Tuscany’s Unique Syrahs, Dry Riesling Nirvana and Deeply Rooted in Alexander Valley: Weekly Tasting Report (Aug 7-13)

Syrah is often overlooked by Tuscan wine cognoscenti in favor of great sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon, and to a lesser extent merlot and cabernet franc, but it shouldn’t be. This weekly report includes a number of top syrahs from the coast, including the Tua Rita Syrah Per Sempre 2022 and Bulichella Syrah Hide 2021. Both wineries are neighbors of James, and their vineyards are located near the coastal town of Suvereto. The Duemani Syrah Suisassi 2021 is also a syrah to take a close look at in this report.

“Syrah has a unique character on the coast of Tuscany,” said Stefano Frascolla, one of the owners of Tua Rita. He told James that the wines can have richness while at the same time keeping relatively low pHs, which can assure freshness and tension.

The recent releases from Castello di Ama in Chianti Classico certainly had tension, especially in the fresher and brighter 2021 vintage, which was a later harvest for most in Tuscany, with many wineries’ pickings finished in October. James loved the 2021 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico Gran Selezione San Lorenzo, and he thought it outshined some of the more famous bottlings of Ama due to its balance and drinkability. And it sells for a fraction of the cost of many – about $70 a bottle in the United States, according to Wine Searcher.

Also don’t miss the coming release of the Fattoria Le Pupille Maremma Toscana Saffredi 2022. The multi-vineyard red is a cabernet sauvignon, merlot and petit verdot blend and shows so much beauty and drinkability, yet it will age beautifully. The wine has always had this balance since its inception in the early 1980s and it shows that the Maremma of Tuscany can make harmonious wines with sophistication if they are derived from well-maintained vineyards.

DRY RIESLING NIRVANA

When Senior Editor Stuart Pigott first met Gunter Kunstler of the Kunstler winery in the small city of Hochheim, Rheingau, back in 1990, he was based in the garage of a suburban house and was working with only a handful of vineyard plots. But even at just 27 years of age, he was already committed to the powerful and expressive style of dry riesling for which he is now famous. Today he works with the grapes from 65 hectares of vineyards, including legendary sites like the Berg Schlossberg and Marcobrunn as well as the best sites of Hochheim: Domdechaney, Holle and Kirchenstuck. More important, in recent years the wines have only gotten better, in spite of vintage variation.

When Stuart visited Kunstler he found that 2023 is the best vintage ever for the winery, with a parade of sensational dry GG wines led by the perfect Künstler Riesling Rheingau Hölle GG 2023, which has off-the-scale spicy power, along with awesome concentration, vitality and dynamism as well as an unbelievably salty minerality at the everlasting finish. This is dry riesling nirvana, and the best dry wine Kunstler has ever made!  And the mind-blowingly elegant Künstler Riesling Rheingau Kirchenstück GG 2023 is hot on its heels.

Unfortunately, there's a dark side to this story of great ambition and determination to reach the very top. That is the plan of the Bundesnetzagentur, Germany's federal infrastructure body, to gouge a deep, 250-meter wide trench right through the best vineyards of Hochheim in order to lay underground electricity cables. Alternative routes exist, but the Bundesnetzagentur appears determined to push ahead with the destruction of the Domdechaney, Holle and Kirchenstuck vineyard sites. About 65 hectares, or 160 acres, of vineyards that are cultural monuments are threatened. We will keep you posted on forthcoming developments.

Scroll down through the notes below and you will see that you don't need to go for a GG to get a great dry riesling from Kunstler in this vintage. Two EL, or Erste Lage, wines also garnered very high scores, most notably the Künstler Riesling Rheingau Domdechaney EL 2023, which has dark and dangerous depths with incredible concentration for a wine that's only medium-bodied. Wines of the EL category are generally about two-thirds the price of GGs.

Stuart's other important news is from the red wine side of the Rheingau that's all about the pinot noir grape, or spatburgunder as it is known in German. The August Kesseler Pinot Noir Rheingau Höllenberg GG 2022 is the greatest young wine of this category Stuart has ever encountered.

It has great black cherry fruit plus a superabundance of spice and forest floor character. Its enormous concentration is matched by its finesse. Let the noble hint of sweetness suck you into the deep core of this great masterpiece.

Like Kunstler, Kesseler is one of the pioneer winemakers that has pushed the Rheingau back toward its historic position as the primus inter pares of Germany's wine regions. All of his 2022 pinot noirs deserve serious attention because in their different price levels each offers great value for money. Kesseler's reputation was built on wines like these, but he's also a riesling lover, and in the 2023 vintage these wines shine, too.

BRINGING OUT THE REAL RIOJA

This report isn’t short of exciting, high-scoring wines from Rioja, where Senior Editor Zekun Shuai was in the field over the past week to meet producers and taste their newest releases. The “New Rioja” producers in Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa are striving to make real, artisanal wines that focus on single vineyards planted to a few varieties. Often, there are just 1,000 or 2,000 bottles due to the limited size of the vineyard and parcels. But these humble, austere wines – from a few rising stars like Jose Gil, Diego Magaña, Ricardo Fernandez and Arturo de Miguel – are often better at delivering a sense a place, with tannins that are tenser and more reactive than are usually found in the region.

The other side of Rioja, stylistically speaking, is more polished and opulent, as exemplified in the unblushingly modern or arguably “international” style of the Roda winery in the village of Haro. Roda and the other large wineries situated around the old train station in Haro’s center are a diverse bunch. Roda’s voluptuous, plush wines, for example, are a counterpoint to the oxidative, complex and extremely long wines of its neighbor, La Rioja Alta. Another neighboring winery, Muga, has more of a Bordeaux sensibility, while Lopez de Heredia seems more Italian and austere and CVNE is in the middle of them all. But each is unique, and in that way they resemble Champagne’s maisons, according to Muga’s Manuel Muga and CVNE’s Victor Urrutia.

From Rioja’s excellent 2021 vintage, however, Roda’s flagship Cirsion was a clear winner. Zekun tasted the winery’s latest offerings with technical director Esperanza Tomas and vineyard director Isidro Palacios.

Roda uses a selection of the best bunches of tempranillo and graciano from their top-quality, old-vine vineyards to make the Cirsion, but a slightly higher percentage of graciano (14 percent) in the 2021 version has brought out the nervy, spicy side of the wine amid all its flattering complexity and plushness, with supreme polished tannins, depth, length and freshness also coming to the fore. This is one of the best Cirsions ever: rich, plush and voluptuous, but not heavy in the least.

DEEP ROOTS IN THE VALLEY

Executive Editor Jim Gordon and Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery were in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley tapping into some terrific chardonnays and cabernet sauvignons, while elsewhere in California they had a first look at Paul Hobbs’ latest creation, found some outstanding pinot noirs and uncovered a wonderful zinfandel from vines planted in 1908.

The Alexander Valley tour included visits to Jordan, Stonestreet and Garden Creek. Maggie Kruse, the head winemaker at Jordan, showed Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery the 2020 and 2015 vintages of their Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley side by side, with the latter their first vintage in 40 years made with 100 percent French oak. Tasted after eight years in the bottle, it shows secondary characters of blackcurrant, tea leaf, cured meat and leather. The 2020, which is a blend of 83 percent cabernet sauvignon, 10 percent merlot, 6 percent petit verdot and 1 percent malbec, gives a discrete and savory nose of black currant, tobacco leaf, coffee beans and dried herbs.

Jordan is also known for its chardonnay sourced from the Russian River Valley. Their very citrus-driven Jordan Winery Chardonnay Sonoma County Russian River Valley 2022 displays tension and energy with notes of honeydew melon, preserved lemon, lime zest and lemon balm from a very hot vintage.

Just down the road from Jordan is one of the flagship wineries of Jackson Family Wines, Stonestreet. The winery, founded by Jess Stonestreet Jackson, is today led by Jackson’s son Christopher and winemaker Kristina Shideler. It comprises a vast mountain estate of almost 900 acres, with vines planted at elevations ranging from 400 to 2,400 feet (122 to 731 meters).

Their Cabernet Sauvignon Christopher’s Vineyard 2019 offers complex and delicate aromas, with an underlying power displaying dark cherries, blood plums, graphite and sage, but the jewel in the Stonestreet crown might be their Upper Barn vineyard, which was planted in 1982 to old Wente clones of chardonnay. The Upper Barn Chardonnay 2021, from vines grown at 1,800 feet, is full-bodied and textured with bright acidity and the long, lingering finish displaying power with restraint.

Garden Creek is also deeply rooted in Alexander Valley’s cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay tradition. The husband and wife team of Justin and Karin Warnelius-Miller took over from Justin’s father, who purchased the property in 1963 and was one of the modern pioneers who helped establish the Alexander Valley American Viticultural Area in 1984. Justin has lived on the property his whole life.

Since 1969, the property has farmed mainly cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, with a focus on precise winemaking and lengthy aging in bottle before release.

The current release of their Garden Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Tesserae is 2016, which is made from a blend of 83 percent cabernet sauvignon, 5 percent merlot, 4 percent cabernet franc, 4 percent malbec and 4 percent petit verdot. Aged in the bottle for eight years before release, it is full-bodied with silky tannins and focused acidity, with notes of dark cherry, leather and cocoa.

The ageability and purity of Garden Creek’s wines is reflected in the Tesserae 2004, which displays the depth of a fine wine with little sign of slowing down. The layers and complexity on the nose are complemented by a seamless palate.

Jim also took a close look at a new Paul Hobbs wine that’s distributed through La Place in Bordeaux, joining a growing number of non-Bordeaux wines sold internationally there.

The Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville Nathan Coombs Estate Cristina’s Signature 2021 is the highest-scoring California wine in this week’s report, earning a near-perfect number for its silky, elegant mouthfeel, graphite, iron, seashell and cigar box aromas and super-concentrated blackcurrant flavors. It joins a great roster of other Paul Hobbs 2021 Napa reds.

Several top-notch pinot noirs caught our attention, too. The new line of DK Grail wines from Dan Kosta, formerly of Kosta Browne, are particularly noteworthy, and the two highest-scoring of them use all or a portion of fruit from the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County.

The DK Grail Pinot Noir California The Approach 2021 blends grapes from top sites in Sonoma County and the Santa Lucia Highlands. It’s a full-bodied beauty, ripe in red and black fruits with luxurious oak spices. Alongside it in quality is the all-Monterey DK Grail Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands Garys’ Vineyard 2021.

Coincidentally, gaining the same high score as the DK Grail Garys’ is a related wine from one of those Garys: the Pisoni Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands Lucia Estate Grown 2022. Branded as “Lucia,” the wine is vivid, tangy and striking in expression with great depth and complexity.

This week also marks our first reviews of a Sonoma County producer that has been hiding in plain site since its beginning in 1976. Jim Rickards makes a memorable zinfandel from spindly, twisted vines that were already 68 years old when he started. The J Rickards Zinfandel Alexander Valley Old Vine 1908 Brignole Reserve 2021 is deep, structured but pretty, made from a field blend that also includes petite sirah, mataro (mourvedre), and several other varieties.

Rickards’ cabernet sauvignon and red blends aren’t far behind in scores. Fans of aromatic whites should also try his dry muscat, sauvignon blanc and viognier from the vibrant 2023 vintage.

Finally, our annual tasting of South African wines has begun in our Hong Kong office, with the highlights over the past week including chardonnays and pinot noirs from the cool Walker Bay area in the south coast of the Western Cape. In particular, Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt liked Creation Wines' The Art of Chardonnay 2023: a savory, chalky and lively white with energy and minerality. Look out, too, for Creation’s premium pinot noir bottlings, including the seductively spicy and toasty Emma’s Pinot Noir 2023 and the complex and firm The Art of Pinot Noir 2023.

Another excellent wine is Kaapzicht’s 2023 Chenin Blanc Stellenbosch The 1947. It’s full-bodied, creamy and exotic, with savory-herb undertones and a salty freshness, produced from old chenin blanc vines planted in 1947. Other wines that shone from 2023, which saw a beautiful season until heavy rains at the end of February, include chenin blancs from Kaapzicht and Donkiesbaai, chardonnays from Rustenberg and Tokara, and both chardonnay and pinot noir from Hamilton Russell.

Another wine that caught our eye was the Off The Record Syrah Western Cape 2023, produced from a small parcel of syrah vines in the high-elevation, inland (and relatively new to winegrowing) area of the Ceres Plateau. It displays fantastic freshness and minerality, with white-pepper and oyster-shell aromas.

Last but not least, Longridge’s latest release of their small-production top wine, Misterie, is a deliciously complex and richly flavorful red from the stellar 2017 vintage, with firm, ripe tannins and cedar and smoky undertones.

– James Suckling, Stuart Pigott, Jim Gordon, Ryan Montgomery, Zekun Shuai and Claire Nesbitt 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.