Sommelier’s Choice

SOMMELIER’S

CHOICE

ACROSS THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND HUNDREDS OF CULTURES, WINEMAKING HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN ART FORM IN SEARCH OF THE SUBLIME. THIS DREAM CELLAR OF EMERGING VINTAGES – HANDPICKED BY 15 GLOBAL SOMMELIERS – SHOWS OFF THE BEST OF 21ST-CENTURY VITICULTURE.

BY JEFFREY T IVERSON Illustrations by H A N N A H

GEORGE

T

he Ritz Paris has hosted innumerable galas in its history, but doubtless the most consequential of recent times came in 2016 when the hotel reopened after a four-year, multimillion-euro renovation.

For this legendary institution, it was a chance to unveil to the crème of high society all the ways it had redefined luxury once again. Everything was to breathe elegant modernity – the rooms, the spa – even the champagne.

Or so intended Ritz’s chief sommelier at the time, Estelle Touzet. “The Ritz clientele has always been very attached to tradition, and used to being served wines from France’s biggest, most illustrious champagne houses,” she says.

“But for the reopening, I decided to serve a champagne that was completely unknown to the general public – a blanc de blancs by a 31-year-old, first-generation vigneron named Etienne Calsac.” Why? Because for Touzet, Calsac – a self-made, haute-couture winemaker who cut his teeth in New World wineries from Canada to New Zealand before beginning to produce champagne on a tiny, organically farmed estate in Avize – represents the future of French wine. And nowadays, divining that future is the crux of her profession.

Being a sommelier in 2021, says Touzet, means making sense of a wine world in movement. “Vignerons of my parents’ generation made wine like their fathers did, and didn’t leave their region. Whereas those of my generation now seek training abroad – in Germany, Australia – to learn how winemakers in other countries are adapting today, and to acquire new techniques they can bring back and apply to their terroirs and their grape varieties.” While Old World winemakers are seeking inspiration abroad and bringing home fresh ideas and innovations, New World winemakers continue to experiment with novel techniques, styles and vineyard locations. “The profession of sommelier has never been more interesting than in recent years,” says Italy’s Enrico Bernardo, 2004 Best Sommelier of the World, “and it’s because of the evolutions taking place all around the world now, with new estates, new appellations and new generations of winemakers.”

Which is why, for this year’s Compendium, Centurion magazine invited leading sommeliers from all across the planet to paint us a portrait of this evolving world, with each sharing a remarkable bottle from one young, emerging estate that points to the future of wine.

96

SOMMELIER’S

CHOICE

ACROSS THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND HUNDREDS OF CULTURES, WINEMAKING HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN ART FORM IN SEARCH OF THE SUBLIME. THIS DREAM CELLAR OF EMERGING VINTAGES – HANDPICKED BY 15 GLOBAL SOMMELIERS – SHOWS OFF THE BEST OF 21ST-CENTURY VITICULTURE.

BY JEFFREY T IVERSON Illustrations by H A N N A H

GEORGE

T

he Ritz Paris has hosted innumerable galas in its history, but doubtless the most consequential of recent times came in 2016 when the hotel reopened after a four-year, multimillion-euro renovation.

For this legendary institution, it was a chance to unveil to the crème of high society all the ways it had redefined luxury once again. Everything was to breathe elegant modernity – the rooms, the spa – even the champagne.

Or so intended Ritz’s chief sommelier at the time, Estelle Touzet. “The Ritz clientele has always been very attached to tradition, and used to being served wines from France’s biggest, most illustrious champagne houses,” she says.

“But for the reopening, I decided to serve a champagne that was completely unknown to the general public – a blanc de blancs by a 31-year-old, first-generation vigneron named Etienne Calsac.” Why? Because for Touzet, Calsac – a self-made, haute-couture winemaker who cut his teeth in New World wineries from Canada to New Zealand before beginning to produce champagne on a tiny, organically farmed estate in Avize – represents the future of French wine. And nowadays, divining that future is the crux of her profession.

Being a sommelier in 2021, says Touzet, means making sense of a wine world in movement. “Vignerons of my parents’ generation made wine like their fathers did, and didn’t leave their region. Whereas those of my generation now seek training abroad – in Germany, Australia – to learn how winemakers in other countries are adapting today, and to acquire new techniques they can bring back and apply to their terroirs and their grape varieties.” While Old World winemakers are seeking inspiration abroad and bringing home fresh ideas and innovations, New World winemakers continue to experiment with novel techniques, styles and vineyard locations. “The profession of sommelier has never been more interesting than in recent years,” says Italy’s Enrico Bernardo, 2004 Best Sommelier of the World, “and it’s because of the evolutions taking place all around the world now, with new estates, new appellations and new generations of winemakers.”

Which is why, for this year’s Compendium, Centurion magazine invited leading sommeliers from all across the planet to paint us a portrait of this evolving world, with each sharing a remarkable bottle from one young, emerging estate that points to the future of wine.

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1 ARGENTINA Andrés Rosberg PerSe, La Craie 2017

Today, new high-altitude vineyards are being planted around the world by pioneering winemakers seeking greater freshness and elegance in their wines. Andrés Rosberg, former president of the International Sommelier Association, brings us a wine from Argentina, home to the greatest concentration of high-altitude vineyards in the world. “After only six vintages, lifelong friends Edy del Popolo (viticulturist) and David Bonomi (winemaker) have established their PerSe project as one of the brightest stars in Argentinian wine. Their recipe was clear: find a Grand Cru-quality site, plant it with the varieties best suited to that terroir, and then let nature talk. They say simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, and PerSe’s La Craie is a stunning cuvée indeed, named for the abundant limestone of their vineyard in Gualtallary – an increasingly prized sub-appellation of Mendoza’s Uco Valley. The combination of high elevation (1,450 metres), cool, dry weather and chalky soils give this brilliant malbec and cabernet-franc blend unique finesse and depth. Barely 900 bottles are made annually, yet its personality and purity make it well worth seeking out.”

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2 AUSTRALIA Bhatia Dheeraj Traviarti, Nebbiolo

Given Australia’s history of Italian immigration, it’s no surprise that winemakers there would long to cultivate nebbiolo, Italy’s most noble – and notoriously difficult – grape.

Sommelier Bhatia Dheeraj, a Decanter wine judge and director of the Coogee Wine Room in Sydney, introduces us to a rapidly growing wine region that is now being touted as an ideal location for the grape. “I was recently in Victoria visiting the wine region of Beechworth when I happened upon a very small producer few people know about called Traviarti.

There, I tasted a nebbiolo that shocked me. Nebbiolo doesn’t like the Australian sun and heat. But in 2011, the couple behind Traviarti decided to plant it at 600m altitude, on the theory you would lose some of the heat extremes there.

The result is a wine that would be a beast in a tasting. Drinking it, you’re struck by the inherent contradiction of nebbiolo.

Delicacy, prettiness and floral aromas together with robust, savoury tannins drawn out by acidity … it’s enough to make this the most moreish variety striving in Beechworth, Victoria today.”

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3 BELGIUM Stéphane Dardenne Domaine La Falize, Chardonnay

In the balmy Middle Ages, Belgium was covered with vineyards. And today, with global temperatures on the rise, Belgians are making wine once again.

Sommelier Stéphane Dardenne of the two-Michelin-starred l’Air du Temps (and Gault&Millau’s 2020 Best Sommelier in Belgium) couldn’t be happier. “About ten kilometres from the restaurant l’Air du Temps is a wine estate which, in my opinion, has currently set the bar for winemaking in Belgium – Domaine La Falize. Launched in 2012 by one of the owners of the AB InBev brewing company, it now has a few hectares of chardonnay and pinot noir in production, and are already producing world-class wines. The owner has invested in state-ofthe-art equipment, has hired Belgium’s most famous winemaker, Peter Colemont – known for his Clos d’Opleeuw Chardonnay – while Sylvain Pellegrinelli, vineyard manager at Domaine Leflaive in Burgundy, is supervising the biodynamic viticulture. Today, the precise, Burgundian approach in the winery is yielding chardonnay reminiscent of the most beautiful expressions of the Côte d’Or.”

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4 FRANCE Estelle Touzet Champagne Etienne Calsac, “Les Revenants”

What does the future of French wine taste like? Probably like Etienne Calsac’s champagne, says Estelle Touzet, former chief sommelier of the Ritz who today runs her eponymous consultancy firm.

“In France, many vignerons rested on their laurels for generations with an unchanging model of wine. Today they’re starting to imitate foreign winemakers by embracing innovation. Take Etienne Calsac, a 36-year-old vigneron of less than three hectares in Champagne. He didn’t inherit a grand estate with beautiful chalk cellars. He built his own winery in an industrial area in Avize, using intelligence, open-mindedness and new ideas from his travels abroad. Low yields, horse-ploughing, biodynamic viticulture, Burgundy-style vinification – everything is made-to-measure. Recently he released a cuvée called Les Revenants, made only with old champagne varietals – arbane, petit-meslier and pinot blanc. It’s an extraordinary wine, boasting purity, precision and abyssal depth. We’re so used to chardonnay and pinot noir, we forget champagne can be more fine and delicate. It’s a wine that reminds us that building the future begins by looking to our past.”

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5 GERMANY Markus Del Monego MW Weingut Korrell Johanneshof, Paradies Riesling trocken

Demand today for lighter wine styles is raising the profile of German winemakers who are vinifying riesling in new ways – not for sweetness, but for dry wines that are low in alcohol yet bursting with aromatics. Markus Del Monego, Master of Wine, 1998 Best Sommelier of the World, and today the head of a consultancy firm in Essen, introduces us to a young German winemaker breathing new life into his family estate. “Martin Korrell represents the new generation of German vintners. He is keen on sustainability and organic viticulture, for which he just started the conversion.

His wines are crystal clear and show tremendous ageing potential. Paradies is the name of his best vineyard, which offers heavenly riesling with fragrant fruit reminiscent of ripe apricots, juicy peaches, lemon zest and fresh mirabelle, blending with hints of tropical fruits and white blossoms in the background. An outstanding, savoury riesling with discreet spiciness, slightly earthy minerality, flavourful depth, length and balance. A perfect match with turbot in beurre blanc, scallop sashimi or vegetable tempura.”

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6 INDIA Bhatia Dheeraj Vallonné Vineyards, Riesling

It’s generally accepted that only countries situated between 30 and 50 degrees latitude are capable of producing fine wine. But today in India, where wine consumption has continually grown in recent years, pioneering winemakers are proving this axiom wrong by identifying cool, high-altitude vineyard sites and developing specialised farming practices. We asked Bhatia Dheeraj, sommelier and Decanter Asia Wine Awards judge, to share the most recent discovery from his native India. “There are a number of promising Indian producers today, such as KRSMA Estates, whose picturesque vineyards are located on the hills near the Unesco World Heritage Site of Hampi.

Its premium sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon and syrah wines are wines to watch for. Another awesome wine – and I mean it, try it blind – is the stunning dry riesling first produced in 2017, from Vallonné Vineyards in Maharashtra. It’s crafted from grapes grown 2,100 feet [640 metres] above sea level on south-facing slopes benefiting from the cooling influence of the waters of the Mukhne Reservoir.

In a word, it’s a mind-blowing wine.”

“I like wines made by people who believe in the soul of the land, wines made in the vineyards rather than the cellar, wines made with heart that remind us being imperfect is perfectly human”

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7 ITALY Enrico Bernardo Passopisciaro, Contrada G

In the last decade, no region in Italy has captured the imaginations of oenophiles (and investors) like Sicily’s Mount Etna, an active volcano where professional viticulture had been mostly abandoned after World War II. Italy’s Enrico Bernardo, 2004 Best Sommelier of the World, shares a wine that encapsulates Etna’s allure. “For me, the wines of Mount Etna are the quintessential ‘terroir wines’ of Italy today. It’s a magical place – the volcano’s basalt soil is jet black, the vineyards of nerello mascalese grapes are planted at 600-1,000 metres altitude, and include ungrafted pre-phylloxera vines.

As in Burgundy, there are crus, called contradas – walled, terraced vineyard sites. Among my favourites is Domaine Passopisciaro’s Contrada Guardiola, planted at 1,000 metres. Wine lovers see Sicily as an extremely southern wine region, and expect very rich, concentrated wines. Yet these are fresh and floral, perfumed, almost light like a Burgundy pinot, not dense but delicate, with very seductive aromas – blood orange, thyme, dried mint, cherries, even salty notes. They are refined and luscious, good young or old, and always bring you pleasure and emotions.”

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8 MOLDOVA Raimonds Tomsons Castel Mimi, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2012

With a winemaking renaissance under way in eastern Europe, Latvian sommelier Raimonds Tomsons, the 2017 Best Sommelier of Europe and Africa, recently visited an estate whose wine embodies the revival in Moldova: Castel Mimi. “This historic winery and castle was founded by Constantin Mimi, a politician who drove the development of Moldovan viticulture in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2011, the castle was renovated, and the winery upgraded with the newest equipment. Today, its 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve boasts an intense and opulent nose, showing a plethora of ripe dark plums, cherries and cassis jam complemented by very fine toasted oak notes – cedar, vanilla, Christmas spices – while also beginning to reveal evolution notes of balsamic, forest floor and dried mint. The palate is rich and dense with expressive but ripe and silky tannins and mild acidity, a great concentration of flavours with dried dark cherries and prunes, blackberries and blackcurrant jam complemented by sweet oak flavours of vanilla, sweetspices and toast, fresh notes of mint and capsicum followed by mild earthiness. A very polished and balanced wine.”

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9 PORTUGAL João Pires MS Vinhos Imperfeitos, I, Branco 2018

The current buzz over top-shelf Portuguese wines reached new heights in 2020 when the Vinhos Imperfeitos I Branco 2018 became Decanter magazine’s highest-scoring dry white Portuguese wine ever, at 97 points.

Master sommelier João Pires recently visited the producer. “I like wines made by people who invest and believe in the soul of the land, wines made in the vineyards rather than the cellar, wines made with heart that remind us being imperfect is perfectly human. To my surprise, I recently discovered a wine project named Vinhos Imperfeitos (imperfect wines), launched in June 2018 by the talented 36-year-old Portuguese winemaker Carlos Raposo, whose dream is to make the best – and most expensive – white wines in Portugal. His 2018 vintage includes a vinho verde, a Dão and Verde blend called D&V, and his crown jewel, the Vinho Imperfeitos/I, from 100% Dão region grapes. I was blown away by their sapid, mouthwatering quality, their salty umami character and their lingering tension – there’s an emotional strain, a never-ending suspense … as a jazz lover, it reminds me of ‘Peace Piece’ by Bill Evans.”

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10 SOUTH AFRICA Tinashe Nyamudoka Kumusha, Cabernet Sauvignon & Cinsault 2019

One of the most anticipated launches in South African wine of recent times was the Kumusha Wines project

by Zimbabwean-born Tinashe Nyamudoka, former sommelier of Cape Town’s acclaimed Test Kitchen restaurant. Kumusha is Nyamudoka’s paean to South Africa’s terroirs, but it’s also a means to promote black voices within an industry still rife with inequality. “Kumusha Wines is my source of livelihood, but it’s also a vehicle to open opportunities for the marginalised in South Africa and Africa as a whole. I want it to serve as a blueprint for aspiring young people in the industry on how to unlock the wine value chain. Since launching in 2017, I now export to the United States, the Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

I make my wines at Opstal Wine Estate in the Slanghoek Valley. My cabernet sauvignon and cinsault blend is an ode to South African cabernet/cinsault blends of the 1960s and 1970s – gems which are still drinking well. I wanted to emulate this style in the modern era.

I went for elegance more than power and created a wine that is drinkable in its youth yet will age gracefully.”

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11 SPAIN David Seijas Bodegas Viñátigo, Elaboraciones Ancestrales Blanco

After 11 years as El Bulli’s top sommelier, David Seijas’s nose for emerging wine is faultless. So what does he thi-nk is one of the world’s most alluring, mysterious wine-growing areas today? The Spanish Canary Islands. “The Canaries have a unique, spectacular landscape. Being free of phylloxera, there are countless wine varieties there that travelled from Spain, Portugal and Italy, many of which have now disappeared in their places of origin, and thus can be found nowhere else on the planet today. The different islands, of volcanic origin, also boast a great diversity of soils from successive erosions, and a multitude of microclimates – more than five just on the island Tenerife – making them a paradise for bold, passionate winegrowers. And few know the islands, their varieties and climates better than Juan Jesús Méndez of Bodegas Viñátigo, a talented, erudite winegrower who with his wife, Elena Batista, has recovered and revived numerous nearly extinct grape varieties. Their Elaboraciones Ancestrales Blanco, made from the gual variety, is a delight. Exuberant fruit and thrilling texture. A bomb!”

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1 2 SWITZERLAND Marc Almert Weingut Adank, Fläscher Pinot Noir Alte Reben

Though the Swiss would be content to keep it all to themselves, the quality and diversity of Switzerland’s wines is no longer a secret. Marc Almert, head sommelier at Zurich’s Pavillon and reigning Best Sommelier of the World, reveals the last Swiss pinot to make him swoon. “After working in prestigious wine regions from Burgundy to New Zealand, Patrick Adank recently came home to work with his parents, Rezia and Hansruedi, who founded their winery in the village of Fläsch 35 years ago. In 2020, he was named Gault&Millau wine guide’s rookie of the year. Adank is making exciting wines that are true to their origins and grapes, from sparkling wine (one of the few truly excellent ones in Switzerland) to a great selection of mineralesque whites.

But his pinot noirs are particularly outstanding – wines that can easily compete with their famous French counterparts. The Alte Reben – German for ‘old vines’ – has especially taken my heart with its intriguing fruit and spice on the nose followed by its longevity and minerality on the palate.

One to watch.”

“Before prohibition, Lake County had more grapevine acreage than either Napa or Sonoma.

Today the county is on the rise once again”

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13 UNITED KINGDOM Clive Barlow MW Gusbourne Estate, Barrel Selection Pinot Noir

If global warming is altering the fortunes of wine regions everywhere, England ranks among the winners. Having conquered critics with their sparkling wines, now English winemakers are chasing the holy grail – great pinot – says Clive Barlow, Master of Wine and buyer for the online English wine specialist Corkk. “When I started working in wine in the late 1980s in a small vineyard near the coastal town of Lymington, we dreamed of achieving 10% alcohol.

This year, pinot noir from one vineyard in Crouch Valley, Essex was harvested at 14.7%. Also a fabulous year was 2018, allowing a number of growers to produce very good pinot noir, especially in Kent. The star was Gusbourne Estate’s Barrel Selection Pinot Noir, a jawdroppingly hedonistic wine with deep, dense, ripe fruit, exuding flavours of morello cherries, star anise, blackberries and cedar smoke. Silk-smooth tannins, beguiling texture, a long sapid finish … it’s a thing of beauty and shows all that’s possible. Alas, only a few hundred bottles were produced. Yes, ‘One swallow does not a summer make’, but one swallow brings the promise of a fine future for pinot noir in Kent.”

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14 UNITED STATES Chad Walsh Komorebi Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016 For decades, big California brands have often overshadowed the quality boutique wineries that first created global excitement for American wine in the 1970s. That’s changing, says sommelier Chad Walsh, US Portfolio Manager for T Edward Wines. “In recent years, we’re really moving away from American wines with a sense of style – as in a ‘California chardonnay’ – towards wines with a sense of place. Take Matt Taylor, one of the winemakers developing a new appellation on the West Sonoma Coast – a cool, foggy area that’s climatically very different from the rest of the Sonoma Coast. After working for famed wineries from California’s Araujo to Burgundy’s Domaine Dujac, Taylor created his tiny estate here called Komorebi. It’s a labour of love: he uses dry-farming and biodynamics, produces very small quantities, and the wines are incredible.

In 20 years, few California wines have blown my mind like Matt’s pinot noir. It’s 100% whole cluster, very similar to the Dujac style. It has this wonderful texture and structure, and incredible aromatic complexity, from warm red fruits to that ‘sous bois’ earthiness you find in great burgundies, which to me is the pinnacle of the expression of pinot noir.”

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1 5 VOLCANIC WINE John Szabo MS Obsidian RidgeVineyards, Half Mile Proprietary Blend

In an era when belief in the primacy of terroir has spread around the wine world, a unique, international movement has emerged of producers who literally define their wines by their soils. Master sommelier John Szabo, founder of the annual International Volcanic Wines Conference, shares one of these rising, fiery estates. “Before prohibition, Lake County, the most recently active volcanic AVA in Northern California, had more grapevine acreage than either Napa or Sonoma.

Today the county is on the rise once again, helped by both the quality potential there and its more down-to-earth land prices, with big names coming north to get in on the action. Obsidian Ridge Vineyards is a leading producer, with 40 hectares planted high up on volcanic Mount Konocti on soils littered with obsidian – black volcanic glass. Brothers Peter and Arpad Molnar produce a dense and brooding Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, while their The Slope cuvée from the steepest, highest-elevation cabernet parcels is more finely etched and intricately woven. Their top cuvée, Half Mile, is made in suitable vintages from top vine blocks, yielding a cabernet sauvignon/ petit verdot blend that could almost be called elegant and refined.”