Weekly Tasting Report (Mar 22-28, 2021): Napa cabernet perfection and a new old vine cabernet from Clos Apalta

Napa Valley dominated our top wines reviewed last week, when we rated nearly 500 wines, while Argentina was close behind with great scores for reds from Susana Balbo, Iscay and Zuccardi.

A thought occurred to me when I rated a number of 2018 reds from the stable of wines of Jackson Family Wines with a large number of mountain vineyards in Napa. The vintage made some incredible wines in these areas from Pritchard Hill to Howell Mountain to Diamond Mountain to Mount Veeder. So far two of my perfect rated 2018 Napa reds come from mountain vineyards and one from hillside plots.

“The 2018 vintage is a great year for mountain fruit,” admitted winemaker Chris Carpenter of Lokoya, Mt. Brave, Caladan, La Jota Vineyard Co., and Cardinale. His mountain-sourced wines from Lokoya were among my best Napa 2018s yet.

This isn’t to say that valley floor vineyards didn’t make some exquisite wines in 2018 but the more solid tannins and dense center palates of mountain-sourced reds really seemed to come through on the palate in a more refined way in 2018 compared to the past. The long and even growing season of 2018 gave finesse and depth to many wines in the mountains which sometimes can be overly tannic and slightly rustic in hotter years.

“It's been fun for me to see that evolution that people are into [mountain wines] now,” said Carpenter. ‘They are into that chewiness … and it’s good to be into tannic wines because they age fabulously.”

Carpenter added that it was hard to make comparisons to 2018 but he had a vintage in mind – 2001. “It’s probably close to 2001,” he said. “If I think back to all the vintages that 2018 reminds me of, it’s probably 2001. There are moments of 2013. There are moments of 2007. But those are too flashy. 2001 was just dynamite. I love 2001.”

Although only part of the vineyards are hillside, the cabernets from Joseph Phelps in 2018 are fantastic. They have a finesse and refinement that I have not encountered from here in years. And the wines show solid structure as well. The Joseph Phelps Napa Valley Insignia 2018 is absolutely stunning and highlights the beauty and clarity of the long growing season of 2018. All the Joseph Phelps cabernets were classic quality. They reminded me of some of the great Joseph Phelps wines from the late 1970s.

“The 2018 Insignia reminds me of the 2012 but the 2018 is a little deeper and more sophisticated than the 2012,” said Ashley Hepworth, head winemaker at Joseph Phelps, while we were tasting together on Zoom. “They are really approachable now. They are showing really well.”

The Sonoma reds from Verite in this report were equally impressive with the cabernet-based La Joie showing fantastic depth and intensity. It was definitely more reserved and focused than past bottlings, which are always very rich and powerful. The three bottlings of Verite are going to be classics with collectors but anyone who loves solid and balanced California reds are going to love them.

“It’s always possible in Sonoma and the rest of California to make wines with elegance and finesse,” said Helene Seillan, the head winemaker of Verite. “You have to watch your picking dates … the wines are already so approachable. Who would want to wait 10 years to drink these!”

She pointed out that they intentionally try to keep alcohols low, even less than 14 percent, and “we try to keep the tannins as soft and round as possible.”

Top wines from Napa in this report were not only red. The whites from Hyde de Villaine were gorgeous, especially the 2019 Carneros Hyde Vineyard Comandante. This special selection of the best wines from the Hyde Vineyard in a given vintage showed exotic and rich character yet a phenolic tension that gave it fascinating form. It’s made from mostly 40-year-old vines from the Wente chardonnay clone. Winemaker Guillaume Boudet emphasized during a Tasting Interview how 2019 was a step up from the 2018 for chardonnay with its long and even grape-growing season.

Long and even growing seasons were also discussed with winemakers last week in Zoom calls from Mendoza, Argentina. The region has four excellent vintages in a row but the 2018 and 2019 were cooler and more balanced compared to the hot and short cropped 2017 and 2020. Both Susana Balbo and Sebastian Zuccardi emphasized this as well as their continued reliance on higher altitude vineyards and the Uco Valley for sourcing the best grapes.

The two winemakers also continued to elaborate on their quest for perfection in single-vineyard wines. Zuccardi is now the master of parcels of vineyard-designated wines, which I believe adds value to the best wine-producing areas of Argentina. “We still don’t know where are the best areas are to plant vineyards and make wines,” he said. “We have so much more to discover.”

The opposite of this was a conversation last week with Charles de Bournet of Chile’s Lapostolle and Clos Apalta. He is releasing several hundred cases of single-plot cabernet sauvignon from his vineyards that were planted in 1910. It’s a stunner and highlights the unique terroir of the Apalta vineyard and it’s ungrafted, old vines. Bournet explained that La Parcelle 8 Vieilles Vignes is the original plot of vineyards of the winery that convinced his parents to develop their wine projects in Chile. And the Lapostolle Apalta La Parcelle 8 Vieilles Vignes 2015 is a late release showing beautiful drinkability now but lots of age-worthiness.

“2018 was like a Christmas gift from Santa,” said winemaker Andrea Leon of Clos Apalta and Lapostolle in a Zoom call.  “The 2018 was wonderful for us. We had a wet enough winter. Not too much or too little. We had a little bit of rain in the springtime to come along with the growth of the grape…it was really a wonderful harvest along with the 2005. The 2018 was everything that you could wish for to make wines that were fully ripe but have a lot of elegance and freshness.”

“It was an excellent year as we look for more balance in our wines,” added Bournet.

James tastes with Charles de Bournet of Chile’s Lapostolle and Clos Apalta, who is exploring single-plot cabernet sauvignon from his vineyards that were planted in 1910.

Senior Editor Stuart Pigott’s tastings last week also revealed several drinkable Beaujolais. He rated no less than 150 wines last week and loved the 2019 vintage. He thinks it might be the region’s best ever with more focus and balance than the excellent 2018 and maybe more finesse than the rich 2015. And he is handing out some top ratings from a number of wineries you may not know. We love Bojo at JamesSuckling.com. In fact, I drank a Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py 2018 last night!

There are lots of wines in this list that you are going to want to drink, not to mention for the cellar. Check it out and enjoy.

- James Suckling, editor

The list of wines below are bottles tasted and rated in the previous week by James and other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet in the market, but entering soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports. 

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