Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 92

100
BESTWINES
BESTWINES
OF THE YEAR
OF THE YEAR
U N I T E D STA T E S

wine's haunting depth of flavor. (W&S 10/16;
150 cases) § Walter Scott Wines, Salem, OR

BEST CHARDONNAY

BEST RIESLING

445597

95 | Au Bon Climat

This year we tasted more than 14,700 wines at Wine & Spirits, recommending 4,585. Those recommended
wines tend not to be the biggest, boldest or most intense. Rather, we train our tasters and critics to seek
Here are the most exciting bottles we opened in the last 12 months.
out wines that carry the flavors of a place, wines that might be shy at first but reveal themselves over sevOut of the 12,000 wines we presented to our blind panels this year, these are the boteral days, with the kinds of textures and aromas that emerge with decanting or bottle age. The wines that
tles that excited our tasters, the wines our critics tasted for several days before their idenimpress us most have memorable depths of flavor, suited for cellaring or as integral parts of a meal.
tities were revealed, fascinated by their flavors that went beyond delicious fruit, the wines
Our critics selected these 100 wines as the most memorable we tasted over the past year. We present
that clearly brought to mind the places where they were grown.
them by country and region, starting with the US. Joshua Greene, Patrick J. Comiskey and Luke Sykora
We've arranged them here by country and region, starting with the United States.
reviewed the US wines; Joshua Greene, Stephanie Johnson, Patricio Tapia and Tara Q. Thomas
Joshua Greene and Patrick J. Comiskey reviewed the American wines; Greene,
reviewed
the imports.
We hope
you'lland
findTara
these Q.
wines
as memorable
as wethe
do,imports.
great dinner
companions
Peter Liem,
Patricio
Tapia
Thomas
reviewed
To access
all
and
conversation
starters.
of our tasting results from this year, please go to wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

$30

2012 Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido
Vineyard Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^ Jim Clendenen made his first Bien Nacido chardonnay in 1989. He knows his way around the
sprawling hillside and benchland vineyard
better than just about anyone, and makes this
exclusively from K Block, a bench of shalelaced gravelly loam that was planted in 1973.
The block was grafted over to chardonnay
in the 1990s, leaving the roots intact, so the
grapes continue to benefit from some of the
oldest root systems in Santa Barbara County.
The wine spent 18 months in new oak barrels, but you'd hardly know it-the intensity of the fruit is the first and last impression, fresh and clean as a breeze through an
orchard, suggesting orange blossoms, peach
pits and pollen. The wood polishes the fruit
into a satiny, harmonious form. This is a California chardonnay that will last ten years or
more in the cellar-vinous, energetic and
deep. (W&S 10/16; 332 cases) § Jim Clendenen,
Mind Behind, Santa Maria, CA

B E S T S PA R K L I N G
441842

94 | Tierce

$30

2013 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling ^ Tierce is
a virtual winery producing a single riesling,
named for the three winemakers-Peter Bell,
Johannes Reinhardt and David Whiting-
who contribute fruit and expertise to it. To
this critic, "Tierce" has always sounded like
a creative misspelling of "terse," an appropriate term for their thrillingly dry and racy
rieslings. This year's model is as lean and
minerally as ever, with lemon and pomelo
scents and passion fruit flavors, but there's
an additional cushion and weight that gives
it a satisfying breadth. (W&S 2/16; 200 cases) §
Fox Run Vineyards, Penn Yan, NY

445024

94 | Walter Scott

$45

2014 Eola-Amity Hills X Novo Vyd. Chardonnay ^ Ken Pahlow makes this wine from
a vineyard Craig Williams planted in 2010,
working with 11 clones of chardonnay. This is
an elegant, warm chardonnay with buoyancy
as it leaps out of the glass in scents of freshly
baked bread and sun-warmed golden apple.
A bit of cinnamon spice and smoke lend complexity, while the texture is firm and linear,
but the lasting impression comes from the

WINE & SPIRITS

blend here; Magdalena, which winemaker
Fred Merwarth considers the warmest of
the Wiemer vineyards, contributes much
of the rest. The combination produces an
unusual depth of flavor in this '14, propelling 5.2 grams per liter of residual sugar
with an acrobatic grace, its pineapple richness spritzed with lemon, fresh and invigorating. A saline note keeps the wine focused
and firm, connected to a zipline of acid, leading those tropical flavors effortlessly into a
brisk citrusy finish. (W&S 8/16; 850 cases) §
Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard, Dundee, NY

444835

94 | Hermann J. Wiemer

$24

2014 Seneca Lake Late Harvest Riesling ^
Josef Vineyard provides 60 percent of the

BUYING GUIDE 2017

441399

93 | Iron Horse

$42

2010 Green Valley of Russian River Valley Classic Vintage Brut ^ The 2010 vintage
on the North Coast was mostly cool, until
a blistering late-August heat wave created
sunburn challenges and uneven ripening
in many vineyards. At the cool Iron Horse
estate in Green Valley, the effects were less
drastic. In fact, David Munksgard's pinotdominant 2010 Brut is remarkably pure, the
flavors intense and red-fruited, slowly receding in a delicate mousse that lasts on cool
scents of chamomile, lemon blossoms and
biscuit. The acidity is bright, the texture gentle, evoking the ocean breezes and undulating hills of Green Valley. (W&S 12/15; 3,555
cases) § Iron Horse Vineyards, Sebastopol, CA

http://www.foxrunvineyards.com/wine-detail.asp?WineType=1&Wine=5 http://www.ironhorsevineyards.com/ http://www.walterscottwines.com/ http://www.wiemer.com/wines/riesling/#wine-88

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016