Weekly tasting report (Jun 28-Jul 4, 2020): Australia, France, Italy, Portugal

: James tastes some Vintage Port in Hong Kong with the Symington family …

: … while Nick Stock tastes solo in Australia.

Note from the editor: These weekly tasting reports used to pick out a few high-scoring highlights. Given that we taste so many wines each week, this series will now publish all the wines tasted in the previous week. The only exceptions will be wines tasted for special tasting reports to be published at a later date. There is a new sort function in the dropdown filter, so you can arrange the notes by COUNTRY. We hope you enjoy these new comprehensive reports with all the wines, scores and tasting notes from the past seven days. We certainly enjoyed tasting them. – JS

This week’s top wines are a diverse set rated 97 and 96 points and are sourced from a series of very different regions. Italy’s Tuscany and Piedmont claim just over half the top places, alongside Australia’s Mornington Peninsula, a unique Aussie-German collaboration in the Mosel and a pair of powerful Vintage Ports from 2018.

The Castello di Ama Toscana L’Apparita 2017 (97 points) is a real standout this week with James singling out “layers of ripe tannins and a beautiful finish of polished and well-poised fruit.” He also praised the “freshness … as well as the intensity for the vintage” which is a recurring theme of the best Tuscan 2017s. From that same vintage, Fontodi’s Syrah Colli della Toscana Centrale Case Via 2017 (96 points) delivered a “rich, intense syrah” with a palate that is “full-bodied, yet tight and polished.”

We tasted another two standout Brunello wines from the 2015 vintage this week. The Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino 2015 (97 points) is “gorgeous Brunello with complex and beautiful aromas and flavors” that is “full-bodied, yet so polished and refined with soft, creamy tannins.” The Celestino Pecci Brunello di Montalcino Poggio al Carro 2015 (96 points) is a “dense, layered red” and is “full and flavorful … extremely long and back-loaded at the end.” These will both age so well.

Australia’s Mornington Peninsula features with a pair of pinots that make a trifecta of impressive and distinctly different 2018 pinots for Hurley Vineyard. The 2018 Garamond already rated in our weekly wrap (98 points) is joined this week by the powerful Pinot Noir Hommage 2018 (97 points) which delivers “imposing drive and focus with powerful, layered tannins” and the Pinot Noir Lodestone 2018 (96 points) which is a “lacy and fragrant” pinot with “such long, focused and sustained presence.” Both are drinkable now with plenty of potential to reveal deep complexity with age.

: Nick walks through an Adelaide Hills vineyard.

: Symington Family Estates owns a number of top Port brands.

Next we have a trio of wines from Piedmont, all of which are Barbaresco this week. The top wine is the Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Gresy Barbaresco Martinenga Camp Gros 2015 (97 points), which is a “wonderfully perfumed” Barbaresco with an “extremely long and focused” palate. The Ca’ Rome’ di Romano Marengo Barbaresco Maria di Brün 2016 (96 points) is a “very intense Barbaresco” with “super depth and intensity … full-bodied, layered and powerful.” And the Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco Rabajà Riserva 2013 (96 points) is “full-bodied and rich with depth of fruit and layers of ripe tannins,” a style that really defines the decadent beauty of great Riserva.

A German-Australian collaboration with Erdener Trappchen riesling made with “classic Australian-riesling winemaking” per the Clare’s Barry family (Jim Barry Wines) and then fine tuned in the cellars of Ernie Loosen makes a truly unique wine in this week’s top lineup. The Loosen Barry Riesling Mosel Walhalla 2016 (96 points) has a “very fresh apple, lime and lemon pastry nose and a smooth-honed palate with … long, fresh-apple and lime-sherbet finish.” This is collaboration done right.

And a fitting finish in the form of a duo of excellent 2018 Vintage Port releases from the Symington family. The Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port 2018 (96 points) is a “big, ripe young vintage Port” and a real statement of intensity with “round tannins and a long, flavorful finish”. The Graham’s Vintage Port Quinta dos Malvedos 2018 (96 points) is “tannic and layered with intensity and depth” and James described this as “very typical Malvedos with dried-berry, eucalyptus and black-chocolate character.” These vintage ports are single quinta bottlings (from a single vineyard or farm) and are not fully fledged or declared vintage bottlings, which happened in 2017 and 2106 for the Symingtons and many others.

Enjoy these top rated selections from all around the world of great wine!

– Nick Stock, executive editor

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