“The Polygon 5 is grown on a schist-dominant site, and the thread of tannin between the 2018 and 2019 shows a lineage of assertive, focused tannins. At no point, however, do they intrude on or impede the flow of the fruit. This 2019 Polygon 5 Grenache is supple, buoyant and spicy. It steps outside of the expected Grenache territory for the Barossa and treads a dangerously elegant and fine line. Thrilling. It has savory red fruits: salted redcurrants, pomegranate, raspberry. Wild. Layered. Earthy. Big, yes. Drink: 2022-2036. 96+ points”
“This 2020 Spice Garden Shiraz, like the other premium Alkina Shirazes will certainly split the crowd. Some will be titillated by its purity and febrile nature. Others will pine for the density and volume that Barossa Shiraz can deliver. It’s important to know what you’re walking into before you do it. I’m in the former camp. This features succulent, chewy fruit grown on limestone (90% of the blend) and schist (10% of the blend); the neighboring clay-based Polygon was excluded as it was thought to overpower the detail in Polygons 10 and 11. This is exceptional. It is supple, pliable and exciting, with layers of exotic spice, layers of fat, clove, star anise, red licorice and mulberry. Balanced. It’s good for the Barossa, this wine. It shows the great thing about the Barossa that made it famous: concentration. But it does so in an elegant, medium-bodied way. The splay of firm Pinot-esque tannin through the finish is the highlight. 44 cases made. Drink: 2022-2037. 95 points”
“Cocoa, cinnamon and clove come together with crushed plums and balsam herbs as the 2018 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico blossoms in the glass. This is silky and enveloping yet cool-toned in feel, with depths of dark red fruits nicely contrasted by a core of saline minerality. The 2018 finishes structured and long, tugging at the palate with grippy tannins as hints of Baker’s chocolate and inner rose slowly fade. This is a vertical and racy edition of Allegrini Amarone, but it will require some time to come fully into focus. Drinking window: 2025-2035. 93+ points
One of the things I have always enjoyed about the Allegrini portfolio is how focused the family is on the importance of place. Last year, the La Grola hill provided terrific insights into the importance of terroir. La Grola is the source of Allegrini’s namesake wine and the varietal Corvina Veronese, La Poja. This year, the high-elevation (411 meters), Fieramonte vineyard really shined with the release of the 2015 Riserva. While the Amarone Classico remains a benchmark of the region, the Fieramonte takes things to a deeper and more savory place. Its aromatics alone are enough to keep the taster fascinated for quite some time. The 2015 is one of the best wines I’ve ever tasted from this estate. My hat is off to Marilisa Allegrini.”
“The single-vineyard red 2019 Finca Dofí comes from the 14 hectares of vines planted across three parajes (lieu-dits) in Gratallops. This year, it’s 87% Garnacha, 12% Cariñena and 1% white grapes (Garnacha Blanca and Macabeo. It fermented in oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in large oak barrels (bocoyes and foudres) for 14 months. It’s classy, elegant and fresh with very clean aromas and flavors, not lacking concentration or power. There is superb definition and purity here; it has to be the finest and most elegant Dofí to date. It has finer tannins and more elegance than La Baixada this year. The 2018 was fragrant and this has more clout but superb balance. These two vintages have been great for Dofí. I still remember the 2005, hard as nails then and what the wine is now—spherical and velvety. Dofí on a roll… It was bottled in May 2021, and 21,146 bottles were produced. Drink: 2022-2030. 97 points
Climate is certainly getting extreme, and in Priorat, we saw an incredibly warm (up to 43 degrees Celsius!) and dry 2019 (with only 280 liters of rain) and a 2020 with 800 liters of rain! But so much rain and the warm temperatures can only end up in a huge mildew attack. The rest of the season was extremely warm, to the point that ended it up being their earliest harvest ever! Year of extremes… year in and year out! Both years were higher in Garnacha and lower in Cariñena, in 2019 because of the heat and in 2020 because of mildew. So, the wines are more Garnacha driven than ever. For Álvaro Palacios, the highlights of the 2019 vintage (I only tasted Camins from 2020) were the Finca Dofí and L’Ermita. The Dofí was classy, elegant and fresh with very clean aromas and flavors, but L’Ermita was truly captivating, quite different from the 2013, an extreme year, perhaps in an opposite way but truly exceptional. It deserved my highest rating, as my heart started beating faster as I put my nose in the glass. Bravo!”
“The 2017 BruneIIo di Montalcino is dark and powerful, with wave after wave of balsamic spices, wild herbs and crushed black cherries emanating from the glass. The depth of texture here is something to behold, weighty and fleshy in feel, yet perfecfly in balance, as brisk acids enliven the gobs of red and black fruits within. The tannins take a backseat as nuances of plum, clove, licorice and cocoa appear under an air of purple-tinged flowers. The 2017 tapers off remarkably long and potent, with a structure that will carry it for years to come. It’s a totaI success for such a difficult vintage. Drinking window: 2023-2027. 92 points”
“What a pleasure it was to watch the dynamic Sicilian winemaker Arianna Occhipinti in Stanley Tucci’s CNN special “Searching for Italy,” featuring the food culture of Italy. Based in Vittoria, her vineyards see the Iblei mountains at the front and the Mediterranean Sea at the back. They are located 250 meters in elevation and because this area was underwater during the Miocene epoch, the soils range from clay, calcareous, tufo, gold sand, red sand and light sand. “The soils change every meter and so do the wines made from those sites,” says Arianna. In 2016, she started her Vino di Contrada series that sees three expressions of Frappato from three sites (PT, BB and FL). We can soon expect a new white wine to hit the market. Arianna is farming Grillo at 500 meters above sea level in the Contrada Santa Margherita in the town of Chiaramonte Gulfi. All of her wines are certified organic and made according to biodynamic methods.”
“What a pleasure it was to watch the dynamic Sicilian winemaker Arianna Occhipinti in Stanley Tucci’s CNN special “Searching for Italy,” featuring the food culture of Italy. Based in Vittoria, her vineyards see the Iblei mountains at the front and the Mediterranean Sea at the back. They are located 250 meters in elevation and because this area was underwater during the Miocene epoch, the soils range from clay, calcareous, tufo, gold sand, red sand and light sand. “The soils change every meter and so do the wines made from those sites,” says Arianna. In 2016, she started her Vino di Contrada series that sees three expressions of Frappato from three sites (PT, BB and FL). We can soon expect a new white wine to hit the market. Arianna is farming Grillo at 500 meters above sea level in the Contrada Santa Margherita in the town of Chiaramonte Gulfi. All of her wines are certified organic and made according to biodynamic methods.”
“What a pleasure it was to watch the dynamic Sicilian winemaker Arianna Occhipinti in Stanley Tucci’s CNN special “Searching for Italy,” featuring the food culture of Italy. Based in Vittoria, her vineyards see the Iblei mountains at the front and the Mediterranean Sea at the back. They are located 250 meters in elevation and because this area was underwater during the Miocene epoch, the soils range from clay, calcareous, tufo, gold sand, red sand and light sand. “The soils change every meter and so do the wines made from those sites,” says Arianna. In 2016, she started her Vino di Contrada series that sees three expressions of Frappato from three sites (PT, BB and FL). We can soon expect a new white wine to hit the market. Arianna is farming Grillo at 500 meters above sea level in the Contrada Santa Margherita in the town of Chiaramonte Gulfi. All of her wines are certified organic and made according to biodynamic methods.”
“What a pleasure it was to watch the dynamic Sicilian winemaker Arianna Occhipinti in Stanley Tucci’s CNN special “Searching for Italy,” featuring the food culture of Italy. Based in Vittoria, her vineyards see the Iblei mountains at the front and the Mediterranean Sea at the back. They are located 250 meters in elevation and because this area was underwater during the Miocene epoch, the soils range from clay, calcareous, tufo, gold sand, red sand and light sand. “The soils change every meter and so do the wines made from those sites,” says Arianna. In 2016, she started her Vino di Contrada series that sees three expressions of Frappato from three sites (PT, BB and FL). We can soon expect a new white wine to hit the market. Arianna is farming Grillo at 500 meters above sea level in the Contrada Santa Margherita in the town of Chiaramonte Gulfi. All of her wines are certified organic and made according to biodynamic methods.”
“What a pleasure it was to watch the dynamic Sicilian winemaker Arianna Occhipinti in Stanley Tucci’s CNN special “Searching for Italy,” featuring the food culture of Italy. Based in Vittoria, her vineyards see the Iblei mountains at the front and the Mediterranean Sea at the back. They are located 250 meters in elevation and because this area was underwater during the Miocene epoch, the soils range from clay, calcareous, tufo, gold sand, red sand and light sand. “The soils change every meter and so do the wines made from those sites,” says Arianna. In 2016, she started her Vino di Contrada series that sees three expressions of Frappato from three sites (PT, BB and FL). We can soon expect a new white wine to hit the market. Arianna is farming Grillo at 500 meters above sea level in the Contrada Santa Margherita in the town of Chiaramonte Gulfi. All of her wines are certified organic and made according to biodynamic methods.”
“The 2017 McCrone Vineyard Pinot Noir starts off a bit stemmy and leafy, then adds cherry flavors to the mix on the medium-bodied palate. Crisp, silky, long and savory, it should easily age for a decade or more. It’s yet another in a long succession of fine Pinot Noirs turned out by this exemplary producer. Drink: 2020-2030. 92 points
Just days before my visit, Helen Masters was named New Zealand Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Wine, which just shows I’m not alone in my admiration for her remarkable achievements at Ata Rangi. While Pinot Noir is the unchallenged focus here, Masters excels with the other varieties as well, consistently turning out an innovative Sauvignon Blanc (there’s a skin-contact component for added texture); a mouth-filling Pinot Gris; a crisp, aged Riesling; and terrific Chardonnay. With founder Clive Paton, we tasted through mini verticals of the estate and McCrone Vineyard Pinot Noirs from 2013 – 2017. They’re planted to similar clones, but there’s a clay lens running through the McCrone Vineyard, which mitigates hydric stress and should (in theory) lead to smoother tannins. As the estate vines are older, that’s another item to factor into the differences between the two bottlings. I generally had a slight preference for the estate Pinot Noir, although both were excellent in this stretch of vintages and faithfully reflect the vintage conditions.”
