Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022 - 97

TOP 100 WINES
for its expansive freshness and pale limestone
savor, the altitude of the site favoring the
ripeness of 2019 with astonishing beauty. The
acidity of the wine tingles, bringing luscious
flavors of white pear and savory white peach
into lively focus. Youthfully surrounded but
not overcome by hazelnut and brioche scents
of lees aging in oak, this is irresistible now
and will only gain depths as those scents age
toward complexity. -J.G. § Kermit Lynch Wine
Merchant, Berkeley, CA
lOIRE: BEST aNJOU
93 | Ch. de Bois-Brinçon $35
2019 Anjou Terre de Grès Blaison Chenin
Blanc ^ Last October, Xavier Cailleau was
excited to show this visitor the Highland cattle
he keeps on his property-ten adults and
a calf. He likes the energy they bring to the
domaine. He and his wife, Géraldine, have
practiced biodynamics since 2009, going
so far as to return composted must to the
parcel from which it came. This 2019 offers
its own wild energy in a chewy texture and
fresh aromas. A natty edge adds complexity
around the edges, and, though all my notes
make it sound rich (lemon caramel, honeyed
pear, blonde taffy without the sweetness),
the overall impression is of an elegant
rusticity, combining white mushrooms and
apple cider in the way great chenins can. This
one, from vines averaging 50 years old, presents
a patchwork of complexity-not unlike
the way the vines and the cattle inhabit the
same ground at the Cailleaus' estate. -C.W. §
Schatzi Wines, Milan, NY
BEST SaNCERRE
95 | Fournier Père & Fils
$45
2020 Sancerre Grande Cuvée La Chaudouil
lonne This wine grows in the caillottes
soils around Verdigny, northwest of the village
of Sancerre. It's floral-first, leading with
scents of apple blossom, hydrangeas and foxglove.
Peek behind the flowers, though, and
you find crystalline lemon fruit-the tartand-sweet
impression of candied lemon peel.
With impressive length, that flavor coalesces
towards lemongrass. Among a number of floral
2020 Sancerres, this wine stood out for
it structure, with acidity that rides into the
finish, delightfully refreshing. -C.W. § David
Milligan Selections, Ridgefield, CT
RHONE: BEST CONDRIEU
95 | André Perret
$115
2019 Condrieu Chéry André Perret has been
working in Condrieu since the 1980s, back
when many growers had given up working
BEST CHaTEaUNEUF-DUPaPE
Bl aNC
95 | Rotem &
Mounir Saouma
$150
2019 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Magis This is
rich and nutty, the wine as huge as the bottle
is heavy, with a cornucopia of fruit flavors
held tight and long by diamond-cut acidity.
That acidity, in tandem with salinity, holds
everything just so, its power sending out ripples
of energy. Delicious now, this will only
get more compelling with another decade
in the cellar. It comes from an organically
farmed parcel in the Pierredon lieu-dit, in
Bédarrides. -T.Q.T. § Vintus, NY
BEST ROUSSIllON WHITES
95 | Domaine du Clos
des Fées
$39
2020 Côtes du Roussillon Vieilles Vignes
Grenache Blanc ^ Hervé Bizeul was a sommelier
and journalist before he left Paris to
become a vintner, setting up a small winery
in Roussillon in 1997. Today he tends 50 acres
of gnarly old bush vines in the arid, rocky
wilds of Vingrau, where limestone outcroppings
shine blindingly white in the ample
sun. This white captures that solar brightness
and warmth, notes of herbs, spicy ginger
and white peach radiating over a broad
cashmere texture, enveloping and expansive
at once. Made from the fruit of vines over
100 years old, the wine's intensity suggests
this will age well, although it's delicious now
with something rich, like butternut squash
ravioli with browned butter. -T.Q.T. § Duclot
La Vinicole, NY
95 | Domaine des Enfants $34
2019 Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes
Tabula Rasa ^ This wine grows from a scattering
of white varieties planted among the reds
in Marcel Bühler and Carrie Sumner's vineyards
around Maury. The organically farmed
plots include a range of soils-schist, terra
rossa, gneiss and granite; the grapes are foottrod
before fermenting in 400-liter barrels,
the steep slopes for less physically challenging
jobs. This wine comes from his 50-yearold
viognier vines at Chéry, a south-facing
patch of granite and mica-schist. Vinified
one-third in stainless-steel tanks, the rest in
oak, the wine is perfectly balanced between
honeysuckle florals, golden peach-and-apricot
flavor and firm, savory minerality. Powerful
yet restrained, it lasts for days after opening,
remaining fresh and clean-a sure sign
that it will age well in bottle. -T.Q.T. § Kermit
Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA
spending a year on the lees before bottling
with minimal sulfur. There's a certain gravity
that pulls you into the wine's golden depths,
even as air pulls the honeyed, golden apple
flavors toward lemon, managing to integrate
airy sweetness and fresh verve. Leesy and
savory, this is textural wine, generous and
light, as if whipped to stiff peaks. It only gets
fresher over the course of a week, suggesting
it would reward cellaring. -C.W. § Artisanal
Cellars, White River Junction, VT
FRANCE RED
BORDEaUX: BEST POMEROl
95 | Château Séraphine $300
2018 Pomerol After Martin Krajewski sold
the Château de Sours, an AOC Bordeaux
property, to Alilbaba founder Jack Ma, he
purchased Château Monbrun and its 5.5
acres in Pomerol in 2016, renaming it Séraphine.
His daughter, Charlotte, vinifies this
wine on two separate tracks. For one lot, she
allows an extended post-fermentation maceration,
then takes it through malolactic in new
barrels; the wine ages in a mix of old and new
barrels for a year. For another lot, she fills
a 1000-liter clay amphora with her old-vine
merlot, directly off the sorting table, racks
it after fermentation and returns it to the
amphora to age for a year. Blended together,
the wine delivers the sweet ripeness of merlot
with a lovely perfume, the texture round and
supple, the flavors layered with fruit richness
and healthful earthiness. It feels bold, youthful
and direct, with the integration that suggests
it will age effortlessly. -J.G. § Old Bridge
Cellars, Napa, CA
BEST RED BURGUNDY
96 | Frédéric Magnien
$80
2019 Morey-St-Denis 1er Cru Ruchots ^
Magnien's Ruchots often performs at the
level of a grand cru-and it achieves that
depth and complexity without aging in new
oak. The vines he works with are at the top
of the vineyard, where it borders Clos de
Tart and Bonnes-Mares. He allows the fruit
to ferment spontaneously, with some stems,
F all 202 2
WINE & SPIR IT S
97
http://www.northberkeleyimports.com/project/maison-frederic-magnien/
Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022
