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spätlese

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)

Brücken promise

Dönnhoff 1999 Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese 007 00 (Nahe) – Thick mineral stew with a peach glaze, over-reduced and tedious. Utterly devoid of useful acidity (meaning there’s not none, just not any that will rescue the wine). (6/12)

Hooked on a feeling

St. Urbans-Hof  2002 Piesporter Goldtröpchef Riesling Spätlese 034 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Bottles come and bottles go of this wine, which I bought in quantity a while back on very deep discount, and both the goers and comers are variable with a side of disappointment. This is just as variable as the rest, but less disappointing than most, showing a liquefied aluminum base on which have been sprinkled some lemongrass-infused apple salts, plus a more stone-fruited finish. Does any of the previous mean or say anything of relevance to the terroir? Well… (6/12)

Green Panama

Schloss Johannisberg 2001 Schloss Johannisberger Grünlack Spätlese Riesling 009 02 (Rheingau) – Powerful. In the battle between molten metal and Cream of Age, the skyscraper material is winning. Not at all dry, no, but there’s so much liquid steel and seething acidic lightning here that it’s difficult to notice or care much. And yet, it’s not – in the pantheon of German riesling – all that acidic, given the place and time whence it hails. The balance is, right now, just about perfect, but I think it’s very far from full maturity. Nonetheless, it’s ready for exploratory encounters, should one now wish to begin same. (2/12)

Just a Wegeler guy

Wegeler 1999 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 02 001 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Thai riesling (lemongrass, Makrut lime leaf, palm sugar), with the texture but not the taste of coconut cream. Very intense, very sweet, but as certain omissions in the list of Thai referents might suggest, somewhat acid-deficient. It’s not flabby, but there’s no respite for its thickness nor its sugar. Is it ready? Well, it’s not falling apart, but I’m dubious that more time is going to lead to anything measurably better. (11/11)

Canis gold

Vollenweider 2006 Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese 02 07 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – So is this actually a beerenauslese? (NB: it’s not, but there’s no question it’s an auslese in other guise). Massively, powerfully, brain-poundingly sweet…and yet, with the sharp, crystalline acidity that few wines other than German riesling manage to achieve at this level of sucrosity. I’d say the flavors run towards Terminator apple and Full Metal Jacket Meyer lemon, but really it’s just very, very sweet at the moment. One for the cellar. (9/11)

Gaden of Erden

JJ Christoffel 2001 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spätlese 006 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Pearly. Maybe I should use that, rather than my usual descriptor creamy, for the state of maturing riesling, because it more accurately reflects the way in which the various sorts of minerality are retained. This is still pretty sprightly, with a clarity that’s akin to drinking the glass itself rather than what’s in it, but there’s a little here for lovers of riesling past its callow youth. Just a little, though. (9/11)

Don’t bopp so gently

Perll 2004 Bopparder Hamm Fässerlay Riesling Spätlese 4 05 (Mittelrhein) – Light cream of white nectarine with an impression of wind. Short. It’s nice enough, but awfully wispy. (7/11)

Vending baroque

Selbach-Oster 2001 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 022 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Dust, salt, red cherry, makrut lime flesh. Concentrated and, while not delicious at the moment, certainly dancing around that adjective. (5/11)