My Column: Top Dozen Bottles Tasted In 2011

2006 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova (100 points)

2009 Chateau Cos d’ Estournel St.-Estèphe (100 points)

2009 Jasper Hill Shiraz Heathcote Georgia’s Paddock (100 points)

2004 Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley Kalimna Block 42 (100 points)

2007 Roberto Voerzio La Serra Barolo (100 points)

2007 Sine Qua Non Grenache Central Coast Dangerous Birds (100 points)

2007 Sine Qua Non Syrah Central Coast Dangerous Birds (100 points)

2009 Chateau La Fleur-Petrus Pomerol (99 points)

2009 Chateau Leoville Las Cases St.-Julien (99 points)

2008 Colgin Cellars Napa Valley IX Estate (99 points)

2008 Scarecrow Vineyards Napa Valley (99 points)

2008 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Toscana Masseto (99 points)

(Click the wines, if you are a subscriber, to read the tasting notes in their respective reports.)

It was my first year on my own at www.JamesSuckling.com, and I tasted many great wines – close to 6,000. It’s my biggest year ever of reviewing wines as a critic, even though I have tasted professionally for just about 30 years now.

My Best Wines of the Year would make a great mixed case in anyone’s cellar. It’s a wonderful selection of a dozen fascinating wines. Many, as you can see, I gave perfect 100-point scores.

My list of my 12 Top Wines of the Year is simply my dozen top scoring wines. I didn’t take into account case quantities, price, availability, or anything else. I believe it’s more straightforward than my past experiences of selecting top wines of a particular year. So, the wines are listed by score and then alphabetically.

I have filmed videos of most of the wineries. Click their names in red letters in this blog to watch them and understand the winemaking or winemaker better. You’ll have to be a subscriber though.

My Wine of The Year was simply my favorite top scoring wine I tasted in bottle in 2011. It is in bold letters: the famous second growth St-Estephe, Cos d’Estournel.

I have only tasted 20 bottled wines from Bordeaux’s great 2009 vintage; it was during a tasting at Hong Kong’s Wine Future event. Technically the top bottled wines are not on the market yet since most have not been delivered. But you can still buy them. So I included those 20 tasted to make my choice.

I am sure I will find many more perfect 2009 Bordeaux because the vintage is so very special. It is the greatest modern vintage ever for France’s premier wine region. It’s among THE legends such as 1864, 1865, 1899, 1900, 1929, 1945, and 1961.

I will be tasting all the top wines of 2009 Bordeaux in January and immediately releasing the notes online. The notes will also appear in the Hong Kong Tatler James Suckling Wine Guide next spring.

I loved the Cos ever since I tasted it from barrel in Spring 2010. It was so intense and fruity on the nose with exotic aromas and a captivating depth. Smelling it was like walking into a small spice merchant’s stall in an open market in Morocco. It was full-bodied with a dense tannin and fruit structure, yet it was balanced, fresh and persistent. It was a prefect wine then. And it is now.

My Wine of the Year underlines how Bordeaux historically makes ripe, rich and structured wines that are at the same time agile and fresh. And they have the pedigree to age for centuries. Nowhere else on earth has that history – past or present.

Just think that the president of Cos, Jean-Guillaume Prats, told me the 2009 has an alcohol of 14.8 and a pH of 3.58. That means the wine is rich in alcohol yet incredibly strong in acidity. It’s balanced. And it’s also why the wine remains so fresh. One of the greatest Bordeaux of all time – 1947 Cheval Blanc – had similar alcohol levels and acidity. I wonder if the 2009 Cos will one day will become such a legend?

The first wine on my list is the 2006 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova. This is a vineyard-specific wine from the Giacomo Neri family and proves how fabulous 2006 was for Brunello and Tuscany at large. Its raciness in structure is a tribute to the greatest of the region.

The next wine after my Wine of the Year on the list is a discovery for me, since I only took my first tasting trip to Australia in October with my Australian friend and fellow blogger Ned Goodwin, a master of wine. The 2009 Jasper Hill Shiraz Heathcote Georgia’s Paddock shows what #realaussiewine is about with bold flavors, yet freshness and depth.

Jasper Hill is a fully-fledged biodynamic estate based in Heathcote in the state of Victoria. Owners Ron and Emily Laughton’s unirrigated vineyards are comprised of Shiraz, some Cabernet Franc, Nebbiolo, Grenache, and a smattering of Riesling, although Shiraz expresses itself across the flagship cuvees – Emily’s and Georgia’s Paddock – with resonance and force. I prefer the pure Shiraz of the former in 2009.

The 2004 Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley Kalimna Block 42 (100) is more rare than the Jasper Hill Shiraz, but equally compelling to taste. As I wrote in an Aussie Cabernet tasting report a few weeks back, the Block 42 is part of Penfolds “Special Bin” program and made from vines planted in the mid-1880s, which are still alive and flourishing on their own rootstock. These are what some believe to be the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world. About 500 cases were made. It’s only been made twice: 2004 and 1996.

The 2007 Roberto Voerzio La Serra Barolo (100) was a slight surprise for me when I tasted it last spring. Usually, I prefer his Brunate vineyard, which is located below the town of La Morra in the heart of Piedmont. But the hot and dry weather in 2007 slightly favored the less southwest facing La Serra. Roberto, arguably Italy’s greatest vine grower, agrees wholeheartedly.

The next two wines on the list – 2007 Sine Qua Non Grenache Central Coast Dangerous Birds (100 points) and 2007 Sine Qua Non Syrah Central Coast Dangerous Birds (100 points) – are from winemaking genius Manfred Krankl. The Austrian-born winemaker underlines how the Central Coast of California is now the most exciting region in the state. And his wines are bold and powerful reds, yet bright and focused. “They are what California wines should be,” says Manfred.

Two famous 2009 Bordeaux follow: 2009 Chateau La Fleur-Petrus Pomerol (99 points) and 2009 Chateau Leoville Las Cases St.-Julien (99 points). The former is a benchmark in Pomerol, showing the brilliance of the special area of the region. It is one of the leading estates in the Holy Grail for Merlot. The later is one of the most structured and formidable wines in the Medoc.

California’s Napa Valley made great wines in 2008, even though most everyone prefers 2007. The wines have a little more firmness and balance than the fruit-forward 2007s. The mountain vineyard wine of Colgin Cellars Napa Valley IX Estate (99 points) shows a fabulous backbone of polished tannins as well as a gorgeous depth of fruit. The 2008 Scarecrow Vineyards Napa Valley (99 points) is broader shouldered, which comes from its incredible old, head-pruned vines on the valley floor.

The 2008 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Toscana Masseto (99 points) finishes off my ultimate case of current released wines I tasted this year. The pure Merlot shows layers of fabulous fruit and polished tannins. In some vintages, such as 2008, it is the greatest Merlot on earth.

I hope you enjoy my list of the best dozen wines I tasted in bottle in 2011. Stay tuned for even more tasting notes and reports next year.