Browse Tag

rheingau

Christopher

[becker]JB Becker 1993 Wallufer Walkenberg Riesling Kabinett Trocken 010 94 (Rheingau) — I’ve had this at three different trade events over the last year or so, and the only thing I can be definitive about is that it’s highly variable; some bottles are totally oxidized, others are full of sweaty, almost meaty bass thud. This is one of the latter, and though there’s a brace of acidity helping it cling to the memory of when it used to be able to hit the high notes, this is definitely a band who’s had to take everything down a half-dozen steps. When it’s good, though…it’s OK. (5/16)

A Winkeler & a nod

[spreitzer]Spreitzer 2007 Winekeler Jesuitengarten Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau) — Very, very ripe apple, pushed to the verge of tropicality. A metal band dins in the background. There’s enough acid, more than enough sugar, and it feels like it’s going to tip over at any second. But it doesn’t. Wait? Sure, why not? But it’s fun now, too. (4/16)

Henry

Spreitzer 2007 Winkeler Jesuitengarten Riesling Spätlese 025 08 (Rheingau) — Biting metallic apricot, a spot of cream. Brace, but also weight. Very “Rheingau,” says the friend who brought it. I agree. Age it longer if you crave that sort of thing (and I sometimes do), but the midpoint here is fun. (4/16)

Leitz out

Leitz 2002 Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese Trocken (Rheingau) – The ever-so-slight touch of cream is a little surprising in this wine, given that it’s so young, but it works wonders in terms of textural cohesion. Everything else is still primary…gravel and dried white flowers, weight and presence, steel under lidded eyes. Surprisingly approachable, and yet nowhere near what it will become. (9/10)

Henry

Prinz von Hessen 1999 Winkeler Hasensprung Riesling Auslese 018 00 (Rheingau) – Creamy and well into its dark copper stage. In other words, much older than it probably should be, but not showing apparent damage as a result, only mature lusciousness and ambered sweetness. Completely spherical, without any sort of interior void. I admit to being surprised by this wine, and in a very pleasant way. (2/11)

Expensive balls

Karl Joh. Molitor 2008 Hattenheimer Riesling Spätlese 0013 09 (Rheingau) – Heavy, sticky (this feels far sweeter than it probably is), ponderous, dull. Really uninteresting. (10/10)

When the Lietz go down in the city

Lietz 2002 Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling Auslese 005 03 (Rheingau) – 500 ml. Alcohol, gasoline, and burnt apple. Burnt bark. Burnt iron. Did someone light a fire in here, or are we just having a sale on sulfur? And is that grey rot? Stewed garbage finishes it off. Weird, and in no possible universe can this be called good, or even drinkable. Hopefully, it’s just the bottle or a stage, because…ugh. (5/10)

Fired Golf Channel interviewers

Kesseler 2005 Lorcher Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett 009 05 (Rheingau) – Riesling on fire, and I don’t mean that in a qualitative way; if a wine at this fairly low alcohol level can be said to have a little excess burn, this would be a top candidate. Along with the heat comes the inevitable weight, and this is far from the balance it would need to show its ripe, steel-jacketed apple and walnut character in any sort of presentable form. (10/09)

Left in the Lorch

[vineyard]Kesseler 2004 Lorcher Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett 009 05 (Rheingau) – Fruit salad (mostly peach and pineapple, with some crisper stuff lurking), yet not lurid, just approachable. Sweet cream, a few liquefied rocks, but definitely more about its fruit than its minerality or structure. Acidity is more apparent later on. Big. There might be (some) future here. (5/09)

Marcobrunn polo

[estate]Schloss Schönborn 2005 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Kabinett 019 06 (Rheingau) – Extremely sweet, with wet acidity; this could be an auslese by its character, though it wouldn’t be a very good one, because it lacks much aside from the basic fact of its structure and a swoosh of tropicality. The problem is that it’s not a very good kabinett either; even by modern standards, it’s hellishly large. Only by ignoring classifications can the wine’s actual appeal be assessed…and there, it’s tasty enough. Maybe age will help, but I suspect not all that much of it. (4/09)