We rated 624 wines over the past week, with three of the JamesSuckling.com tasting team members making a deep dive into Oregon as we tapped into the latest 2021 and 2022 vintage releases. Our efforts didn’t go unrewarded, as we turned up dozens of absolutely top-quality wines that we strongly recommend. Executive Editor Jim Gordon, Associate Editor Andrii Stetsiuk and Tasting Manager Kevin Davy spent six days based in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, visiting wineries and vineyards and tasting wines from the whole state but with an emphasis on the Willamette Valley. We rated more than 180 pinot noir, chardonnay and sparkling wines plus a handful of other types.
Pinot noir was the star of the show, though, with the rollout of 2021 offerings, along with some 2022s, filling in what was a large gap in last year’s tastings when many 2020 pinot noirs were adversely affected by wildfire smoke and never bottled. The new wave of vibrant, medium-bodied Oregon chardonnays also continued.
The top-rated pinot noirs out of the 127 in this week’s report came from several well-established wineries, including Soter Vineyards, Domaine Serene, Ponzi and The Eyrie Vineyard along with newer producers doing fabulous work, like Nicolas Jay and Rose & Arrow. One of the two highest scores went to the well-aged, perfectly developed Soter Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton Mineral Springs Vineyard 2008, which proves again the ageability of the region’s best wines.
The highest-rated new releases of pinot noir are dominated by the 2021 vintage, which was a relief for winemakers after the smoky 2020. “It was not an astronomically warm season, and we had lots of hang time and could pick things when we wanted to,” said Jay Bomberg, co-owner of Nicolas Jay winery. “We were owed a good one, and we got one.” His Nicolas Jay Pinot Noir McMinnville Momtazi Vineyard 2021 is a great example, showing pungent, wild, herbal aromas and what Jim called “fine-grained tannins and a linear feel that balances the ample fruit and spice flavors.”
Rose & Arrow produced the top-scoring 2021 pinot in this report. Their Rose & Arrow Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills Stonecreek 2021 makes up for skipping both the 2019 and 2020 vintages. Jim visited their vineyards with Ian Lombard, and said this wine offers “very dense, concentrated aromas of black fruit, oak spices, hints of pine forest and turned earth, then saturated black cherries, sour cherries, blueberries and mint.”
Oregon chardonnay remains a bit under the radar for a lot of consumers, but retailers, sommeliers and serious Oregon wine aficionados are tuned in now, recognizing the vibrancy, crisp acidity and great focus of these wines, which usually range from 13 to 13.9 percent alcohol. The best our team tasted last week out of 45 in this report included an opulent but elegant Bergstrom Chardonnay Willamette Valley Sigrid 2021 that Jim found “relatively light in body, creamy and ethereal in texture.”
Also look for outstanding 2021 chardonnays from the likes of Soter, Ponzi, Domaine Serene, Hazelfern and Antica Terra. Maggie Harrison of Antica Terra expanded her chardonnay bottlings to three that year because the fruit was so good. The new one, the Antica Terra Chardonnay Willamette Valley Abeona 2021, is wonderfully energized and linear.
And don’t miss several terrific sparkling wines, like the Gran Moraine Oregon Blanc de Blancs 2016, a few good examples of pinot gris, and rarities like pinot meunier and chasselas dore from The Eyrie Vineyard. Perhaps most unusual was a blend of pinot noir and cabernet franc – the Ayoub Willamette Valley Mojo 2022 tasted polished and refined with a peppery lift.
BEAUJOLAIS’ 2022 COUP
Senior Editor Stuart Pigott continued his annual research trip to Beaujolais and was amazed by how the hot and dry 2022 vintage has been the best so far for a number of the region’s rising stars. Nowhere was that more striking than at Chateau de La Chaize, which on paper is in Brouilly but is actually a world unto itself. The name doesn’t tell you that this is one of the most beautiful wine chateaux in France and the world, set on extensive grounds plus the largest privately owned vineyard holdings in the entire region, a total of 150 hectares.
Winemaker and director Boris Gruy has pulled off a coup with the 2022 vintage, making his most suave and elegant wines to date. The underplayed power and precision of the entire row of wines Stuart tasted deeply impressed him. He was particularly knocked out by the new top wine of the estate, the Château de La Chaize Brouilly Clos de La Chaize Monopole 2022, which has incredible concentration of sour cherry, cassis and forest berry aromas. The incredibly long finish is compact and energetic.
It comes from old vines on the steep clos vineyard directly behind the chateau which is surrounded by a high wall. This is one of just four clos-type vineyards in France that are national historic monuments. The wine is matured in a single concrete egg and is therefore very limited in production. However, the Château de La Chaize Brouilly La Chaize 2022 is hot on its heels and easier to track down. Considering that Boris’s uncle, Christophe Gruy, only purchased the property in 2017, this is remarkable progress!
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A contrasting example of a producer pushing to new heights is the well-established Dominique Piron in Morgon, where the team of proprietor Julien Revillon and winemaker Pierre Meunier have successfully broken the rules with their Dominique Piron Fleurie La Madone 2022. What makes it so extraordinary is how the wine manages to be flamboyant with an almost decadent aroma of Amarena cherry, yet also so well balanced you don’t taste the 15.5 percent alcohol. The texture on the palate is extraordinary and totally different from the majority of this producer’s excellent wines, which shine through their combination of finely-chiseled tannins and restrained aromas.
It is the first vintage from a 1.16-hectare parcel in one of Beaujolais’s steepest sites. Much of the production goes into the company’s excellent regular Fleurie, but the best part goes into a 1,000-liter ceramic egg, resulting in this unique wine. La Madone is one of the sites in Fleurie that may soon acquire premier cru status. Both Fleurie and Brouilly have submitted applications for premier cru designations. At present the 10 crus form the pinnacle of the region. Stuart will have more on this in his forthcoming Beaujolais report.
Jean-Baptiste Bachevillier, who markets wines under his own name and that of Domaine de Mont Joly, is not only a very talented young winemaker, he is also one of the great explorers of the Beaujolais-Villages appellation that sits between the crus and generic Beaujolais in the hierarchy of the region’s wines.
J.B., as he’s called in the region, is based in Blace, one of a handful of villages entitled to use the village name instead of the word Villages. His Domaine de Mont Joly Beaujolais-Blacé 85.45 2021 was just released and is one of the high points of the challenging 2021 vintage. Its savory and earthy aromas are fascinating, and the awesome finish glides over your palate.
What makes it so special? Well, the hill of Mont Joly is certainly one of the best locations within the very large swathe of the Beaujolais-Village appellation, and this parcel of vines planted pre-1945 sit on gneiss soil. The main rock of Beaujolais is a pink-speckled granite. Gneiss is chemically similar to granite but has a layered structure. J.B. also made one of the best dry whites Stuart ever tasted from this region, the Domaine de Mont Joly Beaujolais-Blacé Blanc les Blancs 2023.
Yohan Lardy in Moulin-á-Vent had already bottled all but one of this 2023s and this enabled Stuart to get a really good feel for this vintage. The wines are less structured than the 2022s with a brighter acidity, and they will please those looking for wines with the lightness that Beaujolais is famous for. The Yohan Lardy Moulin-à-Vent Les Michelons 2023 has these qualities in the highest form, proving that 2023 gave some seriously concentrated and expressive wines.
REVISITING CURLY FLAT
Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW revisited a cool-climate Australian producer, Curly Flat, whose pinot noir he first tried in 2002, likening its ferrous tannic pull to better expressions of Gevrey-Chambertin. Ned relished reacquainting himself with their expanded suite of pinot, including three cuvees – the Curly Flat Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges, Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges Central and Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges Western. The latter two are fidelitous representations of two salient components from among the 11 plots that comprise the first. All are 2022s.
The Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges is arguably the most complete of the wines, engendered by a sappy core of red fruit suggestive of the western component, and a taut confluence of tannin embellished more, perhaps, by the fruit from the central sector. A subtle hint of herbal whole-bunch grittiness and a slake of refreshing acidity across the back end make for a pinot that stands to unravel and age well.
Disseminating the other two parts, the Western hails from the coolest, eastern facing sub-plot of the estate’s plantings. The fruit spectrum is distinctly more red, which stands to reason. Yet the wine feels considerably softer than the other two, without quite the tannic mettle. This is likely because physiological ripeness is more marginal here, risking astringency and greenness if extracted too zealously.
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Visiting Californian winemaker and sommelier Tim Smith, who was tasting alongside Ned, averred that the Western is “the most charming of the triumvirate straight off the bat.” But while the svelte pinot is attractive in general, tannin is required to placate the fruit sweetness to give a welcome impression of savoriness over sweetness.
Meanwhile the Central plot is planted to all MV-6 clone, a later ripener that bequeaths no shortage of toothsome chewiness. Subsequently, it is the firmest of the three iterations, boasting sassafras, a darker brood, fecund strawberry and ample red fruits, with a firm scape of tannin, impeccably extracted and accentuated further by whole-bunch grittiness and a verdant interplay of dill and garden herb. A little shins and knees at this stage, the wine should age very well across the mid-term.
Like most French, Ned likes to taste white wine after reds, believing this approach confers a certain refreshment to the end of a long day. He was rewarded with a stunning Chardonnay 2022, boasting “fruit, flare and compression wrapped into a classy interplay of cantaloupe, praline, hazelnut and Mirabelle … nothing hard, too soft or brittle, although the oak is still apparent.” It will meld with patience.
– Jim Gordon, Stuart Pigott and Ned Goodwin MW contributed reporting.
