Indholdsfortegnelse for December 31, 2019 i Wine Spectator

The wines of Montenidoli are in a class by themselves. Though three of the bottlings technically fall under the Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG, they are stylistically unlike any others in the denomination and stand head and shoulders above the rest. Its best reds are labeled Toscana IGT, but they offer a unique expression of the Sangiovese grape and Montenidoli’s terroir that I find more compelling than most from the surrounding Colli Senesi. They remind me of other wines uniquely tied to place and the vision of the winemaker. Cappellano, Soldera’s Case Basse, Valentini and Emidio Pepe come to mind from Italy; Henri Bonneau and Domaine Leroy in France. Montenidoli’s director, Elisabetta Fagiuoli, bought the estate in 1965; her family cultivated vines and olive trees in Veneto. Sergio Muratori, a…

CHÂTEAU LÉOVILLE BARTON St.-Julien 2016 97 points | $98 | 11,667 cases made One might expect Bordeaux, with its long history and lofty reputation, to be a staid environment. But the region is facing change. Corporations are invading, styles are shifting, and markets are wary. Yet at its core, Bordeaux remains about terroir and tradition. Château Léoville Barton, which has been owned by the Barton family since the 19th century, epitomizes the best of classic Bordeaux: character, elegance and ageability. The Barton family has deep roots in Bordeaux. Thomas Barton left his native Ireland and settled in Bordeaux in 1725 to launch a wine merchant business. Thomas’ grandson Hugh was the first to purchase vineyards there. During the French Revolution, Hugh and other foreign nationals living in Bordeaux were arrested…

Wine Spectator editors reviewed more than 15,000 newly released wines in 2019. From this pool, we chose the Top 100. These are the year’s most noteworthy wines, based on four criteria: high score, large production, value pricing and an X-factor we call excitement. We recommend these wines as outstanding representatives of their types. ABOUT THE 100-POINT SCALE Ratings reflect how highly our tasters regard each wine relative to other wines. The rating summarizes a wine’s overall quality; to determine if the wine’s style and character appeal to you, check its complete tasting note in the Buying Guide or at WineSpectator.com. 95–100 Classic: a great wine 90–94 Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style 85–89 Very good: a wine with special qualities 80–84 Good: a solid, well-made wine 75–79 Mediocre:…

I have a hard time describing the type of wines I enjoy. Any suggestions? —Becky, Brighton, Mich. Dear Becky, Welcome to the wine lovers club! Please be patient with yourself. It takes a while to get comfortable describing wine. For starters, I recommend reading wine tasting notes as much as you can to get more familiar with the terminology other people use. I also think it’s helpful to pay attention to not just wine, but everything that you taste and smell. It’s good to be curious about coffee, tea and essential oils—and to taste and smell new things. One exercise is to have two wines side by side—say, two wines from the same region or made from the same grape—and try to describe the differences between them. Is there a…

Complicated to make and fun to open, sparkling wine has come a long way in delivering great quality for the price. Without compromising their rigorous production methods, vintners have grown more adept at maintaining affordability, with the traditional sparkling wine regions of Italy in particular—Prosecco, Lambrusco and Franciacorta—leading the charge when it comes to crafting high quality yet accessible versions. 90 $15 LE COLTURE Brut Rosé Vino Spumante NV | ITALY |A pale, pretty-in-pink rosé in an aperitif style, with a fine, satiny mousse and crisp acidity framing the floral mix of flavors. A.N. 90 $16 CLETO CHIARLI E FIGLI Secco Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro Vigneto Cialdini 2017 | ITALY |A mouthwatering version, with firm acidity and appealing notes of cherry blossom, candied black raspberry and pomegranate fruit. A.N. 90…

“Wine is not a product, it is a feeling,” explained Guillermo de Aranzabal, president of Spanish winery La Rioja Alta. “You drink a glass of wine for a few seconds, but you remember it for years, maybe a lifetime.” The sentiment came as de Aranzabal was introducing one of his wines, La Rioja Alta Rioja 890 Gran Reserva Selección Especial 2005, which took the No. 4 spot on Wine Spectator’s 2018 Top 100 list, to a sold-out crowd at the 2019 New York Wine Experience. Undoubtedly he was experiencing a feeling of pride. Throughout the three days of this year’s Wine Experience, the 39th edition of the event, wine triggered many emotions—joy, passion and a sense of wonder, to name just a few. More than 5,000 people—consumers, winemakers, winery owners,…

Highly Recommended The issue’s most impressive wines. Includes top-scorers and wines that represent optimal purchases based on their combination of score, price and availability. 97 Croft Vintage Port 2017 $100 PORTUGAL A beauty in the making, with waves of dark currant preserves, warmed fig and steeped blackberry fruit, all infused with chai spice, tobacco, singed alder and espresso cream accents. Very grippy on the finish, but this is long and smoldering too. Best from 2035 through 2060. 500 cases imported.—J.M. 97 To Kalon Vineyard Company Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Highest Beauty 2016 $200 CALIFORNIA A large wine, with a dense, layered core of black currant, blackberry and fig fruit paste flavors, steeped with sagebrush, tar, loam and tobacco accents. A bolt of warm cast iron runs through the finish, providing structure…

Of all the projects we tackle, none is more difficult, or more rewarding, than selecting the Top 100 wines of the year. The field of candidates is daunting: Of the more than 15,000 new releases reviewed by our 10 official tasters in 2019, 6,250 reached the 90-point baseline for consideration in the Top 100. We spend many hours sifting and sorting, discussing and debating as we work to create a list that reflects the judgments of everyone on our team and, we hope, engages and enlightens our readers. Our goal is to assemble a group of wines that represent quality, value and excitement. While each wine must stand on its own, together they should embody the wonderful diversity of the wine world as well as reflect its ongoing evolution in…

Wine and manga fans rejoice. Kodansha Comics and Amazon digital comics platform ComiXology have announced that a full English translation of Kami no Shizuku, known to non-Japanese speakers as The Drops of God, has arrived. The 44-volume saga, written by sister-brother team Yuko and Shin Kibayashi (under the nom de plume Tadashi Agi) and illustrated by Shu Okimoto, was an unexpected hit that enraptured Japanese readers for its 10-year run, from 2004 to 2014. The story is part detective thriller, part wine-education seminar. Shizuku Kanzaki is summoned home one day to discover that his estranged father, a famous wine critic with a cellar that’s the stuff of legend, has died. But he soon finds that claiming his inheritance will not be so simple as signing on a line: His father…

Year-end holiday celebrations are a time to splurge and indulge: Break out the caviar and Champagne and, when it comes to cheese, put together a tasting plate with some of the most opulent options available. Each pick in this lineup reflects luxury distinctly; all seven offer diverse, intriguing and unique accents. 1 The Mozzarella House Burrata $10/8 ounces, formaggiokitchen.com Here is the cheese world’s equivalent of a decadent dessert cake with an oozing, molten center. Burrata is a shell of mozzarella filled with a mix of cream and shreds of curd, called stracciatella (“little rags”). Though its name invokes “buttery,” burrata’s flavors actually evoke farm-fresh milk. This one, made from cow’s milk, has a dose of salt for focus and leaves a moist, light and refreshing impression. 2 Ragged Point…

Renaissance Reds Chianti Classico leads the way for this group of flavorful reds from Italy. Cerasuola di Vittorio is Sicily’s sole DOCG, a blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato, and Vietti’s Perbacco is sourced mostly from estate vineyards, plus purchased grapes from a few select crus. BARONE RICASOLI Chianti Classico Brolio Riserva 2016 (93, $30) Cherry, iron, earth, oak spice; austere, firm CAPRAIA Chianti Classico Riserva 2015 (93, $30) Broad, supple; cherry, underbrush, earth, wild herb MANENTI Cerasuolo di Vittoria 2017 (92, $28) Black cherry, raspberry, star anise, orange peel, smoke, iron, tobacco; taut, mouthwatering VIETTI Nebbiolo Langhe Perbacco 2016 (91, $26) Cherry, raspberry, white pepper, chalky mineral; intense, balanced IL MOLINO DI GRACE Toscana Il Volano 2017 (90, $18) Lean, firm; candied cherry, fruitcake, earth, tobacco GIACOMO ASCHERI Dolcetto…

There’s an old proverb that has it all backward. It really should be: “The more things stay the same, the more they change.” As time passes, in other words, people grow accustomed to the status quo of life and are surprised by inevitable change. Yet, there’s no escaping change or at least evolution in the particulars even if the bigger picture remains constant. You can see that play out year after year in the wine industry. One of the latest examples is Sonoma winemaker Adam Lee’s pending departure from Siduri, a winery he founded with his wife, Dianne, in 1994. It’s not a surprise, exactly. The couple sold Siduri to Jackson Family Wines (JFW) in 2015, but Lee has kept his finger in the winemaking. The 2019 harvest will be…

2 MAYACAMAS Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder 2015 96 | $125 | California Mayacamas is one of Napa’s most celebrated and historic estates. Its stone winery, constructed in 1889 in the mountainous Mount Veeder appellation, remains in use to this day. And since the 1950s, though ownership has changed several times, little has changed about the winemaking. Winemaker Braiden Albrecht and consulting winemaker Andy Erickson utilize traditional techniques to yield a classic Cabernet style, implementing a combination of cement, open-top foudres and stainless-steel fermentors before aging the Cabernet 32 months in neutral oak (20 months in large foudres and 12 in barriques). The result: a compact wine built on savory charcoal, bay leaf, tar and juniper notes. 2,250 cases made. 3 SAN GIUSTO A RENTENNANO Chianti Classico 2016 95 | $36…

One of the things wine lovers appreciate most about wine is how special a part of daily life it can be. Wine is an integral element of meals and celebrations, of family gatherings and holiday traditions. Yet wine is also transformative, connecting us to cultures and histories beyond our own. Few pleasures provide such everyday enjoyment while also enlarging our understanding of the world. It’s this very combination that makes value such an important factor when it comes to wine, since most of us, whatever our budget, look for affordability when seeking our next go-to bottle. The good news is that great values are out there to be found. If you know where to look, you’ll be able to turn up excellent quality for the price from whichever region or…

Chardonnay maintains its pride of place as one of the world’s most popular wines, delivering intense, juicy and expressive whites. From California and Washington to Italy, Chile and Australia to the grape’s home in France’s Burgundy region, distinctive versions are being produced at affordable prices. For other rounder, fuller wines, Spain offers multiple examples from native grapes, while Chenin Blanc—from France’s Loire Valley as well as South Africa—is winning over more and more wine lovers. 92 $25 ARNAUD LAMBERT Saumur White Bréze Clos de Midi 2017 | FRANCE |This offers a juicy mouthful of yellow apple, white peach and honeysuckle notes. Vibrant and detailed, with a lively finish laced with quinine and lemon peel accents. J.M. 91 $16 FRANKLIN TATE Chardonnay Margaret River 2018 | AUSTRALIA |Features a mouthwatering, intense…

These are the wines that hold nothing back. Richness and depth of fruit, concentration and intensity of flavor—this is what you get when you harvest grapes such as Caber-net Sauvignon, Malbec or Zinfandel at their ripest. The best of them balance their power with freshness and vibrancy, yielding structure as well as focus. Recent great vintages in the Southern Rhône deliver multiple examples from Grenache and Syrah, while Washing-ton has come on strong with Cabernet, producing complex and polished versions. 92 $16 DOMINIO DE ATAUTA Ribera del Duero Torre de Golbán Crianza 2016 | SPAIN |A thick, polished texture carries focused black cherry, plum, dark chocolate, licorice and graphite flavors in this balanced red, with well-integrated tannins and fresh acidity. Powerful yet graceful. T.M. 92 $17 BODEGAS BERONIA Rioja Reserva…

Why do we pair white wine with fish and red wine with red meat? —Anita, Kathmandu, Nepal Dear Anita, I think the overly simplistic saying “red with meat and white with fish” was useful because it was easy to remember, coined in an era when the circle of influence for cuisine and wine was smaller. These days it’s no longer considered gospel, and for the most part replaced with the adage “Drink what you like, and eat what you like.” Even so, there are some general strategies to apply when pairing food and wine, including doing your best to either match or contrast flavors, weights and textures, and to balance the intensity of the dish with that of the wine. If you look at wine-and-food pairing this way, “red with…

“Every day, our primary focus is to find the wines that will be of greatest interest to our readers,” explained senior editor and tasting director Alison Napjus, kicking off the quartet of seminars that over two days would feature Wine Spectator’s Top 10 Wines of 2018. “Then, at the end of the year, we look back and select a group of wines that we find to be the most exciting.” Napjus was talking about Wine Spectator’s annual Top 100. Assembled by the magazine’s 10 lead tasters, the list is culled from an initial pool of all the year’s new releases that have earned 90 points or higher on Wine Spectator’s 100-point scale. In addition to quality, the editors consider price, or value for the category; availability, in cases made or…

This Buying Guide contains ratings of new releases from around the world. Complete tasting notes are provided for new releases scoring 85 or more points (on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale, explained below); notes for wines scoring 84 points or less are included at the discretion of the taster. Hundreds of additional reviews appear each month on our website, www.winespectator.com. Each review carries the initials of the Wine Spectator editor who blind-tasted and scored the wine and wrote the review, based on the regional specializations indicated below. James Laube California Thomas Matthews Spain Kim Marcus California Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Noir, Argentina, Chile Bruce Sanderson Burgundy, Piedmont, Tuscany James Molesworth California Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux, Rhône Valley, Port MaryAnn Worobiec California Sauvignon Blanc and other whites, Australia, New Zealand Alison Napjus…

CALIFORNIA Cabernet Sauvignon & Blends 97 To Kalon Vineyard Company Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Highest Beauty 2016 $200 See Highly Recommended, page 135. 96 Ridge Monte Bello Santa Cruz Mountains 2016 $225 This is tight as a drum today, with a rigid frame of singed apple wood and cedar around a core of dark currant, fig and blackberry reduction notes. A racy iron streak and riveting acidity drive the finish, which is loaded with bay leaf, violet, sage, charcoal and tobacco details. Expands steadily in the glass with air, but this isn’t meant for consumption today. Cabernet Sauvignon blend. Best from 2025 through 2045. 5,150 cases made.—J.M. 94 Long Meadow Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley E.J. Church 2014 $135 A solidly built, grippy style, with a frame of graphite around a…

As we round the bend into December, the usual ideas of what to cook turn to fantasies of holiday show-stoppers. At the sleek northern Italian restaurant Casa Lever on New York’s Park Avenue, director of culinary operations Iacopo Falai offers a hearty option: osso buco, the Milanese classic in which cartilaginous veal shanks—cross sections of leg bone—are simmered until hauntingly flavorful and beginning to go slack. Here, the dish is presented in the traditional mode: doused in bone marrow sauce, with a spoonful of the rustic lemon-parsley mash known as gremolata, and served on a bed of fragrant saffron risotto. In its decadence, the dish is like a visit from St. Nick himself, Falai says—and “who doesn’t like Santa Claus with a lot of presents?” Falai began his career as…

End of an Era Harvey Steiman will be missed. His knowledge of Oregon and West Coast wines, his wonderful palate, his sense of humor have been an important part of my wine-loving life since I began reading the Wine Spectator in 1985. However, all the new faces and new approaches in your magazine make me a believer in the future of Wine Spectator. Your 2016 Cabernet report is mind-blowing. Keep up the good work. Joel Jensen Union, Ky. Great Lakes, Great Wines After reading “A Guiding Hand to the Finger Lakes” (Travel, Sept. 30), I started thinking about the Great Lakes area and how fascinated I was by the tastings there. Not just [how affordable] but the actual taste itself. I’m so used to the tastes of the West Coast,…

Tory and Britt McPhail met at work in 2003. Tory, then 30, was a year into his tenure as executive chef of the iconic New Orleans destination Commander’s Palace, a winner of Wine Spectator’s Grand Award since 2012, while Britt, then 23, was in the restaurant’s reservations department. “Children!” Britt exclaims of that time. Now 38, Britt is a sales representative for the Louisiana-based wine distributor Wines Unlimited, while Tory, 46, has been chef of Commander’s Palace for going on two decades. After their wedding in 2015, the McPhails set their sights on purchasing a home in the Crescent City. But their search was stymied by rising property values and the fact that they weren’t interested in buying something old and high maintenance. They realized they needed a new approach.…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 94 CARLISLE Zinfandel Russian River Valley Papera Ranch 2017 $48 CALIFORNIA This compelling wine balances a distinct personality with a finely crafted texture and structure, showing expressive and brambly black and red fruit. COLLECTIBLE 97 FONSECA Vintage Port 2017 $120 PORTUGAL Dark and dense, with fig bread, baker’s chocolate and tar notes leading to flavors of plum, black currant and blackberry paste. A big, old-school, throwback Port that will age at a glacial pace. SMART BUY 92 FIRST DROP Shiraz Barossa Mother’s Milk 2017 $20 AUSTRALIA Generous, with a plump mix of huckleberry and blackberry flavors, revealing a hint of green olive on a dense and juicy frame. BEST VALUE 90 A TO Z WINEWORKS Chardonnay Oregon 2018 $15 OREGON Vibrant, with plush fruit, this white offers medium-weight…

Wine lovers today have more choice than ever. Wine Spectator’s annual Top 100, an honor roll that reflects the past year in wine, champions this diversity. So while a glance confirms that the big three—France, Italy and California—dominate the list, accounting for two-thirds of the selections, a closer look reveals a breadth and depth of offerings from both emerging regions and lesser-known appellations within those wine giants. Spain, Australia and Oregon are also well-represented, and we are excited to note that there are 44 wineries for which this year marks their debut appearance in our Top 100. Our Wine of the Year is a blue-chip Bordeaux from the stellar 2016 vintage, Château Léoville Barton St.-Julien. In an era in which many Bordeaux châteaus are now corporately owned, Léoville Barton has…

2018 1 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri-Sassicaia Sassicaia 2015 ($245) | ITALY 97 2 Château Canon-La Gaffelière St.-Emilion 2015 ($84) | FRANCE 96 3 Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva 2015 ($35) | ITALY 96 4 La Rioja Alta Rioja 890 Gran Reserva Selección Especial 2005 ($175) | SPAIN 95 5 Moët & Chandon Brut Champagne Dom Pérignon Legacy Edition 2008 ($180) | FRANCE 96 6 Aubert Chardonnay Carneros Larry Hyde & Sons 2016 ($85) | CALIFORNIA 96 7 Colene Clemens Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains Dopp Creek 2015 ($26) | OREGON 95 8 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2016 ($70) | FRANCE 95 9 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna San Lorenzo 2016 ($60) | ITALY 95 10 Bedrock The Bedrock Heritage Sonoma Valley 2016 ($46) | CALIFORNIA 95 2017 1 Duckhorn Merlot…

Crisp, bright, fresh—these are some of the terms commonly used to describe these light-bodied wines, driven by lively fruit flavors and vibrant acidity. The growing popularity of the style means that more producers around the world are seeking out cooler climates and eschewing the use of oak, yielding a range of mouthwatering options. For those unfamiliar with Italian whites, there’s a racy Fiano, a sleek Vermentino, a well-cut Soave, a zesty Verdiccio and a snappy Sicilian blend. 92 $20 KILIKANOON Riesling Clare Valley Killerman’s Run 2018 | AUSTRALIA |A lip-smacking version, featuring mandarin orange, ruby grapefruit and peach flavors, with mineral and lanolin details taking this to the next level. M.W. 91 $20 DONNACHIARA Fiano di Avellino 2018 | ITALY |Tightly knit, with a racy backbone of acidity and an…

What exactly does it mean that a wine can express “terroir”? Is it a smell? A taste? —Anderson, Toronto Dear Anderson, Terroir is a French term that translates loosely as “a sense of place,” derived from the French word for earth, terre. The concept is that wine is capable of expressing the inter-action of the grapes with the specific vineyard site in which they’re grown—its soil, climate and topography, as well as its bacterial and microbial environment. This is what gives a wine its distinctive character. Terroir encapsulates the idea that a Pinot Noir from Burgundy will and should taste differently from one made in California or New Zealand. The term is not exclusive to wine—it’s frequently applied to products such as coffee, tea and cheese as well. Terroir is…

The world has discovered its love for rosé and producers have risen to the occasion. Refreshing, delicious and affordable versions are being made in a variety of regions from an array of grapes. For light, crisp and graceful examples, southern France still steals the show, but there are many reasons to look farther afield. In terms of value, Spain, Italy and Washington are all turning out especially well-priced options. 90 $11 BARON DE LEY Rioja Rosado 2018 | SPAIN |Lively and harmonious, showing berry, watermelon and rose petal flavors, with fresh acidity. T.M. 90 $11 BODEGAS PEÑALBA LÓPEZ Ribera del Duero Rosado Finca Torremilanos Montecastrillo 2018 | SPAIN |Offers the color and structure of a light red, with cherry, leafy, ginger and earthy flavors. T.M. 90 $20 DOMAINE GUEGUEN Pinot…

Argentinian producers are taking Malbec to the next level with impressive single-vineyard and reserve bottlings from recent vintages. This development comes while the market for the mid-and lower-priced versions of the country’s calling card have waned over the past few years in the wake of adverse weather conditions, which have shrunk yields and lowered quality in some cases. Fortunately, vintners saw production levels return to normal in 2018, with nearly ideal growing conditions, and the 2019 vintage promises to deliver more of the same. This positive turn of events may help reinvigorate consumer interest in a category that has slipped from a little more than 6 million cases exported to the United States in 2010 to 5.1 million cases last year, according to Impact Databank, a sister publication of Wine…

ARGENTINA Red 95 Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Mendoza Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae 2015 $140 Well-crafted and pure-tasting, with intense, mineral-infused flavors of raspberry, red currant and dried cherry, supported by fresh acidity. The lively finish reverberates with crushed stone and spice notes. Best from 2020 through 2025. 550 cases made.—K.M. 95 Viña Cobos Malbec La Consulta Bramare Rebon Estate 2016 $100 Very suave, featuring lusciously spiced flavors of dark fruits and berries that are creamy and rich-tasting. Polished, fresh tannins provide a powerful structure. Chocolate and Asian spice details fill the long finish. Drink now through 2027. 545 cases made, 180 cases imported.—K.M. 95 Matervini Malbec Cafayate Valley Alteza 2016 $90 Elegant, with lively acidity supporting raspberry, red plum and currant flavors. Fresh minerality shows midpalate, leading to a vibrant…

The reviews that follow are the on-release tasting notes for the wines of the 2019 Top 100. Ranking is indicated by the number in the red box to the left of each note. Prices given are release prices. The date in parentheses indicates the issue in which the wine was first reviewed. An overview of this year’s Top 100 and profiles of each of the selected wines begins on page 42. 1 97 Château Léoville Barton St.-Julien 2016 $98 This is so vivid as it brims with pastis-soaked plum, blackberry, black currant and blueberry paste flavors, all carried by a perfectly integrated brambly spine. Tar and ganache notes give the finish an extra kick while everything stays within the mouthwatering roasted apple wood frame. Both regal and rambunctious, this is…