Two reference points for fine wine this year were found in our tasting of 579 wines last week including the ultra-rare German wine, Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert) Riesling Mosel Herrenberg Trockenbeerenauslese Nr. 221 (Auction wine) 2018, and Italy’s iconic Amarone, Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella Monte Lodoletta 2015. The two wines absolutely wowed our two editors, Stuart Pigott in Germany and Jo Cooke in Italy.
I was wowed myself (I used “wow” in the tasting note) with the new release from Tuscany’s Sette Ponti, Tenuta Sette Ponti Toscana Oreno 2019. It may be the estate’s best yet and shows the incredible quality of merlot in the region of Valdarno di Sopra. Petrolo’s pure merlot, Galatrona, has shed light for some time on the grape in the region, which is about 40 minutes south of Florence. But Oreno has increased the percentage of merlot in its 2019 blend to 50 percent, and the owner, Antonio Moretti, says that the “grape is just too good to use less.” Expect to see the cabernet sauvignon in the blend to go down more. Perhaps even a pure merlot from Sette Ponti?
However, the wine I really want to taste is the 2015 Amarone from Dal Forno. The son of founder Romano Dal Forno is now running the estate, which appears to be making bold Amarone, but with more tension and focus. He says the 2015 starts a string of great wines from great vintages.
“With the 2015, 2016 and 2017 vintages, we have three great years in a row for our Amarone and Valpolicella, said Marco Dal Forno. “Not in terms of quantity, because we suffered from hail in all three years. But in terms of quality, we are really happy with all three vintages. They are all showing different qualities at the moment. The 2015 we love because it is certainly muscular, but with the muscles of a sprinter. The 2016 is a little fatter in texture. The 2017 [more closely] resembles the 2015. We are also happy with the 2018, which we just bottled, but it’s too early to say.”
Dal Forno’s Valpolicellas are equally impressive for the appellation but are not usually at the stellar levels of the Amarone. Marco explained that they use the same vineyard for the Valpo, but younger vines and slightly fewer good plots.
“The Amarone is sourced from the best crus and the oldest vineyard plots, with an average age of 20 to 25 years,” he said. “The Valpolicella comes from the same vineyard areas, but we don’t regard it as a second wine. We put just as much time and effort into the Valpolicella as we do the Amarone. Eighty percent of the quality we achieve is born in the vineyard and 80 percent of our working time is spent in the vineyard, too.”
The drying technique for the Dal Forno wines is crucial for their exceptional quality. The warehouse for drying the grapes is very high technique, with heating and fans as well as temperature control. The Amarone is dried for 90 days, vinified in stainless steel vats and put into new barriques still with residual sugar, so slow fermentation continues for 18 months in the barrel. Total barrique time is 24 months. Valpolicella is similar, but the grapes are only dried for 45 days.
“We purposefully try to make our wines unique, so that in any blind tastings people can identify our wines,” he said.
The uniqueness of some of the wines from Germany’s Saar River that Stuart Pigott rated last week were certainly on the same quality level. They included Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert), Zilliken and Egon Muller-Scharzhof. These are classic names that Stuart and I have been drinking and tasting since the early 1980s. And their 2020 releases look very close in quality to their terrific 2019s, especially their tiny-production wines for auction, such as the Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert) Riesling mentioned at the beginning of the story.
A slew of exciting dry and off-dry rieslings were also made in the Mosel in 2020. The wines are a bit sleeker and crisper than the 2019s, but full of character and very clean. At their best they match the 2019s, but the 2020 vintage is less consistently impressive. Yields were on the generous side, though not as high as in 2018. In spite of the extreme drought in 2020 (the third drought year in a row) there were few signs of drought stress in the wines. If the 2020 vintage had not immediately followed the stunning 2019, then people would already be acclaiming it as an excellent vintage, but it’s already in the shadow of its predecessor. However, particularly for regional and village dry wines as well as the off-dry Kabinett and Spätlese it’s clearly a big success.
Contributing Editor Nick Stock tasted a number of Australian wines, and I was impressed to see such high scores for wines from the early 2000s for the old-vine shiraz of Kaesler in the Barossa Valley. These were wines that some people, especially Australian winemakers, criticized for being over-extracted and too dense. They even said they were made for the American market. Yet the wines are showing “fresh” and “vivid” character now with age, Nick commented. Stay tuned for a story next week on the small vertical tasting of Kaesler Shiraz Barossa Valley Old Bastard.
If you like Soave, don’t miss all the excellent ratings from Jo on some of the top names including Coffele, Gini, Pieropan, and Ca’ Rugate. Both 2020 and 2019 made some excellent wines. There are lots of Valpolicellas as well.
There’s also a new and unique white from Italy’s Alto Adige I rated last week – Nals Margreid Alto Adige Nama 2016. It’s a small-production blend of mostly chardonnay with pinot bianco and sauvignon blanc. It’s fermented mostly in stainless steel vats then aged in 320-liter new barrels for 18 months, another year in stainless and then another two years in bottle. About 1,800 bottles and 50 magnums are made. It competes with some of the other super cuvees of the region, such as Cantina Terlan Pinot Bianco Alto Adige Rarity or St. Michael-Eppan Alto Adige Appius. Check out the Zoom session I had with Gottfried Pollinger, the general director of Nals Margreid, to find out more about the wine.
ITALIAN SPLENDOR: Gottfried Pollinger, the general director of Nals Margreid, talks with James about the Alto Adige Nama 2016.
Finally, I have been reviewing hundreds of Tuscan wines with my team in Hong Kong, and plenty of outstanding wines are available, mostly from the 2018 and 2019 vintages. The former is a much more balanced year than the hot 2017, the structured 2016 or the fruit-forward 2015. And I am impressed by their finesse and early drinkability. I also have been tasting hundreds of Chianti Classicos from normal bottlings and Gran Selezione. Stay tuned for a tasting report on the latter next week.
Hope you find some awesome bottles in the list below. More to come as always.
– James Suckling, Chairman/Editor
The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the previous week by James and 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.
