Weekly Tasting Report (July 20-26, 2021): Burgundy Lovers’ Delight, a Bibi Graetz Knockout and Vivid Bordeaux Blends from New Zealand

This report covering what we rated last week is significant for Burgundy lovers. We sent Senior Editor Stuart Pigott to Beaune for a week to taste the recent vintage in bottle from some top negociants, and after rating a few hundred wines he had a clear message: “Yields were a bit lower for reds, but very low for whites [in 2019]. That's what pushed the ripeness and alcohol levels for the whites. More important for the reader: to get the top whites you need to be fast!”

Stuart rated more than 200 reds and whites from the 2019 vintage, and he gave several wines perfect scores. You need to be a subscriber to see all their names and tasting notes. “It was so exciting because 2019 is a very special vintage for Burgundy,” Stuart wrote in an email. “Every single winemaker I spoke to emphasized the remarkable consistency of the vintage. No wonder that for some of them it’s the high point of their careers. In 2019 it didn’t matter whether your vineyards were in the Cote de Beaune, Cote de Nuits or somewhere else; whether your focus was on chardonnay or pinot noir; or if a vineyard site had deep soils or was on more stony ground – exceptional quality was possible, as long as you didn’t screw up by picking too late or make other basic mistakes.”

Grand crus are obviously phenomenal in 2019. Two stood out in Stuart’s tastings for their impeccable combination of great concentration, perfect balance and stunning originality. “The star among the reds was Louis Latour’s Romanee-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru Les Quatre Journeaux 2019, an enormously deep and extremely sensual pinot noir that will surely become a legend like the great 1964 vintage of this wine did,” Stuart wrote. “No less breathtaking among the whites, but for different reasons, was the Bouchard Pere & Fils Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2019. Chardonnay could not be more mineral than this, and what a racy elegance the wine has! The finish literally goes on for minutes.”

Stuart didn’t just give high ratings to high-priced and famous wines, mind you. He found some of the wines from Domaine Charles Audoin, particularly the single-vineyard Marsannays, to be of incredible quality, and they can sell for around $60 a bottle. He said the 2019 Marsannay Les Favières reminded him of “Musigny,” not Marsannay.

The above highlights what several of my Burgundy buddies in Hong Kong have been saying about recent vintages. The hot and dry weather during the growing season of late has meant that lesser appellations and terroirs are now making spectacular wines.

TASTING GRATTAMACCO: James and Grattamacco winemaker Luca Marrone taste and discuss the 2018 and 2019 vintages.

SPECIAL 20TH: Bibi Graetz on the challenges his winery has faced leading up to its 2019 anniversary vintage.

Contributing Editor Nick Stock had a similar “wow” experience in late July for the unveiling of the annual Penfolds collection outside of Adelaide, when Australia’s benchmark producer releases its latest top wines on the market. But it wasn’t a new wine that surprised him, it was the retasting of the Penfolds Shiraz South Australia Bin 95 Grange 2010. This was a perfect wine when it was released in 2017, when Nick and I both tasted it. He tasted again during the Penfolds’ event and wrote that “there’s an attractive, crisp-cut edge to the tannins, immense richness and impressive resolve. A great Grange.” He tasted seven vintages of Grange, including 1965, 1976, 1986, 1990, 2004, 2010 and 2017. All are rated below. The latter is the new release, and Nick described it as “big, round berries striving toward boldness.”

He preferred the newly released Penfolds Shiraz South Australia St. Henri 2018 to the Grange, calling it “long and captivating.” Check out his report and learn about the brand-new regional blends called 820.A and 820.B. They are outstanding quality.

Besides the top-scoring Burgundies and Penfolds, I gave a rave review to the new Colore from Bibi Graetz. The Tuscan red is pure sangivoese and an absolute knockout due to the excellent quality of the 2019 vintage. It was slightly warmer than 2018, which gave reds a riper fruit character and deeper center palate.

The wine, which is made from old vines from the 1950s and 1960s, shows a fabulous fruit flavor but is wonderfully structured at the same time. The wine will be released in September in Bordeaux, since most is sold through a negociant there to the rest of the world. Graetz says his 2019 Colore is his best, and I must agree.

Another superb Tuscan red just released is the Grattamacco Bolgheri Superiore L'Alberello 2018. This is the best wine ever from Grattamacco, and the small-production wine has really improved in quality thanks to the omission of the petit verdot in the blend.

Check out the video in this report, with winemaker Luca Marrone telling me about all about the change at the end of our conversation.

I also included my tasting notes from a fantastic quality producer from New Zealand: Puriri Hills. I tasted wines from 2008 and 2010 and they were beautifully resolved and vivid. They are Bordeaux blends and not to be missed if you can find them. A friend from New Zealand brought them to James Suckling Wine Central and shared the bottles. I look forward to tasting some more vintages.

A last-minute tasting on Monday with Philippe Sereys de Rothschild and his new vintage of white and red from Domaine de Baronarques delivered some of their best wines ever. The property is in Limoux, in the historical Languedoc region of southern France, and its chardonnay-based white, with a touch of chenin blanc (new addition) and blended red, show typicity and subtleness. A video of the Zoom tasting is on the way.

You don’t have to be a Burgundy lover to find something exciting this week. More ratings to come as always.

– James Suckling, Chairman/Editor, with Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the previous week by James and 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.