinct flavors. The Gap’s Crown is racy and well-balanced in a slightly restrained, Burgundian style and offers raspberries, iron and orange zest, while the Van der Kamp is generous in aromas of strawberries, red currants, spearmint and minerals with flinty, stony notes on the palate.

And even more great 2023 pinots came from Carneros-based Donum Estate, where the Donum Anderson Valley Perry Gulch Savoy Vineyard 2023, Pinole Savoy Vineyard 2023, Donum Pinot Noir Carneros Pearl Single-Block Reserve 2023 and Carneros TFV 2023 all rated equally highly.

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott, meanwhile, tasted through the wines of the beautiful Finger Lakes wine region in Upstate New York during his vacation there, and he found the Heart and Hands Wine Company on Cayuga Lake  to be making some terrific pinot noir.  Their Heart & Hands Wine Company Pinot Noir Finger Lakes Mo Chisel Estate 2022 astonished Stuart with its enormous concentration and refinement, while the 2023 vintage of this wine is on just about the same level of excellence, Stuart said.

And he found an excellent syrah in the Element Syrah Finger Lakes Estate 2022 – a super-structured and super-focused wine with an astonishing spectrum of floral, pomegranate and pink peppercorn aromas.

Precision and Focus from Australia

In Australia, Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery tasted over 160 wines from McLaren Vale in June, with the 2022 and 2023 vintages highlighting just how much precision and focus producers are now achieving across grenache, shiraz, and even less conventional styles like flor-aged whites.

The standout among them, the Clarendon Hills Grenache McLaren Vale Blewitt Springs Romas 2023, captures the lift and finesse of grenache grown in a cooler year – perfumed and sophisticated with vibrant energy and length, while the Clarendon Hills Syrah McLaren Vale Astralis 2023 also impressed with its balance and precision over sheer power.

A less expected highlight came in the form of the Brash Higgins Chardonnay McLaren Vale Bloom 2017, a rare Australian vin jaune-style wine aged under flor (a biofilm made of yeast) for seven years in old white Burgundy barrels.

Senior Editor Zekun Shuai uncovered some remarkable chardonnays from China in his June tastings, including from a new project by winemaker Feng Jian and viticulturist Li Day of the Xialong winery. Their new project, Mingyi, debuted the Mingyi Chardonnay Shangri-la Above the Creek 酩一桃溪之上干白葡萄酒2022 and Mingyi Chardonnay Shangri-la Beneath the Temple 酩一岚若之下干白葡萄酒2022, both of which are marked by strikingly high acidity and showcase  the potential of high-altitude chardonnay from the diverse and complex Yunnan terroirs.

However, Above the Creek is sourced from Jiangpo village at a dizzying 2,800 meters (9,200 feet) above sea level and was aged for 12 months in Burgundy barrels, with 30 percent of them new. In contrast, Beneath the Temple blends fruit from Jiangpo and the calcareous soils of Adong village at 2,700 meters, where the renowned LVMH-funded Ao Yun winery also sources its whites. This wine spent eight months in oak – of which 30 percent was new oak.

Blending Singular Expressions in Spain

There have been some outstanding Spanish white wines in our recent tastings, and they underline how each region in the country is finding its own voice when it comes to producing reliable offerings with depth and character – from established areas like Rioja to the Canary Islands and Ribera del Duero.

In Ribera del Duero, the brothers Rodrigo and Asier Calvo of Casa Lebai have produced an exceptional blend: the Casa Lebai Ribera del Duero La Nava 2022, which is sourced from the village of Gumiel de Mercado. This wine comes from a tiny 0.36-hectare parcel planted mainly with albillo real, along with valenciano blanco, moscatel, palomino and pirules.

From Rioja, meanwhile, the Granja de Nuestra Señora de Remelluri Rioja Blanco 2022 is a classic white with its always mysterious blend of nine grape varieties sourced from the highest parts of the Remelluri estate in Labastida, just below the Sierra de Toloño. Fermented and aged in a combination of cement and French oak, the result is a singular expression in the context of Rioja: energetic, textured, chiseled and formal, and one that stood up to the challenging vintage conditions.

From the Orotava Valley in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Jonathan Garcia’s Suertes del Marqués Listán Blanco Valle de la Orotava Vidonia V.P. 2023 is one of the island’s great whites. It comes from estate vineyards in the lieu-dit Las Suertes, planted to century-old, trenzado-trained vines on volcanic soils, a system unique to the region. The wine is aged in 100 percent new oak, which is completely integrated, resulting in a floral, expressive white with a pleasant flinty, reductive touch and delineated stone fruit

And from Spain’s neighbor, Portugal, the Arribas Wine Company, in the northeastern corner of the country, gave us the Portugal Quilómetro 2021, which is “a textbook example of what this region does so well: a pale red of nuance and clarity that reflects its old-vine heritage, with quiet concentration and discreet weight,” according to Senior Editor Jacobo García Andrade.

We also tasted a range of rosés from the South of France and a 2024 vintage that offers a fresh wave of elegant, everyday drinking wines. The releases from Provence show softness and clarity with good tension and minerality, with the standouts being the Miraval Côtes de Provence 2024, with its finesse and mineral backbone; the Château D’Estoublon Coteaux Varois en Provence Roseblood 2024, which offers floral perfume and precision; and the Château de Saint Martin Côtes de Provence Grande Réserve 2024, which balances fruit and structure with seductive ease.

– Vince Morkri, Editor-in-Chief

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. 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.