Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022 - 99

TOP 100 WINES
zip to the apple, citrus and tropical fruit. A
shim of mineral flavor, reminiscent of wet
slate, supports its prodigious fruit, adding a
balancing savor that carries into the long finish.
Super youthful, this deserves time to settle
down and reveal its complexities, but it's
so immediate and thirst-quenching that it's
hard to put down the glass. -T.Q.T. § Skurnik
Wines, NY
95 | Franzen
$60
2019 Mosel GG Bremmer Calmont Riesling
^ " This is everything you want in a riesling, "
said one panelist. He went on to point
out the wine's succulence, the combination
of juicy fruit and mineral salinity, as well as
the kaleidoscopic array of flavors, from peach
blossoms to nectarine flesh, citrus and strawberries.
But the clincher is the wine's belltone
clarity, the flavors rich and round yet
weightless, reverberating for minutes after
each sip. This comes from one of the steepest
vineyards in all of Europe, which had
been abandoned for decades until Kilian and
Angelina Franzen restored it in the 2010s.
-T.Q.T. § Schatzi Wines, Milan, NY
95 | Carl Loewen
$65
2020 Mosel Grosses Gewachs Longuicher
Maximin Herrenberg Riesling ^ From vines
planted in 1902 in the steepest part of the
Maximin Herrenberg vineyard, the fruit vinified
in old fuders, this wine has a sense of
depth and roundness that sets it apart. It's
impressively inviting for a GG wine, delivering
pretty floral delicacy and riesling's fresh
fruitiness without any sweetness. The flavors
last, held firm by an earthy acidity so
well integrated it's imperceptible except in
the wine's verve and resilience. It would be
easy to drink this today, but it's worth losing
a few bottles in the cellar as this should
age well over the next two decades. -T.Q.T. §
Skurnik Wines, NY
BEST NaHE RIESlING
97 | Dönnhoff
and exciting but also suggests that this will
age beautifully. -T.Q.T. § Skurnik Wines, NY
BEST RHEINGaU RIESlING
97 | Robert Weil
$164
2020 Rheingau Auslese Kiedrich Grafenberg
Riesling ^ Chantilly-cream light and
sweet, this is a confection of airy strawberryapricot
flavors that glide over the palate with
the shivery smoothness of silk. It comes from
Wilhelm Weil's most prized vineyard, a steep,
grand cru-rated parcel of deep loam, loess
and phyllite over slate, a soil structure that
allowed the vines to weather the dry heat of
summer 2020. Picked over the course of a
month, from October 13 to November 12,
more than sweetness, the wine shows the
concentrated ripeness of the grapes, the fruit
taking on a warm red cast. A mineral salinity
adds a mouthwatering savor that makes
the wine surprisingly easy to drink. -T.Q.T. §
Loosen Bros. USA, Oregon City, OR
GREECE WHITE
BEST CRETE
95 | Iliana Malihin
Santorini, bright and chalky with pulsating
acidity, the salinity underlined by a Fino
Sherry-like umami note gained from a year
resting in barrels without topping up. This is
a fascinating wine to taste over the course of a
week; it feels like it will age for years. -T.Q.T. §
Diamond Wine Importers, Chicago, IL
GREECE RED
BEST NaOUSSa
95 | Boutari
$28
2016 Naoussa Grande Reserve Xinomavro
^ Classic Naoussa, this is a red wine with
teeth, firm in its tannic grip. There's fruit,
too, but it's all plum skins and blackberries,
mushrooms and roast meat, with a pop of
red-currant acidity to keep things balanced.
The flavors last, lean yet expansive, filling
with a fragrance. Although 2016 was a complicated
vintage, beautiful right up until September
7 when rains began pouring down on
the ripe grapes, the Boutari team managed
to turn out a Grande Reserve that stands up
to the brand's reputation as the standard
bearer for the appellation. -T.Q.T. § Celina,
Old Bethpage, NY
$36
2020 Crete Rethymno Young Vines Vidiano
^ Instantly transporting, a single whiff
of this herbal vidiano puts you in the Cretans
mountains, the cool breeze suffused
with sun-warmed thyme, sage, chamomile
and wild fennel. It comes from vineyards
near Fourfouras, high in the center of Crete,
where Iliana Malihin has been restoring old
plantings of vidiano, one of Crete's most
promising varieties. She vinifies the wine in
stainless-steel tanks using yeasts she's isolated
from those vineyards. The effect is vidiano
amplified, smooth and round as river
stones and nearly as savory, lasting with a
sense of place. -T.Q.T. § DNS Selections/T.
Elenteny Imports, NY
$57
2020 Nahe Auslese Goldkapsel Niederhäuser
Hermannshöhle Riesling ^ Hermanns
höhle is thought to have once been a
site of ancient worship, the name Hermann
derived from Hermes, the Greek god of travelers.
Certainly the site has imbued this wine
with an otherworldly beauty. It comes on quietly,
the main impression at first just brightness
and clarity, then the wine warms to sunset
flavors of red, orange and yellow radiating
out on beams of bright, sunny acidity. Those
flavors last, intense and penetrating, for days
after opening. The wine is more intense than
sweet, with a youthful power that's charming
BEST SaNTORINI
97 | Vassaltis
$196
2018 Santorini Plethora Assyrtiko ^ This
Santorini lives up to its name, packing a
plethora of flavor in every sip. Winemakers
Ilias Roussakis and Yannis Papaeconomou,
together with owner Yannis Valambous,
decided to produce a small batch of a traditional
nychteri-style wine from superripe
grapes. The season was extremely dry, and
the intensity of the fruit is clear from the first
glance of the wine's bright yellow hue. The
scents follow through, saline, with a butterscotch
richness, notes of salted nuts, golden
fruit and thyme. It's opulent yet also clearly
GREECE DESSERT
BEST SaNTORINI VINSaNTO
95 | Estate Argyros
$75/500ml
2014 Santorini First Release Vinsanto ^ Oldest
isn't always the best, and this wine proves
it: The youngest of Matthew Argyros's Vinsantos,
this spent three years in concrete vats
and four years in old oak barrels (as compared
to 20 or more for the family's older
cuvées). And yet it seems to have hit a sweet
spot where the rich, sun-dried grape intensity
is perfectly matched by assyrtiko's strident
acidity. The flavors are delivered with laser
focus, notes of spiced oranges, candied kumquats,
herbs, licorice and cinnamon spice-
lush but not overpowering, intense but not
tiring. One small glass will handily stand in
for dessert, or take a panna cotta over the
top. -T.Q.T. § Winebow, NY
HUNGARY
BEST TOKa JI
98 | Disznókö
$495
2007 Tokaji Eszencia ^ This is more an experience
than a wine, the deep, dark, viscous
free-run juice of deeply shriveled, botrytized
berries. It's so concentrated and high in sugar
that it's only about one percent alcohol. And
yet, rather than tasting like candy, this 2007
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Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022

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