Hors Bordeaux Tasting notes: USA (reds)

As the first wines releases start to hit La Place de Bordeaux, db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay gives his verdict on the US wines rolling out in the September campaign.  

A note on the tasting notes:

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. 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 trade tastings in London, at the property itself, or in Paris, from samples sent directly from the property – and, in many cases, multiple times.

NYT – not yet tasted (with tasting notes to appear in a later article).

USA – red

Oregon releases	Vintage	Region	1st release?	Rating
*Appassionata Fortissimo (Ernst Loosen)	2014	Oregon	No	98
Californian releases	Vintage	Region	1st release?	Rating
Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon	2022	Napa	No	96
Inglenook Rubicon	2022	Napa	No	97
Chappellet Signature Cabernet Sauvignon	2022	Napa	No	95
Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon	2022	Napa	No	97
Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour	2022	Napa	No	97
Morlet Coeur de Vallée	2018	Napa	No	98
Paul Hobbs Cristina’s Signature	2022	Napa	No	98
Quintessa	2022	Napa	No	96
Stag’s Leap S.L.V.	2022	Napa	No	98
Maya	2022	Napa	No	99
Pym Rae (Tesseron Estate)	2021	Napa	No	99
Overture	2022	Napa	No	96
Opus One	2022	Napa	No	99
Au Paradis (Peter Michael)	2022	Napa	No	96
Les Pavots (Peter Michael)	2022	Sonoma	No	97+
Vérité La Joie	2022	Sonoma	No	98
Vérité La Muse	2022	Sonoma	No	97
Vérité Le Désir	2022	Sonoma	No	99
Flowers Pinot Noir	2023	Sonoma	Yes	94
Acaibo	2019	Sonoma	No	95
L’Aventure Optimus	2022	Pasa Robles	No	94
L’Aventure Côte à Côte	2022	Pasa Robles	No	96
L’Aventure Estate Cuvée	2022	Pasa Robles	No	97+

* – an exclusivity of the négociant CVBG

Appassionata ‘Fortissimo’ Pinot Noir 2014 (Oregon; 100% Pinot Noir  sourced from 11 different plots with very different expositions on volcanic clay terroirs in the Dundee Hills; 12.8% alcohol; tasted with Timothy Malone, the winemaker and Robert Bertheau, consultant wine-maker; matured for 18-20 months in French oak barriques, 25% of which were new; no fining or filtering; bottled 22-24 months after vinification and held for 10 years, guaranteeing provenance; just 98 cases made). One of three Appassionata wines with different aging profiles – this the wine for long-aging and the latest to be released. A wine constructed to age. The first vintage was 2005, a wine that has still to be released. The natural acidity is the crucial factor here. Overall, a pretty easy vintage with early bud-break, warm and generally dry conditions, a generous yield and no significant difficulties during the harvest. With more fruit on the vines the longer hang time in fact produced less potential alcohol – and this comes in at 12.8%. This is gracious and poised with great intensity and a massive sense of vertical lift. Despite the bottle age already this is defined by the youthful brilliance of the bright crunchy red berry fruits. We have a little aged armchair leather, a hint of black tea leaf with a whiff of smoke – Russian caravan tea perhaps. There’s a slightly bloody gamey note too that is redolent of the 2013. And a rich but subtle nuttiness. This is truly excellent and better still than the 2013. Soft on the entry, caressing in the mid-palate and long and rippling on the finish as the tannins engage and break up a little the smooth exterior. There’s still a fair bit of tannin, with a lovely granularity guaranteeing an almost infinite aging potential. A special and unique wine that is sapid and iron-rich on the extraordinarily long and tapering finish. 98.

Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 (Napa Valley; 92% Cabernet Sauvignon; 6.5% Cabernet Franc; 1.5% Petit Verdot; 14% alcohol). Gracious classicism and a lovely dark stony fruit with a glorious natural sweet ripeness to it. A hint of graphite, a touch of cedar, a little cassis. Crumbly Cabernet tannins massage the fruit, but ever so gently. Enticing and all in balance and harmony. This speaks eloquently of where it comes from. Likely to prove excellent value. 96.

Chappellet Signature 2022 (Napa Valley; 82% Cabernet Sauvignon; 9% Petit Verdot; 7% Malbec; 2% Merlot; pH 3.72; 14.5% alcohol). Incense. Scented candles. Sweet spice box notes. Embers. Plums and damsons, both fresh and baked. Cedar and acacia, with more coming through on the palate. Sweet and floral on the attack with a confit rose petal component that is very distinctive and engaging. The tannins are creamy and this is long and well-sustained if a little monotone on the finish. The alcohol is nicely kept in check. Perhaps just a little sweet-scented on the palate for my taste. 95.

Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 (Rutherford AVA, Napa Valley; 91% Cabernet Sauvignon; 9% Petit Verdot; pH 3.69; aged for 21 months in French oak barrels, 95% of which are new; 14.9% alcohol). Delicate and soft despite the sheer intensity, density and mid-palate concentration. Black liquorice, soft sweet spices and oodles of macerated berries, with a little cassis and Kirsch. Pure, refined, rich and glossy – and exceptionally long on the finish. 97.

Morlet Coeur de Vallée 2018 (Oakville, Napa Valley; 97% Cabernet Sauvignon; 3% Cabernet Franc; 15.5% alcohol; aged 16 months in French oak, 85% of which was new; tasted in person with Luc Morley at the CVBG press tasting; essentially the last part of the Oakville Valley to be planted though historically vines had been grown there; a terroir of gravel on a very fine-grained loamy subsoil, the alluvial deposits washed down from the Kalon Creek; picked four rows at a time with a team of 8 at night; naturally fermented in 600-litre French oak puncheons; unfined and unfiltered; 2007 was the first vintage here). Beautifully crystalline with that lovely ‘Morlet’ hint of cordite and struck match, also flint on flint! Sparky! Black cherry. Blueberry. Black raspberry. Cassis. Goji berry. A hint of Kirsch. Beeswax. A suggestion of tobacco leaf. Bay leaf too. There’s a lovely classical cedar note too. Pink rose petals. A little lily of the valley. Saffron. Dark chocolate-coated violets. Walnut oil. And that’s just the aromatics! This is incredibly spherical at the core. Dense and compact but not excessively so. It’s reminiscent of the 2020, if perhaps a little cooler at the core and it gives the impression of having a little less alcohol (though we’re still at 15.5%). Pencil shavings reinforce the sense of classicism here. This is a very Bordeaux-styled Napa! Texturally sublime. This is layered, but it’s actually more like the concentric circles of the cross-section of the old oak tree  – with greater and greater density towards the centre! Dark at the core. There’s perhaps a little more residual oak than in the most recent vintages I’ve tasted at this stage. But the quality of the tannins is incredible and the aging potential colossal. 98.

Paul Hobbs Cristina’s Signature 2022 (Nathan Coombs Estate, Coombsville, Napa Valley; 84% Cabernet Sauvignon; 10% Cabernet Franc; 5% Merlot; 1% Petit Verdot; aged for 20 months in French oak barrels, 38% of which are new; 14.5% alcohol). A very different composition this year. Beautiful. Floral. Lilac and mimosa, a little rose petal and a hint of violet too. Cedar, but only very subtly present; scratched leather; pencil shavings. Cassis with aeration or just time in the glass – and radiantly so. A simply exquisite wine in quite a challenging vintage. So pure, precise and focussed. Bravo. 98.

Inglenook Rubicon 2022 (Napa Valley; 85% Cabernet Sauvignon; 6% Cabernet Franc; 6.5% Merlot; 2.5% Petit Verdot; 14.3% alcohol; aged for 18 months in 75% new oak). From a very hot vintage, so the secret here is in the very gentle extraction. The fruit was all sourced from Inglenook’s more volcanic terroirs. This is immediately tight and taut, tense and quite racy for a wine with so much mid-palate density. Cedar. Incense. Candlewax. Black pen ink. Black tea. A mix of red and darker berry fruits. Bramble, mulberry and a little black cherry, but with a few raspberries and black raspberries thrown in too. This has the most gracious of tannins, ultra-fine grained and super svelte. Impressively aerial and crystalline too. I love the gentle taper towards the finish, as the diameter of the spherical core slowly descends to a distant vanishing point on the horizon. 97.

Quintessa 2022 (Napa Valley; 93% Cabernet Sauvignon; 4% Cabernet Franc; 1% Carménère; 1% Merlot; 1% Petit Verdot; 14.5% alcohol). At first I find this a little fresher than Inglebook Rubicon, but there is also more of a slight sense of discordance between the (fresher) aromatics and the (punchier, fuller, richer) palate. A touch of florality reinforces the initial impression of levity and freshness. In the mouth, this is ample and full. It’s denser too at the core than Rubicon. Candlewax. Black berry fruits. Brambles. There’s quite a pronounced natural sweetness to the fruit too, underscored by the toast of the oak and that makes this feel just a little confected – but in a reassuring and redolently Napa way. Long on the finish. 96.

Stag’s Leap S.L.V. 2022 (Napa; 98% Cabernet Sauvignon; 2% Cabernet Franc; the vineyard made famous from the tasting of Paris; pH 3.89; 14.8% alcohol). Incense. Cordite. Flint. Violet and red rose petals. Dense. Intense. Tight. Concentrated. Compact. Full. Rich. Impressively fresh. Svelte. That touch of candlewax again on the palate. Impressive in its disguised power. Iron fist; velvet glove! 98.

Chappellet Pritchard Hill 2022 (Napa Valley; 94% Cabernet Sauvignon; 6% Petit Verdot; pH 3.71; aged for 22 months in 100% new French oak barrels; 14.5% alcohol). Truly excellent, intensely succulent, lithe. Cedar with a little graphite. Enrobing the dark berries. Lovely chocolate coated violets. This is gracious, full, long and gently tapering with the toasty oak nicely supporting and accentuating the natural florality. 97.

Maya 2022 (Napa Valley; 45% Cabernet Sauvignon; 55% Cabernet Franc; aged for 22 months in French oak barrels, 75% of them new; 15% alcohol). Grace in motion. Elegant, refined, deep, dark and svelte at the spherical intense and highly compact core. What I perhaps love about this the most is the restrained amplitude, the diameter of the core set by the tannins, super-svelte and yet textural and tactile as they are. That gives this an amazing impact and intensity. Lovely confit petals and violet. Parma violets in fact (well, maybe less ‘fact’ than sensation). Such grace. Such refinement. Such subtlety for a wine with so much natural power. A star of any autumn campaign. 99.

Pym Rae (Tesseron Estate) 2021 (Mount Veeder, Napa Valley; 75% Cabernet Sauvignon; 10% Cabernet Franc; there are just 7.5 hectares of vines here in a property of over 300 hectares, a recipe for natural biodiversity; in effect, 2 separate vineyards, at 500 and 600 metres respectively, so an average altitude of around 550 metres; tiny yields here too and this is entirely ‘dry farmed’, the irrigation was removed on purchase in 2016; aged in a combination of concrete tanks and French oak barrels, mainly new; aged in a combination of new oak (50%) and concrete vats (50%); 15% alcohol; certified organic and biodynamic; the vines are now around 35 years of age; tasted with Noé Tesseron at the offices of their courtier). The 6^th vintage produced and the vines now have around 35 years of age. The altitude produces a natural freshness that is rare in the vintage. Bright. Lifted. Very floral. Lavender. A touch of peony and iris. Crunchy in its fruit signature. I love the vivid sensation of rose petals, painted as if by a grand master in still life. The precision grows with each vintage and this is spectacular. It’s very Bordeaux in its style and yet it expresses the Mount Veeder terroir so well. Cedar. A little red liquorice but it’s not dominant. Subtle and gently layered, it’s as if the layers reveals themselves one by one in a gentle cascade – like a slowly descending set of steps. Ample and full in the mouth but always lithe and lifted and aerial. The dry farming gives this a depth and profundity that is rare and that expresses the terroir so brilliantly. A wine that fills out in the mouth as it opens, gathering and gaining in richness and becoming more and more Californian as it does so. But there’s also no escaping the sense that this is built on Bordeaux wine-making principles. I love that combination. This is right up there with Opus One in terms of sheer quality in the vintage. 99.

Overture 2022 (Oakville, Napa Valley; 94% Cabernet Sauvignon; 3% Cabernet Franc; 3% Merlot; 1.5% Malbec; 0.5% Petit Verdot; 13.5% alcohol). Gloriously aromatic and very open when tasted in the Bordeaux offices of Opus One. From a vintage with a very long heat spike, this is early harvested, above all the Merlot. Lavender. More graphite than cedar. There are delightful wild herbal notes too. Refined but not exactly delicate, it’s more expressive than that. A touch of walnut shell. Graphite shavings. Wild rosemary and a little garrigue herb. Texturally this is incredibly fine, beautifully silky and glassy at first and then with a lift and freshness that builds upwards from the mid-palate in a way you don’t quite expect. Really superb. Very aerial and yet also very well-sustained on the finish. And with such gracious tannins. 96.

Opus One 2022 (Oakville, Napa Valley; Cabernet Sauvignon 80%, Cabernet Franc 6.5%, Petit Verdot 8%, Merlot 105%, and 3% Malbec; 14% alcohol; 100% new French oak; tasted in the Bordeaux offices of Opus One). A wine that has been on la place now since 2004. So lifted, light and aerial that it’s almost gravity-defying. Utterly glorious aromatically, with those lavender and rosemary notes and a subtle touch of violet. Walnut. A hint of sloe and damson. Blueberry. Blackberry. There’s grace and power here but all is in balance. Bold and ample in the mouth, but never quite pushing into the cheeks and with almost a slightly greater vertical range, such that it feels almost lozenge shape. The cedar notes in the mid-palate are divine already and the texture is incredible. We finish on dark chocolate coated violet. Et in arcadia ego! 99.

Peter Michael Winery ‘Au Paradis’ 2022 (Oakville Estate, Napa Valley; 77% Cabernet Sauvignon; 21% Cabernet Franc; 2% Merlot; 18 months of aging in 60% new oak; 15.9% alcohol; tasted with Robert Fiore since 2020, the winemaker, over Zoom at the CVBG press tasting). Again, slightly oxidative at first. More ferrous perhaps and saline in its minerality than Les Pavots but cut from the same cloth. I love the violet florality from the Cabernet Franc – I’m almost in Pomerol for a fleeting moment. It’s quite bulby too. Plush, plump, glassy and crystalline. There’s more substance here, more density and compactness. It’s less ample in frame and that accentuates the intensity. Cool at the core. Very minty and Cabernet Sauvignon dominated, with a touch of dark chocolate. Almost a suggestion of white truffle. Lots of liquorice on the finish. Long and more burly and massive. A true vin de garde. Again the alcohol is the only issue here for me. 96.

Peter Michael Winery ‘Les Pavots’ 2022 (Knights Valley AVA, Sonoma County; 63% Cabernet Sauvignon; 23% Cabernet Franc; 8% Merlot; 6% Petit Verdot – all on volcanic terroirs on the side of Mount St Helena; aged for 18 months in around 70% new French oak barrels; 15.9% alcohol; tasted with Robert Fiore, the winemaker since 2020, over Zoom at the CVBG press tasting; first produced in 1988). Small clusters and low yields. Ever so slightly oxidative aromatically at first but it settles very quickly. A lovely cedary note gathers around the dark stony and berry fruits – damsons and blueberries, black berries and a little black cherry too. Graphite. Lilac. Violet. Soft, elegant, refined, subtle and quite delicate. Fleshy and cool at the core. A twist or two of the white peppermill. Some fresh mountain herbs, even a little sprig of rosemary and heather. Juicy too. Succulent in fact. More and more crystalline and gracious as it inhales. Succulent. Lifted. Layered. Broad and quite ample but very ‘floaty’. One does notice the alcohol here but the aerial elegance of this is exceptional as is the lushness of the mid-palate. Liquorice root and saline mineral notes gather on the finish. Not at the level of the 2021 for me but still deeply impressive. A wine that settles so well in the glass and really benefits from aeration. 97+.

Vérité La Joie 2022 (Sonoma; 76% Cabernet Sauvignon; 11% Cabernet Franc; 7% Merlot; 6% Petit Verdot; aged for 16 months in French oak barrels, 95% of them new; 14.5% alcohol). There’s an indulgent purity to the cassis fruit here. Scratched leather. Fresh leaf tobacco. Candlewax. Graphite by the nuclear reactor core full. A gloriously exuberant wine but also so cool and composed at the core. I find this fresher than La Muse and just as expressive of its Cabernet Sauvignon identity as Le Désir is of its Cabernet Franc identity. Plump and juicy on the finish. Exquisite. 98.

Vérité La Muse 2022 (Sonoma; 90% Merlot; 6% Cabernet Franc; 4% Malbec; aged for 16 months in French oak barrels, 95% of them new; 14.5% alcohol). Bright, lifted, vibrant and engaging, with lots of charm and personality. Floral, with a lovely signature of iris. Incense and cordite too. And a little spark of flint. Plump damson and bramble fruit. Maybe not quite as fresh as some vintages of this but La Muse in 2022 is sapid on the finish and very enticing nonetheless. 97.

Vérité Le Désir 2022 (Sonoma; 80% Cabernet Franc; 9% Merlot; 6% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Malbec; aged for 16 months in French oak barrels, 95% of them new; 14.4% alcohol). Brilliant. The Cabernet Franc is so fran(c)kly and impressively expressive! Radiant. That ‘blueberry and violet meets fresh wild mountain herbs’ thing. Green Szechuan peppercorns too, cracked and then crushed revealing all their freshness and subtle piquancy. So pure, precise and focussed. Poised, tense, racy yet plump, plush and succulent. Above all, this is profoundly juicy and sapid in the depths of the mid-palate. So gracious. Utterly divine. One of the stars of autumn collection once again. If to covet is to sin, I plead guilty! 99.

Flowers Pinot Noir 2023 (Sonoma; 100% Pinot Noir; pH 3.65; indigenous yeasts; aged in French oak barrels, 20% of them new; 14% alcohol). Not unlike Apassionnata. Bulby in its florality. Very much at the top-end of US Pinot Noir and a very worthy addition to la place’s autumn offering. Refined yet punchy. But ever so slightly soapy. The oak, too, is just a little obvious at this nascent stage and I would like to retaste this in a year or two to see how it beds in. But this is impressively done. Juicy. Sapid. Long on the finish and made for aging. Excellent value too. 94.

Acaibo 2019 (Sonoma Valley; 88% Cabernet Sauvignon; 9% Merlot; 3% Cabernet Franc; 14% alcohol). Elegant and refined and a little different than previous vintages with the cedar and graphite already well-present and nicely enrobing the dark berry and more delicate stone fruits. When re-tasted 6 months on, it is the plummy stone fruits that are more in evidence. Wild sage. White pepper. A gentle touch of sweet spice too – a little more present in fact on the palate than aromatically. Lithe and crystalline with a well-defined backbone, there is a lovely sheen and gloss to the tannins. Very harmonious. 95.

L’Aventure Optimus 2022 (Paso Robles, Willow Creek District; 66% Syrah; 26% Cabernet Sauvignon; 9% Petit Verdot; 36% in Y1; 14.6% alcohol; tasted with Swann Dufeu from L’Aventure at CVBG; 1998 was the first vintage here and, since 2008, all the fruit is estate grown). This is defined aromatically by the Syrah. Pure, precise, pixilated and with a pleasing crisp brightness to the raspberry and loganberry fruit. Crushed black pepper. Quite lifted and yet gracious too. Fresh, juicy and quite vivid. More and more defined by the Bordeaux varietals as the wine inhales. Plump, plush and crystalline at first before the grippy, grainy tannins start to engage. Minty and increasingly herbal on the finish which is sapid and juicy. There’s just a hint of dryness right at the very end. An impressive result. 94.

L’Aventure Côte à Côte 2022 (Paso Robles, Willow Creek District; 34% Grenache; 31% Syrah; 30% Mourvedre; 3% Graciano; 2% Viognier; 18 months aged in new and Y1 oak, concrete and amphora; 14.9% alcohol; tasted with Swann Dufeu from L’Aventure at CVBG; aged in amphora, concrete, new and one-year old French old barrels). Very Côte Rôtie in a way; but also very Châteauneuf du Pape – I hesitate between the two, or is it that the wine switches between the two? Janasse meets Jamet in Paso Robles! Raspberry; a little blackberry too; black pepper; a little plum skin. Plump, plush, yet impressively gracious for a vintage like this. Robust but refined. There’s a touch of dryness to the tannins, but at its core this is impressively glassy in texture. 96.

L’Aventure Estate Reserve 2022 (Paso Robles, Willow Creek District; 55% Syrah; 33% Cabernet Sauvignon; 12% Petit Verdot; 14.9% alcohol; 85% new oak; 21^st bottling; tasted with Swann Dufeu from L’Aventure at CVBG). Gorgeous aromatically. Intensely floral. Violet, lavender and saffron. Sunny in personality. Beautifully textured and tactile tannins and a lovely natural sweetness. Dense and compact, full, rich yet always crystalline and pure. Glassy and glacial giving this a cool mid-palate. Long and vibrant, sumptuous and succulent, lithe and juicy on the long, almost rippling, finish. 97+.

 

 

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