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ILLUSTRATION DAVID DESPAU
THE BEST WINES FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE HAVE THEIR OWN STORIES TO TELL, SAYS ENRICO BERNARDO, WHO LEFT HIS POSITION ATOP FRANCE’S SOMMELIER WORLD TO EXPLORE CUVEES FROM CANADA TO SOUTH AFRICA. BY JEFFREY T IVERSON
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ot long ago, sommelier Enrico Bernardo was arguably at the pinnacle of his profession. As the 2004 Best Sommelier of the World and former wine director of Hôtel George V in Paris, he had assembled an impressive portfolio including three Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris and Courchevel and a bustling boutique near the Latin Quarter. Imagine, then, the buzz in the French restaurant world four years ago when he abruptly sold it all, packed his bags and dropped off the grid. What happened? After two decades building his brand, Bernardo had come to a realisation. “The world of wine today is no longer the one that I first started studying in 1995,” he says. “It has become far larger, and far more complex.” New estates, new generations, new appellations emerging around the globe – wine is evolving at a dizzying rate. For Bernardo, who’d just turned 40, the choice was clear: either let this new world of wine pass him by, or say au revoir to his comfortable Parisian life and go discover it for himself. And so began a voyage across five continents, a journey of planes, trains and automobiles, during which Bernardo rekindled his deepest passions – his love for vignerons, for distinctive terroirs, traditions and grapes, and for the delicious diversity of wines they produce. In the end, it became a tour not only of 21st-century viticulture, but of human civilisation today, which left Bernardo with one certitude: “For those ready to listen to it, wine recounts only one story: our own.” In January of 2018, Bernardo commenced his world tour with a 14-month expedition to more than 900 estates. On Canada’s Niagara Peninsula, he savoured the mysteries of ice wine. In California, he drank a bottle of 1994 Bonny Doon Syrah with Randall Grahm over an impromptu meal of abalone sandwiches. In Chile, he tasted a transporting cuvée made from pre-phylloxera vines of the pais grape. In Japan, he discovered koshu, an ancient varietal with thick pink skins and aromas of rose, litchi and citrus. He roamed vineyards teeming with baboons, gazelles and wild horses, vineyards growing in cactus-studded deserts, wild forests and next to glaciers. He visited estates of otherworldly beauty, like Klein Constantia in South Africa, a lush, historic property nestled between mountain and sea; Te Mata in New Zealand, whose terroir was declared a national treasure; Ao Yun in China, whose vines in the Himalayas are tended by Tibetan farmers; and Alcohuaz in the Valle de Elqui in the Andes, where, at 2,200 metres,
Bernardo spent perhaps the most magical evening of his world tour, warmed by “the feeling of having returned to what’s truly essential”. In 2021, Bernardo decanted the experiences from his journey into a memoir titled La Sagesse du Vin (The Wisdom of Wine), published by Éditions Flammarion.. In it, he describes a new world of winemakers rectifying the errors of past generations: “Thirty years ago, too many estates fell into the trap of an international wine profile, imprisoning themselves in a single model without regard for where their vines were actually growing.” They tore up their native vines, planted the same few varieties – chardonnay, merlot, etc – and further homogenised flavours using excessive new oak and heavy-handed cellar practices. Today, with the help of consumers, the trend is being reversed. “The attitude of wine lovers has changed: before, they wanted to drink a sure thing, today they want a discovery.”
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hat shift created an entirely new market, encouraging winemakers everywhere to embrace their specificities, says Bernardo. “A common thread I discovered in every winemaking region in the world was a determination to know one’s terroir.” Winemakers are analysing their soils and climate, and planting well-suited grape varieties – an approach famously developed over centuries by monks in Burgundy. Today, new wine regions are learning it in a single generation. “The exchange of information has accelerated so much,” says Bernardo. “Young winemakers now study around the world and bring new ideas home.” In doing so, they’re changing the taste of wine, abandoning the blockbuster formula, choosing to preserve acidity and the lightness of tannins over density and high alcohol, creating bouquets that are increasingly floral, spiced and subtle, and no longer masked by immoderate new oak. As Bernardo puts it, “The evolution of wine is now a movement toward authenticity; it’s no longer about resembling others, but being oneself.” That’s splendid news. For what is the signature of great wine if not an inimitable personality? “A wine of excellence is one of remarkable character, of profound soul, which speaks to us,” says Bernardo. “And today, there are wines of excellence to be discovered all over the world. You just need to be ready to listen to them.” For those eager to try, here are 12 estates selected for us by Enrico Bernardo, whose wines speak volumes.
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SOMMELIER’S CHOICE
FROM NEW ZEALAND TO NAPA, AWARDWINNING SOMMELIER ENRICO BERNARDO SHORTLISTS GLOBAL WINES TO WATCH. BY JEFFREY T IVERSON
Illustrations by HANNAH
GEORGE
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1 MATIAS RICCITELLI WINES, Republica del Malbec “If there’s one estate in the heart of Mendoza that cannot be missed it is the Riccitelli estate, situated in Luján de Cuyo,” Bernardo says. “It’s here that I discovered malbec as I truly love it: intense, luscious, balanced and dense. Riccitelli’s wine caresses the taste buds – and pairs magnificently with an asado!” Indeed, if malbec is now as indissociable to Argentine culture as its traditional barbecues, it’s because this grape varietal takes on an identity unique in the world when grown in Mendoza’s soils. For winemaker Matías Riccitelli, Argentina is a veritable “republic of malbec”, so naturally that’s the name he gave to his finest cuvée, Republica del Malbec, made from malbec grapes planted in 1908 at the foot of the Andes mountains. Through a blend of meticulous, traditional vineyard techniques like hand pruning, green harvesting for low yields, and collecting his grapes with small trays to keep them as pristine as possible – plus a winery boasting an array of 21st-century technology – Riccitelli is unveiling the full potential of his country’s terroir, while embodying Argentina’s new fine winemaking movement.
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2 PERSE, Volare de Flor NV Chardonnay “In Argentina, Latin warmth and creativity reign supreme,” writes Bernardo. “The Mendoza region forms the heart of the vineyard. In the past, it could be accused of making wines that were often too standardised, rich, fruity, round and luscious. But a new generation has begun to highlight what’s special about their terroirs, which is yielding much more exciting products … PerSe is a prime example. In Gualtallary, in the southern part of Mendoza, the vineyards of PerSe are situated in an extraordinary setting, at 1,450 metres altitude. The beauty of this place is captured in the glass, both in their reds and, especially, in their rare chardonnay.” Named Volare de Flor, this astounding white wine is aged under a veil of flor (a technique used for xérès in Spain and vin jaune in Jura), and born of a remarkable vine parcel planted with cuttings from a population of chardonnay plants imported ages ago from Burgundy. In a country where traditions of Spanish, French and Italian immigrants have blended into a rich culture, it is a wine with a sense of place.
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3 BINDI WINES, Quartz Chardonnay Australia is a land of contradictions, Enrico Bernardo tells us. “You can find massive industrial wine producers who respect only the rules of the market, rather than those of the land and the climate. And yet Australia is a country with a rural soul, where there are also many jewels to be found. One of them is undoubtedly Michael Dhillon of Bindi Wines. Located in the Macedon Ranges region of Central Victoria, Michael shines with his complex, crystalline chardonnays, wines as elegant and pure as they are luscious and mineral. Far from your stereotypical new-world chardonnay, Bindi’s two chardonnay cuvées, Kostas Rind and Quartz, are closer in spirit to the wines of Chablis, thanks to the Macedon Ranges’ exceptionally cool climate. Indeed, Dhillon has visited dozens of estates in Burgundy, and it was that passion which led him to plant seven hectares of pinot noir and chardonnay on his family’s 170ha farm in 1988. It was an inspired move, as his soils of shattered quartz over siltstone, sandstone and clay produce intense chardonnays that are supremely expressive of their terroir.
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4 LUKE LAMBERT WINES, Yarra Valley Nebbiolo “One of my most beautiful encounters in Australia took place in Yarra Valley,” Bernardo confides. “There, I discovered the beautiful love story between Luke Lambert and the nebbiolo grape. Luke works like a dog for the success of his vineyard – and his wines are remarkable. They are wines of great soul, that are eminently flavourful, subtle and mouthwatering.” Bucking the Aussie trend for jammy fruit bombs, Luke makes fresh, lively wines from chardonnay and syrah, though his true love is indeed nebbiolo. Given Australia’s history of Italian immigration, it’s not surprising that Italy’s most noble varietal found its way here – despite being notoriously difficult to cultivate. It’s a grape that requires total commitment, and Luke says he eventually plans to dedicate himself exclusively to his two-hectare nebbiolo vineyard, Sparkletown, planted just north of the Yarra Valley in 2019. His passion for the grape shines in his Yarra Valley Nebbiolo, an inspired wine made with handpicked fruit sourced from Denton View Hill, fermented with wild yeast, matured in large French and Slavonian oak foudres, and bottled without fining or filtration.
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5 EL VIEJO ALMACEN DE SAUZAL, Huaso de Sauzal, Chilena “I met an amazing character in Chile, Renán Cancino, whose farm is located in the Maule Valley, at the foot of a desert hill,” Bernardo recounts. “Renán works the land with a pickaxe, cultivates his vines, fruits and vegetables with remarkable care and love. His centuries-old vines of the indigenous pais grape variety predate phylloxera, veritable living sculptures of the plant world. They make a wine that is very delicate, very subtle, very jovial, and absolutely not simplistic.” It is a wine that encapsulates an almost mystical place, and the philosophy of a man who eschews artifice, convinced that true wine is made in the vineyard, not in the winery. After all, his winery is but an earthen barn, where fermentations take place spontaneously in dubious-looking barrels, without temperature control, and bottling is still done by hand. The result, seemingly against all odds, is extraordinary wine – wine once one sold in bulk to be blended by others. Today, thanks to global demand for the frisson of tasting authentic wines from far-flung places, Renán proudly exports as far as Scandinavia.
6 VIÑEDOS DE ALCOHUAZ, Rhu “In a rural mountain landscape, at 2,200 metres altitude in Chile’s Valle del Elqui, the winemaker Marcelo Retamal has pulled off an incredible feat,” shares Bernardo. “He’s creating vibrant wines of great intensity, which seduce us with richness and light.”And he’s doing it on an estate that isn’t mechanised. Owner Álvaro Flaño and his son Patricio, with the estate’s caretaker Juan Luis Huerta, have ingeniously harnessed techniques of ancient times, developing an irrigation system over a glacier, a series of terraces where the vineyards are cultivated, and a system of roads created by pickaxe alone. In the cellar, the grapes are crushed the old way, treaded with feet in rock wine presses. Fermentations begin spontaneously, thanks to indigenous yeasts. Some of the wine is even aged in cement eggs, similar to the earthenware dolia of Ancient Greece. For Retamal, every detail brings them closer to their ultimate goal: making wines that are true to their origin – wines of the Andes, wines whose beauty is an expression of granite soils, breathtaking altitude and the vibrant sun of the Valle de Elqui.
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7 BURN COTTAGE VINEYARD, Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir “In New Zealand’s Central Otago, this under-the-radar estate is an absolute reference,” says Bernardo. “In a region that has become the new mecca of pinot noir, Burn Cottage is a sure bet.” It took a visionary, though, to recognise this potential back in 2002, when founder Marquis Sauvage decided to plant a sheep paddock here with pinot. Yet he recognised how remarkable the climate is in Central Otago, with warm summers and cold winters much more typical of a Burgundy-like continental climate than that of a subtropical island. The long sunny days balanced by cool nights represent ideal growing conditions, and the chance to strike a magic balance between ripeness and acidity. Sauvage left nothing to chance, hiring the veteran Sonoma winemaker Ted Lemon and digging dozens of soil pits to locate the ideal vineyard sites, which he planted with ten different clones on five different rootstocks, each tailored to a specific soil profile. Add to that biodynamic viticulture, minimalintervention winemaking (no added yeasts, no filtration, minimal sulphur), and you have the formula for some of New Zealand’s finest pinot noir.
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8 TE MATA ESTATE, Bullnose Syrah “At this historic estate in Hawke’s Bay, everything is good, from their Bullnose Syrah to their Elston Chardonnay to their Coleraine bordeauxstyle cabernet sauvignon blend. Te Mata’s wines are at once elegant and luscious,” Bernardo writes. “Simply put, Te Mata’s production is on another level. It is a site so unique that in 1994 the New Zealand government decided to ban all construction from the surrounding area in order to preserve the special taste of its wines, even establishing a ‘Te Mata Special Character Zone’. The historic estate has thus remained surrounded by pristine farmland, instead seeing a host of wineries crop up all around it. The estate farms 170 hectares of vines, and then sells 60 per cent of its grapes each year. Of the grapes they keep, once the juice is obtained, they sell 50 per cent to a négociant. Of that final selection, once the vinification process is finished, 20 per cent is sold as bulk wine, and only the very best is kept at the estate to produce wines with decidedly strong identity.”
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9 PORSELEINBERG, Porseleinberg Swartland Syrah “In South Africa, I tasted many unexpected wines of excellence,” says Bernardo. “One of them was undoubtedly Porseleinberg. This splendid syrah is produced on blue-veined schist soils. Intense, spicy, broad and balanced … those are the first words to describe this wine produced in Swartland, a region which has an air of Tuscany, with its gentle climate and the golden colour of its wheat fields.” It’s a region that Callie Louw, who launched Porseleinberg in 2010, always believed could yield world-class syrah on par with the greatest wines of the Rhone. Indeed, the winemaker was deeply marked by the time he spent at Domaine Jamet in Côte Rôtie, and in 2018, he applied one of that great estate’s trademark techniques – submerging the cap of grape skins during fermentation. The result stunned the wine world. Master of Wine Tim Atkin awarded it 100 points, writing: “In the right hands, great sites produce excellent wines. Since its inception in 2010, Porseleinberg has been one of the Cape’s most exciting reds, but nothing quite prepared me for the transcendent brilliance of this wine … World-class.”
10 STORM WINES, Storm Vrede Pinot Noir “Thanks to the coolness of Walker Bay and the ocean breeze, the micro estate Storm shines with its single-vineyard pinot noirs,” says Bernardo. “Bottlings like their Vrede cuvée are easily comparable to the best pinot noir in the world.” Hannes Storm has long been convinced that the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley – “Heaven-and-Earth” in Afrikaans – is a region capable of making otherworldly wines. But to realise that potential, he had to make the kind of sacrifices that only truly inspired winemakers will accept, embracing the belief that quality and scarcity necessarily go hand in hand. Thus, to create pinot noirs of rare purity and character, in 2008 he chose two vineyard sites with exceptionally low-vigour soils of stony, clayrich Bokkeveld (“buck field”) shale. There, he forces his vines to develop their own drought tolerance while keeping only a few bunches on each vine. By allowing his vines to be stressed to the limit, they end up focusing all their energy into just a few grapes. By accepting such low yields, he is able to capture in the bottle an expression of terroir of uncommon intensity.
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11 SCARECROW WINE, Scarecrow “California is a treasure trove of great wines, of which the Americans are rightfully proud,” Bernardo notes. “In Napa Valley, one discovers both the grandeur of prestigious vintages and hidden treasures, the fruit of winemaking families. Scarecrow, in Napa Valley, is a world apart. Old, nonirrigated vines produce a juice that’s at once rich, concentrated, yet luscious and balanced.” That exquisite equilibrium is the result of a sum of rare factors, from the vines’ venerable age and the choice to dry-farm them, to the fact that they are among Napa’s last surviving cabernet planted on the old Saint George rootstock that reigned before the switch to certain hybrids in the 1960s. The estate’s name is a nod its vineyards’ storied past, planted in 1945 by JJ Cohn, producer of such films as The Wizard of Oz. Today, Scarecrow is one of the most exclusive, most expensive wines produced in Napa, with just 500 cases released annually. In 2018, The Wine Advocate’s Lisa Perrotti-Brown awarded Scarecrow’s 2016 vintage 100 points, calling it “Hedonistically, undeniably and deliciously perfect.”
12 MOUNT EDEN VINEYARDS, Mount Eden Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon “In the Santa Cruz Valley, just above Silicon Valley, I had a magnificent experience discovering the old vintages of chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon from Mount Eden Vineyards,” Bernardo recalls. “Jeffrey Patterson, the author of these wines, has a unique talent for sublimating his terroir, and creating chardonnay and cabernet of great ageing potential.” For Paul Lukacs, author of The Great Wines of America, Mount Eden Vineyards is the “quintessential California boutique winery”. He writes, “This paradisiacal site, so isolated from all the bustle below, resists any winemaker’s attempt to impose rather than invoke character.” Which is perhaps why Patterson has always preferred the patient, incremental, daily work of farming the austere, infertile shale soils of this exposed mountaintop over the brief, frenzied period of winemaking. It would seem that at Mount Eden, perched more than 600 metres above the valley floor, the very notion of time is different. With a cellar boasting vintages back to 1945, Mount Eden’s lineage of estatebottled chardonnay and pinot noir is simply the longest in California. Patterson doesn’t make wine for us, but for the next generation.
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“In Napa Valley, one discovers both the grandeur of prestigious vintages and hidden treasures, the fruit of winemaking families. Scarecrow, in Napa Valley, is a world apart. Old, non-irrigated vines produce a juice that’s at once rich, concentrated, yet luscious and balanced”