America’s West Coast wineries are hitting it out of the ballpark this week with a handful of great wines, including a tiny-production pure cabernet sauvignon from one of the great historical vineyards of Napa Valley and some sleek and exciting syrahs from the Washington wine master Christophe Baron and his team, not to mention a few awesome bottles from Quilceda Creek. There are also two new releases of Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal and some gorgeous whites from the living legend of Alsace: Domaine Zind-Humbrecht.
This isn’t to mention the many wines from France, Italy, Germany, the United States and Israel that we rated last week – more than 500 in total, and we found some amazing bottles that are unique and thought-provoking in every way.
Helen Keplinger, the winemaker for the tiny Grace Vineyards, made one of her best wines ever with her 2018 release. The winery is a longtime favorite and recently changed ownership, but the vision and nature of Dick Grace’s vineyards continue. And the wine comes from one of the great historical vineyards of Napa, Tychson Hill, which had vines planted on the slopes in the late 19th century. Colgin makes a cabernet sauvignon with the moniker and produced a perfect wine in 2018. You’ll need to be a subscriber to see if Grace did the same.
“[In] 2018 we had a very small amount and the same is true for 2019,” Keplinger said during our Zoom interview, pointing out that the lower block of the small vineyard is out of production because of replanting. The upper block is the historical part of the Tychson vineyard, and 2018 is purely from that site. “I love that west side of St. Helena. You get [in the wines] so much freshness and texture. They are beautiful wines.”
STATE OF GRACE: Helen Keplinger, winemaker at Grace Family Vineyards, on the Grace 2018.
Christophe Baron’s wines from Washington state – under various labels – are just as idiosyncratic as the Grace wines. Cayuse Vineyards has a cult following, which is greatly deserved. I spoke to Baron during a Zoom session on Monday, when he was on holiday in Montpellier, France. I loved the fact that he thinks about the food and drinking every time he makes his different wines and even when he picks the grapes.
“When I open a bottle of wine I want to drink the whole bottle,” Baron said with great enthusiasm. “In the back of my mind I think of food. You cannot separate food and wine. They are made to be together.
“When I taste [the grapes] they must have ripe fruit but still have crisp acidity,” he added. “And I know that if it’s syrah and I pick it now it will have the spiciness, and if we don’t pick now we will lose that.”
2017 vs 2018: St. Supery CEO Emma Swain compares vintages.
Syrah and grenache are clearly his best grapes for producing world-class wines. And he said that he has been looking to France for inspiration for years for the right techniques (particularly from the late Noel Verset of Cornas) in getting the most out of his terroirs. He added that the two grapes are great mediums to transmit the unique character of his vineyards.
My favorite two wines from Baron were the Cayuse Vineyards Syrah Walla Walla Valley Bionic Frog 2018 and the Cayuse Vineyards Syrah Walla Walla Valley Special #12 2018. They have a richness and freshness that Baron largely attributes to his use of whole cluster fermentation. He said that 2018 was not as easy a vintage as some in Washington have made it out to be. It was hot, and that produced very ripe grapes, he said, and so winemakers needed to mitigate some of the ripeness.
CRISTAL 2013: a tasting with chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon.
It was the complete opposite when I spoke to winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon of Champagne Louis Roederer, who discussed the recent release of their highly collectible prestige cuvee – the Cristal 2013. He called the vintage more “classic” because it was cold and late, with the harvest in October. Recent vintages have been much earlier because of global warming.
“It’s the last October harvest we did in Champagne,” he said via Zoom. “When you have a long time before the harvest, the wines gain in integration and delicacy [and] 2013 offers that. The only problem is that 2013 comes after 2012.”
I have to say that I rated the 2013 at the same level as the 2012. Even though it is not as plush or rich, I was impressed with both the white and the rosé Cristal. They had such structure and intensity, with lovely phenolics to frame the fine bubble and subtle fruit. They are like baby 2008s, which are incredible Cristals.
Senior Editor Stuart Pigott found some phenomenal wines from the Humbrecht family in Alsace for this report. His favorites were from the Grand Crus of Brand and Rangen de Thann Clos Saint Urbain. He noted how the wines from the superb 2019 vintage were incredibly structured and characterful thanks to the meticulous work of the Humbrechts. We are posting a story on the best Grand Crus of Alsace this week, so stay tuned.
Stuart is also working on a small report on Israeli wines that should be a good read. He is tasting about 100 or so wines and has already found some top wines to rate for this report.
I had to mention a very special vintage date tawny Port I tasted this week as well – the Taylor’s Port Very Old Single Harvest Limited Edition 1896. It was aged 125 years in cask in a forgotten cellar in the Douro Valley and bottled in 2021. Describing it as “unique” is an understatement, and the high-toned flavors of this fortified wine are incredible considering the historical value of it.
I also wanted to point out a special magnum-only bottling of a petite syrah from Stags’ Leap Winery. The Stags’ Leap Winery Petite Sirah Napa Valley Stags Leap District Ne Cede Malis 2018 is a fantastic memento, with richness and intensity but also a freshness and form. It is perhaps the greatest petite syrah I have ever tasted.
There’s plenty to discover in this report. We tasted so many different wines from various regions, including South Australia, the Danube, Alsace, Jura, Bordeaux, Rhone, Loire, Provence, Rheingau, Tuscany, Veneto, Piedmont, Sicily, Trentino, Alto Adige, California, Oregon and Washington. I am sure I forgot some other because there are so many. But check them out below.
– James Suckling, Chairman/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.
