Weekly Tasting Report (Dec 7-13, 2021): Peter Michael Wines Shine, an Ethereal Full Moon and South Africa’s Grand Cru-Quality Chenin Blancs

The past week’s tastings of 450 wines include new releases from a couple of my favorite wineries: Peter Michael in Knights Valley, California, and Cullen Wines in Margaret River, Australia. What I like about the two places is that they make real wines. Their bottles show the true character of where they are from through precise viticulture and winemaking. Plus, they are family-owned wineries.

I did a Zoom call with the team from Peter Michael last Friday and they were clearly excited about their 2019 releases, from the fresh and intense Sonoma Coast pinots to the rich yet framed Napa cabernet. “From bud break to verasion, particularly to chardonnay in Knights Valley, we had a pretty poor fruit set and it meant lower yields and high quality,” said Peter Michael’s winemaker, Robert Fiore. “It was a mild summer and not much in the way of heat spikes. So, it helped preserve that freshness and finesse. Plus, it has a little more fruit [character] than other years. That’s why 2019 was a great year.

“When we go down to Oakville and Au Paradis, there it was a pretty moderate summer and not a lot of heat spikes,” he said. “So, it ended up with more supple tannins and fruit than other years. Overall, 2019 is a fantastic year when the winemaker could pick on their own timetable instead of a forced hand from the weather.”

READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF THE USA 2021

He admitted that the lower grape yields in 2019 compared with 2018 gave the wines, both white and red, a little fruitier character. “Yes, a little more concentration and not as many clusters and as large berries,” Fiore said.

Indeed, the Peter Michael Winery Chardonnay Sonoma County Knights Valley Ma Belle-Fille 2019 was one of the wines we tasted over the last seven days that showed fantastic complexity and depth. It is the archetypal white from the Peter Michael estate vineyards, with richness and flavors as well as an underlying freshness and minerality. Their mountain vineyards are some of the most stunning to see in California. Check out all the ratings on their wines in this report.

Meanwhile, Western Australia’s Cullen was under review by Contributing Editor Nick Stock, and he found some fantastic wines, particularly the Cullen Margaret River Vanya Full Moon 2017, which he described as quite floral and ethereal and altogether different from the other Vanya bottlings to date. The 2017 vintage was slightly complicated because of wet weather but produced some impressive wines. Vanya Cullen is one of the best vineyardists in Australia, and her biodynamically tended vines delivered exceptional quality.

Nick was also excited this week by the Fermoy Estate Chardonnay Margaret River Reserve 2019, which he called “a very complex, fresh and fleetingly flinty chardonnay.”  He also rated a range of wines from South Australia’s Shaw + Smith, which are always crowd-pleasers. The Shaw + Smith Chardonnay Adelaide Hills M3 is a longtime favorite of mine, and the 2020 delivers fantastic quality.

PUTTING THE SHEEN ON THE STEEN

We also continued our tasting journey of South Africa in our tasting office in Hong Kong and came across three fantastic chenin blancs, which some say are of “Grand Cru” quality. And we have to agree. Chenin, which is called “steen” in South Africa, is the most exciting grape for us in the country, and when the wine is well made it equals or beats anywhere else in the world, including France’s Vouvray or other parts of the Loire Valley. Check out the ratings for the three single-vineyard chenins from the David & Nadia winery below.

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott reviewed a few Champagnes, including bottlings from Henri Giraud, Larmandier-Bernier, and Pierre Gimonnet & Fils. We remain fans of the Henri Giraud offerings, which are uniquely rich and layered from their barrel fermentations. Larmandier-Bernier makes equally flavorful blanc de blancs Champagnes, while Pierre Gimonnet & Fils’ bottlings impress us with their vinous nature. Go to the scores.

Associate Editor Claire Nesbit also tasted a new bottling of Champagne from Billecart-Salmon called Les Rendez-Vous de Billecart-Salmon No. 2 Extra Brut. The new blend is 100 percent pinot noir from mostly 2014 with some reserve wines from 2012 – mainly from the Grand Cru vineyards of Ambonnay and Verzenay, which the Champagne house hopes to highlight in this new blend.

This is a one off-cuvée and will not be made again, according to Billecart-Salmon CEO Mathieu Roland-Billecart, who Claire talked with in a Zoom session about the latest release, right.

You may not know the pinot noirs of New Zealand’s Prophet’s Rock but we have three beauties in the report, particularly the single-vineyard bottles. Check them out. The winery is in the southern part of the Bendigo section of Central Otago, so the wines have a little more richness and ripeness than some others. My personal favorite is the Prophet’s Rock Pinot Noir Central Otago Cuvée Aux Antipodes 2019, which has a nice combination of Central Otago character with Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits.

There is plenty more to check out in the report from 2019 Bordeaux and 2020 Beaujolais to 2020 Wüttenberg and 2019 Napa Valley. The average score for all the wines tasted was 92. I’m sure you’ll find something interesting…

– James Suckling, Chairman/Editor

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.