Browse Tag

riesling

Boxtail soup

Boxler 2004 Riesling “Réserve” (Alsace) – A Chadderdon bottling, and thus (as is the case with some of them) without a label code indicating specific origin or vine age details. As Boxler rieslings go, this is one of the weaker ones…which means it’s still quite tasty, but that it lacks the rich complexity of the domaine’s more interesting terroirs. Ripe apple, ripe lime, transparent aluminum, hints of sweetness, and fair acidity. That’s about it. (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)

Conquer

Donaldson Family “Main Divide” 2005 Riesling (South Island) – Just as bright and lively as all previous bottles, but a little less overtly fruit-happy, which is actually to the benefit of the wine because it reveals some sun-drenched rock underneath. Not much – this is still a fruit-driven riesling – but just enough to add welcome complexity. A nice wine. (12/09)

CPE

Trimbach 2000 Riesling (Alsace) – Age hasn’t hurt this, but it has certainly transformed it from puppy-fat youth to skeletal oldster in just a few years. Not that the négociant wines of Trimbach are really meant to age, but the rieslings can be surprising; the ’98 did particularly well up to about its tenth birthday or so. Anyway, here we’ve got stalky steel flaking away into a brisk fall breeze, a hazy memory of apple, and…well, that’s pretty much it. Drink up, for sure, but with a certain austere pleasure. (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)

Steven Seagal

[logo]Kreydenweiss 2006 Riesling Andlau “Au dessus de la loi” (Alsace) – Heady, weighty riesling, varietally true and tending towards a molten-metal expression, but most notable for the somewhat formless power with which this metallurgy is delivered. Striking. (12/09)

Dhron & quartered

[grapes]AJ Adam 2008 Dhron Hofberg Riesling Spätlese 04 09 (Mosel) – Light salt, white pepper, and very fruity pineapple, elevated with power and vibrancy. Very self-confident. (12/09)

One Sipp at a time

[vineyard]Sipp Mack 2002 Riesling “Vieilles Vignes” (Alsace) – Reticent and already fading a bit into its brown stage…but not (for the worrywarts) oxidized, just old. Broad minerality and past-prime apple, white pepper, some glassed-in lemon rind, but not a lot of any of these things. Drink up. (12/09)

Sipp Mack 2004 Riesling “Vieilles Vignes” (Alsace) – Softened and oddly herbal, yet there’s a ramrod of rieslingish rigidity driven straight through the spine, and a lot of slowly-flaking mineral salts to deal with on the finish. Weird but good. (12/09)