Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i Wine Enthusiast Magazine

Jacqueline Strum EDITOR & PUBLISHER MANAGING EDITOR, PRINT John Capone TASTING DIRECTOR Anna-Christina Cabrales CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marco Turelli EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR, DIGITAL Rachel Paley SENIOR EDITOR, PRINT Stacy Briscoe DIGITAL EDITOR Kristen Richard ASSISTANT EDITOR, DIGITAL J’nai Gaither ASSISTANT EDITOR, PRINT Jacy Topps EDITORIAL ASSISTANT, DIGITAL Jaime Brown CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, FOOD Nils Bernstein WEB PRODUCER Samantha Sette DESIGN ART DIRECTOR Monica Simon DIGITAL VISUALS EDITOR Evan de Normandie DIGITAL DESIGNER Eric DeFreitas VISUALS PRODUCER Jesse Reiter ASSOCIATE PHOTO PRODUCER Tom Arena TASTING SENIOR EDITOR, TASTING Jim Gordon SENIOR TASTING COORDINATOR Craig Chamberlain ASSISTANT TASTING COORDINATOR Cody Wexler ASSISTANT TASTING COORDINATOR Russell Peborde SOCIAL DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL MEDIA Elyse Estrella SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST Marco Bruno COMMUNITY COORDINATOR Ruya Kirac VIDEO SUPERVISING VIDEO PRODUCER Braxton Parr VIDEO PRODUCER Rob Martin WRITERS AT…

The Wine Enthusiast Podcast, hosted by Assistant Editor Jacy Topps, is your twice-monthly serving of drinks culture and the people who drive it. Recently we’ve talked with industry leaders about sustainability, representation, cannabis and more. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at winemag.com/podcast. “Representation matters on every single level. Because the only way we’re going to change the system is by changing the rulebook and changing the game. And you can’t change the game from the sidelines.”Wanda James, Founder, Simply Pure Dispensary EPISODE: Who Gets to Participate in the Cannabis Industry (And Who Doesn’t) EPISODE: What is Regenerative Agriculture? “It’s really about recognizing that you’re a part of an ecosystem. Instead of trying to control that ecosystem, you’re trying to work with it and enhance it and understand that…

The Bread Book is the new cookbook from Éric Kayser, the founder of French bakery Maison Kayser and author of The Larousse Book of Bread. It is technical but accessible, a one-stop textbook for any aspiring baker. Kayser’s challah loaves are small and vegan (aka “water challah”), a far cry from the giant eggy loaves often seen in the U.S. More common in Israel, it has a nice ratio of crispy crust to soft and light interior. CHALLAH Courtesy of The Bread Book: 60 Artisanal Recipes for the Home Baker, by Éric Kayser (Phaidon Press) 535 g (generous 4 cups) white bread flour290 g (scant 1 ¼ cups) water at 60°F50 g (¼ cup) caster (superfine) sugar15 g (1 ½ tablespoons) fresh yeast, crumbled*10 g (2 teaspoons) Guérande sea…

High in the Italian Alps, the persistent sounds of clickety-clack penetrate the echoey darkness while the electric train travels through a misty and narrow tunnel inside an abandoned silver mine. Feathery white mold in the shape of angel wings clings to the walls. The tracks lead to an imbibe-able beauty that has been aging gracefully here for seven years. In the northernmost corner of Alto Adige, the Monteneve Ridanna mine is where Cantina Tramin, one of the region’s oldest co-ops, ages their “Epokale” Gewürztraminer—a cellar-worthy late-harvest example. The grape’s relatively high pH allows it to retain acidity at altitude as well as for delightful developments in the bottle after a few years. Mining has taken place under this mountain, which rises more than 7,000 feet, since the Middle Ages…

Editor’s note: To highlight the unusually high quality of sparkling wines featured in this issue, we asked Wine Enthusiast’s Champagne expert, Roger Voss, to have a conversation with our reviewer for English sparkling wines, Christina Pickard. Roger Voss: Champagne is special. The combination of white chalk soil, a cool climate, grape varieties that have—over centuries—been found to perfectly suit the region and produce wines that have a natural desire to sparkle. Add to this natural combination the final element of what the French call terroir—the long tradition of man’s involvement in viticulture and winemaking in the region, and you find all the ingredients for great and inimitable wines. England is blessed with the same chalk and limestone ridges as its more famous French neighbor to the south. Christina Pickard:…

AMARONE DELLA VALPOLICELLA 93 Le Ragose 2010 Classico (Amarone della Valpolicella). A thrill to have an older vintage released onto the market. The nose is as if the best red wine sauce of plum, dried orange, and mixed herbs was made to go on your favorite roast. The wine is meaty and herbal with plush and soft tannins that glide on the palate. The savory finish is sublime. Drink Now. Frederick Wildman & Sons, Ltd. —J.P. abv: 16% Price: $60 90 Acinum 2017 (Amarone della Valpolicella). A dense and opaque wine from the moment it flows in the glass. Dark and brooding on the nose with Black Forest cake, cocoa powder, and dark roast-coffee aromas with a slight herbal note. The palate is mouth filling with coconut, cherry and dark…

RIESLING 95 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt 2018 Saar Scharzhofberger Auslese #10 Gold Kap Riesling (Mosel). This bracing, salt-edged Auslese showcases a purity of green apple, lime and stone fruit flavors against shocks of stony, slaty minerality. Exceptionally light on its feet yet piercing with electricity, it’s a sweet-tart, reverberating style of sweet Riesling that could only come from the Saar. It’s delicious now in its youthful eccentricity but will improve for decades to come. American B.D.. Editors’ Choice. —A.I. abv: 7.5% Price: $70 93 Mönchhof 2019 Erdener Prälat Auslese Riesling (Mosel). Smoky, spicy earth tones and whiffs of honeysuckle introduce this featherlight yet deeply concentrated Auslese. Lip-smackingly sweet yet racy in acidity, its sunny yellow peach and apricot flavors are dusted with hints of bitter toffee, mint and lime zest. This…

CHARDONNAY 96 Adelsheim 2019 Ribbon Springs Vineyard Chardonnay (Ribbon Ridge). This is Adelsheim Vineyard’s only estate single vineyard Chardonnay in their 51-year history. That’s probably a good thing, as it would be difficult to top this fantastic wine. It is packed with aromas and flavors of cool cellar floor earth, lemon shortbread, ripe apricots, toasted filberts, coconut and the flinty-smoky note of a recently discharged firecracker. This is a fuller-bodied wine with a medium level of acidity and a whole lot of delicious character. Editors’ Choice. —M.A. abv: 12.5% Price: $55 95 Audeant 2019 Seven Springs Vineyard Chardonnay (Eola-Amity Hills). For full reveiw see page 109. Cellar Selection. abv: 13% Price: $75 95 Lange 2021 Three Hills Cuvée Chardonnay (Willamette Valley). For full review see page 110. Editors’ Choice. abv:…

This holiday season, all of us may find some joy in and celebrate the conventional. The last few years have looked nothing like those before them, and maybe we can use a festive homecoming to the comforting rhythms of routine. One thing is for certain, nostalgic nods to comfort proliferate these pages. Creamy, cozy cocktails and fortified sippers get their moments in the sun, and a beautiful “Last Drop” on the healing powers of the Santa Ynez Valley add to the warm feelings we hope you’ll get from these pages. It seems there’s so much to celebrate this season by indulging in the ordinary. My favorite piece, “Season’s Eatings,” pulls holiday food memories from our staff alongside perfect pairings. In reading it, I recall my own memories of holidays…

When we asked around the office what foods come to mind when our staff thinks of their own holiday traditions, we learned that if we all got together, we might end up with one very eclectic potluck. Dessert is covered and the influences span the globe, but, as you might expect, we all had one thing in common: The team would be bringing some heat when it comes to bottles and cocktail creativity. So, take notes—no matter what is being served at your family table, this should spark your shopping list. Retro dishes are feeling fresh again, so I keep thinking about the Waldorf salad—green apple, celery and walnut, occasionally with some shredded coconut (!)—that my mom would bust out for holiday dinners when I was a kid. –Nils Bernstein,…

Of course, you’ll find Negronis at Monteverde, a not-completely-traditional Italian restaurant from chef (and former Top Chef contestant) Sarah Grueneberg. But this version is different from any you’ve seen before: Instead of the standard Campari, the bitter component is divided between two other Italian ingredients: bitter-orange Aperol—infused with crushed peppermint—and Branca Menta fernet, a typically bitter amaro style. The juicy Aperol calms the sharpness of the fernet, while the peppermint infusion plays up Branca Menta’s natural menthol and baking spice notes. “Peppermint is one of my favorites. As a kid, my parents always gave me peppermints, so it reminds me of my childhood,” explains head bartender Richard Beltzer, who describes this drink as a “playful way to incorporate nostalgia during the holiday season.” WONDERLAND NEGRONI Courtesy Richard Beltzer, head…

When Davide Campagnolo and his associates opened Manifattura—a classic cocktail bar in central Florence stocked exclusively with Italian bottles—in July 2017, they couldn’t have imagined how the model would hold up under the pressure of a global pandemic. The shift to a focus on local products was, as Campagnolo notes, the result of “a desire to celebrate the thousands of years of tradition that were being silently buried by huge international brands that, in fact, weren’t offering that much.” The idea of sourcing only from Italy seemed a little crazy at first, Campagnolo admits, but it wasn’t long before Manifattura became a point of reference, both leading and feeding a trend to create a truly Italian cocktail culture. It also, rather unexpectedly, ended up insulating the bar from one…

Last autumn there was a small and well-curated beer festival held in Nashville. The host, Yazoo Brewing, had brought together brewers from across the country and imported beers from around the world in a celebration of funk—those good microbes that make fantastic beer. Amid the lambics and gueuze, the saisons and mixed cultured ales, I found myself repeatedly drawn to the Harvest Roots table, a Birmingham, Alabama outfit specializing in kombucha. As an open-minded drinker, I’ve dabbled in the booch from time-to-time. I can appreciate the skill involved and admire the presence of probiotics—even if an eyebrow is raised to some of the too-good-to-be-true good-for-you claims. I just generally gravitate toward other imbibables. Yet here I was at a world-class beer fest—drawn to this hippie vinegar. I was not…

VINTAGE SPARKLING ROSÉ 95 Gusbourne Estate 2018 Brut Rosé Traditional Method Champagne Blend (England). This sunset-hued vintage rosé demonstrates just how far England has come on the winemaking front. And what the country can achieve in a warm, favorable vintage like 2018. Both complex and highly crowd-pleasing, this opens with ripe raspberry, red apple, cream and spice with floral undertones. There’s a lovely depth of fruit on the tangy palate, with bright acidity and a pearl necklace of bubbles flowing seamlessly through to the finish. Delicious drinking now, this is highly food-friendly and hugely classy. Broadbent Selections, Inc. —C.P. abv: 12% Price: $80 94 Hattingley Valley Wines 2018 Rosé Sparkling Blend (England). Hattingley’s rosé is elegant, fresh and downright delicious. The color of ballerina slippers, it opens with delicate aromas…

93 Domaine Dubost 2020 Côte de Py (Morgon). The famed slope of the Côte de Py has produced a firm, structured and dense wine. Bold black fruits backed by layers of tannins and acidity have come together in a rich medley of fruits and texture. Drink this from 2023. Rosenthal Wine Merchant. —R.V. abv: 13.5% Price: $46 93 Domaine Dubost 2020 La Ballofière (Morgon). This Morgon vineyard has produced some rich black fruits. The fruitiness is now working with the tannins to give a complex wine. Blueberry flavors, spice and a dry core all point to aging potential. Drink this fine wine from 2023. Rosenthal Wine Merchant. —R.V. abv: 13.5% Price: $26 92 Domaine Baron de l’Ecluse 2020 Les Garances (Côte de Brouilly). Smoky, spicy and rich, the wine has…

92 Ciavolich 2018 Fosso Cancelli (Colline Pescaresi). The deep golden yellow of the Ciavolich Fosso Cancelli Pecorino signals excitement and rightfully so. The nose is lightly reduced, with salty citrus and stone fruits, while the palate is unctuous and umami laden, a bite of Parmigiano Reggiano with honey and hazelnuts that seems to last forever. This is an evocative, layered wine that truly succeeds in demonstrating the potential of the endlessly versatile Pecorino grape. First Vine, LLC. —D.C. abv: 13% Price: $50 91 Ciavolich 2020 Aries (Colline Pescaresi). Pecorino’s flexibility seems to know no bounds, and the lush but briny Ciavolich Aries sees the grape stretching itself out fully. From a nose of fried herbs and lemon to a palate that is saturated with melon and ripe yellow apple complemented…

CHARDONNAY 95 Charlotte Dalton 2021 Grace Chardonnay (Adelaide Hills). From an exciting, artisanal Adelaide Hills producer, this elegant, gold-hued Chardy offers a multitude of intriguing aromas from very first sniff: honey, lemon peel, baker’s yeast, green tea and butter. The mouthfeel is glycerin-like, with a supportive frame of oak, a citrus freshness, and a long, mouthwatering, lemon curd-on-toast finish. A versatile wine for food pairing, it also has the potential to age gracefully until around 2030. Wine Dogs Imports LLC. Editors’ Choice. —C.P. abv: 12.5% Price: $35 94 Giant Steps 2020 Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay (Yarra Valley). This single vineyard beauty, from a restrained and acid-driven Chardonnay vintage in the Yarra Valley, leads with reductive flint and nut characters. They’re woven in with more delicate aromas like stone fruit, waxy lemon,…

MALBEC 95 Bodega Y Cavas De Weinert 2006 Tonel Unico No 248 Malbec (Luján de Cuyo). This Malbec was aged for 14 years in 4,800 liter oak casks and bottled in 2020. The winery has a very distinctive style. This wine is balanced and complex, with a nose of prune, dates, mushroom, and decayed flowers. The palate has depth and ripe tannins, with concentrated fruit flavors. Plum and cherry are accented by hints of truffle, and dates. It has a lingering delicious finish. Broadbent Selections, Inc. —J.V. abv: 14.5% Price: $NA 93 Casarena 2019 Naoki Vineyard Malbec (Luján de Cuyo). This red has a beautiful nose of flowers and blackberry jam. After aeration, it offers hints of rosemary. On the palate, concentrated black-fruit and toasted oak flavors are backed by…

Strong, dark ales are regularly used as a base to be aged in wood. Imperial porters, stouts and barley wines are used to prop up the canvas that is bourbon or wine barrels. On its own, however, the imperial stout is a style that can showcase a brewer’s talents and leave an impression on the palate—and the following morning. As the name suggests, imperial stouts are strong. The definition can vary, with some brewers staying in the 7% to 8% abv range (still more than double the strength of the more familiar dry Irish stout), but most will climb into the low double digits. That said, any harsh alcohol is often well-masked by chocolate or coffee flavors that are derived from specialty malts. Where lesser stouts will be watery and…

FUTURE 40 This past September, Wine Enthusiast hosted a cocktail reception with Jackson Family Wines. The evening celebrated the launch of Wine Enthusiast’s Future 40 and the 40th anniversary of Kendall-Jackson’s first pour at the iconic Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station.…

There are competing tales as to why peppermint-flavored striped sugar sticks were bent into a cane shape starting in the 1800s. Most likely they were meant to resemble a shepherd’s crook from the Nativity scene, but their attractive presence (and ease of hanging) on the Christmas tree guaranteed them a place as a holiday hallmark. Something you may not have considered is pairing them with a glass of wine as an adult fireside treat. They’re more complex than you think. SWEET Above all, candy canes are sweet. The wine-pairing rule with sweets is that the wine should be sweeter than the food. (Yes, candy canes are food.) Canadian Icewine (one word) is the pride of the country’s wine production. Often made with Vidal Blanc, it gives intensely sweet flavors…

The vinous history of post-colonial Australia is inextricably linked to fortification. Fortified wine may be less popular than it once was (the category comprised around 80% of Australia’s global wine production in the mid-20th century, a figure that has shrunk to just 2% today), but the regions and producers that specialize in this rich style champion it, just as their ancestors did six generations before them. When grapevines were first brought to AU, they were plonked into the hot, dusty soils of some of the country’s warmest, driest regions, making them suitable for fortified production. It was a wine style that was all the rage in England and, therefore, in Australia too (along with beer and gin, also popular in the mother country). British settlers brought cuttings to the…

The year was 1984. The Iron Curtain still had a stronghold on Europe, casting its shadow on anything east of the Austro-Hungarian border. Robert Wenzel, a grape grower in the Burgenland region of Austria, made the potentially dangerous trek to Hungary to bring back cuttings of Furmint. The idea was to revive what was once the most popular white grape variety in his village of Rust. Robert had permission from Austrian authorities but not from the communist Hungarians. At that time, crossing the border took several hours. Robert’s father, who was in the car with him, tried to break the tedium by playing his tárogató, a woodwind instrument similar to the clarinet commonly used in Hungarian folk music. The elder Wenzel’s Hungarian tunes were forbidden at the time, as Russian…

VINHO VERDE 94 Anselmo Mendes 2019 Curtimenta (Vinho Verde). Partial skin contact and then wood aging for nine months has produced a rich, smoothly textured Alvarinho. This wine is luscious, with a smoky edge from the wood and mature white fruits that sing with ripe flavors. Drink the wine now. Grape2Glass. —R.V. abv: 13% Price: $38 94 Anselmo Mendes 2019 Parcela Unica (Vinho Verde). This single-vineyard Alvarinho, rich and concentrated from old vines, is powerful and balanced. Remnants of the initial freshness have now mellowed into a riper, smoother character. Drink now. Grape2Glass. —R.V. abv: 13% Price: $40 93 Anselmo Mendes 2021 Alvarinho Contacto (Vinho Verde). Skin contact gives this wine extra intensity and richness. The full texture brings in spice and vanilla flavors as well as beautiful acidity and…

GRÜNER VELTLINER 93 Ingrid Groiss 2020 Ried Pankraz Reserve Grüner Veltliner (Niederösterreich). This is a bit tight now, but underneath there is a seductive wine, with a charming vanilla note and chalky minerality that frames the core of rich quince, ripe pear and baked pineapple. Firmly structured and long, this is made for cellaring, so give it a few years. Best 2025–2035. Circo Vino. —A.Z. abv: 13.5% Price: $49 92 Ingrid Groiss 2020 Ried Sauberg Tradition Grüner Veltliner (Niederösterreich). This white features a beautiful, silky texture, combined with firm structure and strong minerality. Orchard and stone fruit flavors are mixed at the core, framed by chamomile tea hints. The finish is marked by a long smoked sea salt note. Vineyard Brands. —A.Z. abv: 13.5% Price: $49 91 Alzinger 2021 Dürnstein…

CHARDONNAY 96 Peake Ranch 2020 Peake Ranch Vineyard Chardonnay (Sta. Rita Hills). Very lean and focused on the nose, this brilliant bottling shows lemon peel, shiso leaf and sea salt on the nose, with the slightest hint of delicate cream. The mineral focus to the palate is tremendous, as the crushed chalk tension holds firm from start to finish, allowing flavors of lychee and lemon zest to shine. —M.K. abv: 14% Price: $55 95 Au Bon Climat 2019 Nuits-Blanche au Bouge Chardonnay (Santa Maria Valley). For full review see page 109. abv: 13.5% Price: $40 95 Clendenen Family 2018 Bien Nacido Vineyard Chardonnay (Santa Maria Valley). This bottling begins with a mellow touch, and then opens in more toasty ways, showing judicious levels of butterscotch, lemon confit, hazelnut and oak…

If any bottle can make a difference in your next cocktail, it’s vermouth. On the surface, vermouth is a simple beverage. It’s a wine that’s been fortified, usually with grape brandy, and aromatized with herbs, spices and botanicals. But in recent years, vermouth has come into its own— from extra-dry to sweet (with an ever-expanding array of options in between), and in a range of styles, including blanc, ambrato and rosé. While it’s still indispensable as a supporting character in boozy classics like the Martini and Manhattan, growing enthusiasm for low-proof drinks means vermouth is getting plenty of well-deserved time in the spotlight on its own. Some vermouths are practically cocktails unto themselves, and they can shine with minimal embellishment. In fact, some vermouths are practically cocktails unto themselves—after all,…