That Old Napa Feeling, and Argentina Reaches New Heights: Weekly Tasting Report (Feb 22-28)
The Premiere Napa Valley vintners dinner for international guests highlighted the great contemporary style of Napa wines. (All photos by JamesSuckling.com)
It’s only fitting that the top wines in this report covering the past week’s tastings are all from California. I am here in Napa and happy to be out in the wine world again after two years in Hong Kong without the chance to leave.
My entrance into the United States was memorable. I arrived at U.S. immigration on Tuesday at San Francisco International Airport and the immigration officer asked, “What do you in Hong Kong?”
“I am a wine critic,” I said. I honestly thought about saying something else, figuring that he would never believe I had a job like that or that he wouldn’t understand.
His response? “What do you think of Sauternes? I am big fan of Sauternes.”
He opened my passport. He looked at my name. And then he looked at me in the face with a squint in his eyes to focus more closely. “I know who you are,” he said, taking off his mask and giving me a big smile.
READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF THE USA 2021
We proceeded to talk about Sauternes and Bordeaux for about five minutes. He said how Bordeaux was such good value compared with Napa Valley wines, and how Sauternes is one of the best values in fine wine in the world. He knew his wines. And I was not about to debate anything with him!
“I should tell you that my passport expired in Hong Kong in January. I didn’t even look at my passport for two years,” I said sheepishly. Legally, I could travel on my battered passport directly to San Francisco because of a special directive from the U.S. State Department until March 31, 2022.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a warm smile. “I know who you are! Welcome back to America.”
It was such a good feeling to walk to the baggage claim and grab my stuff. I got my rental car and drove straight to St. Helena in Napa Valley. My wife and I own a house there. It wasn’t long before I was eating at Gott’s Roadside, enjoying what is one of the best hamburgers in America with a half-bottle of Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma Valley 2019. My niece from Seoul, who is working as an assistant winemaker in Sonoma, joined me. It was so good to be back!
I hadn’t really planned to leave Hong Kong, but I thought it was a prudent move with the growing problem with COVID there. I was lucky to get one of the two or three flights to the U.S. directly from Hong Kong. But it was a fortuitous change of plans because the Premiere Napa Valley event was happening and I needed to taste and rate a number of the top wines of California, anyway. We have some tasting notes of the Premiere offerings in this report, but the wines were sold on Saturday.
The day after my arrival in Napa, I attended a small dinner of 30 people to honor some of the international participants at Premiere Napa Valley. Most were wine merchants from Europe and Latin America, but I was happy to see some Koreans as well as my lone representation for Hong Kong.
‘TWO GREAT VINTAGES’: James discusses Napa 2019 and 2018 with Realm Cellars’ Scott Becker and Benoit Touquette.
The handful of reds were mostly from the great 2018 vintage, but the 2017 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley was stunning and highlighted the evolution to more transparent winemaking that I wrote about because Silver Oak reduced the presence of new wood in their wines. The best included the Silver Oak, the 2018 OVID and the Favia Napa Valley Cerro Sur 2018. Check out the tasting notes in this report.
My first official wine visit was to Realm Cellars to meet owner Scott Becker and winemaker Benoit Touquette. They two are very keen on the 2019 vintage, which will be released in a week or two. I tasted the range of wines, and I was curious how they would compare to the 2018s, which had some incredible wines.
“For us, it’s been two great vintages back to back,” Touquette said. “Overall for the vineyards across the valley, fantastic,” he said of 2019. “Perhaps a bit more juicy than ’18.”
Added Becker, who’s celebrating the completion of a new winery at the estate: “You have the ’18 and ’19 in Napa Valley, and then you have Realm Cellars ’18 and ’19. For us, ’19 was almost the capstone to a decade of growth and evolution of the brand and for us. It’s not just to talk about what Mother Nature gave us in ’18 and ’19 but also to think about where Realm is in 2019 now.”
It’s like that in many ways for a number of winemakers in Napa Valley. The 2019 vintage seems to be the pinnacle of quality along with 2018. They are two vintages representing a contemporary type of Napa reds that are focused in balance and harmony with drinkability. Yet they also have the structure to age very, very well. That’s good news for the consumer. I only wish prices were more reasonable.
READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF ARGENTINA 2021
‘BEAUTIFUL PROGRESSION’: Tim Mondavi of Continuum, along with his daughter Carissa, compare Napa’s 2019 vintage with 2018.
Yet sometimes wines are so great that you have to pay the price. A case in point are the wines of Continuum, whose 2018 I rated 100 points. I was eager to taste the 2019 bottling with owner Tim Mondavi and his daughter Carissa. And it was another illustration of how 2019 allowed great winemakers to produce precise and curated wines that emphasize their unique provenance and character. And it shows that the best winemakers are now at the top of their games with their viticulture and winemaking.
“I think that there is a beautiful progression [with 2018 and 2019] of improved vibrancy, elegance, refinement in our wines all the way across,” said Tim. “Everything has to be at the very highest level. And we care for everything, even the young vines, as if they were princes to be kings [old vines] one day.”
Indeed, there are some noble reds on the market, or that are soon to be released, from both vintages. And I don’t think you are going to want to miss getting some. The best of 2019 and 2018 are really new reference points for Napa. A case in point is the Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2019. This is a wine from one of the most historical vineyards of Napa that Joseph Phelps winery made some formidable wines from in the 1970s. And the 2019 harkens back to that historical moment yet illustrates the incredible structure and sophistication possible in the 2019 vintage. It’s a reference point for me now. I tasted the wine with the team of Eisele as well as the president of the estate and Chateau Latour, Frederic Engerer, who was visiting for two days. He said it was “the greatest wine we ever made here.”
I think the two same vintages are going to prove to be benchmarks for Argentina as we continue to taste hundreds of wines from there. So many bottles are at a high level of quality, from $12 malbecs to $125 blends of cabernet franc and malbec. Argentina is reaching new heights of quality, and we have 234 ratings of wines from the country in this report.
In addition, you will find a few dozen Beaujolais and Rhone reds rated by Senior Editor Stuart Pigott as well a few Italians, including the wines from Tim Mondavi’s son Carlo and his soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Giovanna Bagnasco, of the Barolo producer Brandini. The wines are Sori della Sorba Langhe Solo per Amore 2020 and Sori della Sorba Nebbiolo Langhe 2020.
Enjoy the report.
– James Suckling, Chairman/Editor