Refreshing Whites

wines

The white 2021 Cargol Treu Vi has notes of pollen and yellow fruit with some browning apples. It has contained ripeness and 12.4% alcohol with a very low pH and high-ish acidity but comes through as more evolved and somewhat riper than the phenomenal Principia Mathematica form this same vintage. It has pungent flavors and a medium-bodied palate, with some spice from aging in 300-liter barrels for 10 to 11 months. 2,100 bottles were filled in August 2022.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP

Lots of white pepper and crushed stone with some mineral undertones. Medium body. Bright acidity. Clean and crisp finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 91 JS

Here is another classic sparkling wine from northeast Italy. The Bisol 1542 2021 Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Crede Brut is crisp and citrusy with crushed oyster shell, flint and grated ginger. The wine ends with fresh, steely effervescence. This is an amazing value with 301,000 bottles released to the market. The blend is specifically 87.5% Glera, 10% Chardonnay and 2.5% Pinot Nero.The Wine Advocate (Monica Larner) | 90 RPPear-fruit nose with green apples, nectarines and chalk that give an upbeat, almost peachy accent to the palate. Creamy and fresh, with a silky mousse. Lots of green apples in the finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 90 JS

Cut grass, dark green herbs and yellow apple aromas show on the nose of this bottling. It’s very lean on the palate with a zippy, energetic acidity that cuts right through the cement, crushed stone and serrano flavors, engaging the palate on all sides.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEThe 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Au Naturel is laced with hints of pear, mint, chamomile, spice and apricot. Racy and textured in feel, the Au Naturel has plenty of richness to play off the natural vivacity of the year.Antonio Galloni | 92 AGAll varietal, the 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Au Naturel offers a touch more oomph in its white peach, melon, white flowers, and honeysuckle-like aromas and flavors. It’s rich, medium-bodied, balanced, and certainly an outstanding expression of Sauvignon Blanc.Jeb Dunnuck | 91 JD

The 2021 vintage of Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc includes 9% Semillon in a blend that is commonly found in Margaret River. Vibrant and piercing aromas are on display with impressive complexity including passionfruit, freshly cut grass, lanolin and hay. Exceptional purity follows on a light weight palate with juicy acidity providing energy and tropical fruit flavour impact. The finish is zesty and refreshing with impressive focus from start to finish.Vinous Media | 92 VM

There’s a touch of oak on the nose and palate that helps to frame the tangy citrus notes, and lends a touch of spice, but it’s far from overwhelming. Full-bodied, classically Lirac in its breadth on the palate. Ends on a nip of grapefruit bitterness. Good acidity. Also contains Marsanne, Viognier and Piquepoul.Decanter | 92 DECBrimming with stone-fruit aromas with a touch of mango, this is a rich but very clean and crisp dry white from the Southern Rhone. Good concentration and a touch of positive tannin help it carry the generous body and 14.5% alcohol. From organically grown grapes. Drink now.James Suckling | 90 JS

This is the under $35 bottle of white Burgundy that Puligny Montrachet lovers serve at parties and pools. It’s so similar to 1st Cru Puligny Montrachets in that it has both richness, power and pleasant acid structure that many people don’t know the difference. It’s been my party trick for years to serve this blind and let all the white burgundy aficionados guess what great Puligny producer this is from. And this 2021 vintage may be the best vintage to date.Sokolin Tasting Panel | 94+ SP

Bright and inviting, the 2021 Chardonnay Drouhin Oregon Roserock has high-toned aromatics including loads of lime zest, honeyed apple, and a lifted note of gunflint that is well-managed. Medium-bodied and energetic, with balanced ripeness as well as loads of fresh citrus and a long finish, it has more reductive and bright-toned energy that lasts for ages through the finish. Drink 2023-2030.Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JDNotes of dried apples, glazed lemons, orange curd, roasted almonds and crushed stones. Hints of dried lemon peel, too. Full-bodied and broad yet it is delicate with impressive fresh acidity. Incredible minerality here with a touch of zestiness at the end. Lingering finish. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 94 JSFrom the Eola-Amity Hills, fast becoming Oregon’s best Chardonnay sub-appellation, given its windy conditions and volcanic soils. The Roserock shows flinty aromatics and laser-focused brightness with hints of cut early-season pears, white flowers and smoky minerality. The palate is balanced, bright and savoury, with minerality written all over it. Notes of crushed granite and green peppercorn complement grilled lemon peel, briny seaspray and smoky flint.Decanter | 93 DECDriven by electrifying acidity and a texture as crisp as a new dollar bill, this is a wine for fans of the lean, but hardly mean, style of Chardonnay. Pineapple and chamomile aromas are complemented by bits of fresh-cut grass and thyme. Flavors of chilled orange segments, lemon verbena and toasted filberts go on forever. Wine Enthusiast | 93 WEBrisk and fresh, with pear and grapefruit flavors accented by spice and white blossom aromatics as this glides on the steely finish. Drink now. 2,405 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

Some buttery notes emerge under the delicate lemony characters, giving depth and seamless balance to the zingy acidity. It should develop additional complexity with more time in bottle. Montée de Bouffant is a parcel on steep slopes at 240m above the village of Chavignol. The grapes are harvested by machine and fermented in a mix of concrete and stainless steel and then aged for six months. The first record of the 35-hectare domaine is from 1510 and Laurent Reverdy, who took over from his father Alain in 2000, is the 14th generation.Decanter | 93 DEC

Primarily Clairette (60%) and Ugni Blanc (30%), with bits of Bourboulenc, Marsanne and Rolle, the 2021 Bandol Blanc was still in tank when I visited early last year. It presents a striking juxtaposition of ripe pears and honeyed richness with brighter notes of fresh lime juice on the nose and medium-bodied palate, finishing with a sense of plush richness balanced by mouthwatering citrus zest and brine.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPWith a higher percentage of Ugni Blanc and 10 months in foudres, this has less overt tropical fruit and more restraint. The closed nose opens to white peaches, melon and delicate tropical fruit with a hint of fresh greenness and white nuts. Citrus-pith-tight acidity gives a mouthwatering finish with a touch of chalky phenolics and smoky notes on the finish. Delicate, elegant and beautiful with an intense structure, this is still very youthful with the potential to open up with some age.Decanter | 92 DEC

The 2021 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills is the first vintage of Chardonnay from Donnachadh. It was barrel fermented and matured for around 10 months. Its aromas combine bright herbal, green apple and pear tones with underlying savory hints. The light-bodied palate is bright and fresh, yet offers a touch of anchoring creaminess that draws out the finish. Proprietor Drew Duncan says that for this vintage, fruit came from the Donnachadh estate, although that may not be the case in the future as this new project really gets up and running.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPThis brand’s new appellation bottling satisfies in both Old and New World ways. Clean, chalky aromas of bright Meyer lemon flesh and pith meet with a briny note on the mineral-laden nose. The palate is wrapped in chiseled-stone tannins, loaded with acidity and yet generous on flavors of white melon, lychee, nectarine and honeysuckle.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WE

Aromas that speak of freshness and maturity intermingle here, in a way that playfully calls those very categories into question. So much depth, vitality and finesse, the absence of obviously fruity aromas on the mid-palate not feeling like a lack. Then the finish pushes up face to face with the dazzling heart of the lemon. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 97 JSAn organic and biodynamic wine, the 2021 Manzoni Bianco Fontanasanta is partially aged in clay amphorae. The wine shows a brilliant appearance with creamy aromas of beeswax, dried apricot, poached pear and honey. It is slightly viscous in texture with solid fruit weight and glossy sensations on the finish. It is perfumed, pretty and ready to pair with white meat or shellfish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP

The holding is right in the middle of Bâtard-Montrachet, with rows all the way up and down. Mid yellow. A weighty punchy bouquet, not quite so fine. Massive on the palate and the fruit takes on a whiter, not over ripe configuration, with excellent thread of acidity. Still an absolute baby but will certainly achieve its grand cru status. Drink from 2027-2035.Jasper Morris | 94-96 JMTOP QUALITY An exemplary Bâtard and among the best wines of the appellation. There is a deep lemon-yellow hue and pronounced ripe apple and pear fruit aromas with hints of spice, cream, butter and toasted hazelnut. The texture is lush and dense, just this side of opulence, but there is enough acidity to balance everything out and lead it to a harmonious, lingering finish. It is produced from a domaine-owned parcel of one third of a hectare on the border between Puligny and Chassagne, fermented and aged in new casks.Decanter | 95 DEC A restrained and distinctly citrus and floral-suffused nose displays hints of exotic tea, anise, oak and just sliced apple. There is both excellent volume and excellent delineation on the succulent but almost painfully punchy big-bodied flavors that terminate in a precise, balanced and bone-dry finale. This is presently very tightly coiled and a wine that will need extended keeping and should amply reward 12 to 15 years of it. Excellent. (Drink starting 2033)Burghound | 95 BHAromas of clear honey, sweet orchard fruit and white flowers preface Boillot’s 2021 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru, a full-bodied, ample and satiny wine with racy acids and a broad, expansive profile, concluding with a long, saline finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPThe 2021 Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru is heady, rich and exotic, with good depth for the year and plenty of allure. Apricot, tangerine oil, butter, white pepper, hazelnut, chamomile and lightly honeyed notes fill out the layers. This is a decidedly small-scaled Bâtard, but then again, we are talking about 2021. - Antonio GalloniVinous Media | 91-93 VM

An extremely subtle application of wood can be found on the cool if decidedly reluctant nose of spiced green apple, beeswax and citrus zest aromas. The palate impression of the medium weight plus flavors is quite interesting in that there is excellent concentration and power yet they are not massively scaled while maintaining impeccable balance on the palate etching and stunningly long finish, indeed I could still taste this 3 hours later. This is one extremely classy Montrachet and one of the jewels of the 2021 vintage.Burghound | 97 BHThere’s only one 228-liter barrel of the 2021 Montrachet Grand Cru, so Boillot asked his favored cooper to assemble a special barrel, with alternating new and used staves. Delivering aromas of pear, honeycomb, freshly baked bread, spices and toasted nuts, it’s full-bodied, rich and concentrated, with a fleshy core of fruit and a long, nutmeg-inflected finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93-95 RPThe 2021 Montrachet Grand Cru is incredibly airy and nuanced. Candied lemon peel, mint, tangerine oil and white flowers show effortless grace. This is an especially restrained, super-elegant Montrachet that shows Puligny’s finesse. The 2021 is absolutely exquisite. I doubt I will ever taste it again, though. Bright saline notes punctuate the super-expressive finish. - Antonio GalloniVinous Media | 93-95 VMBeeswax and lime blossom, especially the latter, which Guillaume finds typical of Montrachet. The Montrachet shows both class and intensity over and above the Bâtard as indeed should be the case. Brilliantly racy despite the intensity. This year there is one 228 litre barrel instead of the usual 350, and made up in zebra fashion, half new wood with alternate dowels. Drink from 2030-2040.Jasper Morris | 95 JM

Grown on the top of a dormant volcano, this Soave shows why Garganga is one of the great white grapes of Italy. The wine opens with apple and citrus blossoms with hints of acacia honey followed by fleshy white peaches, Fuji apples and well-defined minerality. The palate is creamy yet taut with fine acidity and tons of minerality accented by ripe stone fruits and citrus zest. Drink now–2035.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEAnother brilliant expression, reflecting a culture of kaleidoscopic blending to attain a greater whole: tank and oak (no new) ferments, partly induced and spontaneous, all at once. Rapier-like precision, depth and weight, without any excess or obvious winemaking artefact perceivable. Mid-weighted, yet intense, reeling off notes of smoked almond, stone fruit allusions, pickled mango and kumquat. The finish is impressively pliant and majestically long.James Suckling | 93 JSStony, flinty, smoky aromas, with sparks of gunflint and green apple. There are some stone fruit characters too, white peach and a little almond bitterness. A wine with good tension, concentration, and there’s a subtle elegance.Decanter | 92 DEC

This delightful white from a single lieu-dit in Rully is a marvelous example of the solid quality possible in the Côte Chalonnaise. It boasts ripe apple and linden flower aromas with a hint of butter and spice. The fresh acidity feels fairly chiseled, yet there is enough extract to give the wine a rich texture and lingering finish. Chartron farms three hectares here on the border with Mercurey; the grapes are pressed as whole clusters and run into cask (10% new) for fermentation.Decanter | 91 DEC

Droin owns 10ha of AP Chablis. Much more interest here with a deeper hue in the glass and much more interest on the nose. Some greengage on the palate, together with a hint of pear and white peach. Pretty much a benchmark example of what village Chablis should be. Concentration and a lengthy mineral character to finish.Decanter | 92 DECThis is aromatically similar to the Petit Chablis though with more citrus elements in evidence. There is again good richness to the succulent and rounded medium-weight flavors that also exude a refreshing salinity on the clean, moderately dry and sneaky long finish that is slightly firmer.Burghound | 88-91 BHThe 2021 Chablis Village has a fresh nose with Granny Smith apples and a touch of fresh pear. With good balance and acidity, the palate is quite saline in the mouth with veins of orchard fruit, hints of wild peach and citrus peel, delicate and refined on the finish.Vinous Media | 88-90 VM

Lovely strawberry, peach-skin and cherry-pip aromas with a similar echoing of fruit on the palate, in a fresh and generous mode. Fruity, flattering and well made. Drink now.James Suckling | 90 JS

Striking nose of rosehip and lime zest with delicate wild flower and herb aromas. Simultaneously structured and elegant, this dry riesling has remarkable concentration for just 11.5% alcohol. Long, silky, mineral finish. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 93 JSThe 2021 Kallstadter Riesling Kabinett trocken is clear, refined and elegant on the beautifully aromatic nose. Vinified in small and up to 60-hectoliter oak casks, this is a subtle, frisky but seriously calcareous Riesling with and intense and well-structured fruit texture and vivacious but ripe acidity that is interwoven with fine phenolic grip and stimulating, sustainable salinity. A gorgeous, still young Riesling bottled with 11.2% alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in August 2022.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90 RP

Jazz hands at the ready, the Kumeu River Chardonnay Coddington is always ready to welcome you in with its full, svelte figure and no hard edges, and the 2021 is no different. However, this year there’s an additional touch of purpose that keeps it fresh and full of intention. Good depth and weight here, perhaps due to the lower crop after frost made for small yields. There’s a sense of feel, a sense of wanting to chew on the finish. Savory characters, festive spices and nutty notes, likely derived from its 25% new oak and time on lees in barrel, join the restrained white stone fruit.Vinous Media | 93 VM

The Menetou-Salon from Kevin and Karine Lauverjat is a fine bottle that really shows the bright, cooler vintage characteristics of 2021. The bouquet offers up a complex blend of limepeel, gooseberry, fresh-cut grass, a lovely base of flinty minerality and a topnote of citrus blossoms. On the palate the wine is vibrant, full-bodied, complex and nicely grassy in personality, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature, a good spine of acidity and impressive length and grip on the well-balanced finish. Good juice. (Drink between 2023 - 2030)John Gilman | 91 JG

This estate makes a bevy of terrific dry whites in addition to an incredible Sauternes. Starting with the 2021 Lions De Suduiraut Blanc Sec, which is a blend of 52% Semillon and 48% Sauvignon Blanc, it offers subtle grapefruit and citrus notes, a kiss of minerality, and a refreshing, vibrant, wonderfully balanced style on the palate. It’s a seriously good bottle of wine to drink in its youth.Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JDThe 2021 Lions de Suduiraut Blanc Sec is gorgeous. Rich, creamy and expressive, the 2021 is exquisite in its balance of textural richness and freshness. Orchard fruit, white flowers, mint, lemon oil and chamomile envelop the palate, while bright floral accents perk up the finish. Lions is the new name for the Blanc Sec, which is the same wine as before.Antonio Galloni | 91 AGA tangy white with sliced grapefruit, apple and celery character. Medium body. Fresh finish. White pepper. Dry and chalky.James Suckling | 91 JS