November 2021 Tasting Report: California and Italy Shine, Plus Another Champagne Moment
We taste up to 800 wines every week at the moment, and we compile our findings into a Weekly Tasting Report. We don’t think any other wine media organization is publishing so many new tasting notes so quickly. Many of the ratings we publish are for wines tasted just the previous day! And because so many of the wines we taste are the latest releases, often not yet available in the market, this ensures that all Premium Subscribers of JamesSuckling.com (who get access to the latest wine scores and tastings notes) are among the first to learn about the newest wines.
We are now also collating all the ratings published in a month in one large single report for your convenience, too. You can read about the wines below, and subscribers can access the scores and tasting notes in the ratings list at the bottom of this article.
We published 1,785 wine ratings in November, from 13 countries. Here’s how the tastings broke down (you can click “sort by” in the notes search engine below to search by each individual country):
Australia – 102
Austria – 13
China – 49
France – 126
Germany – 121
Greece – 4
Hungary – 15
Italy – 261 (Abruzzo, 11; Calabria, 12; Friuli-Venezia, 3; Marche, 11; Northeast, 14; Piedmont, 23; Sardinia, 9; Tuscany, 121 ; Valle d’Aosta, 1; Veneto, 50; Other, 6)
New Zealand – 47
Portugal – 17
South Africa – 110
Spain – 14
United States – 906 (California, 902; Oregon, 2; Virginia, 2)
We uncovered a number of sterling wines in more than a dozen countries during our November tastings, but perfection came sparingly and from the usual suspects: Italy, France, Australia and the United States. Three of the 100-pointers came during the month’s first tasting week – the Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto 2016, Penfolds South Australia g5 NV and Krug Champagne Brut 2008 – while the fourth wine came out of Napa Valley’s highly touted 2019 vintage.
James called the g Penfolds perhaps its “best ever” from a long line of superb bottles (and all of which we’ve rated 100 points), saying it showed “incredible precision, grace and freshness.” The 2008 Krug we loved for its incredible depth and structure (It’s a Champagne for the cellar), while the Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto is one of James’ old favorites. The 2016 vintage, though is “truly amazing,” in James’ estimation.
Our fourth perfect wine of the month, the Aubert Chardonnay Napa Valley Sugar Shack Estate Vineyard 2019, comes from a vintage that continues to impress us with the rich wines it produced, almost all with great energy and form. This bottle also came in at No. 5 in our Top 100 Wines of 2021 list, and is one of the eight stunning single-vineyard chardonnays Aubert made from the 2019 vintage. You can check out our list below for the others.
The Aubert chard was one of 906 wines we tried from California during the month – easily the largest amount of wines from any region (or country, for that matter) that we tasted (Italy came second, with 261 wines tasted). Although much of our tastings involved Napa 2018 and 2019 reds, we also delved into a California wine region that is sometimes overlooked – Sonoma – as well as the Anderson Valley AVA, which is producing sparkling wines at the same quality level as many excellent Champagnes.
Like in Napa, Sonoma producers including Arnot-Roberts, Pax, Kosta Browne, Littorai and Paul Hobbs are also high on their 2018 and 2019 vintages, which they consider superb years. Chardonnays from 2019 in particular come with beautiful texture and restraint, and pinot noirs from the same vintage have such great balance, with tight integration of fine tannins. Littorai’s Pinot Noir Sonoma County Sonoma Coast the Haven Vineyard 2019 is a great example of the latter, as is Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Allen Vineyard 2019.
Pax and Arnot-Roberts, meanwhile, showcase the coast’s ability to make staggeringly elegant, cool-site syrah. Each of the many varietals produced in Sonoma show a consistent footprint of the specific sites that provide fruit for the area’s top wines, with diversity, restraint and finesse across the board. These are all wines you should be considering for your holiday list.
Of the Italian wines we rated in November, Tasting Editor Jo Cooke found a few tempting amarones, including Zeni Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Nino Zeni 2015 and Guerrieri Rizzardi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Villa Rizzardi Riserva 2015 – the latter a super, linear, modern-style Amarone that is 16.5 percent alcohol but doesn’t feel it at all.
Jo also took on a few verticals of Suavia wines (read his special report here) with his tastings highlighting how the Soave category, traditionally known as a cheap and cheerful style, is starting to enter higher levels of quality.
You already know that New Zealand delivered our top wine of 2021, but our weekly tasting reports during November also uncovered a few more delights, including the Ata Rangi Pinot Noir Martinborough 2019, whose powerful palate, full of red and dark cherry notes, tells the story of a great pinot, and the Craggy Range Pinot Noir Martinborough Aroha Te Muna 2020, which Contributing Editor Nick Stock touted as “a very stylish, plump and fleshy pinot.”
AUSTRALIA’S BEST
Australia was also on our radar, with South Australia’s Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay Macedon Ranges 2019 a wonderfully fresh and complex bottle we rated highly, as we did a number of offerings from Clarendon Hills, including bottlings of its Astralis syrah, Blewitt Springs grenache and the Clarendon Old Vines grenache. And a bottle from Western Australia to consider is the Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec Margaret River Tom Cullity 2018, which Nick described as “a great edition of the top cabernet blend from Vasse Felix.”
And what Monthly Tasting Report would be complete without a few extra Champagnes? Senior Editor had more new discoveries besides the Krug Champagne Brut 2008, with his other top picks being the Charles Heidsieck Champagne Millésimé Brut Rosé 2008, which he described as “amazing,” closely followed by the Pommery Champagne Cuvée Louise Nature 2006 and Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Blanc de Blancs 2009.
We also went off the beaten track to explore the emerging wine nation of Hungary. This included a tasting of the best wine we’ve ever tasted from the Central European country, the Royal Tokaji Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos Nyulászó 2017, which we found to be a “complex and thought-provoking” dessert wine.
Finally, the Hong Kong office went deep into South African wines during the month, trying everything from amphora-made chardonnays to juicy pinotage, and we found a lot of drinkability at good prices, including the Mullineux Chenin Blanc Swartland Granite 2020 and the Dornier Stellenbosch Donatus 2017. We only wish we had found more top-scoring wines. Maybe the last 200 or so we have left to taste will yield more classic quality.
In all, there was much to like in November, and we also published a few country-specific Top 100 reports (in addition to our World Top 100). So far we’ve given the low-down on France, Spain, New Zealand, Italy, Germany and Chile, with several more countries to come. So stay tuned, as we’ll have them all posted by Christmas!
– Vincent Morkri
Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score, and alphabetically by winery name, and can search for specific wines in the search bar.