Browse Tag

germany

The Haardter they fall

Müller-Catoir 2008 Haardter Herzog Rieslaner Spätlese 20 09 (Pfalz) – Huge, huge, huge. Banana cream and raspberry popsicle. Oddly, I mean both in a positive way. Powerful, and in fact a little overwhelming. (3/10)

Fischer king

Dr. Fischer 2007 Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese 3 08 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Shy for the first twelve hours or so, then blossoming into timidity and overt restraint. Sounds exciting, I know. A lot of dust eventually leads to a petrol-tinged lemongrass creaminess and canned peaches (more about the can than the fruit), but this just isn’t very interesting. (3/10)

Worm d’or

[vineyard]Vollenweider 2008 Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese “Goldkapsel” 05 09 (Mosel) – Very ripe. Very, very ripe. Very, very, very…oh, hell, you know where I’m going with this. But it is…ripe, I mean…though there’s a flood of acidity to match it, and it actually manages a fierce, fisticuffs-in-lava sort of balance. Apples? Sure, why not? Mineral-grayed coarse sea salt as well. Fascinating. And very young. Very, very young. Very, very, very… (1/10)

Haag und Dazs

Fritz Haag 2002 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett 3 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Dryish lemongrass, dry apple skin, and spritz. Sulfurous. Still too young for true enjoyment. (1/10)

Do you Graach?

[vineyard]von Kesselstatt 2007 Graach Josephshöfer Riesling Spätlese 15 08 (Mosel) – I miss the days when a spätlese was a medium-weight wine. This is a bruiser, and though along with its full metal jacketed weight comes vibrant structure that carries that weight, it’s a very muscular wine. Green apple granite and dripping molten iron sundae topping. Age will definitely not hurt this wine. (1/10)

Dürk diggler

Darting 2007 Dürkheimer Fronhof Scheurebe Beerenauslese 030 08 (Pfalz) – From 375 ml. Not as lurid as the tropical soap factory that scheurebe can sometimes be, but still with one foot in the drink umbrella and lounge chair genre. Thankfully, the other foots in a big vat of (loose) structure and vibrancy. Very sweet, but not in a tooth-eroding way, and fun. (1/10)

Longuich lessons

Schmitt-Wagner 2001 Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett 15 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Difficult. Muted, somewhat sulfurous, and probably too young. Nonetheless, what’s perceptible is moderately enticing. A grayed-out minerality suffuses everything, but there’s a leafy, almost lemongrass-like aromatic component (albeit brief), then apple skin, and finally some walnut that’s not only aromatic, but textural as the wine drifts off into an uncertain finish. I wonder how much more time this will require, or if that number is imaginary. (1/10)

Maximin overdrive

Schmitt-Wagner 2001 Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Auslese 18 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Despite obvious power and intensity, this suffers from the same seemingly sulfurous muting as the same vineyard’s kabinett tasted at the same time. Everything here is dialed up – fruit, acidity, palate impact – and that helps. In terms of a terroir signature, this wine performs largely as the kabinett does, with the exception of an expansion of the realm of apple-derived characteristics. I have more hope for a future here than I do for the kabinett, but I don’t lack hope for either. (1/10)

Major sekts

Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt 2005 Majoratsfüllung Riesling Deutscher Sekt Extra Dry (Germany) – For a change (amongst various brands of sekt, not something particular to this bottle) this isn’t like drinking glass shards spiked with tartaric acid. Rather, there’s some almond skin, melon rind, apple, and bitter lemon to be braced by the expectedly vivid acidity. Not bad at all. (12/09)

Lieder of the pack

[vineyard]von Schubert’schen 1983 Maximin Grünhauser Herrenberg Riesling Auslese 31 84 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Old but still vibrant. Jacketed in copper and other, brassier metals, with a palate that recalls a youth of orangesicle sorbet and strawberry. An impressive life must have been led to arrive at this point, and the complexities and suddenly-remembered tales keep one coming back again and again. (12/09)