Domaine Caroline Frey 2022 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru

A unicorn wine that will never be released under this label, this came to us before winemaker Caroline Frey announced she was stepping away from her role here and at family owned La Chapelle Hermitage, Paul Jaboulet Aîné, and Château La Lagune due to health reasons. (Working with a reduced workload, she will continue to make wine at her family’s estate in Switzerland.) As we would not be writing about it, we decided to open Frey’s Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru on the beach with wine-loving friends while sharing a seafood paella. We knew it was going to be good, but this is truly one of the best wines of Frey’s career. Its bold stone fruit flavors and smooth texture turned lunch at the beach into a special occasion beyond anyone’s expectations. It will eventually be released under the Domaine Frey label, but this is the first and last vintage that was bottled with Caroline’s name on the label after the change from Château Corton C.

Delaire Graff 2020 Botmaskop Bordeaux Style Red Blend Stellenbosch

We have always loved visiting the wine regions of South Africa and were lucky enough to get there again this past spring. We first visited Delaire Graff 15 years ago when we were researching our book Wines of the Southern Hemisphere and must say that we’re completely impressed with the renovations and upgrades they have done since then. Now home to a hotel, spa, winery, and acclaimed restaurant, it’s a one stop destination for food and wine lovers. The winemaking team led us through a tasting of their entire portfolio, and we were duly impressed with their Botmaskop Bordeaux style red blend. If we closed our eyes we would have thought that we were drinking a fine red from Bordeaux and not a South African blend. Named for the Botmaskop Mountain closest to the winery, this blend of the usual five Bordeaux varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Malbec had aromas and flavors of black raspberry, dark cocoa, five spice powder, and cassis.

Champagne Henri Giraud Arro 400 Ans

Every February, the centre of the oenophile world is Wine Paris—a great place to see old friends, share a few meals, go to tastings, and learn more about new wineries and winemakers. We had tasted Henri Giraud Champagne before but hadn’t done a deep dive into the producer, so when a friend introduced us to them with only 10 minutes remaining on the final day they invited us into their private trade show salon behind heavy black velvet curtains. We met four family members including the cellar master and tasted a few of their wines, but when the conversation turned to food and became more friendly than professional the cellar master, Sebastien, grabbed a magnum of their Arro 400 Ans and popped the cork. He explained that this was only the third bottle opened out of the 400 he produced and was honored to open it for us. We spent the next hour laughing and telling stories in both French and English and only stopped when we heard a large crash that seemed like it was five feet away. When we peeked out of the curtains, we found that the workers had dismantled most of the trade booths around us and the security guards were patiently waiting to escort all six of us to the exit.

Taylor Fladgate 1975 Single Harvest Port

Tasted blind in our office with other 30-, 40-, and 50-year-old Ports, the Taylor Fladgate 1975 Single Harvest Port was clearly the best of the bunch. This transformative wine is made in the tradition of a tawny port, but instead of blending aged wines from multiple years, it is crafted only from grapes harvested in 1975 in the colheita style. Dark tea coloured in the glass it has enticing aromas of toasted hazelnuts, butterscotch, dried apricot, mint, and tobacco leaf. Its sweetness is perfectly balanced by bright acidity to showcase flavors of holiday baking spices, English toffee, and dried fruits. It is bottled in a frosted glass flask and presented in an elegant wooden case; it now has a prominent place in our wine cellar.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2002 Échezeaux Vosne Romanée

In June, billionaire industrialist and renowned wine collector William I. Koch auctioned of a sizable chunk of his collection for US$28.8 million. But before in went under gavel at Christie’s, we got a sneak peek of the sale and got to taste through some of Koch’s numerous gems. While many of the wines were outstanding, this DRC really lit up both of our palates. Although the colour had gone a little towards brick and there was a touch of leather on the nose, its bold flavors of cranberry and red plum with notes of chocolate and dried thyme were extraordinarily bright. The vivid finish is all the proof you need that well-crafted Pinot Noir can age beautifully under the right conditions.

Biblia Chora 2018 Biblinos Macedonia

The recently opened Estiatorio Milos Restaurant in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands is the newest in Costas Spiliadis’ global empire of Greek restaurants. Alongside the Athenian Lobster Pasta, we were shocked when the wine director opened a bottle made from a grape that DNA testing revealed was unlike any other Greek grape variety. It was a match made in heaven—or Mount Olympus in this case. Made from an unidentified red variety from the Pangaion mountains in Macedonia, this stunning was matured in French oak barrels for 12 months and offered complex aromas of ripe red fruits, cedar, wildflower, and vanilla. It was soft on the palate with a pronounced spice that stood up to the spicy tomato sauce in the pasta.

Cardinale 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Chris Carpenter explained that due to the wildfires of 2020, the 2021 Cabernet crop in Napa Valley was down around 30 percent, adding incredible concentration to Cardinale—and all of Napa’s Cabernet Sauvignon—that year. We tried this in the newly renovated Cardinale tasting room alongside the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, as the affable Carpenter talked us through the vintages. While the library bottlings were incredible as well, this was an absolutely gorgeous example of a fruit-and-chocolate laden Cabernet Sauvignon layered with fresh acidity and polished tannins.

Martinborough Vineyards 2019 Marie Zelie Reserve Pinot Noir

We attended the Toast Martinborough Wine, Food, and Music Festival in January and our Kiwi friends definitely know how to throw a great party, with excellent bands along the way and wineries opened for tastings and snacks. You can walk or ride the shuttle bus, but the whole atmosphere is designed just to have a good time with your friends. As you can imagine, we tasted quite a few excellent wines, but Martinborough Vineyards 2019 Marie Zelie Reserve Pinot Noir really stood out. Named for Marie Zelie Hermance Frere, one of the first French settlers to plant Pinot Noir here, it had the perfect balance of freshly picked red fruits, dried strawberry, cranberry, spice, lemon zest, and pomegranate all wrapped in a silky tannic sheath. We took a few bottles back to Wharekauhau, the stunning Relais & Chateau property where we stayed and enjoyed them with dinners at their two Michelin starred restaurant over the next few days. Too bad only 1,471 bottles were produced.

Grange La Chapelle 2021 Syrah Shiraz

We were literally among the first people in the world to taste this phenomenal mashup between two of the world’s best Syrahs, Penfolds Grange and La Chapelle. Blended by acclaimed winemakers Peter Gago and Caroline Frey, it was presented by the two at an intimate press dinner at the Paris Mint featuring side-by-side pairings of some of the best vintages from both houses. Showcasing the powerful side of La Chapelle and the elegance of Grange, this one-of-a-kind collaboration between the Rhône Valley and Australia offered a glimpse into the power of breaking the rules. The idea of this wine came out of multiple conversations between Gago and Frey, who are good friends and who have admired each other’s wine for years.

This story was first published on Robb Report USA. Featured photo by Cardinale, Penfolds, Taylor Fladgate