Weekly Tasting Report (Sept 28-Oct 4): A Perfect German Riesling, Pure New Zealand Pinots and More Napa Wonders

Germany continued its amazing run of late as we rated more than 500 wines in total over the past week, with Senior Editor Stuart Pigott discovering even more fantastic quality wines from the 2019 and 2020 vintages from that country.  

He gave another perfect score to a dry riesling from one of Germany’s great historical vineyards, the von Oetinger brothers’ Marcobrunn, with the wine’s “gigantic depth and richness” striking just the right chord with him. The Marcobrunn has been producing great wines since the 14th century and was the first to be used on labels to denote wine from the Rheingau. The von Oetingers have made the best of an excellent parcel.  

Weingut von Oetinger also scored well with two wines from the Siegelsberg vineyard and another from Hohenrain, while August Kesseler also produced an exceptional pinot noir (or spatburgunder, as it is known in Germany) from the Hollenburg vineyard in 2020. It was “the best wine I ever encountered from this underrated top site,” Stuart wrote, having last week celebrated how pinot in Germany has found new levels of quality in recent years. He also noted that the 2020 vintage for German riesling is less consistent than the great 2019, although his scores for the top wines from leading vineyards are very close or at the same level. (You can log in or subscribe to see the scores of the wines and tasting notes below.) 

Stuart also added a few dozen Austrian wine ratings. The 2019 vintage in Austria followed Germany in being the best in a long time. In his report earlier this year after tasting 400 or so Austrian wines, Stuart noted that the 2019s would be a tough act to follow, especially given the wet summer in 2020. But he was impressed by the top producers, who “seemed to get everything right,” making racy, aromatic and fresh wines that were also excellent value for money. It will be interesting to see if his subsequent 2020 tastings confirm his earlier opinion. His full report on the country will be out soon. 

Meanwhile, James’ admiration for New Zealand pinot noirs grew steadily over the past week as he and his team made their way through about 300 Kiwi wines. Producers such as Rippon, Dry River and Felton Road made some of the top bottles. He loved the intensity of fruit combined with a firmness and dryness in the best examples. “It changes all the time!” he wrote of Rippon’s 2018 pinot, in which he found notes of dried strawberries, mushrooms, bark and flowers, as well as an “endless finish.” These pinots have a Burgundian sensibility in the mouth, but the purity of fruit and freshness is all New Zealand whether they come from Martinborough or Central Otago. It looks like New Zealand has enjoyed back-to-back great vintages with 2020 and 2019, and it shows in the wines. 

The New Zealand chardonnays were equally convincing, with the likes of Pegasus Bay delivering the richness of a Montrachet and unique freshness with its Chardonnay Waipara Valley Virtuoso 2019. James described it as an exciting example of a “dense and layered, yet fresh and vivid” wine. He also liked the 2017 chardonnay from Greywacke, with its “aromas of pie crust, apple tart, stone and flint,” and the 2019 from Dog Point, which had notes of “smoke, hay, dried mango, preserved lemon and buttered toast.” 

READ MORE: NEW ZEALAND'S 2019 & 2020 WINES SHOW PROMISE

TASTING CHAPPELLET: James talks with chairman Cyril Chappellet and winemaker Philip Corallo-Titus about the Napa Valley winery's 2019 vintage.

CHALLENGING HARVEST: More from Cyril Chappellet and Philip Corallo-Titus about the challenging conditions they faced during this year's harvest.

BAROSSA'S BEST

Contributing Editor Nick Stock in Australia rated more than 120 wines over the past week and focused mostly on Barossa, though some high ratings were given to wines from Tasmanian winery Dalrymple. Yalumba’s Tri-Centenary Grenache 2019 from Barossa was his top-rated wine, which he enjoyed for its “striking aromas” and “scintillatingly pure and fresh” quality. The wine spent 249 days on skins and was bottled without any maturation in oak. 

From the other side of the planet, James had a preview into the greatness of the 2019 Napa Valley vintage, which appears to have produced reds with a little more depth and intensity than the super-balanced 2018. A Zoom interview with Cyril Chappellet and winemaker Phillip Corallo-Titus to taste their top reds from the vintage revealed the greatness of the year. James thought that the 2019 Chappellet reds were clearly better than their excellent 2018s. The 2019 Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Pritchard Hill is one of their best ever and shows superb depth, firmness and great length.  

The same could be said for the Fattoria Le Pupille Maremma Toscana Saffredi 2019, which was one of our top three wines last week, with an incredible tannin backbone and depth of fruit. “So much crushed stone, rosemary, lavender, mint and blackberry,” James wrote. Tuscany’s 2019 vintage, like Napa’s, appears to be superb, producing reds that are incredibly structured and long. You can expect many wines for the cellar from this year. 

We also finished our Spanish tastings with the few dozen ratings you can see below. The highlights from the past week included a tiny-production ancient vine red from Sierra Cantabria, the Rioja Mágico 2017, which is a blend of 65 percent tempranillo, 20 percent grenache, 2.5 percent graciano, 1 percent petit bouschet, with 1.1 percent from other red varieties plus 10 percent from white varieties. It comes from a vineyard planted way back in 1904. Stay tuned for the Spanish report next week, with more than 1,500 tasting notes and ratings. 

SPECTACULAR SAFFREDI: James tastes the Fattoria Le Pupille Safffredi 2019 with Clara Gentilli and Elisabetta Geppetti.

We also rated the current red releases from what some believe is the best wine producer of South Africa – Vilafonte – as well as what some say is one of Russia’s greatest wine producers – Sober Bash. The latter makes outstanding whites and reds. 

Finally, don’t miss our reviews of wines from the U.S. state of North Carolina. Some we rated well, some we rated not so well ... but the winemakers here are producing serious wines, some of which are hitting the mark. Check out the winners and the losers below.  

– James Durston, Senior Editor

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