A L I C I S S E U P E S 10 TOP0 BEST+ BUYS 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE

WINTER 2020 wineandspiritsmagazine.com $9.99 US $10.99 Canada Display until December 31, 2020 & Spirits 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE PremierWine&S& pirits Cru

The wineries that have 28 23 21 18 earned the most Top 100 Penfolds (2021) Marchesi Antinori Ridge (2021) Louis Jadot (2021) Benchmarks: (2021) Benchmarks: Benchmarks: awards Grange Bin 95, Benchmarks: Geyserville, Monte Bello Chevalier-Montrachet, St. Henri Shiraz Solaia, Tignanello Echezeaux 26 22 19 17 Boutari (2021) Concha y Toro Chateau Ste. Benchmarks: Bouchard Père Each appears (2021) (2017) Naoussa Grande & Fils (2021) with the number of Top Michelle Reserve, Santorini Benchmarks: 100 awards earned since Benchmarks: Benchmarks: the first Buying Guide for Carmín de Peumo Eroica, Eroica Beaune Vigne de l’Enfant 1988, through this, the Carmenère, Terrunyo Jésus, Beaune Clos de la 34th, for 2021. The year Pirque Viejo Cabernet Mousse of the most recent award appears in parentheses. (continued on page 14)

12 WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 Wine & Spirits 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE

King Estate (2021) Benchmarks: Willamette Valley 17 15 13 Backbone Pinot Gris, 10 Domaine (continued from page 14) L’Ecole No 41 Catena Zapata d’Arenberg (2021) Dr. Loosen (2021) Benchmarks: Creek (2020) (2020) Benchmarks: Benchmarks: Benchmarks: McLaren Vale The Dead (2021) Pepper Bridge Mendoza Alta , Mosel from Arm Shiraz, Benchmarks: Apogee, Seven Hills Adrianna Malbec Wehlener Sonnenuhr The Twenty Eight Road Cabernet from Volcanic Perigee and Urziger Würzgarten Mourvedre Hill and Gravelly Meadow Gary Farrell (2021) Storybook Benchmarks: Robert Mondavi Frog’s Leap (2018) Iron Horse (2019) Russian River Valley Winery (2019) Benchmarks: Benchmarks: Mountain (2020) Rochioli Vineyard pinot Benchmarks: Rutherford Napa Valley Brut LD, Joy! Benchmarks: Napa Valley Estate noir and Napa Valley Reserve , Napa Reserve , Cabernet, Oakville To Valley Zinfandel Louis Roederer Eastern Exposures Flowers (2015) Kalon Fumé Blanc (2020) Zinfandel Benchmarks: Kendall-Jackson Benchmarks: Camp Meeting Ridge Niepoort (2016) (2012) Cristal Brut, Brut Chardonnay, Sea View Benchmarks: Benchmarks: Nature Philippe Starck Ridge Pinot Noir Douro Charme, Alexander Valley Hawk- Colheita Port eye Mountain and Shafer (2015) Ravenswood Knights Valley Trace Benchmarks: 14 (2020) Ridge cabernets Hillside Select and Benchmarks: One Point Five cabernets E. Guigal (2021) Sonoma Valley Old Hill Luis Pato (2020) Benchmarks: and Dry Creek Valley Benchmarks: Côte-Rôtie Château Teldeschi Vineyard 11 Bairrada Quinta d’Ampuis, Condrieu La do Ribeirinho Baga Doriane Aveleda (2012) Pé Franco, Monopolio 16 Benchmarks: Vinha Centenaria Vinha Joseph Phelps Quinta da Aveleda Vinho Barrosa (2017) Verde and Alvarinho Krug (2021) Benchmarks: Stag’s Leap Wine Benchmarks: Napa Valley Insignia, 12 Henschke (2017) Cellars (2021) Clos du Mesnil, Grande Napa Valley Benchmarks: Benchmarks: Cuvée Beringer (2014) Eden Valley Hill of Grace, S.L.V., Fay and Cask 23 Maximin Benchmarks: Cyril Henschke Cabernet von Strasser (2021) Napa Valley Private (2021) Grünhaus Benchmarks: Reserve and Knights Roederer Estate Robert Weil (2021) Benchmarks: Mosel rieslings from Valley cabernet (2021) Benchmarks: Diamond Mountain Abstberg and Herrenberg sauvignons Benchmarks: Rheingau rieslings from District Napa Valley Anderson Valley Kiedrich Gräfenberg Reserve, Diamond Moun- Cune (2017) L’Ermitage and tain District Cabernet Qupé (2015) Benchmarks: Benchmarks: L’Ermitage Rosé Hermann J. Bien Nacido Hillside Imperial Gran Reserva, Wiemer (2021) Williams Selyem Estate and Block Viña Real Gran Reserva Benchmarks: (2021) 11 Chardonnay Seneca Lake Dry Benchmarks: De Loach (2013) , Magdalena Pinot noir from Rochioli (2021) Benchmarks: Vineyard Riesling Riverblock and Weir Andrew Will Benchmarks: Russian River Valley Horse Heaven Hills pinot noir, OFS Zinfandel Yalumba (2019) Sorella, Yakima Benchmarks: Two Blondes Eden Valley The Virgilius Viognier, Barossa Old Bush Vine

14 WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021

ImportersWine & Spirits 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE

ROB MONIKA CAHA WILLIAM MICHAEL BUONO & TONI “BILLY” WEISS QUINTTUS

IF YOU’VE EVER Old Bridge Monika North Vintus seen a Cellars Caha Berkeley NEW YORK, NY inspecting an unfa- NAPA, CA Selections Imports From Northern miliar bottle with Standouts in NEW YORK, NY BERKELEY, CA France to the Rhône and on to Italy awe, you’ve prob- Specialists in A Burgundy Sixth-time back-to- ably noticed them Originally founded Powerhouse back Importer of the by Austalian expat Austrian-born chef with Depth in Italy spinning the bottle Year winner Michael Rob MacDonald, Old Monika Caha ran Kaf- Originally estab- and squinting at the Quinttus founded Bridge Cellars has feehaus in NYC for five lished in 1979, North back label. They’re Vintus in 2004 after expanded under the years. She returned Berkeley Wine was checking for the years as a portfolio ownership of Carlos to Austria after 9/11, on the Shattuck Ave- manager at Kobrand. importer—the often Alvarez (of Corona coming back to New nue scene just a few Striking out on his unsung hero that beer), who purchased York in 2003 with a doors down from Chez own, he sought to works as the somme- it in 2003. Rob Buono handful of Austrian Panisse in Berkeley. build a small collec- has been at the helm producers and a plan In 1999, Billy Weiss lier to the somme- tion of family-owned of Old Bridge since to represent them in purchased the store, liers, meeting pro- estates from all over 2004, working with the US—and oh, did grew its domes- ducers and bringing the world. The port- Aussie-born Gavin she. Her portfolio, run tic national whole- folio now includes their into the Speight to build the with co-owner Toni Sil- sale portfolio and legendary producers US. We’ve parsed portfolio, extending ver, is a master class expanded its imports. such as Bollinger in the last 12 months into New Zealand, in Austrian , It’s now known espe- , Chanson France and Califor- from the Wachau to cially for stellar niche of our tastings for and Lucien Le Moine nia. They focus on the southern reaches Champagne (see the importers with in Burgundy and wines from indepen- of Styria. In this Jean Vesselle, a Top the most notewor- Rhône legend E. Gui- dently owned estates issue, look for Forst- 100 Winery) and Bur- gal (a 14-time Top 100 thy wines—yet in Australia, such as reiter, Handwerk and gundy, with produc- Winery), as well as another good reason d’Arenberg, Cullen Stadlmann. ers such as Frédéric new names like Rotem to spin the bottle. and Chambers Rose- Magnien, Pousse d’Or and Mounir Saouma wood, all represented and Remoissenet cel- —JARED HOOPER in Châteauneuf- in this issue. ebrated in this issue. du-Pape (p. 53). In Their Italians in the Piedmont, it’s San- issue are led by Rocca drone; in Bolgheri, Le de Montegrossi. Macchiole.

16 WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 TopWine&S& pirits 100 wineries of 2020

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME one of the Top 100 Wineries of the Year? Great wine, for sure, but more than that, consistency and devotion— the sort that enables a team to produce a range of exceptional wines in a single year. It starts with farming, whether in estate or those of talented growers. It extends to the winery, where care and attention transforms that fruit into wine without losing a sense of what it is and where it grew. And it includes the people, without whom none of the magic would happen. This is why we celebrate the wineries that have a track record for pro- ducing exceptional wines, as revealed through our tastings. Here are the W&S Top 100 Wineries of 2020.

Reported by Patrick J. Comiskey, Joshua Greene, Stephanie Johnson, Sydney Love, Susannah Smith, Tara Q. Thomas and Corey Warren.

Photograph by MAURIZIO DI IORIO

18 WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 US Top 100 Wineries Rose & Arrow Stag’s Leap OREGON | WILLAMETTE VALLEY Rose & Arrow wines are designed from the ground up, built Wine Cellars around the subterranean discoveries of geologist Pedro Parra. CALIFORNIA | NAPA VALLEY Marcus Notaro’s epic 2017s celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. MARK TARLOV AND LOUIS-MICHEL LIGER-BELAIR MARCUS NOTARO founded Chapter 24 in 2012, basing most of their output on two wines—Fire, channeling the THE 2017 VINTAGE IN NAPA VALLEY WAS a season volcanic terroirs of the Willamette Valley, and of extremes. After years of drought, a winter Flood, grown in soils left by melting glaciers at of drenching rain brought a burst of energy to the end of the last Ice Age. When, in 2014, Tar- plants throughout the valley and into the hills. lov invited geologist Pedro Parra to Then the heat came, peaking at 106˚F on Sep- consult for the brand, his discoveries could not tember 2. According to Marcus Notaro, who FELIPE RAMIREZ be contained in the old model. Parra began to had known only drought since he started mak- deconstruct Oregon’s underground, isolating the ing the wines at SLWC in 2013, the Fay Vine- edges of lava fl ows at diff erent moments in their yard, planted on an ancient creek bed with vine evolution from rock to soil. The more attention rows tracking the sun from east to west, was hit he paid, the more variations he found in places harder by the heat spikes than S.L.V., the vine- once thought to be uniform. In 2015, Chapter 24 yard Warren Winiarski had planted on the bench launched Rose & Arrow, focused on wines that of the Stags Leap Escarpment and higher up live in these margins, built from vineyard sectors into the hillside. He recalls that most of the lots determined not by row or aspect but by subter- that made it into the 2017 Fay were still resting ranean logic. Felipe Ramirez, who worked with with their skins when wildfi res took out Liger-Belair and Parra in Burgundy, has been the winery’s electricity on October 8. Notaro had the winemaker on the ground since 2016, taking to fi nd “creative cooling and fermentation tech- over fully since Liger-Belair left the team in 2019. niques,” as the cooling system had stopped func- He uses ambient yeasts to ferment the wines, tioning. “I drained off a couple of these tanks by and does not fi ne or fi lter them. “I have to lis- gravity, with fl ashlights and no power, the day ten,” he says of his eff ort to keep ego out of the after the fi re,” he recalls. The unusual conditions process. “The amount of information from each created a diff erent relationship between the two vineyard is amazing. Each tank is like an ecosys- estate vineyards as he set out to blend Cask 23, a tem of place.”—P.J.C. wine that has combined the best characteristics of both vineyards since 1990. —J.G.

2018 Eola–Amity Hills Hopewell Hills Gathered Stones Pinot Noir ($150, 96 points) Studying the soils at Hopewell Hills, Parra found a lot of vesicles— 2017 Napa Valley Fay Cabernet Sauvignon ($150, tiny bubbles in the fractured basalt. He believes the 95 points) Fay is usually the austere sibling to S.L.V. vesicles help optimize the nutrient pathways from the In 2017, between the early reserves of water in the soil to the vine roots. In fact, that ground provides a soil and September’s extreme heat, those lean wine of stunning complexity and fulsome fl avor. Its curves turned voluptuous. It’s an elegant beauty, aromas are reminiscent of an Indian bazaar—car- svelte, with complexity that pours out long aft er each damom, garam masala, ginger, chai, and spiced taste. If the wine Warren Winiarski tasted from Fay in cacao—earthbound and compelling. 1969 was anything like this, it’s easy to understand FOUNDED: FOUNDED: why he bought the land next door. (3,140 cases) 2012 2018 Dundee Hills Worden Hill Pinot Noir ($75, 1970 OWNERS: 94 points) This estate vineyard is the remnant of OWNERS: 2017 Napa Valley Cask 23 Cabernet Sauvignon Mark Tarlov, an ancient landslide in the Dundee Hills, the rock Ste. Michelle ($295, 95 points) This vintage of Cask 23 has a cool Ian Lombard still weathering into soil. This wine is simple and gor- Wine Estates, concentration that speaks more of spring than of the WINEMAKER: geous, all smoke and earthy red dust, dark plum and Marchesi Antinori late August heat. The blend is 52 percent from S.L.V. Felipe Ramirez black cherry, with the feel of a leather glove warmed WINEMAKER: and 48 percent from Fay, aged almost two years in VITICULTURISTS: by sunshine. Marcus Notaro new French barrels. The tannins are rich, the Netanya Welch, VITICULTURIST: aroma smoky, but the bright liveliness of the fl avor— Pedro Parra 2018 Dundee Hills Worden Hill 1st Red Dust Kirk Grace the persimmon, cherry and fresh tobacco—shines consulting Pinot Noir, ($150, 94 points) Pedro Parra isolated ACRES OWNED: through. (2,500 cases) ACRES OWNED: this pocket of basalt loam, a mélange fl ecked with 262 155 (long lease) pebbles, for a “First Expression” from Worden Hill. ANNUAL 2017 Napa Valley S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon ANNUAL The wine’s dark-plum fl avors are limned with cigar PRODUCTION: ($195, 93 points) The rocky hillside soils of S.L.V. PRODUCTION: box notes, opening toward a nutty, walnut skin savor. 140,000 cases produced a dark and savory cabernet in 2017, with 1,800 cases The texture is suave and completely seductive, the ESTATE GROWN: peppery intensity, and youthful fl avors of blackberries ESTATE GROWN: wine a burst of cherry fl avors seen through a walnut 100% for S.L.V., highlighting the dark-chocolate succulence of the tan- 100% sepia tone. Fay and Cask 23 nins. (2,096 cases)

WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 37 NEW WORLD Top 100 Wineries d’Arenberg Bindi AUSTRALIA | MCLAREN VALE AUSTRALIA | VICTORIA Tradition and innovation defi ne a dual With precise, vivid wines, Bindi raises the bar for identity at d’Arenberg. chardonnay and pinot noir south of the Equator.

THE ARRAY OF D’ARENBERG WINES IS A window THERE’S SOMETHING GOING ON WITH New World into the complexity of this venerable estate chardonnay these days. Whether it’s a shift in currently helmed by fourth-generation owner- style or vines maturing, quality has been ris- winemaker, Chester Osborn. Steeped in winery ing around the globe for this popular grape. history, Osborn is a lover of modern art and an One cool spot for chardonnay at the moment aspiring author (he dreams of penning a sci-fi is Victoria’s Macedon Ranges, 30 miles outside novel titled The Unbelievable Grenache). That of Melbourne. It is, in fact, Australia’s coolest multidirectional focus is visible in the wines mainland wine region, the home of Bindi Wines, as well: Many are single-site bottlings, while CHESTER OSBORN MICHAEL DHILLON where Michael Dhillon works 19 acres of vines, Osborn’s top wine, the Dead Arm Shiraz, is a producing a range of fi ne chardonnays and pinot blend of old-vine fruit from across the estate’s noirs. With sustainable farming practices and vineyards. The multiple personalities of his port- low-interventionist —ambient-yeast folio range from dense, blue-fruited old-vine fermentation, gentle , long lees aging shiraz, along with its Rhônish sisters, grenache in French oak with minimal racking and fi ltra- and mourvèdre, to sagrantino, nero d’avola, agli- tion, no fi ning—Dhillon sets a high standard for anico, , carmenère, durif, mencía, purity of site expression. —S.E.S. , souzão… And the list goes on. In all, 37 varieties of vines drag nutrients from the loam and -and-ironstone-riddled clay of McLaren Vale. Osborn presents the wines from the latest additions in the context of human- infl uenced climate change: His grandfather farmed shiraz and grenache while he fi nds him- 2018 Chardonnay Macedon Ranges Kostas Rind self exploring varieties that may, someday, out- ($57, 94 points) From 30-year-old vines planted perform them in McLaren Vale. —S.E.S. in quartz-fl ecked volcanic soils, this chardonnay is spontaneously fermented and aged in French oak barrels (25 percent new). Deft ly melding that oak infl uence into its nuanced depths of fl avor—quince and white cranberry, some ginger and lime—the wine 2016 McLaren Vale Shiraz The Dead Arm ($65, comes together with a complexity that feels naked 94 points) The Dead Arm is Chester Osborn’s paean and clean, with the petrichor scent of a cooling rain. to his old vines struggling with Eutypa lata, a fun- This is an exciting New World chardonnay, expressing gus that kills one of the canes, leaving the vine to its soil with delicacy and precision. produce a more limited and concentrated crop. He makes this in small open-top vats, foot-treading the 2017 Chardonnay Macedon Ranges Quartz fermenting must, then using a basket press and a ($120, 93 points) This 1.25-acre block of chardon- mix of new and old French and American oak bar- nay stands apart for the shattered quartz in the soil. rels to fi nish it. Bottled without fi ning or fi ltering, it’s The yields are extremely low, and Dhillon ferments a potent red with the ripe sunbaked-strawberry and allows the wine a bit more new oak (35 percent of the fresh purple fruit fl avors of McLaren Vale, bold and barrels) than he does in the Kostas Rind. This wine’s FOUNDED: intense yet fl oral, cool and friendly. This is built to age FOUNDED: depth of fl avor is almost meaty, with a mineral rub to 1912 for a decade or more as it slowly unfolds its outer lay- 1988 its spicy power. The youthfully reductive notes of per- OWNERS: ers and reveals its core. OWNER: simmon and green herb would complement a shell- d’Arry & Chester The Dhillon family fi sh stew, in a combination of mineral tension and Osborn 2018 McLaren Vale Mencía The Anthropocene WINEMAKER/ satisfying richness. WINEMAKER/ Epoch ($29, 93 points) This youthful mencía has VITICULTURIST: VITICULTURIST: a full robe of color and a velvet-rich texture, layer- Michael Dhillon 2017 Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges Original Vine- Chester Osborn ing purple plum and notes of game in a brisk and ACRES OWNED: yard ($120, 93 points) Three acres of pinot noir ACRES OWNED: spicy wine. Reductive at fi rst, it opens to fruit inten- 19 planted in 1988 on a north-facing slope of quartz and 450 sity without excess weight, leaving a cool, graceful ANNUAL volcanic soils give the fruit for this zesty pinot noir. ANNUAL impression. PRODUCTION: Dhillon ages it for 15 months in French oak; 25 per- PRODUCTION: 2,250 cases cent of the barrels are new and 100 percent of the 250,000 cases 2015 McLaren Vale Tempranillo Grenache Tinta ESTATE GROWN: wine is fi rm, juicy and cool, its high-acid fruit showing ESTATE GROWN: Cão Souzão Sticks and Stones ($29, 93 points) 100% the underside of ripeness in notes of red currants, 65% This combines four varieties from northern Iberia, IMPORTER: mint and the tart red fl esh of a peach by the pit. IMPORTER: taking a svelte shape that’s completely diff erent from Vine Street While this is a little steely and hard at the moment, Old Bridge that of McLaren Vale shiraz. The fl avors are gamey Imports, Mount it’s possible to taste the wine’s future as it opens, Cellars, Napa, CA and meaty, with a twangy reverb in their smoky spice. Laurel, NJ sustaining its cool, fresh length of fl avor.

WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 75 Top 100 Wineries NEW WORLD Chambers Rosewood Concha y Toro AUSTRALIA | RUTHERGLEN CHILE Stephen Chambers’s range of classic Rutherglen stickies off ers Exploring the geology of Andean vineyards and far-coast sites, palpable, drinkable history. Concha y Toro produces many of Chile’s greatest wines.

STEPHEN CHAMBERS IS THE SIXTH-GENERATION TWO GENERATIONS AFTER EDUARDO GUILISASTI winemaker at his family’s estate—a common Gana set out to expand Concha y Toro, the enough story in Europe, but not so much in the largest wine producer in Chile remains a fam- New World. When I asked him how many har- ily aff air. Run today by his eldest son, Eduardo, vests were represented in the bottle of Grand Concha y Toro has built one of the strongest Muscat I held in my hand, his answer was benches of winemaking talent in the world, 80-some, the work of four separate generations fi rst tapping Pablo Morandé and then Ignacio of Chamberses. The depth and complexity on Recabarren to build the company’s top wines. off er when material is that old and varied is They then trained the next generation, includ- STEPHEN MARCELO PAPA CHAMBERS what routinely puts these wines in our top tier. ing current technical director Marcelo Papa That Grand Muscat’s oldest material dates to and Enrique Tirado, the lead winemaker at the 1930s, set down by third-generation wine- Don Melchor. They, in turn, have mentored the maker William Henry Chambers. Taken further, youngest members of the team, including Isabel the Rare Muscat includes roughly 50 Mitarakis Guilisasti, who made Concha y Toro’s in each bottle, the oldest from the 1890s, right top-scoring wine this year, the 2017 Gravas del after phylloxera-induced replanting—and was Maipo cabernet. It grows in Puente Alto, on made by William Henry as well. Stephen has an alluvial terrace above the north bank of the maintained the Chambers patrimony since 2001, Maipo River. The fi rm purchased the Tocornal repairing the heirloom barrels, farming their old Vineyard in the 1960s and has since propagated vines and, each year, fortifying new wines for the a range of siblings from its gravel soils, includ- cellar before blending limited amounts of older ing Don Melchor and Almaviva, the latter a wines for release. When you open these ancient joint venture with Baron Philippe de Rothschild. treasures, parse out small sips over the course of Recently, Marcelo Papa’s Marques de Casa Con- several weeks to enjoy the transformation of fl a- cha cabernets from Puente Alto have stood head vors. —S.E.S to head with those two, as does Gravas. —J.G.

Rutherglen Rare Muscat ($350, 95 points) This is extraordinarily savory up front, 2017 Puente Alto Gravas del Maipo Cabernet with a beautiful, lift ed sharpness to the fl avor that’s Sauvignon ($70, 95 points) Isabel Mitarakis makes striking in a wine of this age, color and sugar level. this wine from the Don Melchor sector of the original That moment of verticality sets up a long, slow Tocornal Vineyard, working with the younger vines denouement of citrus and stone fruit and smoky, bit- planted between 1985 and 1992. It’s a silken Maipo ter praline. All autumn sunshine, the wine’s vibrancy cabernet, Andean in its refreshing mint and rosemary and supple textures gain ground aft er a month, even FOUNDED: notes, layering cool fl avors of strawberries and plums if the initial scent of roses is gone. 1883 in a nuanced, dynamic and quietly gracious wine. FOUNDED: OWNER: 1858 Rutherglen Grand Muscat ($100, 93 points) Viña Concha y 2017 Pirque Terrunyo Block Pirque Viejo Caber- OWNERS: Fruity and bright, with an apricot and nectarine fresh- Toro, a public net Sauvignon ($40, 93 points) Pirque Viejo is one The Chambers ness that seems improbable for a wine composed of company of Concha y Toro’s oldest vineyards, a rocky terrace family elements dating back 90 years, this has an elastic TECHNICAL at the base of the Andes on the south bank of the WINEMAKER: tension that keeps the texture lively, even as warm DIRECTOR: Maipo River. Replanted between 2003 and 2008, Stephen wood spice lengthens the delicate fruit in the end. Marcelo Papa the vineyard provided a clean and pure 2017, the fl a- Chambers This is the color of a cannelé, and deliciously echoes VITICULTURIST: vors lasting with stamina as they rise from low, earthy VITICULTURIST: that treat’s burnt-sugar notes. Max Larrain bass notes to smoky tenors and strawberry sopranos. Wayne Petrie ACRES OWNED: It’s bold without being aggressive, a bright red jazzed ACRES OWNED: Rutherglen Grand Muscadelle ($140, 93 points) 22,652 (in Chile) with cool spice. 100 This is the ghost of a drippingly ripe summer peach, ANNUAL ANNUAL its wealth of sweet fruit now shaded in autumn tones PRODUCTION: 2017 Peumo Carmín de Peumo Peumo Vine- PRODUCTION: of russet and scarlet red, lasting on golden-raisin 33 million cases yard Carmenère ($200, 93 points) This is a selec- N/A freshness. Stephen Chambers blends this from bar- ESTATE GROWN: tion from Concha y Toro’s best site for the variety, a ESTATE GROWN: rels in his cellar dating back to World War I: It’s a 50% for Casillero vineyard on the north bank of the Cachapoal River 90% massive, treacle-sweet wine to serve with candied line and above planted in 1987 with cuttings from pre-phylloxera IMPORTER: hazelnuts and pecans, roasted walnuts or banana IMPORTER: vines. The 2017 is structured and silken, with cool Old Bridge bread. All those fl avors are there, wrapped up in the Fetzer Vineyards, jasmine scents deepening to rose as the fl avors dive Cellars, Napa, CA saturated texture of the wine. Hopland, CA into brisk and lovely juice.

76 WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE Wine & Spirits TopWine&S& pirits 100 wines of 2020

IT MIGHT NOT SOUND LIKE A hardship, but tasting 9,200 wines over the course of a year keeps our team of editors pretty well saturated with grape juice. What makes it worthwhile is when a wine lights up the tasting panel—one that inspires a conversation, a volley of pairing sugges- tions or just silence as we grope for words to describe the feeling it brings. Out of thousands of wines, the 100 in the pages that follow are the ones we are most excited to share with you. They hail from talented growers in places both familiar and little known, from winemakers work- ing to present the identity of the place in a way that only adds to the wine’s delicious flavor. We hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we did. —PATRICK J. COMISKEY, JOSHUA GREENE, STEPHANIE JOHNSON, RACHEL DELROCCO TERRAZAS AND TARA Q. THOMAS.

78 WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE Wine & Spirits ing southwest, toward the Van Duzer Cor- WASHINGTON RED they released the first vintage of Estrella, a ridor winds, on shallow basalt soils (“rocky barrel-aged malbec of uncommon finesse as f**!” says winemaker Ken Pahlow). It is BEST CABERNET BLEND and complexity that sent waves through the a haunting wine, with scents of licorice, cin- wine world. This 1994—made by de la Mota namon, allspice and tea, all of it channeled before his retirement, and then shepherded through vibrant red-cherry and raspberry fla- through 16 years of barrel-aging by Hubert vors, with a diaphanous tension and lightness Weber—should send waves through the that’s astonishing. Pahlow made some spec- wine world today: After all, how many other tacular wines in 2018, and Sojeau may end Argentine could age so well? Made up being the most complex and lasting. One from fruit handpicked off vines that were 60 taster named it Prince, for its binary sensu- years old at the time, fermented in epoxy- ality, yin-and-yang expression of power and lined cement tanks and aged in large, neutral delicacy and its virtuoso fruit and its haunt- French-oak casks, it’s astoundingly alive: It ing savor. —P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 450 cases) § 521493 has the rich, earthy scent of freshly turned 95 | Quilceda Creek $150 soil, with notes of mint and tobacco adding 2016 Horse Heaven Hills Palengat ^ Palen- finesse; the fruit feels plump and chocolatey, gat is a south-facing parcel that’s adjacent even as its red shades have taken on the cara- to Champoux Vineyard, one of the original mel and apricot hues of age. It’s an entirely vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills. A blend different vision of malbec than today’s pur- of 83 percent cabernet sauvignon, 11 percent ple beauties, and one well worth reinstating. merlot and the balance , this —T.Q.T. (W&S 10/20) § Broadbent Selections, has a slightly cooler feel than the winery’s Richmond, VA Red Mountain wines: It has plenty of succu- lent fruit, but also more savor, more woodsy BEST RED BLEND 521388 notes, more sagebrush garrigue in the aro- 96 | Rose & Arrow $150 mas. And the texture, like the fine grit of 2018 Eola–Amity Hills Hopewell Hills windblown sand, offsets the fruit and brings Gathered Stones Pinot Noir ^ Hopewell the wine into a quiet balance. Indeed, with- Hills is a shallow-soiled fragment of fractured out all the Red Mountain girth, the effect is stone in the basalt structure of the Eola Hills. awesome and vast, like an open plain under In 2018, it produced a wine like no other I’ve a twilit sky. Smoke a lamb shoulder, uncork, ever tasted from Oregon. It has a vigorous and savor. —P.J.C. (W&S 10/20) § spiciness when first poured, a series of reduc- tive aromas of tar and rail ties and oil that BEST SYRAH fall away one by one, revealing, by day two, 521408 a wine of stunning complexity and fulsome 95 | W.T. Vintners $49 flavor. That industrial savor becomes a back- 2017 Walla Walla Valley Damavian Les ground the fruit rests on like a dancer on a Collines Vineyard Syrah ^ The 2017 Dama- stage. By day three, the wine’s aromas are vian is just as impressive as the 2016, reflect- explosive, reminiscent of a spice bazaar—car- ing, for starters, the consistency of Jeff Lind- 125875 damom, ginger, chai and cacao, all wound say-Thorsen’s winemaking, which is gentle 95 | Trapiche $70 around expansive, pure cherry fruit. A bra- and hands-off, a healthy rendering of whole 2015 Mendoza Iscay Malbec & Cabernet vura performance. —P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 125 clusters, cool, ambient-yeast fermentations. Franc ^ Cabernet franc grown in La Consulta cases) § This is a very cool expression of Les Collines, infuses this wine with verve. Thirty percent 520553 tense and endlessly flavorful, with notes of of the blend, it’s there in the wine’s spicy 95 | Bergström $85 blackberries and peppercorn, violets and scent—in the tang of tobacco leaves and the 2018 Chehalem Mountains Winery Block smoke, all coming in generous, luscious crunch of green herbs—as well as in its tan- Pinot Noir ^ This comes from a two-acre waves. It feels elegant and seamless, poised nins, a little more angular and pointed than vineyard adjacent to Josh Bergström’s win- between assertive flavors and delicate struc- is typical of malbec. Those aspects keep the ery on Calkins Lane, the vines spaced so ture. —P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 385 cases) § wine feeling fresh and elegant even as age close that he’s farmed it by hand since 2005. has begun to turn its rich red fruit toward It’s a wine of exceptional purity and grace, ARGENTINA RED caramel, earth and roasted red pepper from its brambly crushed-raspberry scent to tones. It’s approachable now, but it also has the modest peppery spice that comes from BEST MALBEC enough structure and freshness to warrant whole-bunch pressing and the joyous fruit, 125889 more aging. —T.Q.T. (W&S 10/20) § The Wine ripe and succulent, with a powder-coating of 96 | Weinert $240 Group, Ripon, CA fine tannins. It is so captivating I’d recom- 1994 Mendoza Estrella Malbec ^ Brazilian mend opening it now, even though it’s built businessman Bernard Weinert founded this to age. —P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 240 cases) § winery in 1975, purchasing a dilapidated 19th- century cellar and hiring winemaker Raúl de la Mota to help him rejuvenate it. In 1977,

82 WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE Wine & Spirits

ARMENIA WHITE AUSTRALIA RED tow taking you deeper into red cherry and pomegranate, leaving you in the midst of suc- BEST CHILAR BEST GRENACHE culent tannins, receding slowly into addictive 276867 freshness that immediately brings you back 93 | Zorah $90 for more. Or so it did for me. This is an Aus- 2018 Armenia Heritage Chilar ^ In Zorik sie cabernet with elegance, one with decades Ghabarian’s quest to revive Armenia’s rich of life ahead. —J.G. (W&S 10/20) § Negociants viticultural traditions, he’s launched Heri- USA/Winebow Imports, NY tage, a series of wines dedicated to forgotten indigenous . This first release is made BEST SHIRAZ from chilar, a green grape with waxy, firm skins that he found in old plantings, where it was interspersed with the more common areni. Fermented with ambient yeasts and 124942 aged in karasì, Armenia’s traditional clay ves- 94 | Yangarra Estate $100 sels, it spent two months on the skins, gain- 2016 McLaren Vale High Sands Grenache ^ ing a rich, smooth texture. It smells curious at The Smart family planted grenache at the first, like raw oats (or maybe clay), but it blos- highest point in their Blewitt Springs vine- soms on the palate, notes of orange flowers yard in 1946, where the deep sands restrict and juicy peach flesh deepening into roasted- the vigor of the vines as well as the amount pecan richness. It’s opulent and mouthfill- of fruit they yield. Now owned by Sonoma’s 124868 ing, with enough stony minerality to keep it Jackson family, the vines are dry farmed by 95 | Penfolds $150 savory, and enough acidity to keep it clean. It Michael Lane, who works under biodynam- 2016 South Australia St. Henri Shiraz ^ lasts for days after the bottle is opened, too, ics. Winemaker Peter Fraser destems it, keep- There’s no new wood to get in the way of boding well for future development. Pour it ing half as whole berries, then ferments it St. Henri’s blackberry freshness—the wine, with roast monkfish or a pork chop, or simply spontaneously in open-top vats and ages the developed by John Davoren in the 1950s, pre- a bowl of mixed nuts. —T.Q.T. § (W&S 4/20) wine in used French oak barrels. It’s a com- sented Penfolds’ top-level shiraz matured in Garber & Co., Los Angeles, CA plete wine, offering a completely different large, neutral oak vats rather than the hogs- perspective on grenache to a Rayas fan, with heads Max Schubert was using for Grange. AUSTRALIA WHITE the kind of textural pleasure that will satisfy The 2016 is fragrant with dark fruit that (or create) a fan of McLaren grenache. It’s seems to slow time—associate editor Corey BEST CHARDONNAY elegant, tense and floral, with crunchy red Warren compared it to bullet time in The 125729 berry flavors and fine, persistent tannins: a Matrix. Meanwhile, the gentle texture has a 95 | Joshua Cooper $60 powerful young wine with years of develop- silken touch, even as the wine is super-con- 2018 Macedon Ranges The Old Port Righ ment ahead. —J.G. (W&S 2/20) § Sovereign centrated. A remarkable vintage of St. Henri Chardonnay ^ Joshua Cooper grew up at his Wine Imports, Santa Rosa, CA that will age for decades. —J.G. (W&S 2/20) § family’s vineyard, Cobaw Ridge, a high-alti- Treasury Wine Estates, Napa, CA tude site in the Macedon Ranges that his BEST CABERNET BLEND parents farm under biodynamics. In 2012, AUSTRALIA DESSERT he started using their facilities to make his own wines, purchasing grapes from neigh- BEST MUSCAT bors who shared a farming philosophy. This 125953 wine comes from some of the first chardon- 96 | Chambers Rosewood $350 nay planted in the region, the vines now 36 Rutherglen Rare Muscat ^ The Chambers years old, growing in Cambrian soils with family has been growing grapes in Ruther- patches of granite at an altitude close to glen since 1858, maintaining a stock of for- 2,000 feet. The concentration of the fruit, tified wine in casks that they treat like a sol- at 1.4 tons per acre, sets up the initial dark- era. Steve Chambers, the family’s winemaker toned flavor, a complex mix of struck match, since 2001, pulls his Rare Muscat from bar- malt, rice and orange spice. With air, a youth- 125987 rels filled with wine that’s more than a cen- ful energy takes over, delivering fresh flavors 95 | Vasse Felix $165 tury old. Having put his Rutherglen stickies of peach fuzz, tart apricot and lasting chamo- 2016 Margaret River Tom Cullity ^ This wine aside for a month between tasting them and mile savor. It’s a substantial wine that feels is dedicated to the founder of Vasse Felix, writing them up, I found the freshness of sprightly and keeps getting better over the one of the pioneering growers in Margaret this Rare Muscat, in particular, seemed tur- course of a week. Regrettably, there are only River; the vines Virginia Willcock farms for bocharged by that interlude. Unlike some of 125 cases for the world. If you find some, cel- this wine are descendants of the cabernet the other ancient wines from Chambers’s cel- lar it. —J.G. (W&S 10/20) § Vine Street Imports, sauvignon and malbec Tom Cullity planted lars, this has none of the crypt and all of the Mount Laurel, NJ in 1968. Ocean currents meet red and black autumn sunshine, its vibrancy and supple currants in this smooth and luscious blend, textures gaining ground after a month, even engaging for its voluptuous texture as well as if the initial scents of roses are gone. —J.G. its splash of colorful fruit. There’s an under- (W&S 10/20) § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA

WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 83 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE Wine & Spirits TopWine&S 100& pirits Best Buys of 2020

THE MORE YOU KNOW ABOUT WINE, the less you have to spend to drink well—and these 100 wines prove it. Each of them is a knock out, especially when compared to other wines from the same region at significantly higher prices. They range from an $11 Vinho Verde to a $65 Brunello di Montalcino; more than half cost $20 or less, including a 96-point Montsant and a 94-point Tokaji. Whether you’re looking for Barolo or Burgundy, West Coast cabernet or Willamette chardonnay, you’ll find great choices in this list. We’ve arranged it by country, starting with the US, by state and variety, then moving through the rest of the world by region. Patrick J. Comiskey, Joshua Greene, Stephanie Johnson, Rachel DelRocco Terrazas and Tara Q. Thomas provide the reviews. For our Best of the Year for $12 or less, head to page 104.

UNITED STATES grape flavors and a muscular scallop-like fat- MUSCAT ness to the fruit. It’s salty, rich and a steal at CALIFORNIA WHITE $18. —J.G. (W&S 10/20; 2,000 cases) § 519838 CHARDONNAYS 92 | Rodney Strong $22 520925 2017 Chalk Hill Chardonnay ^ Rod Strong 93 | I. Brand $30 first planted chardonnay in the white volca- 2018 Santa Lucia Highlands Escolle Vine- nic soils of Chalk Hill in 1965, and this estate- yard Chardonnay ^ Tightly wound when first grown wine carries a memory of that chalky uncorked, this wine is all lemon peel and lees. soil in its mineral freshness and apple-skin Then, when it relaxes, it’s like an exposed spice. It’s clean and powerful, that power live wire, electric and lean. You can feel the driven by some reduction that keeps the tension in its mouthwatering energy, in its wine tight. Give it time in a to open 520499 graceful lines and precise, mineral finish. It’s up, then serve as an aperitif with poached 90 | Bonterra $16 a whisper-clean performance for bracingly prawns. —J.G. (W&S 4/20) § 2018 Mendocino County Blue Heron fresh fish, like rainbow trout fresh out of the 518818 Vineyard Dry Muscat ^ Joseph Brinkley at stream. —P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 250 cases) § 91 | Raymond $20 Bonterra farms these muscat vines under 521231 2017 Napa Valley Reserve Selection Char- biodynamics, delivering fruit that can stand 92 | BonAnno $18 donnay ^ With its scents of orange blossoms naked, in a completely dry style. And it’s deli- 2018 Los Carneros Chardonnay ^ Matt and gardenias, this smells like a flower gar- cious to taste a dry muscat with this much Bonanno was working at Union Beverage in den in June, earthy and floral underneath, lemony bitterness and citrusy freshness. It Chicago when he started his own layered with creamy vanilla notes and some feels honest, a lovely summer refreshment. in 2004, working to create value-focused relieving bitterness of oak tannins. It feels —J.G. (W&S 6/20; 250 cases) § wines in Napa Valley. This one hits the mark, spicy and cool, built for a lemony roast a smooth, supple chardonnay with crunchy chicken. —J.G (W&S 4/20). §

WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 93 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE Wine & Spirits cherry flavors, satisfying and balanced; for SYRAH der tannins giving the violet-scented fruit a a chicken braise. —P.J.C. (W&S 8/20; 478 520239 lithe line. —T.Q.T. (W&S 10/20) § Taub Family cases) § 94 | Gramercy Cellars $25 Selections, Boca Raton, FL 2017 Columbia Valley Lower East Syrah ^ OREGON RED This is from Greg Harrington’s tier of wines 519440 meant to broaden the winery’s regional reach 93 | Keeler Estate $28 to the Columbia Valley. The blend comes 2017 Eola–Amity Hills Heart Pinot Noir ^ from Les Collines, Forgotten Hills and Holy With scents of clove and mulled spices, this Roller vineyards—the latter a new parcel delivers its flavors in waves of richness, the owned by Chris Figgins, in The Rocks. The dark, sumptuous fruit pulsing and precise, wine leads with scents of mocha and olive— notes of ripe cherry, blueberry and olive the Rocks showing its stuff—while the flavors drawing to a savory finish with bay laurel– feel a bit warmer, with a seductively plush scented tannins. Impressive for the price. texture, limned by violet-and-rosemary- —P.J.C. (W&S 4/20; 426 cases) § scented tannins. Drinking beautifully now; serve with lamb. —P.J.C. (W&S 6/20; 1,500 125192 WASHINGTON ROSE cases) § 92 | Nieto Senetiner $15 520781 518879 2018 Mendoza Cabernet Sauvignon ^ This 93 | Gramercy Cellars $22 89 | Chateau Ste. Michelle $15 is firm and balanced, delivering beefy berry 2019 Columbia Valley Olsen Vineyard 2017 Columbia Valley Syrah ^ This offers flavors with firm, fine tannins, bright, fresh Rosé ^ Greg Harrington channels Provence impressive complexity at the price, with acidity and radish-like spice. Stock up on it in this bracing single-vineyard blend of cin- scents of licorice and smoked meat, sump- for barbecue season. —T.Q.T. (W&S 4/20) § sault, grenache and syrah. A pale onion-skin tuous oak flavors and sleek fruit.Buy by the Foley Family Artisan Imports, Santa Rosa, CA hue, the wine spent four months on the lees, case for outdoor parties. —P.J.C. (W&S 2/20) § lending it a nutty and biscuity complexity AUSTRALIA WHITE and breadth. With a sharp cut of acidity, it ARGENTINA RED 125957 holds an impressive tension, even after two 125759 92 | Cullen $20 days open. Pour this with a light meal, like 93 | Bodegas de los Clop $20 2018 Margaret River Wilyabrup Danc- gravlax with capers on a fresh baguette. 2016 Agrelo Luján de Cuyo Reserva Mal- ing in the Sun ^ This is a dry-grown blend of —P.J.C. (W&S 8/20; 500 cases) § bec ^ This is light on its feet and dark in flavor, sauvignon blanc and semillon (with a little with black-pepper spice and meaty cherry verdelho) from Vanya Cullen’s biodynami- WASHINGTON RED flavors. It feels Old World in its savor, with cally farmed vineyard near the coast in Wily- green-herb notes playing around the edges, abrup. There’s no oak to get in the way of this CABERNET SAUVIGNON and gripping tannins. —T.Q.T. (W&S wine’s lovely fruit, the crunchy nectarine and 518657 10/20) § Orvino Imports & Distributing, kumquat flavors held tight, with a whisper of 93 | Upchurch $30 Springs, FL underlying creaminess at the liminal space 2017 Red Mountain Larger Than Life Cab- between the earth and the sea. —J.G. (W&S ernet Sauvignon ^ LTL, a new brand from 10/20) § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA DeLille’s Chris Upchurch, is off to a running start with this cabernet, with rich and pow- AUSTRALIA RED erful Red Mountain character, dark notes of black plum and chocolatey, fine-grained tan- GRENACHE nins. It over delivers for the price, especially 125034 with lamb shoulder. —P.J.C. (W&S 12/19; 92 | Alpha Box & Dice $20 925 cases) § 2018 McLaren Vale Tarot ^ Sam Berketa blends this wine from two vineyards, most of CABERNET BLEND it destemmed and inoculated with cultured 520109 yeast, ten percent fermented as whole clus- 93 | Longship $36 125823 ters with ambient yeasts. It ages together for 2017 Columbia Valley Quinn Red Blend ^ 93 | Caro $21 six months in tank, emerging a bit oxygen A blend of malbec, merlot and cabernet, 2017 Mendoza Amancaya Reserve ^ The starved and reduced, with the green leafiness this has a classic Bordeaux scent of cedar partnership between Domaines Barons de of persimmon and the tart red fruit of sour and plum, the malbec adding a violet bou- Rothschild (Lafite) and Catena, launched plums. That fruit is almost more pink than quet. The flavors are at once plush and sleek, in 1999, produces this “second” wine with a red, layered and funky, with plenty of struc- buoyed by a seductive, purple-fruited core higher proportion of malbec and less time tural integrity. The flavor impact is lasting, of fruit and fine claylike tannins. Proceeds in oak barrels than the flagship wine (also an intriguing grenache for duck prosciutto from the sale of this wine go to a cystic fibro- recommended here). In 2017, Amancaya and other cured meats. —J.G. (W&S 2/20) § sis fund called “All In for Quinn.” —P.J.C. is the more elegant of the two. The blend AB&D, Carmel, CA (W&S 6/20; 150 cases) § includes 33 percent cabernet sauvignon and spends a year in barrels (20 percent new): It’s smoky, dark and earthy, with fine cocoa-pow-

96 WINE & SPIRITS BUYING GUIDE 2021 34TH ANNUAL BUYING GUIDE Wine & Spirits

RED BLEND a high outcropping with a clear view to the vors. Notes of coffee and brisket fill out the 125077 ships (schiffe) sailing the Danube. The warm, bass line, the wine feeling full but not heavy, 93 | d’Arenberg $29 protected site produced a rich wine in 2017, sturdy yet elegant. —T.Q.T. (W&S 4/20) § 2015 McLaren Vale Sticks and Stones ^ Ibe- a gentle robe of honey wrapping around Monika Caha Selections/Frederick Wildman rian grapes thrive in McLaren Vale’s con- zesty notes of grapefruit and herbs. It feels & Sons, NY temporary climate, this blend being a prime elegant and harmonious, so drinkable you example. It combines tempranillo (60 per- might miss the complexity it holds. —T.Q.T. ZWEIGELT cent) and garnacha (okay, grenache), two (W&S 4/20) § Monika Caha Selections/Freder- 276793 varieties from , with souzão and tinta ick Wildman & Sons, NY 91 | Handwerk $17 cão, important grapes for blends in the 276203 2017 Niederösterreich Handwerk Wein- Douro. It takes a svelte shape that’s com- 93 | Ruttenstock $23 gartenselektion Zweigelt ^ Netzl makes this pletely different from that of the region’s 2017 Weinviertel Ried Reipersberg Grü- label for Monika Caha, a former chef in NYC shiraz, the flavors gamey and meaty, with a ner Veltliner ^ Mattias Ruttenstock farms who’s now an importer. It’s a serious zwei- vibrato reverb in their smoky spice. Everyone 44.5 acres around his home base in Röschitz, gelt, with tannins and bright acidity to sup- on the panel had a different idea for what including a parcel of 55-year-old vines port the variety’s brambly blue fruit, and to serve with it, from spicy Iberian lamb planted in the granite soils of the Reipers- some smoke and spice for detail. It’s priced to andouille and baked cherries, to braised berg vineyard. In 2017, those vines produced to pour as an everyday wine, but this would oxtail ravioli with crème fraiche, Madeira and a veltliner that dances with energy. It’s bright stand up to roast duck or a dry-aged steak. truffles. —J.G. (W&S 2/20) § Old Bridge Cel- and buoyant, with a hint of spritz boosting —T.Q.T. (W&S 4/20) § Monika Caha Selec- lars, Napa, CA the lemon-lime flavors; notes of wintergreen tions/Frederick Wildman & Sons, NY and crunchy green beans add to the sense of SHIRAZ cool freshness. You might want to buy this CANADA SPARKLING by the case for summertime drinking; it will uplift all manner of salads. —T.Q.T. (W&S 4/20) § Artisanal Cellars, NY ZIERFANDLER 276781 90 | Stadlmann $18 2018 Thermenregion Anning Zierfandler ^ Johann Stadlmann cultivates some of the last remaining plots of zierfandler in Thermenre- 125073 gion, culling the fruit for this wine from his 92 | d’Arenberg $20 younger vines on the Anning hill. The 2018 2017 McLaren Vale The Footbolt Shiraz ^ is a particularly pretty example, with hon- 125377 The Osborn family has been growing grapes eysuckle scents and fresh, crisp lemon acid- 91 | 13th Street Winery $25 for more than 100 years, ever since John ity. The middle of the wine has substance to 2017 Creek Shores Blanc de Blanc ^ Jean- Osborn sold his collection of racehorses, it that one panelist compared to humidity, Pierre Colas fermented this chardonnay in including Footbolt, to buy their original another to soft water; it’s an umami note that tanks, then suppressed malo- vineyards. During the South Australia gov- creates a sense of fullness without weight. lactic to retain the primary fruit character ernment-sponsored vine pull of the 1980s, —T.Q.T. (W&S 4/20) § Monika Caha Selec- and acidity. Made with grapes harvested at d’Arry Osborn and his son, Chester, bought tions/Frederick Wildman & Sons, NY 18.5° Brix and bottled with just five grams up a lot of old vineyards and continue to pre- per liter of residual sugar, it’s an extreme serve them today. The Footbolt includes fruit AUSTRIA RED sparkler—some of our tasters even found from vines aged 20 to 100 years, tradition- it a little masochistic. Others (including ally fermented and blended into a supple, PINOT NOIR myself) found it invigorating, like a dip in a black-fruited wine of gentle power. Umami 276777 cold pool, the chill of the acidity giving the undertones of roasted meat and mushrooms 95 | Forstreiter $24 flavors a glassy clarity. It tastes white—white warm the tannins, while the clean, rich fruit 2016 Niederösterreich Reserve Pinot Noir ^ pear flesh, lemon pith, chalk—with a pleas- lasts. This will bring some sophistication to “Pinot noir in a motorcycle jacket,” said ant edge of bitterness. Use it like a knife, to a cookout. —J.G. (W&S 2/20) § Old Bridge Cel- Michael Dolinksi, who mans the all-Austrian cut through the flesh of a sweet, fat sautéed lars, Napa, CA wine list at Wallsé in NYC. As for my notes, scallop. —T.Q.T. (W&S 4/20) § Esber Beverage they read, “I just want to drink this.” Mein- Co., Canton, OH AUSTRIA WHITE hard Forstreiter culls his best pinot noir, as well as some fruit from friends in the Krem- GRUNER VELTLINER stal, fermenting this wine in stainless-steel 276776 tanks before sending it into barriques (half 93 | Forstreiter $23 new) for 12 months or more. In 2016—a wet 2017 Kremstal Ried Schiefer Reserve year, but free of heatwaves—the wine came Grüner Veltliner ^ Schiefer is an old vine- out gloriously spicy, smelling like a forest yard nestled into the side of the Schiffberg, after a rain, with translucent dried-cherry fla-

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