Weekly Tasting Report (Sept 21-27): A 'Milestone' German Pinot and Spain’s Big Names Lead from Front
2018 Mencias from Descendientes de J. Palacios rated well in our recent tastings, showing what can be achieved with time and focus. (Photo by JamesSuckling.com)
“Breathtaking,” “astonishingly long,” “opulent” and “striking”: The top wines in our tastings over the past week inspired some effusive praise from our tasters, and while there was no perfect (100-point) wine among the more than 500 tasted, 10 were rated 98 or 99 points and 75 received scores of 95 or above.
The focus was on Germany and Spain, with the former revealing a new level of quality for pinot noir from the 2019 vintage. Senior Editor Stuart Pigott discovered two pinots from Baden that, due to the hot and dry growing season in 2019, revealed exceptional concentration. “Pinot fans who haven’t yet registered the recent developments in Germany are strongly advised to taste this masterpiece,” he said of the Bernhard Huber Spätburgunder Baden Wildenstein GG 2019.
The Bernard Huber Spätburgunder Baden Schlossberg GG 2019 was similarly excellent: “A milestone of finesse for German pinot noir!” Stuart wrote.
Meanwhile, the Rheingau superstar Eva Fricke was also on the radar. Having produced two perfect 100-point wines out of the 2019 vintage, she followed those up with two excellent 2020 rieslings that were “extremely complex and pristine” (Eva Fricke Riesling Rheingau Krone Trocken 2020) and “super-ripe” and “remarkable” (Eva Fricke Riesling Rheingau Schlossberg Auslese 2020), underlining the greatness of the 2020s from the Rheingau.
WORLD-CLASS PINGUS
Editor James Suckling and his team in Hong Kong continued with tastings from Spain (look out for that report coming soon), the highlight of which was the 2019 Pingus from Dominio de Pingus. “Another world-class Pingus,” James said of the wine that is still a little young at present but will in a few years open up into something truly great. The second wine from this estate, Flor de Pingus, comes very close in quality to the top wine too, with a “luxurious and captivating” mouthfeel.
Don’t miss several other classic Riojas from the likes of Lopez de Heredia and Marquis de Murrieta. “The white from Lopez de Heredia, the Reserva Viña Tondonia White 2010, is really something to watch out for and well-priced at less than US$60 per bottle,” James said.
And a special mention must also go to the CUNE Rioja Imperiale Gran Reserva 2015, which showed fantastic structure and length. “One of the best Imperiale Gran Reservas in a very long time,” James wrote of this wine from the independent artisanal winery that is only produced in exceptional years.
Two single-vineyard Mencias from Descendientes de J. Palacios also rated well, with the 2018 medium-bodied wines showing what can be achieved with time and focus. Alvaro Palacios deliberately sought out old vines on steep slopes at high altitude when he arrived in the region in the 1990s, and focused less on extraction and more on highlighting terroir personality. The results are now proof of his foresight. Ricardo Perez, who runs the estate along with his uncle Alvaro, is also one of the first producers in Spain to farm his vineyards following biodynamic principles.
Similarly, Dominio de Es made some beautifully balanced and highly rated 2019 reds from Ribera del Duero that showed great purity and wonderful texture. Check out the tasting notes below.
Moving eastward in Europe, James also tasted the two Philipponnat Champagnes released on La Place de Bordeaux last week, which included 900 bottles of the late disgorged 1996 Clos des Goisses Extra Brut LV. They are worth buying just for their scarcity value. Bordeaux wine merchants have been increasing their selections of non-Bordeaux wines for years now but it was the first time they offered Champagne. Charles Philipponnat said they decided to work with La Place to “reach more collectors and special customers,” but will continue collaborating with their global importers and customers.
THREE GREAT YEARS: Tasting the 2016-18 vintages of Pym-Rae with owner Justine Tesseron.
We also continued our tastings of Napa Valley’s exceptional recent vintages, and the Pym-Rae Tesseron Estate wines from 2018, ’17 and ’16 were no exceptions. These were all rich, full-bodied and even decadent. You can watch James’ Zoom interview, above, with Justine Tesseron, whose family purchased the Napa estate from the late actor Robin Williams in 2016. The 2017 version of their flagship wine was just released, although you may want to wait a couple years to uncork it.
And among our tastings of Italian wines over the past week, the late release Parusso Barolo Bussia Riserva 2000 was the standout. It’s only available in magnum and shows all the dried fruits and earthy, umami notes of the best from Piedmont. It’s a beautiful bottle.
Finally, Contributing Editor Nick Stock got through about 100 tastings of Australian wines, among them some top names including the Murdoch Hill Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills Apollo 2020, which showed great concentration and elegance, and the Tapanappa Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Piccadilly Valley Tiers Vineyard 2020, which comes from a parcel that really overachieved in 2020.
Those are the highlights this week – as ever you can find all the scores and tasting notes below when you log in with a Premium Membership. Until next week!
– James Durston, Senior Editor
The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the previous 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.