Tuscany’s Newfound Freshness, Alsace’s Grand Cru Rieslings and Intriguing Albariños: Weekly Tasting Report (June 8-14)
Some of the best and most iconic wines of Tuscany are featured in this weekly report, with names such as Luce and Solaia shining brightly on our tasting room tables. I am in Il Borro in my house about one hour south of Florence, and our tasting office nearby is filled with more than 2,000 wines to taste from all over Italy. Most of the bottles are from Tuscany and most are from the excellent vintages of 2018, 2019 and 2020.
We – Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt, Tasting Manager Kevin Davy and I – have already spent time tasting with and interviewing a number of Tuscany’s winemakers and they all seem elated with the quality of the vintages. I am also happy to see them talking less about Tuscany as a whole in regard to vintage quality and being more specific about regions such as Chianti Classico and the Tuscan coast, such as Bolgheri.
“You can’t generalize about Tuscany, especially with the extremes of climate change,” said Renzo Cotarella, the head of winemaking for Antinori. He said that 2019 was one of the best vintages in Bolgheri while more refined wines came from Chianti Classico, which is more continental or mountainous in climate type. “The sea [in Bolgheri] helps even when it’s hot and acts as a thermal flywheel,” he said. “It results in a longer days for ripening.”
READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF ITALY 2021
Indeed, we have found the 2018 in Chianti Classico to be better than 2019 so far in our tastings, with the wines showing attractive fruit and less defined and complex tannins. The 2018s are better structured with more linear character and complexity. For example, all the superb single-vineyard 2019 Chianti Classicos in the report from Ricasoli are great wines, but just a tiny bit less superb than the 2018s (which were released last year), in our opinion.
Another observation from the Chianti world is that we discovered some fantastic single-vineyard Chianti Rufinas in 2018 brandishing the new Terraelectae designation. This is similar to Chianti Classico’s Gran Selezione as the top moniker for Chianti Rufina.
To be labeled as Terraelectae, the wine must be pure sangiovese from a single vineyard and aged a minimum of two years in wood. The first year the category can be used is 2018. The two Terraelectae we tasted on Tuesday from Frescobaldi were pretty sensational: Frescobaldi Chianti Rufina Vigna Montesodi Terraelectae Riserva 2018 and Frescobaldi Chianti Rufina Vigna Montesodi Terraelectae Riserva 2019.
We tasted almost 250 wines from Italy over the past week, and it was great to be back in the country. We found that many wines are showing a newfound freshness and vibrant structure that makes us excited to taste more. And it makes Tuscan winemakers themselves enthusiastic about their wines. “People don’t want to drink heavy wines like in the past,” said Cotarella. “They want freshness and drinkability. That’s what I want, too.”
Cotarella also showed us a new single-vineyard chardonnay from Umbria from the same place as the excellent Antinori white Cervaro della Sala: the Marchesi Antinori Umbria Nibbio 2019. It’s the first bottling of the wine that will be released in 2022 and it is one of the best young chardonnays I have ever tasted from Italy. The vineyard of 1.5 hectares has a northeast exposure to the sun at about 510 meters altitude, making it a cool place to grow the grapes.
ALSATIAN CLARITY
Staying in Europe, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott began his annual deep dive into the wines of Alscace, in the east of France, and some of the first he tried showed why he looks forward to this tasting marathon each year.
“The Grand Cru dry rieslings from Dirler-Cade from the 2020 vintage have the combination of power, expressiveness and clarity we associate with Alsace riesling in a very high form,” Stuart said. “I first visited this producer back in the late 1980s and they were already pioneers of single-vineyard, terroir-driven wines. Now they’re really perfecting that.”
Among the dry rieslings, the other standout wines were the Grand Cru Rangen and Grand Cru Kastelberg from Julien Schaal’s 2021 vintage.
“That was a surprise, because 2021 has the reputation of having been challenging,” Stuart said. “Both those sites are steeply sloping with exceptionally stony soil. The big question is if that’s the path to greatness in 2021, or could gentle slopes with deeper soils also give exciting wines?”
Stuart will be in Alsace next week visiting producers to taste some of the best new wines of the region and to try to answer that big 2021 question.
READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF FRANCE 2021
Domaine Barmes-Buecher was another producer that stood out thanks to a trio of exceptionally light-footed Grand Cru gewurztraminers. “If all Alsace Gewurztraminer was as elegant and balanced as the Domaine Barmes-Buecher Grand Cru Steingrubler 2019, then this grape wouldn’t have any image problems.”
In recent years, Alsace has returned to its traditional dry and mineral style with riesling and has pushed pinot gris in a drier and more food-friendly direction. However, gewurztraminer has remained stubbornly heavy and sweet. That, along with its extravagant aromas and tendency to bitterness, mean it clashes with 21st-century drinking habits and numerous culinary styles.
No wonder that when the virus led to lockdowns in the spring of 2020 and tourism to Alsace’s historic towns and villages stopped, sales of Alsace gewurztraminer crashed. That resulted in a glut, bulk wine prices fell sharply and vineyards were dug up. Although it has bounced back somewhat since then due to the return of tourism, Alsace gewurztraminer remains in a difficult spot. Perversely, it is still widely considered the signature grape of the region.
Take a look at sales outside the region – whether in Paris, New York or Hong Kong – and the reality on the ground is that riesling is the new signature grape of the region. There’s a simple explanation for this too: the consistently dry and refreshing style of Alsace riesling.
How appropriate that the Dirler-Cadé Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Kitterlé Terre 2020 is the most exciting wine Stuart has tasted from this region so far this year!
SLEEK ALBARIÑOS
Finally, from our Hong Kong office, fresh and tangy albariños came into focus, delivering some sleek, creamy yet mineral and saline expressions from a few outstanding producers such as Attis, Zarate and a new project, Sal da Terra – a collaboration among the wine writer Jamie Goode, his friends Daniel Primack and Ben Henshaw, and Eulogio Pomares of Zarate.
We love the saline, briny characters of many of these wines. The Sal da Terra Albariño Rías Baixas 2020 is pure, elegant and complex with a dialed-in oyster shell minerality to the green and white fruit. The Zárate Albariño Rías Baixas El Palomar 2020 is another intense and zesty albariño with nuanced aromas. The depth of flavors from the century-old vines is the highlight, making it taste riper, more generous and concentrated. And if you’re looking for a sterling example of a creamier, more eclectic yet bright albariño, don’t miss the Attis Bodegas y Viñedos Albariño Rías Baixas Nana 2019. We loved it for its intriguing nose, which showed a combination of flinty lemon fruit, creamy lees and a coloring of fine toast. Most important, it’s the verve on the palate and the texture that makes it so delicious and irresistible.
Among the reds we tried in Hong Kong, the Bodegas Roda Rioja Cirsion 2019 was our top-scoring bottle. We believe this profound, layered and dense Rioja, coming from a precise and meticulous selection of old vines around 60 to 80 years old, epitomizes how a modern Rioja producer can become a classic, with superb and consistent quality.
Bodegas Roda’s managing director, Agustin Santolaya, told us a few weeks ago that 2019 might be the best vintage since 2001. After the cool and wet 2018, 2019 was a warm and dry vintage, which gives this vinous, embryonic but silky Rioja even more natural concentration and power. It is one of the best Cirsions we’ve tried, and it will age effortlessly.
Santolaya said that about 10 percent graciano was added to tempranillo in the 2019, helping the wine find an even greater level of freshness with lower pH. It is incredibly persistent and approachable now with its fine, satin-like tannins, but we suggest you wait until 2025, then enjoy for at least the next decade.
– James Suckling, Editor/Chairman; Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor; and Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor
The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by James Suckling and the 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.