The vineyards at Sonoma Coast producer Littorai. (Photographs by JamesSuckling.com)
Two of the JamesSuckling.com Tasting Team members, Associate Editor Nathan Slone and Director and Board Member William McIlhenny, have been busy the last 10 days visiting some of the best wine producers in Sonoma, particularly for pinot noir and chardonnay. They covered top names such as Arnot-Roberts, Kosta Browne, Littorai, Paul Hobbs, Williams Selyem and Wayfarer, mostly tasting wines from the 2018 and 2019 vintages. The Sonoma producers consider both years to be superb, and after our tastings we must agree.
In 2019, the final third of the growing season was uneventful, with slightly cooler temperatures toward the coast. This helped yield pristine, ripe fruit that gave many wines a more delicate and, for now, more closed profile than the richer 2018s – a year that gave higher yields with a long, smooth and warm run-up to harvest. This was true for the chardonnays, with their beautiful textures, restraint, and acid, as well as the pinots, with their balance and great integration of fine tannins.
Top producers near the coast in western Sonoma continue to make wines with precision, beauty and restraint that could redefine California wines. We feel so enthusiastic about what’s happening now and what we expect in years ahead. We were impressed by so much of what we tried, like Littorai’s The Haven Pinot Noir. Pax and Arnot-Roberts showcase the coast’s ability to make staggeringly elegant, cool site syrah. With Arnot-Roberts we enjoyed a trip back in time, tasting their outstanding and rich 2007 Chalk Hill cab alongside the sleeker, incredibly refined, lower alcohol 2018, which defines their praiseworthy approach today. Other wines that grabbed our attention include Paul Hobbs Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Goldrock Estate Cuvée Louisa 2019, Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Allen Vineyard 2019, and Kosta Browne Pinot Noir 4 Barrels 2018 – all showstoppers.
READ MORE: TASTING THE TRAUMATIC 2017 VINTAGE (AND OTHERS) IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Across a wide range of Sonoma AVAs, producers and varietals (including more esoteric offerings like trousseau and ribolla gialla), we were struck by both the differences in expression of the 2018 and 2019 vintages and by the consistent footprint of the specific sites that provide fruit for the area’s top wines.
Our tastings and site visits renewed and increased the excitement we conveyed in Nick Stock’s 2019 Sonoma report. We’re talking diversity, restraint and finesse across the board, and whites with amazing phenolics and texture. These were some of the most aromatic chardonnays we have tried, often a function of precise winemaking with a slightly oxidative approach that emphasizes aging in large neutral wood vessels. Wood management is something on producers’ minds and they are getting it right. You should be seeking out these wines now. They represent such great quality, style and value.
TASTING ROYAL TOKAJI: Taster Claire Nesbitt chats with Royal Tokaji’s Zoltan Kovacs on the Hungarian vintner’s latest offerings.
Back in Hong Kong, the team discovered the best wine we’ve ever tasted from Hungary. The Royal Tokaji Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos Nyulászó 2017 is a “complex and thought-provoking” dessert wine with “spicy and earthy notes of ginseng, dried pineapple, candied citrus, fig and toffee apple.”
Royal Tokaji makes small batches – only 5,500 bottles were made of this wine – but they show what can be achieved in this emerging wine nation. Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt interviewed Royal Tokaji’s Zoltan Kovacs via Zoom to find out what makes for a great Hungarian wine.
James enjoyed some further Italian tastings, with Bibi Graetz’s 2020 Colore and Testamatta wines showing some interesting mineral and fine-textured qualities, while in Italy Jo Cooke took on a few verticals of Suavia wines (read his special report here). His tastings highlighted how the Soave category, traditionally known as a cheap and cheerful style, is starting to enter higher levels of quality thanks to people like the Tessari sisters – Meri, Valentina and Alessandra – who have run the Suavia winery since the early 2000s and are pushing these wines into new territory.
Contributing Editor Nick Stock in Australia continues his tastings of Aussie and Kiwi wines, the highlights over the past week being Ata Rangi’s Pinot Noir Martinborough 2019, whose powerful palate, full of red and dark cherry notes, really told the story of this great pinot, and South Australia’s Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay Macedon Ranges 2019, which showed intense complexity and wonderful freshness.
Finally, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott’s top wine tasted in Germany was a 32-year-old white, from Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert). This Herrenberg Trockenbeerenauslese riesling from 1989 offered “fabulous concentration, an amazingly velvety texture, the finish a cornucopia of exotic fruit,” and could well age for decades more. Stuart also tasted a 1921 riesling from the same producer, which was similarly memorable, with its “incredible aromas of tarte tatin, old balsamic vinegar, dried apricot and mango.”
Find the scores and tasting notes for all these and many more wines rated over the last week in the list below, which is open to Premium Members.
– James Durston, Executive 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.
