Super Tuscans Unmasked, Plus Pinot Clarity from California

Our latest tasting sessions in Italy have centered on the Super Tuscans – an abstract, loosely defined category of wines that once emerged as a bold departure from Tuscany’s traditional DOCG regulations. They aimed to represent the pinnacle of Italian winemaking, both in terms of quality and, inevitably, price. But what is the identity and relevance of the Super Tuscan today?

These are the questions James and Senior Editor Aldo Fiordelli set out to explore while tasting the latest releases from some of Tuscany’s most celebrated estates – labels that have earned global acclaim, significant price tags and, alongside genuine collectors and enthusiasts, the less welcome attention of speculators.

As is often the case with Super Tuscans, the new releases span multiple vintages – 2021, 2022 and even a few 2023 previews – given the absence of formal classification rules. Yet it is the 2022 vintage that stands out as the focal point. As we’ve noted before, 2022 was marked by intense heat and drought.

Expectations were never high. Aldo remembers seeing vineyards in the Chianti area with grapes nearly shriveled on the vine, while along the coast the berries were as small as blueberries. And yet, the year’s consistency – a drought from start to finish – turned out to be a technical advantage. The vines had time to adapt.

That regularity gave producers a crucial window: by late July, most had a clear sense that a dry harvest was inevitable and adjusted their approach early. There was little need for crop thinning. Clusters were protected as much as possible. Harvest came early, and in the cellar, the work was gentle – restraint over extraction. Aging in new or small barrels, once excessive in the early 2000s, has been far more balanced in the last decade.

So what saved the 2022 Super Tuscans? Mainly the wow factor, which is unmistakable in wines like Marchesi Antinori’s Solaia, Castello di Bossi’s Girolamo, and Fontodi’s Flaccianello della Pieve. A single swirl in the glass reveals precision, finesse and depth.

Consistency is the other strength of this enduring category. Sangiovese, whether on its own or aged in large casks, suffered more from the heat. But the presence of cabernet sauvignon, and to a lesser extent merlot, helped preserve structure and texture.

Merlot also delivered a subtle message. In Tuscany’s more inland and cooler areas, like Chianti Classico – where Super Tuscans were born – merlot showed better balance than on the coast, where the heat lingered and rains didn’t arrive until late August or early September.

Among the most compelling bottles is not a 2022, but a 2021: Il Nicchio from Tenuta il Nicchio, an IGT Toscana crafted by Lodovico Antinori, one of the region’s most visionary vintners (and the brother of Marchesi Antinori's Piero Antinori). Only in its second official vintage, Il Nicchio is a study in tension and grace – dark, structured and vibrant. It’s a wine of Mediterranean depth, with notes of eucalyptus, oak bark, smoke, violets and blackcurrant.

Marchesi Antinori's Solaia 2022 is a masterclass in finesse. From the first aromas, it’s clear this is no ordinary wine: subtle cassis, toast, herbs and a refreshing balsamic lift. It’s more elegant than powerful and more approachable than usual, with remarkable concentration and complexity. The texture is velvety, the acidity moderate but perfectly tuned.

Solaia is just the beginning of a string of top-tier releases from the Chianti Classico zone. The biggest surprise is the Girolamo 2022. It’s minty, graceful, creamy and complex. A confirmation of sangiovese’s solo strength came in the Flaccianello della Pieve 2022, where fruit concentration and layered depth meet electric tension. And more old-fashioned in style but no less expressive is the Percarlo 2021 from Tenuta di San Giusto a Rentennano. This is a wine full of fresh nuances and built on a powerful, nervous structure, with tremendous aging potential.

In the end, the great Super Tuscans rarely falter – even in challenging vintages. If anything, it is in these vintages that their purpose becomes most clear. The 2022 wines may not be destined for decades in the cellar. But when the wines are this compelling, who’s counting?

READ MORE BARBARESCO 2025 TASTING REPORT: AIMING FOR SHEER FINESSE IN A HARSH VINTAGE

Pinot Clarity from California

Dozens of outstanding 2023 and 2022 pinot noirs have been rolling out from Northern California wineries, and we’re covering more than 100 of them in this report. Crowding at the top of the high-scoring list are shining examples from Rhys, Vivier, Donum and Maritana.

The most interesting of these to Executive Editor Jim Gordon and Staff Writer & Taster Brian Freedman were the offerings from Rhys. Tasting with winemaker Eric Prahl, they got a sampling of the great quality coming from the winery’s estate vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Mendocino’s Anderson Valley.

The prime example is the Rhys Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains Horseshoe Vineyard 2022, which Jim described as a muscular red from a high-elevation vineyard that’s unusual for its power, structure and potential for aging. Almost as spectacular were two others: the Rhys Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains Alpine Vineyard 2022 and Rhys Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains Horseshoe Hillside 2022.

Kevin Harvey, who founded Rhys in 2001, is a longtime fan of Burgundy, and the differentiation of chardonnay and pinot from one part of that region to another have been inspirations from the beginning.

Prahl emphasized that their goal was always “site specificity.”

“We purposely tried to find vineyards that had different soils – that was always the direction,” Prahl said. “We always want to explore those differences as much as possible.”

For example, the Horsehoe Vineyard is a 17.5-acre plot in the Santa Cruz Mountains that extends from 1,360 to 1,610 feet above sea level. The ancient shale and limestone of the site bring a particular clarity to pinot noir.

We called out Sonoma-based Stephane Vivier’s highly rated chardonnays in a recent Weekly Tasting Report, but in this one his 2023 pinots get their due. The Vivier Pinot Noir Petaluma Gap Gap’s Crown Vineyard 2023 and Vivier Pinot Noir Sonoma Mountain Van der Kamp 2023 are equally brilliant single-vineyard bottlings but 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. The Van der Kamp, meanwhile, is generous in aromas of strawberries, red currants, spearmint and minerals with flinty, stony notes on the palate.

The 2023 California pinot noirs in general are almost universally well-balanced, vivid and fresh due to an ideal, long and temperate growing season. The 2022s are surprisingly high quality for a vintage plagued by a horrendous heat dome in early September. That’s largely because most pinot grapes were harvested in good, ripe condition before that event.

Donald Patz of Maritana Vineyards told Jim that all the pinot noir and chardonnay he buys from Russian River growers were picked before the heat. An especially fine example is the Maritana Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Regina’s Vineyard 2022, which offers gorgeous fruit flavors and an expansive, palate-coating texture.

Patz, the cofounder of Patz & Hall winery but no longer affiliated, is bullish on 50 percent whole cluster fermentations and 75 percent new French barrels for aging his pinot noir. Still, he describes the Maritana style as shaped by higher acid, lower sugar ripeness and lower pH than Patz & Hall wines used to be.

“There should be something about it that’s refreshing, not cloying and ponderous,” he said. “Those are fun for the first glass and a half and then not so much fun after that.”

Also in the slew of pinot noirs this week are numerous great examples from Carneros-based Donum Estate, where Brian tasted with winemaker Dan Fishman. He gave his highest scores to two of their Mendocino-grown wines – the Donum Anderson Valley Perry Gulch Savoy Vineyard 2023 and Pinole Savoy Vineyard 2023–  and two Carneros-grown pinots from the Sonoma side of the AVA – the Donum Pinot Noir Carneros Pearl Single-Block Reserve 2023 and Carneros TFV 2023.

Hawke's Bay Consistency

While in New Zealand recently for the harvest at James’ vineyard, Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery joined James and Senior Editor Jacobo García Andrade to taste 64 wines from the Hawke’s Bay region. The lineup exhibited strong consistency across both red and white varieties, with standout examples of chardonnay and syrah as well as an interesting interpretation of albariño.

The top white for Ryan was the Elephant Hill Chardonnay Hawke’s Bay Salomé 2022, a wine that combines ripeness with tension and clarity alongside notes of lemon curd, flint, pear, and spice that will evolve well in the bottle. James’ top-ranked wine was the Craggy Range Chardonnay Hawke's Bay Les Beaux Cailloux 2023, which he described as very mineral and precise, with high-tension acidity supported by an underlying power.

Smith & Sheth, the new Hawke’s Bay project undertaken by Master of Wine Steve Smith, who previously founded Craggy Range and now also oversees Pyramid Valley in North Canterbury, delivered one of the more compelling alternative whites in the lineup. The Smith & Sheth Albariño Hawke’s Bay CRU Heretaunga 2024 shows aromas of yellow apple, pineapple, lime blossom and grapefruit rind alongside a medium-bodied palate with brisk acidity and a phenolic edge that adds grip and shape. The wine is a deft example of Smith’s ability to deliveri clarity and precision from this emerging variety.

That same attention to detail is evident in the Smith & Sheth Syrah Hawke’s Bay CRU Heretaunga 2023, which shows blackberry, dark cherry, plum, tobacco leaf and cedar on the nose. The medium-bodied palate is balanced and finely textured, with polished tannins and flavors of mocha, blueberry and graphite. It’s an elegant wine that keeps focus while exuding some Norther Rhone charm.

The Elephant Hill Syrah Hawke’s Bay Airavata 2021 is another standout. It’s an elegant and expressive wine, exhibiting real finesse. Aromatics lean toward spice and dark fruit – plum, blackberry, licorice, and dried herbs – while the palate offers a smooth, creamy texture supported by fine tannins and a savory, spice-driven finish.

The range and continued refinement of Hawke’s Bay was fully on display in the chardonnays and syrahs we tasted, but there’s clear momentum building  behind alternative whites and midweight reds characterized by freshness, detail and restraint.

Von Othegraven Hits Top Form

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott has made a good start on the long job of surveying the wines of Germany. Over the past week he tasted the wines from two dramatically contrasting star producers. Weingut von Othegraven in the Mosel sub-region of the Saar is a legendary producer that is once again on top form under the ownership of the German TV presenter Gunther Jauch, a descendent of the von Othegraven family, who acquired it in 2010.

Wines from its holdings in the Altenberg site of Kanzem, which rises as steeply as the Matterhorn (65 percent grade) behind the historic estate house, shined in three contrasting styles. The most remarkable of an impressive set of dry wines was the Von Othegraven (Günther Jauch) Riesling Mosel Altenberg GG 2022, which has a wealth of white flower, Amalfi lemon and white peach aromas. It also shows complex slate minerality in the extremely silky and focused finish.

The Saar has a long reputation for barely off-dry Kabinett wines, and the Von Othegraven Riesling Mosel Altenberg Kabinett 2024 squares the circle of delicacy and intensity. The flint, wet stone, elderflower and white tree aromas burst from the glass.

It wasn’t easy to make Auslese wines in 2023 due to the moist weather during harvest period that hemmed grape shriveling, however, the Von Othegraven Riesling Mosel Altenberg Auslese is at once succulent and refined with stacks of tropical flower aromas. Stuart loved the extremely long and pure finish.

Self-taught winemaker Hans Erich Dausch of the HE winery, which he founded in 2006, is totally inspired by Burgundy and it shows in his small range of unlined and unfiltered pinot noir reds from the Pfalz.

When Stuart tasted the HE Pinot Noir Pfalz HE 2022, he felt like he’d been put in a time machine and was beamed back to tasting a young grand cru burgundy from the 1970s or early 1980s!  It has great structure and concentration, but a very cool personality on the medium-bodied palate.

The restrained richness of the HE Pinot Noir Pfalz La Dame 2022 makes it more immediately appealing (all the HE wines are made for long aging) the forest floor and wildflower aromas pulling you into the deep palate with its velvet tannins.

All of the HE pinot noirs are matured for 18 months in 100 percent new oak, which is difficult to believe because their oak character is discreet and deftly integrated. All of them are also bottled unlined and unfiltered.

– Aldo Fiordelli, Jim Gordon, Stuart Pigott and Ryan Montgomery 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.