At a tasting in our wine club yesterday, we explored a line-up of Grosses Gewächs Rieslings from the newly released 2023 vintage. Among the highlights was Katharina Wechsler’s Morstein.
The 2023 vintage in Germany, and particularly in Rheinhessen, offered conditions that many growers described as “classic.” Early impressions suggest, in short, that this is a year of finesse rather than power.
Morstein is one of Rheinhessen’s great limestone vineyards, perched above the village of Westhofen. First mentioned in the 13th century, it is now firmly established as a Grosses Gewächs (GG) site, producing Rieslings of impressive longevity and mineral tension. The combination of deep clay and active limestone gives the wines both weight and energy.
Since taking over her family estate in 2009, Katharina Wechsler has become a leading figure in the new wave of German winegrowers. Her style is defined by organic farming, spontaneous fermentation and long lees ageing in large neutral oak, resulting in wines that are textural, articulate, and deeply rooted in place.
The grapes for this wine were hand-harvested in several passes to capture optimal ripeness. After gentle foot-trodding of the grapes, the must was fermented with wild yeasts in large oak casks and matured on its fine lees for several months. The approach is low-intervention but carefully guided, allowing the site’s signature to shine through.
Morstein 2023(K. Wechsler)
Pale colour. Aromatic with lime, white peach, green herbs and wet stone. Expressive on the palate, with a saline drive and laser-cut acidity. Fine texture from lees ageing, and a long, stony finish that speaks of its limestone origin. Still youthful, probably with an excellent ageing potential, but already compelling in its linear, elegant style.
The Muscadet region has long been synonymous with light, seafood-friendly whites, but a quiet revolution has taken place over the past couple of decades. Producers are now drawing attention to the age-worthiness and complexity that melon de bourgogne can offer—especially when rooted in the right soils and afforded patient lees ageing.
Clisson is one of the cru villages of Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine, its wines defined by the granite soils and long ageing on fine lees. For a cru Clisson, the regulations demand at least 24 months of lees contact. Ollivier-Cottencau take this one step further. This 2018 vintage spent no less than 42 months on the lees before bottling, allowing the wine to gain both depth and texture.
Ollivier-Cottencau is a collaboration between two families with deep roots in the region. The estate, situated in Maisdon-sur-Sèvre, is now in the hands of the younger generation, who have embraced organic farming and a low-intervention approach in the cellar. Their wines reflect a respect for both tradition and terroir, with a particular focus on long ageing.
Over time, the lees (yeast cells) break down and release compounds that contribute to the wine’s mouthfeel and aromatic complexity. The result is a wine that bears little resemblance to the brisk, saline Muscadet of old. Instead, Clisson 2018 presents a broader, more layered profile, while retaining the hallmark tension and freshness of the region.
Clisson 2018(Ollivier-Cottencau)
Golden hue. Aroma of dried herbs, crushed stone, and ripe lemon peel, underscored by a light nuttiness from the lees. On the palate, the wine is taut yet textural, with a saline core wrapped in notes of orchard fruit and a gentle smokiness. Long finish, with a subtle grip that speaks of granite and time. A wine for the table—and for contemplation.
This wine accompanied haggis at a recent private dinner. Maybe not as strange as it sounds, El Bierzo has its botillo, a pig intestine filled with sausages and spices, not very unlike the more famous Scottish national dish.
La Vizcaína is the project of Raúl Pérez and his nephew César Márquez.
La Poulosa is based on mencía, but it alto contains small percentages of grapes like bastardo and garnacha tintorera. They come from old vines between 60 and 80 years old that are scattered across small plots totalling 2 hectares located Valtuille de Abajo. The climate is both Atlantic and continentality, and the soils are shallow and clay-based.
The harvest is carried out manually. Fermentation takes place in large wooden barrels up to 5,000 liters. The juice of the wine macerates on its skins for 2-3 months. The wine is then aged in seven year old French oak barrels for 12 months, and bottled without being clarified or filtered.
La Poulosa 2018 (R. Pérez)
Deep ruby red. Dark fruit, earthy minerality, and subtle liquorice notes. Broad and supple on the palate, with ripe blackberries, prunes, a touch of spice, a fresh acidity, and textured tannins lending structure without harsh edges. A wine of balance and character, showing the strength of the vineyard.
Located just outside Montblanc in the heart of Conca de Barberà, Mas Foraster, also called Josep Foraster, is a family-run estate that has become one of the leading names in the revival of trepat – the region’s native red grape. Founded in 1998, the winery is now run by Ricard Sebastià Foraster, who not only oversees the estate but also serves as president of the Consejo Regulador of the DO Conca de Barberà. “Josep was both my grandfather and my uncle,” says Ricard.
Kepa and Ricard
The estate currently covers 34 hectares – 27 owned and the rest leased – and only estate-grown grapes are used. All vineyards are farmed organically, and biodynamic compost is applied. Elevations range from 280 to 550 metres around Montblanc, and up to 650 meters around Sarral and on the other side of the mountains. These high altitudes, along with calcareous and clay-rich soils, contribute to the wines’ freshness and clarity. According to Ricard, while clay brings more yield, calcareous soils provide greater concentration – but above all, it’s the cool climate that trepat needs.
Trepat, traditionally used in rosado and cava, is now taking centre stage. Mas Foraster has been a key player in this transformation, releasing their first red trepat in 2009 – the second on the market after Carles Andreu. Their red trepats are fermented spontaneously, with a 40-day maceration that continues even after fermentation ends. Sulphite levels are kept low, always under 40 mg/l, and ageing takes place exclusively in used barrels, foudres or concrete eggs.
The current range of trepat-based wines is wide and expressive:
Les Gallinetes 2024 (55% trepat, 45% garnatxa) is a light, juicy red with aroma of red berries, with fine tannins and a smooth, easy-drinking style.
Trepat 2023, made from seven old vineyards (60–96 years), grown in calcareous soils, undergoes long maceration in foudre and barrique. Ruby in colour, it shows red forest fruits and white pepper, with freshness, finesse and length.
Julieta 2023, named after Ricard’s mother and his daughter, from a single north-facing vineyard planted in 1940 at 450 metres, is aged seven months in concrete eggs. With aromas of raspberry and flowers, it has more structure and weight, firm tannins and a long, lingering finish.
Pep 2022, from 86-year-old vines at 580 metres, is made with whole clusters, foot-trodden in alabaster tanks. Light cherry red, the wine shows red fruits and herbs, with firm yet juicy structure and real depth.
Ricard
In addition to red wines, Mas Foraster also makes noteworthy whites and skin-contact styles:
Blanc Selecció 2023 is a blend of macabeu, chardonnay and garnatxa gris. The wine is fermented in concrete eggs and sees some skin contact in foudre. Pale yellow with green hints, it shows citrus, yellow apple, good volume and bright acidity.
Brisat del Coster 2023, an orange wine made from macabeu (some of which also goes into the Blanc Selecció), undergoes 25 days of skin contact in steel and concrete, with no added sulphites. Golden in hue, it offers notes of citrus peel, flowers, herbs and apricot, with light tannins and a textured, fresh palate. Ricard notes that macabeu, with its lower oxidative character than garnatxa gris, results in a lighter colour.
Kepa
The cellar is overseen by Kepa Martínez, whose mother is from the Basque Country, hence the name Kepa. Fermentations are spontaneous and temperature-controlled by natural means – “fermentation starts when the temperature rises,” says Ricard.
With a clear focus on trepat and a deep commitment to sustainable farming and precision winemaking, Mas Foraster stands as one of the most respected producers in the Conca de Barberà today – a house where tradition, innovation and identity converge.
I am not among the ranks of those who follow Bourgogne closely. One reason is that I do my best to keep up with what happens other places, such as the Iberian Peninsula. I could also mention the prices. But then, Bourgogne Côte-d’Or has emerged as an exciting category for wine lovers seeking high-quality wines at more accessible prices than the prestigious appellations. What is more, the director of my local wine shop is a highly regarded expert on Bourgogne. So at a major release of Burgundies, from DRC and downwards, he said that this was a must try.
I have learned that Bouzereau is based in Meursault, where he makes elegant white wines from that appellation. The estate is now run by Michel’s son, Jean-Baptiste Bouzereau. He follows organic practices in the vineyard and employs a gentle winemaking approach to preserve the finesse of the fruit. Bouzereau employs a restrained use of new oak to preserve the wine’s elegance.
The grapes for this wine come from selected plots in the Côte de Beaune. The 2022 vintage was warm, yet retained enough freshness to ensure balance in the wines. The grapes are hand-harvested, partly destemmed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in open-top vats. This cuvée saw one year in barrel, 15% new.
Bright ruby with hints of violet. Aroma of red berries (cherry, raspberry), floral notes and subtle spice. Fresh and delicate in the mouth, with vibrant red fruit, balanced acidity, fine-grained tannins, with a gentle earthiness. A refined, terroir-driven pinot noir with purity of fruit and silky tannins. Beautiful already, but will evolve over the next few years.
Price: Medium
Food: Light meat (veal), roasted duck breast, or a classic wild mushroom risotto
In Toro Álvar de Dios Hernández is taking a new approach, while also respecting the region’s heritage. His journey began in 2008 when he took over a century-old vineyard from his grandfather, situated in El Pego, Zamora. This vineyard, with its sandy soils, survived the phylloxera plague, allowing the ungrafted vines planted in 1919 to thrive. In honor of his grandfather, affectionately known as Aciano, Álvar crafted a wine that encapsulates both familial legacy and the distinct terroir of the place.
Aciano 2018 is a fruit of Álvar’s commitment to sustainable viticulture and minimal intervention winemaking. Produced from tinta de toro (tempranillo) grapes, the wine undergoes natural yeast fermentation, with 60% whole clusters included. It is then aged for 12 months in neutral French oak barrels ranging from 300 to 600 liters. The result is a wine that stands out in the Toro appellation for its elegance and finesse, diverging from the region’s typically robust style. I hope this could be the future.
Aciano 2018(Álvar de Dios)
Dark cherry red. Aromatic herbs, wild berries, and floral notes, exuding freshness and restrained ripeness. On the palate, the wine offers a chalky minerality, a fresh acidity and grainy, sandy tannins that reflect the vineyard’s soil. Good concentration and decent length.
In September 2024, João Tavares de Pina’s estate, Quinta da Boavista in Penalva do Castelo, Portugal, was devastated by a wildfire. The blaze reduced the family home to ashes and destroyed 85% of the vineyards.
To support João and his family during this challenging time, friends and colleagues organized several solidarity initiatives. Among them was a wine lottery, where winemakers from various countries donated special bottles to raise funds for the reconstruction of Quinta da Boavista. Additionally, a GoFundMe campaign was launched to provide further support.
At Simplesmente Vinho 2025, João presented a wine as part of his own crowdfunding project. Terras de Tavares Reserva 2004, made from touriga nacional, jaen and rufete, is a richly textured and mature wine—dark with brown hues at the edges—offering aromas of ripe and dried fruits, plums, and prunes, alongside flavors of ripe berries, spices, and dark chocolate, with silky tannins. The project itself is well worth supporting, but the wine is also truly exceptional.
This wine was served in a tasting of Lebanese wines in my local wine club this week. It was the only sparkling wine, or pét nat, and stood out in more than one way.
The producer is Mersel Wine, named after the region Maksar Mersel, which is the highest viticultural region in Lebanon. The grapes for this wine however are grown in Deir El Ahmar, Bekaa Valley at “only” 1.200 meters altitude.
Mersel’s wines are made naturally, with very little or no sulfites. They are unfiltered and unfined and fruits of organic farming methods.
Eddie Chami, the winemaker at Mersel Wine, was born and raised in Australia. He doesn’t speak French and didn’t want Mersel to be associated with the French wine making influence in Lebanon. He has a passion for wines made by local Lebanese indigenous grape varieties. This said, the red Leb Nat is made from cinsault. After almost 200 years in the country (first planted by jesuits in the mid 19th century) the grape has long been acclimatised to Lebanese conditions though. By the way, Mersel was the first winery in the country to launch a pét nat.
The grapes are pressed, then the juice and pulp spend 5 days together before fermentation starts. The wine then ferments for about 20 days at 14°C, is then bottled and completes fermentation in the bottle, where it rests on lees for 1 year.
Leb Nat 2022(Mersel Wine)
Cherry red with small bubbles. Smells of cherry and raspberry, with herbs. Fresh in the mouth with energetic acidity, lightly bubbly, with a slight touch of tannins (the same structure or dryness as the still red cinsaults in the tasting), and finishes dry. Quite peculiar; in a way it reminded me of a clarete (a mix of red and white grapes), on the other hand I also found a surprising tannic dryness.
Luis Pérez is one of the leading producers in the new wave of Jerez. I reviewed a pasto wine in September last year. Here you can learn what it is, if you don’t already know, and also get an introduction to the producer.
Caberrubia is a non vintage wine from the El Corregidor estate in the Carrascal pago. It’s named a palma, a classification for especially fine wines in the fino style.
The grapes are palomino fino trained in gobelet, from a 40 years old vineyard. The producer’s website tells that the harvesters go through the vineyard from the beginning of August to the end of September selecting bunches for different types of wines. The first pickings are for the greenest bunches on the plant. From these they make a wine with low alcohol and high acidity, that is used to correct the rest of the wines. The third of five pickings is the base for the palmas such as Caberrubia.
The vinification is typical: Light pressing and fermentation in the barrel, packing in December and approximately three and a half years of biological ageing.
There have been various sacas (bottlings) of the wine. Now we have come to the seventh. With Saca VII they have expanded the selection to 17 botas (typical sherry casks), mostly 2017, 2018 and 2019, and small proportions of previous vintages. With this assemblage they seek a style that is representative for the vineyard, that is “an inland character, roundness and concentration, without losing the elegance and finesse that defines all the previous sacas”. According to the new legislation a wine can be called sherry even if it’s not fortified, only if it has reached 15º of alcohol. This saca has not reached that level, so it’s not released as a fino within the D.O. Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, but as a white wine.
Caberrubia Saca VII(Luis Pérez)
Deep golden. Complex aroma with fresh fruits like baked apples and peach, complemented by nuts, and a touch of flor and salt. Good volume in the mouth, concentrated and smooth, salty and long. It has more power than the previous saca, but it’s also very elegant.
Price: Medium-high
Food: Aperitif, various tapas incl. asparagus, cheese and nuts, also nice with rice and spicy dishes
To make the history short, Silvia Marrao from Madrid became interested in winemaking in Italy and fell in love with the vineyards of Bierzo after having spent some time in Rías Baixas. Her Banzao project began with the lease of a old 3 hectare vineyard in San Pedro de Olleros in 2017, located at 750 meters of elevation. We are in the in the Ancares valley, in El Bierzo. A banzao is a small, temporary dam that raises river or stream levels to channel water for irrigation. Made of wood and stone, it washes away with autumn rains, only to be rebuilt yearly -as Silvia puts it, mirroring the natural cycle, like the vine’s renewal through winter pruning.
Silvia has currently around four hectares of her own vineyards, thanks to private owners in San Pedro de Olleros who came to offer them to her. Currently is cultivated on a total of 18 plots in 8 different parajes in the Villa de San Pedro de Olleros. These have different orientation, altitude and type of soil. Being in the Ancares Leoneses Biosphere Reserve, she wants to work organic, integrating the plant into the biodiversity of the area and intervening as little as possible.
Eras la Ermita is one of Silvia’s 5 paraje wines. It’s from a vineyard of mainly mencía planted in the 1940s and 50s and been in recovery since 2017. The soil is slate with clay and quartzite. The wine was fermented with native yeasts in barrels and stainless steel tanks, 50% with stems and the rest gently destemmed without crushing. It was aged for 9 months in 500 and 225 liter barrels.
It is a fairly large field at the northern edge of San Pedro, gently sloping toward the city. Over time, the wind has eroded its loose soil, leaving a thin topsoil. Quarry stone and weathered slate define both the terrain and the character of the wine.
Eras la Ermita 2021(Bodegas Banzao)
Deep clear red. Aromas of dark forest berries and raspberries, aromatic herbs, with an earthy note. The palate follows up with dark and red fruits, together with a stony minerality, and it has a good concentration and a lovely integrated acidity. It’s in a way delicate and juicy, but it also has a firm tannins that will help it through a few more years. It’s a wine with real nerve and energy.
