Browse Tag

riesling

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)

Re of sunlight

Bologna “Serra dei Fiore” 2008 Langhe Riesling Renano “Re di Fiore” (Piedmont) – Very ferric, austere, and long. One must like drinking both iron and steel, though. Interesting. (3/10)

Gli club

Frecciarossa 2008 Oltrepò Pavese Riesling “Gli Orti” (Lombardy) – A bit on the heavy side for riesling, taking an unquestioned concentration and overdoing it a bit. Having now experienced a grand total of two Oltrepò Pavese rieslings, I can see that this weight is suggested by the terroir, but that not everyone handles it in the same way. Here, preserved lemon and leaden minerality are pleasant, and little accents of makrut lime and lemon verbena (both in tisane, rather than fresh, form) are even more welcome, but the wine’s just a bit too tiresome for complete enjoyment. Maybe age will help, though I’m skeptical. (2/10)

Breakin’ the loi, breakin’ the loi

[logo]Kreydenweiss 2006 Riesling Andlau “Au dessus de la loi” (Alsace) – Firm, freezing-point riesling driven over a road glistening with crystalline spikes and deformations. Absolutely overwhelmed by its minerality, and for me this is a good thing, yet in a more primary way than is typical for wines exhibiting such a character. Very, very long for what is, after all, essentially an entry-level riesling from this producer (even though it’s not priced like one). Striking. (2/10)

Win someone’s money

Knappstein 2006 Riesling (Clare Valley) – The prevailing “wisdom” that Australia = goop is relentlessly questioned by Clare Valley rieslings, which (if anything) bite, slash, and rend far more than their Germanic brethren. To the extent that they have acid balance issues, it’s almost always too much (or too aggressive), rather than too little, acidity. Here, too, the acid is almost lurid in its intensity, and while there’s a pretty solid layer of greenish-yellow fruit and apple skin pressing down upon it, this really is all about the vibrant spike of sharpness driving right through the wine’s center. (2/10)

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)

CFEVT812

Trimbach 2000 Riesling “Cuvée Frédéric Émile Vendanges Tardives” (Alsace) – Impossibly tight and unyielding to any amount of air, swirling, or overnight oxidation. It just sits there, closed-in about itself, wondering why you were crazy enough to open it now. I wouldn’t even think of touching this for another ten years, if this is the stage it’s currently in. (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)