In contrast to champagne, this year’s decline in the fine wine segment was clearly noticeable. Particularly painful: the presentations of the Napa Valley Vintners and the Primum Familiae Vini were probably permanently lost to Paris. France has also suffered a significant loss of weight. But well, Italy still had an excellent showing. And when you taste the current top wines, you quickly understand why they are the new favorites on the secondary market. No wonder that the Italian reds form the heavyweight of my selection.
1 Château Pichon Baron 2022
But first Bordeaux – and that means above all the traditional presentation of the Union des Grands Crus (UGCB) in Düsseldorf. This year, it was also weaker than in Paris. On the other hand, Château Pichon Baron 2022, which did not present at UGCB in Paris, shone this year. It is amazing how well the second-classified wine from Pauillac has developed since it became part of the Axa Millésimes Group. Many viewed the purchase by the French insurance group in 1988 skeptically at the time as a supposedly short-term investment.
The 2022 (81% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot) is one of the best vintages produced here, and not just in my eyes. Among the many outstanding wines from 2022, it is in the front row. Very densely woven and yet classic. Dark fruit sweetness, graphite and spices, multi-layered and with a wonderful acidity. Powerful tannins and yet an animating texture. The 14.3% alcohol is well integrated (98 P.).
2 Esprit Leflaive Pommard 1er Cru Les Arvelets 2020
With the price of Burgundy exploding, the structure of the négociants has changed significantly. Traditional houses like Bouchard are concentrating exclusively on the production of their own domaine. And newcomers and established winegrowers are increasingly setting up their own micro-négociant lines. In the 2000s, Domaine Leflaive began offering a small range of purchased grapes under the name Leflaive & Associés. “Le négoce haut de gamme,” as the winery calls it. Then, in 2018, it went a step further with Esprit Leflaive (“Le négoce haute couture”). Of the first eight wines, it was notable that several were reds. 2020 is now the third vintage – and of the four reds I tasted, I liked the Pommard 1er Cru Les Arvelets best. Pommards can sometimes be a little robust, but here the elegance dominated despite the density. The idea of coolness that the wine conveys despite the hot vintage is also remarkable (95 p.).
3 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir Laurène Dundee Hills 2022
When the top dogs are absent, we look to lesser-known regions. Of course, Pinot Noirs from Oregon can hardly be described as terra incognita. Admittedly, my personal fixation with California has prevented me from taking a closer look at its neighbors to the north. So it was a good thing that the Oregon Wine Board remains loyal to Düsseldorf. Adelsheim, Lingua Franca and Drouhin Oregon, among others, presented their wines here. The latter is a winery founded in 1989 by Robert Drouhin from Burgundy in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The Pinot Noir cuvée Laurène is named after the eldest daughter Véronique Boss-Drouhin, the winemaker of many years. It is the winery’s top Pinot and the wine from the 2022 vintage is also the star of the Oregon presentation (96 p.). Only subtly marked by oak, it shows great finesse with its floral aromas. Anyone who still believes that great Pinot Noirs are only produced in the Old World will be proven wrong here!
4 Fattoria Le Pupille Saffredi 2022
In July 2022, I visited Fattoria Le Pupille to write a report for FINE. It was one of the hottest summers ever in Tuscany. It didn’t rain a drop in central Italy for six weeks. If you drink the wines from the vintage today, you will be amazed at how well most winegrowers coped with the extreme conditions. At Le Pupille, more than just “mastered” – the Saffredi is actually a spectacular success this year. The producers point to the 1959 vintage, which was also an extreme year, where a high phenolic content rather than acidity guaranteed longevity. In any case, the Saffredi is still a Mediterranean interpretation of Bordeaux with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. 2022 is characterized by a velvety texture that makes the wine appear almost hedonistic. It is full of radiant fruit, spicy, multi-layered and very concentrated (97 P.).
5 Tenuta di Trinoro Rosso Toscana 2022
The wines from Tenuta di Trinoro were a novelty for me. The wines come from the Val d’Orcia in the far south-east of Tuscany. Viticulture in this location on the border with Umbria and Lazio stems from the vision of self-taught winemaker Andrea Franchetti – his son Benjamin has been running the winery since 2021. The model is France, the passion is for Cabernet Franc.
The portfolio I was able to taste was highly individual. In addition to a fine Bianco made from 100 percent Sémillion, there were two single-varietal barrel samples from 2023. Palazzi 2023 is a dense, flattering Merlot with a lot of drinkability. The Cabernet Franc Campo di Magnacosta from a 1.5-hectare plot at an altitude of 400 meters is precise and spicy. The Bordeaux blend Le Cupole is more or less the estate’s second wine and is much simpler, but has some grip in the 2022 vintage. The Tenuta di Trinoro Toskana IGT, a cuvée of Cabernet Franc and Merlot from the same year, is an impressive highlight. Impenetrable purple in the glass, with notes of black berries, peppery spice and toast. Enormously concentrated on the palate, with very good freshness thanks to the water-retaining soils from which the wine originates. Admittedly still extremely young at the moment and with the best prospects for long ageing (97 P.).
6 Monteverro Toscana 2021
Also near the southern border of Tuscany, but in Maremma close to the coast, lies Monteverro at the foot of the small town of Capalbio. The project dates back to the early 2000s, after the consultant Michel Rolland recommended the German entrepreneur Georg Weber to invest in a location in southern Maremma, which was still underdeveloped in terms of viticulture. And not to grow any Sangiovese! I had previously only tasted the wines in isolation and was thoroughly impressed. This year, Margherita Chietti let me taste the entire current portfolio.
The reds range from the youthful, stormy Merlot-dominated Verruzzo to the Cabernet Franc-influenced Terra di Monteverro. The Tinata is effectively the estate’s Rhone-oriented (70% Syrah, 30% Grenache in 2022) Grand Vin and in many years on a par with its bigger brother. This one, here as Monteverro 2021, with 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, looks more like the right bank in Bordeaux. Very spicy bouquet, with a lot of grip and freshness on the palate, yet multi-layered and with impressive fruit density (96 P.).
7 Ornellaia 2021
Prominent winemakers today have the status of top soccer coaches. And like them, they change employers at ever shorter intervals. Axel Heinz, who has been responsible for the Ornellaia and Masseto super Tuscans for many years, was also a guest at ProWein in 2025. But he presented the latest vintage from Château Lascombes, where he moved in spring 2023. After this year’s harvest, chief oenologist Olga Fusari also left the winery, making the 2021 vintage their penultimate vintage together.
And it has to be said that the team did exceptionally well. Despite the enormous heat in summer, the wine has a good structure, plenty of spice and inner freshness (97 P.). 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot. This means less Merlot and more CS/CF/PV, obviously the right strategy that year. The 2022 is already in the starting blocks before the first Ornellaia of the new era is presented next year. We will then see how the new production director Marco Balsimelli and oenologist Denise Cosentino interpret the cult wine from Bolgheri.
8 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Giovanni Neri 2019
I cannot present the next wines without first taking up the cudgels for the major importers, above all Schlumberger. Without their commitment, the quality density of the wines presented at ProWein would be significantly lower. Take Casanova di Neri, for example. The Brunello winery from Montalcino, founded in 1971, presented its entire Sangiovese portfolio in Düsseldorf – most of it from the spectacular 2019 vintage. A feast for every Tuscany lover. The “Etichetta Bianca” is already drinkable and shows the potential of the vintage. The Brunello Tenuta Nuova from the single vineyard Le Cetine is still somewhat austere and has enormous ageing potential. At the same time, the Giovanni Neri shows outstanding concentration and captivating youthfulness. It is only the second vintage from the 7-hectare Tocci vineyard – and already a benchmark Brunello (98 P.). Due to the vintage, the Cerretalto 2018 from the single vineyard of the same name in the east of the appellation cannot quite keep up despite its seductive extract sweetness.
9 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto 2021
With the next wine, nostalgia and nostalgia came together for me. Bruno Giacosa’s Nebbiolos from the 1970s and early 1980s were among the great wine experiences of my early collecting days. It all culminated in an unforgettable bottle of Barolo Collina Rionda di Serralunga Riserva 1989 (“Etichetta rossa”). According to Antonio Galloni, it was “one of the greatest wines ever made anywhere in the world.” Unfortunately, prices were already shooting up to stratospheric heights at the time – after an at the stime outside France still extremely rare 100 Parker points for the 1989 Rionda, they soon reached 1,600 US dollars. As the quality was not always consistent for a few years afterwards and Bordeaux and Burgundy in particular were still comparatively attractive in terms of price at that time, I lost sight of Bruno Giacosa.
Now, at ProWein, I met Giacosa’s wines again, for which his daughter Bruna is now responsible. 2021 was a great year here, reminiscent of 2016, combining structure with elegance. The Falletto is fleshy-animalic on the nose, powerful, mineral and with surprisingly finely polished tannins (97 P.). What a pleasure! There will probably be a Riserva Falletto Vigna Le Rocche here in 2027. I’d rather not think about the price.
10 Quevedo Colheita 1995
In the fall of 2024, I took part in a tour to Portugal to visit some remarkable wineries. Naturally, I took ProWein as an opportunity to revisit several of our hosts at the time. Quevedo belongs to a new generation of small family wineries on the Douro. They were only able to market their own products themselves when, as a result of EU accession, they were no longer obliged to operate a branch in Porto and bottle there. In 1993, under Oscar Quevedo Senior, the family began bottling their first wines under their own name. The Colheita 1995, which the winery presented at this year’s ProWein, dates back to this early period. The vintage was last officially bottled in 2012, but during my visit in the fall I was able to taste the remaining 1995s from the barrel at a small vertical.
The sample at ProWein was also unofficial, possibly a preview of an upcoming late-release bottling. The grapes come entirely from the Quinta Vale d’Agodinho in the Ferradosa Valley. Large parts of the vineyard are planted in a mixed vineyard. In this case, the blend consists of Touriga Franca (35%), Tinta Roriz (20%), Touriga Nacional (15%), Tinta Barroca (10%), Tinto Cão (8%) and other varieties (12%). Fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and then matured in traditional Balseiro barrels and bottled unfiltered. Unfortunately, vintage Colheitas are overshadowed by classic vintage ports. Yet this “oxidative” style offers an incomparable spectrum of aromas. Dried fruit, star anise and cinnamon as well as a variety of nutty aromas are just some of the impressions here (96 p.)
Bildrechte
Aufmacherbild: Messe Düsseldorf / ctillmann
Alle übrigen Fotos: Stefan Pegatzky / Time Tunnel Images
