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Hors Bordeaux tasting notes: the white wines

09 September 2024 By Colin Hay

Country	Wine	Vintage	Region	New?	Rating
Spain	De la Riva Macharnudo San Cayetano	2023	Andalucia	No	96
France	La Bouche du Roi Grande Vue	2023	île de France	No	93
France	La Bouche du Roi Grand Lever	2023	île de France	No	92+
France	La Bouche du Roi Les Louis d’Or	2023	île de France	No	94
France	Domaine Chapuis Chorey-Lès-Beaune	2022	Burgundy	No	91
France	Domaine Chapuis Corton-Charlemagne	2022	Burgundy	No	94
France	Domaine de Baronarques	2022	Occitanie*	No	94
France	Hermitage Le Chevalier de Sterimberg	2022	Rhone	No	96
Italy	Etna Bianco (Giovanni Rosso)	2023	Sicily	No	94
Italy	Petrolo Bòggina B	2022	Tuscany	No	94
Italy	Testamatta Bianco (Bibi Graetz)	2023	Tuscany	No	95+
Italy	Colore Bianco (Bibi Graetz)	2023	Tuscany	No	98
Australia	Yattarna Bin 144 Chardonnay	2022	Australia (various)	No	98
Australia	Cloudburst Chardonnay	2022	Margaret River	No	97
Australia	Giaconda Chardonnay	2022	Victoria	No	NYT
California	Inglenook Blancaneaux	2022	Napa	No	96
California	Quintessa Illumination	2023	Napa & Sonoma	No	95

Spain

De La Riva Macharnudo San Cayetano 2023 (Vino di Pasto; 100% Palomino; 13.5% alcohol; this is an unfortified Palomino and comes from the famous Macharnudo vineyard in Jerez). I loved this special and extremely distinctive wine last year and it feels wonderfully familiar and every bit as good in the 2023 vintage. Candlewax and a hint of myrrh, with that distinct note that reminds me here again of Dauvissat’s Premier Cru Chablis La Forest. There’s a touch of white almond flesh, but this is also crisply bone dry (so don’t start thinking frangipane here). There’s confit lime too and a little peach flesh, maybe a touch of quince. One the palate this is full and rich, more so than the vertical and lifted aromatics lead you to expect – it’s as if we’ve gone now from a vertical to a rather more horizontal register. Intense and quite dense and viscous, but with a wondrous up-thrust of fresh bloody orange juice from below just when it starts to feel a little too rich. Tense and taut on the finish after that enervating injection of freshness. 96.

France

La Bouche du Roi Grande Vue 2023 (IGP île de France; 100% Sauvignon Blanc; 14% alcohol; certified organic). A lovely fresh and crisp sky-scraper vertical aromatic profile – nettles, freshly cut grass, gooseberry, white currant with a pleasing leafiness too. Very saline, with almost a note of liquorice – rare in a white – and impressively dense and compact over quite a slender and chiselled frame. Impressive stuff. Tender; tight; taut; tense. The best vintage of this that I’ve tasted. 93.

La Bouche du Roi Grand Lever 2023 (IGP île de France; 100% Chenin Blanc; 12.5% alcohol; certified organic). Lifted, with a leafy and at the same time earthy aromatic profile. Prominent citrus and white almond notes soar vertically from the glass, with a little suggestion of straw and a hint of saffron. On the palate, just like the Sauvignon Blanc, this is wonderfully taut and tense, with a racy acidity that brings a sparkle and a brightness to the mid-palate before releasing a lovely fresh wave of sapidity on the finish. Granny Smith apple and pink grapefruit. Long and tapering. Once again, the best vintage of this wine to date. 92+.

La Bouche du Roi Louis d’Or 2023 (IGP île de France; 100% Chardonnay; on clay and limestone; 13.5% alcohol; certified organic). Wonderfully tense and tactile from the get go, this is bright, intensely crisp and charged with a racy citrus acidity that hints at its geo-localisation towards the northern reaches of Chardonnay’s realm in France (one could almost imagine this as a the basis of a top single vineyard vinous Champagne cuvée). Dense, compact and with impressive richness and concentration, an effect achieved by the effect of the limestone, which pinches the wine from the attack and chisels it, holding the fruit very close to a well-defined central spine. Very linear; very focussed. 94.

Domaine Chapuis Chorey-Lès-Beaune 2022 (Chorey-Lès-Beaune 2022; 100% Chardonnay; planted on a well-draining alluvial marle and limestone terroir; 13% alcohol). A rare white Chorey-Lès-Beaune (over 90% of the appellation is planted with Pinot Noir). Simple in a way, but tense and tactile with an almost indulgent richness immediately countered by the fresh and biting acidity. Candlewax, a little peach flesh and assorted citrus notes – lemon cordial above all. A touch of fresh ginger too. 91.

Domaine Chapuis Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 2022 (Corton-Charlemagne; 100% Chardonnay; from parcels of Les Languettes, Les Pougets et Le Charlemagne with an optimal Southern and South-Eastern exposition on marly limestone and clay at 280 to 330 metres; 13.5% alcohol). Both gloriously opulent, lush, plush and plump and, at the same time, seriously chiselled, bright, crisp and crunchy in its fruit signature. Beeswax, lime zest, lime cordial and white grapefruit, gooseberry, a little hint of mimosa and jasmine too, a subtle flinty minerality and a gentle sprinkling of ginger and aromatic spices. On the palate this is intense and structured, fluid and dynamic, but rich and full. Above all, though, it is sinuous, the fruit though bound quite closely to the spine, having just enough range to flow where its whimsy takes it. Relaxed and gracious. 94.

Domaine de Baronarques 2022 (Limoux; 97 Chardonnay; 3% Chenin Blanc; non malolactic fermentation; 14% alcohol). This is bright, crisp and aerial. Candlewax; fifty shades of citrus; crushed rocks; and then the fruit – white grapefruit, citron pressé, blood orange, orange blossom, green tea. There’s a distinct lime cordial note too with some of the viscosity that implies. Texturally rich but aromatically fresh and very vertical. Juicy. Refreshing and very clean on the finish. A triumph. 94.

Hermitage La Chapelle Chevalier de Sterimberg (Domaine de la Chapelle) 2022 (Hermitage; 87% Marsanne; 13% Rousanne; 14% alcohol). Hyper-fresh, crunchy in its fruit profile and succulent in the mid-palate with excellent tension, poise and energy for such a hot vintage. Candlewax and candle smoke. Celendine, camomile and perhaps a hint of green tea. Blood orange. Wild herbs – oregano and marjoram. Viscous. This is always amongst the freshest wines of Hermitage, despite its richness, breadth and depth, and it is here once again. Tense. Rich. Harmonious and yet dynamic and energetic. Croquant and with fabulous upward thrusts of citrus freshness breaking through the sumptuous rich exterior. Pure and glistening, with a brilliant éclat. 96.

Australia

Yattarna Bin 144 Chardonnay 2022 (100% Chardonnay; the fruit sourced from Tumbarumba, Tasmania and Adelaide Hills; pH 3.11; barrel fermented and aged for 8 months in French oak barrels, 44% of which were new; 12.5% alcohol). The 28^th vintage of this, Penfolds’ increasingly iconic Chardonnay, made with precisely the same attention to detail and vineyard and parcel selection process as Grange. A fabulous follow-up to the sublime 2021. There are 2023 bottles; this is number 2. Aromatically beautiful and sublime in its complexity, each return to the glass revealing new elements. Lime and lime zest, grapefruit and fennel seed, hay, tarte au citron and lemon sorbet. A little white floral note. Elderflower. Lily of the valley. Orange blossom. Much more limpid still, than Bin 311 or Reserve Black A. Fluid. Lithe. Fleshy but hyper-crystalline. On the palate, this is so tight and precise, highly structured and very focussed, rapier-like. I love the little touch of iodine and oyster shell that I’ve noticed before with Yattarna, a hint of white pepper too. Very refined, almost delicate. Gorgeous texturally and wonderfully tactile, with a playful and captivating acidity. This tapers gently on the finish with each grip of the acidity, supported by a gentle hint of tannin, releasing plumes of sapid juiciness. The top white here by some distance, but an Everest amongst Himalayan peaks. 98. RRP: £135.

Cloudburst Chardonnay 2022 (Margaret River; 100% Chardonnay; 13.5% alcohol). Floral. White flowers. Orange blossom. Elderflower and confit elderberry. Saffron. Beeswax. Wild field honey. White melon. Guava. Canteloupe. Salted popcorn. Walnut oil. A hint of the very finest first press olive oil. One of the stars of the whites. Thick, rich, viscous. A massive wine. Incredible complexity, aromatically and texturally. Very tactile for Chardonnay. Impressive and its impressive too that despite all that weight and richness it remains so essentially and dynamically fresh. So intense. It’s the salinity, the freshness and the citrus notes that one returns to. Another singular wine from Cloudburst. 97.

Giaconda Chardonnay 2021 (Beechworth, Victoria; 100% Chardonnay; from a terroir of gravel over clay in the foothills of the Victorian Alps; a total production of just 1000 cases; aged for 12 months in oak barrels, 30% of which were new). The samples, at this stage, have yet to arrive in Europe. NYT.

Italian whites

Giovanni Rosso Etna Bianco 2023 (Etna; 13%). Golden. Glistening. Quite limpid. Fresh and lifted, with a distinctly stony minerality. Jasmine. Pink grapefruit. Kumquat. Confit white melon. Very vertical in the mouth and hyper-fresh despite the richness. Rippling, pure and refreshing, reassuringly crisp and salivating. In short, excellent. 94.

Petrolo Bòggina B 2022 (IGT Toscana Bianco; 100% Trebbiano; aged on its lees for 15 months in French oak tonneaux; pH 3.40; 12% alcohol; certified organic; the consultant for this wine is none other than Mounir Souma of Lucien Le Moine; tasted in Paris from a sample sent from the property). Golden hued, though with the slightest lime green highlight, this glistens enticingly in the early morning sunshine. An excellent and very distinctive wine from a varietal that, in fact, I rarely taste. Intense and focussed aromatically, very linear and quite vertical, with a zesty limey lift, a touch of wild honey, peach stone, quince, orange blossom and a suggestion of beeswax alongside the sage, fennel and a gunmetal minerality. Plunge-pool clear and crystalline with quite a gracious and succulent, dense and glistening mid-palate. Oily-textured in its richness, but never even hinting as heaviness, with loads of freshness and the tension that brings. Sumptuous and with a lovely finish where the zesty citrus notes seem to pinch the flow of the wine, releasing in their wake a fine but broad mousse of sapidity. Decant this in its youth. 94.

Bibi Graetz Testamatta Bianco 2023 (IGT Toscana Bianco; 100% Ansonica from Isola de Giglio on the top of the island, looking west looking towards the Mediterranean; the coolest vintage; around 6000 bottles). A cooler vintage, breaking the cycle of hot vintages. White grapefruit. Fennel. Citron pressé. So pure. Very fresh and lifted. Great natural citrus acidity yet with super amplitude too – like a volcano of freshness projected vertically, with all that depth below. A nice gentle spiciness. The freshest vintage of this I can remember, with no malolactic fermentation. Highly juicy. 95+.

Bibi Graetz Colore Bianco 2023 (IGT Toscana Bianco; 100% Ansonica; close to the sea in a small bay, with both southern and northern exposure, terraced and old vine; 2000 bottles). Richer still, with a slightly more exotic aromatic profile and associated complexity. Citrus. More structured and more layered. Picked a little earlier. Strangely reminiscent of Meursault in its freshness, opulence and capacity to provide the perfect vehicle for acidity and minerality. Great complexity. Walnut and white almond. Blood orange. Peach and apricot, guava and quince, passionfruit and passionflower. So juicy. So rich, but ethereal in its freshness. A more diffuse (and hence integrated) acidity than Testamatta. Quite superb. 98.

Californian Whites

Inglenook Blancaneaux 2022 (Rutherford, Napa Valley; from just 8.5 hectares of the 235 hectares of Francis Ford Coppola’s Inglenook estate; 40% Viognier; 37% Rousanne; 23% Marsanne; 13.4% alcohol; Philippe Bascaules of Chateau Margaux is the consultant oenologist here). Waxy. Rich. But lovely freshness and crystalline crisp verticality. Concentrated and intense, but with a constant vein of acidity bringing a bright and crisp freshness. White grapefruit. A hint of exotic fresh fruit – passionfruit. Very zesty and pure. It needs that crunch as the mid-palate is dense and rich, but never fat. Tense and taut. Charged and racy. Glacial and gracious in its purity. 96.

Quintessa Illumination 2023 (Napa/Sonoma; 58% Sauvignon Blanc Musque; 32% Sauvignon Blanc; 10% Sémillon; 13.5% alcohol). Lithe. Ultra-fresh. Searing in its acidity. The sample is almost a little pétillant. Lemon zest, a hint of fresh pineapple, but subtle, confit white melon, white grapefruit and a little mimosa perhaps. Gooseberry. Bright and crisp. 95. (€42 ex negoc.).

German Whites

German releases (white)	Vintage	Region	New	Rating
Domäne Serrig Vogelsang Kabinett	2021	Mosel	No	97
Domäne Serrig Vogelsang Grosse Lage	2021	Mosel	No	99
Schloss Johannisberg Kabinett Orangelack	2023	Rheingau	Yes	95
Schloss Johannisberg Trocken Goldlak	2021	Rheingau	Yes	96
Weingut Zach. Bergweiler-Prüm Erben, Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett	2018	Mosel	Yes	95
Weingut Zach. Bergweiler-Prüm Erben, Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Dry GG	2018	Mosel	Yes	95+
Weingut Zach. Bergweiler-Prüm Erben, Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese	2018	Mosel	Yes	96+
Weingut Gunther Steinmetz Wintricher Geierslay Kabinett	2023	Mosel	Yes	NYT
Weingut Gunther Steinmetz Piesporter Treppchen GG	2023	Mosel	Yes	NYT

With the exception of the (exceptional) Domäne Serrig wines, which are set to be released in the first week of the campaign, the other wines here – all new releases on la place – will all be offered to the market in ‘Riesling week’ in mid-October.

Domäne Serrig Vogelsang Kabinett (Markus Molitor) 2021 (100% Riesling; from a legendary estate established by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1904 on the incredibly steep slate slopes of the Saar river valley; 9.5% alcohol). This is a whole degree of alcohol lower than the first release, the 2020. Spell-binding in its complexity, with a dusty earthiness to its minerality immediately evident alongside the almost tactile white pear skin and gooseberry aromatics. Brilliantly incisive on the attack, with rapier-like precision and finesse, this is wonderfully linear, almost needle-like in fact by the time we get to finish on a distant horizon. Concentrated citrus (think lemon-juice reduction perhaps for the tarte au citron), apricot stone and almost a hint of wild strawberry. Incredible, once again. 97.

Domäne Serrig Vogelsang Grosse Lage (Markus Molitor) 2021 (100% Riesling; from a grand cru vineyard in the Saar; from a legendary estate built by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1904 on the incredibly steep slate slopes of the Saar river valley; 10 g/l of residual sugar, acidity of 8 g/l; 12% alcohol). Another simply staggering wine from Markus Molitor. There’s so much precision, so much complexity, so much detail and such singularity. Spectacular and extremely memorable. An intense flinty, stony minerality that has one imaging a barren rocky steeply contoured scree slope. Vertiginous acidity, with glorious citron pressé and pamplemouse pressé notes, a little blood orange and orange blossom too. A wine with immense aging potential, but that is already mind-expanding, not least in the incredibly vertical range the fruit seems to travel in the mouth. Brilliantly chiselled, incredibly tense and yet gloriously silky in its texture. A monument to Riesling. 99.

Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Kabinett Orangelack 2023 (Rheingau; 100% Riesing; 1200 bottles). A wine that has not been commercialised since the 1980s. There are just 1200 bottles, as for the other cuvée. This is the top Kabinett of the estate. Pure. Clean. Precise and focussed. A lovely tension between the sucrosity and the searing acidity. A little floral honeyed note, saffron too (in the same vein). So clean and rapier-like in its precision. White flowers, white pear and a little blanched almond, Granny Smith flesh too. Exquisite. 95.

Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Trocken Goldlak 2021 (Rheingau; 100% Riesling; 1200 bottles). This is rather different. A little more oxidative at least aromatically. Creamier too in texture. Raisins; grapefruit and its zest; quince; crab apple; a little gooseberry. Incredibly vertical, with all the lift of an interstellar rocket, intensely crunchy and fresh – like biting into a Granny Smith but to find an even more acidic fruit juice – quince perhaps. A hint of iodine too. In short, great complexity albeit in an as yet not entirely resolved form – this needs a certain patience. Pure; fine; refined; very linear. Impressive, if still very much in its infancy, and dancing on the limit in terms of its acidity – but that’s perhaps what I love about this the most. 96.

Weingut Zach. Bergweiler-Prüm Erben, Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett 2018 (Mosel; 100% Riesling; just 1200 bottles from a parcel of 130 year old vines on ungrafted rootstock on blue Devonian slate; 31.2 g/l of residual sugar; 9.5.% alcohol; tasted twice, first with the courtier and then from a sample sent from the estate). Just bottled when first tasted. Incredibly intense, pure, quite rich and full. A very sinuous spine to which the fruit is very tightly held. Complex. Very saline. White honey, peanut brittle, almost a little candyfloss and strawberry candy on the finish. White pear, Asiatic pear, flint and slate, passion fruit. A wine of great complexity but great harmony too – my list of descriptors doesn’t quite capture that. Searingly bright in its acidity, with lovely notes of quince and lime. White grapefruit and a hint of bitter almond. There’s a touch of toast too. Very pure and crystalline, despite the viscosity. Struck match on the finish and very saline too. Fascinating. Finishes very high on the top of the mouth. A true vin de garde and another Kabinett capable of redefining the reputation of this often underappreciated style of Riesling. The potential value of this extraordinary. 95.

Weingut Zach. Bergweiler-Prüm Erben, Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Dry Grosses Gewächs 2018 (Mosel; 100% Riesling; just 1200 bottles from a parcel of 130 year old vines on ungrafted rootstock on blue Devonian slate; 5.3 g/l of residual sugar; 13% alcohol). A more conventionally ‘petrolled’ Riesling note. In the mouth, this is immensely fresh and bright, highly acidic and charged. Orange blossom; white almond; white pear; quince; gooseberry and gooseberry leaf. A hint of the tobacconist’s too. Very mineral – crushed pebbles, slate, flint and iodine, oyster shell perhaps. More strict and linear than the slightly more sinuous and meandering Kabinett. Incredibly complex and unlike any other Riesling I’ve ever tasted. Very much a baby and not the easiest wine to capture in a tasting note. 95+.

Weingut Zach. Bergweiler-Prüm Erben, Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2018 (Mosel; 100% Riesling; just 1200 bottles from a parcel of 130 year old vines on ungrafted rootstock on blue Devonian slate; 39.8 g/l of residual sugar; 10% alcohol). More crystalline that the other expressions of this singular terroir. Fireworks and cordite. Pine cones. Quince. Incredibly lifted and, again, highly acidic. An upward pointed fire hose of fresh fruit juice – pear, peach, apricot (just a little), quince, white melon. A tonne of stony minerality. Pipe smoke (a trace). Extremely saline. Fleur de sel. Iodine. Another vin de garde requiring a certain amount of forward projection on the part of the taster. Staggering potential. 96+.

Weingut Gunther Steinmetz Wintricher Geierslay Kabinett 2023 (Mosel; 100% Riesling; 12% alcohol). Very much a rising star of the Mosel. A new Markus Molitor? Very clean. Fascinating. Lovely texture. Apricot and apricot skin. Lovely acidity and lift. Almond. Gloriously fresh and lifted. Very clean and pure. Lemon sorbet. Fleur d’oranger. A Kracher of a wine (the first time you taste it, it’s a revelation). NYT.

Weingut Gunther Steinmetz Piesporter Treppchen Grosses Gewächs 2023 (Mosel; 100% Riesling; 12.5% alcohol). Creamier, richer at first but that make the tension even more remarkable. Apples and crab apples, quince and pear, with the same crystalline purity. Rhubarb! Hyper-mineral. Crushed pebbles. Very fresh, almost strict but with incredible purity and pixilation. Fabulous. NYT.