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Hors Bordeaux 2023: final tasting notes

11 October 2023 By Colin Hay

db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay rounds up his final tasting notes from the hors Bordeaux 2023 campaign.

Red releases	Vintage	Region	New?	Rating
Quintessa	2014	Napa	No	95
Quintessa	2015	Napa	No	96+
Santa Rita ‘Casa Real’ Cab. Sauvignon	2020	Maipo Valley	No	95
Bodega Garzon Balasto	2020	Uruguay	Yes	94+

White releases	Vintage	Region	New?	Rating
Giaconda Chardonnay	2021	Victoria, Australia	Yes	NYT

Quintessa 2014 (Rutherford, Napa Valley; 89% Cabernet Sauvignon; 7% Merlot; 2% Cabernet Franc; 1% Petit Verdot; 1% Carménère; 14.5% alcohol). Smoky. Dusty. Earthy. Quite ‘solaire’ as the French would say, Spicy with the baked stone fruit accompanied by nutmeg, clove, allspice, maybe a little hoisin. But there’s a pleasing wild herbal element too – thyme flowers and a touch of wild lavender – that marries well with the floral elements – rose petals and pot pourri. Very elegant and refined and both youthful and fresh. Super-delicate soft tannins with just enough granularity to outline the parameters of the relatively tight and taut frame. Dense and compact, sapid and juicy, this is really impressive. 95.

Quintessa 2015 (Rutherford, Napa Valley; 83% Cabernet Sauvignon; 12% Merlot; 2% Cabernet Franc; 2% Petit Verdot; 1% Carménère; 14.5% alcohol). The fruit here is darker and the floral elements fresher and more direct; indeed, this feels more youthful. Cassis, damson, black cherry. The minerality is also a little more marked – with a saline ferrous element that is there in the 2014 but more prominent here. I love the sensation of fresh rose petals, as if plucked individually from a perfect bloom. Even tight and more compact than the 2014, the tannins a little more present and voluminous but with imparting the same gossamer mouth feel. A little vanilla, a touch of freshly grated nutmeg. Super-structured and with a lovely taper on the long finish, this is superb. 96+.

Santa Rita Casa Real Reserva 2020 (Maipo Alto; 100% Cabernet Sauvignon; pH 3.56; 13.8% alcohol; aged in French oak barrels for 20 months, 85% of which are new; the winemaker here is something of a rising star, Sebastián Labbé – definitely one to watch). Released on the 18^th of September, the anniversary of Chile’s independence from the Spanish crown. This comes from the Santa Rita Alto Jahuel Estate at the foothills of the Andes and from a rather hot vintage. Yet whilst it feels sunny (‘solaire’ as the French would have it), it is also authentically fresh, impressively aerial and intense in its parfumier’s laboratory florality. These are not wild floral scents, but more floral essences – refined, accentuated and carefully combined. They enrobe and enrich the dark berry fruit, the slight suggestion of boiled sweets, and the black peppercorns. But there’s also plump and perfectly ripe raspberry notes too, assorted warm almost Mediterranean spices – cloves, especially, with a hint of coriander seed – and a little black tea leaf too. The tannins are very polite, very fine-grained and highly refined giving this an elegance and grace despite its layered depth, intensity and serious concentration. More detailed perhaps in its layering than in its delineation over the palate at this stage, but impressive nonetheless. A pleasing freshness on the lingering finish. 95.

Bodega Garzon Balasto 2020 (Uruguay; 42% Tannat; 39% Cabernet Franc; 19% Petit Verdot; 14% alcohol). At present distributed just through a couple of négociants; tasted at the Ulysse Cazabonne ‘Carnet de Voyage’ tasting in Paris in early October. If your principal experience of Tannat comes from the vineyards of Europe and appellations such as Madiran, then this wine is likely to come as something of a surprise to you – especially in its lithe, luminous and crystalline mid-palate. Aromatically, we have rosemary, garrigue herbs and a hint of wild lavender accompanying the plump dark berry and stone fruit. There’s a dusty earthiness too. There’s cinnamon and nutmeg and a touch of oak smoke too and maybe just a suggestion of the sea vapours carried by the southern breezes from the Falklands which are the key to the freshness of this. On the palate, this is dense and compact but with an ethereal grace and clarity that one doesn’t quite anticipate from the nose. The tannins are soft and refined and this is remarkably accessible already. 94+.

A note on the tasting notes

All of the following wines were tasted either in Bordeaux at the offices of the courtiers or négociants bringing these wines to the international market, at the property itself, or in Paris or in London, or from samples sent directly from the property – and, in many cases, multiple times.

As regular readers will know, I am the Bordeaux and la place de Bordeaux correspondent of The Drinks Business. My specialism is Bordeaux, in particular, and northern Europe (especially Piedmont and Tuscany), secondarily. This should perhaps be born in mind when it comes to my tasting notes for other regions with which I am less familiar and which I encounter primarily through la place. My notes, as ever, are those of an enthusiast and a wine-lover and, for these regions above all, they are best read as such.

Click here for full tasting notes of the latest release, as well as tasting notes by country: Italy; Spain, France, Austria and Germany; the USA; Argentina, Chile and Uruguay; New Zealand, Australia and South Africa).

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