They were picking grapes at SCHLOSS LIESER but I had a chance to schmooze with Thomas Haag (on his forklift) about the election – he likes to talk about things other than wine. I was given a brisk and tidy romp through a few wines, but they were busy and I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. Consider this a sketch, with a fuller report to follow in time.
ALL 2023 UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED: Weissburgunder Trocken is angular a seductive – an utter triumph, and glug-glug-glug. Riesling Schiefer Trocken is pure mineral; the prettiest face of slate. Riesling Heldenstück Trocken is quite wild yet gracefully expressive; complex, mineral, excellent: ONE PLUS. Riesling Goldstück Trocken is as plummy as a Nahe wine; a little terse after the foregoing but quite pleasant. Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling GG is ethereal, exquisite, and formly mineral. ONE PLUS. Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling GG shows a lot of sponti but the palate has grip and adamance in a form more spherical than the Wehlener. TWO PLUSSES. Graacher Himmelreich Riesling GG is more allusive but more pointed structurally; highly malic, the wine is admirable but less flowing; exactly the sort of wine you need several days to glimpse its actual nature. Goldtröpfchen Riesling GG is a long skein of mineral and Cox’s Orange Pippins. A strong argument for a site by which I’m usually underwhelmed. ONE PLUS. Niederberg Helden Riesling GG is funky and zippy and herbal and really salty, all in a golden breathing form. TWO PLUSSES.
Niederberg-Helden Riesling feinherb is the peyote version of the “Heldenstück”, and curiously grassy. I wonder if they chose a higher-acid lot for the “sweeter” bottling. Niederberg-Helden Riesling Kabinett is another sponti critter; racy and salty, wildly so at the end. The zing is welcome. Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett is sponti again; whispery, barely sweet, gossamer, slate in the form of an elusive white ghost. ONE PLUS. Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett has a wonderful aroma (also with a touch of grassiness) for firm and with new-shoes richness of tread, as always. Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett was poured the day after the 2022 vintage was served to President Biden at a state dinner in Berlin. No word on whether Joe liked it, but I must say the ’23 vintage seems good for this site; the wine offers contrast and minerality. Finally, a seriously beautiful 2018 Niederberg-Helden Riesling Kabinett is a splendid maturing Riesling, hardly sweet but addictively delicious. Bravo that they still offer it. TWO PLUSSES, and a demonstration of how easily we misread ripe clement vintages that only seem simple in their youth. Every ’18 I drink these days is outstanding, and they seem to be developing classically.
We visited WILLI SCHAEFER but it was the next-to-last day of picking and there was no reason to linger, let alone to taste. We drove up the hill to the Schaeferei to visit Willi’s widow Esther, whose stiff upper lip did not entirely obscure the pathos of losing her husband of 50 years.
A quick stop at CARL LOEWEN, where we went down into the cellar and tasted some fermenting juice. In respect to Christopher’s business, we tasted just one wine, new to me, and sold only at auction. It’s from a newly obtained parcel in the Ritsch – 2023 Thörnicher Ritsch Im Schneidersberg Riesling Kabinett, and the wine was a big surprise; all cherry-blossom and creamier than the other Kabinett (from Longuicher Herrenberg); the typical verbena flavor of Ritsch emerges with coaxing, as does a delicate length and interplay. It’s the second crop from young vines in a killing-steep slope, which was only available for sale because the neighbors probably figured you’d have to be crazy to grow grapes on such a site.
We finally visited Anna Reimann at CANTZHEIM in the Saar. It’s an architectural jewel, and they have rooms and a lovely little restaurant and you should stay there if you’re looking for some tranquility. You’ll also drink well, especially if you cherish the yuzu-green-coolness of classic Saar Riesling. I’ll get samples soon, after a break in the logistics, but for now I share these quick impressions.
SEKT took the forms of a 2021 Blanc de Noirs, all Pinot Noir, two years of tirage,disgorged 5/24, a surprisingly delicate wine with discreet fruit, clear balanced texture, nothing coarse or sharp – in all surprisingly good. Then a Riesling Brut Nature with 18 months of tirage had some of the sharp corners of the genre; a good basis but needs either more dosage or longer lees-aging – and yet, the cool Saar quince leads to a graphite finish. Jury’s out.
The 2022 Pinot Blanc Le Grand is hugely interesting – in a good way! Original, loaded with character, angular but no sharp corners, a great long mineral finish; anti-varietal, also in the best way. ONE PLUS
2023 Riesling “der Wawerner” (Trocken) is a wine of tartly pleasant flavor and uneven structure. I wrote “like torn jeans” which at the time made sense. (!) It had a gauzy pleasant florality.
2018 Riesling “der Wawerner” is entirely wonderful, like so many ‘18s at this stage. TWO PLUSSES
2022 “die Kupp” (Ayl) is a lovely firm nutty Ayler, with earthy grip and delicate fruit. It’s a guy who doesn’t know how to tie a tie but grows the best apples in the county. ONE PLUS
Johannes Selbach and I sat together in the otherwise silent tasting room at the glam new facility over in Rachtig. Actually there was a Danish couple tasting and buying and I watched Johannes recommend exactly what I myself would have, and struggled manfully to keep my damn mouth shut.
Again, there was no reason to stage a comprehensive survey of a very large collection of wines when I’ll be able to taste them in a few months at home. So we looked over a few things not quite at random, but closer to the fringes than to the mainstream.
That said, we began with MERKELBACH.
2023 estate Riesling Trocken correct but nondescript.
2023 Kinheimer Rosenberg Spätlese Trocken had the same off, funk/yeast thing; the palate is more correct but these don’t have the old easy perfection. You could call it “smoky” when the funk starts blowing off, and it might be a screwcap burp – but it ain’t right. Johannes was perplexed by my comments, which is rare between him and me, as we nearly always align. He wasn’t tasting what I was describing, and all I can say is, I’ll baby the wines when I get them home and see if I misread them.
2023 Uerziger Würzgarten Kabinett lilacs and yuzu and litchi and slate. This one has nothing of “greatness” and everything of “goodness.” In other words, archetypal Merkelbach.
Pause a minute please, and reflect on the neighborliness and respect and care and vision with which Selbach is carrying on the legacy of Rolf and Alfred. It didn‘t have to be that way. It is that way, because it matters.
To SELBACH-OSTER now…..
2023 S-O estate Riesling Trocken another world; richer, denser and juicier, still slatey/smoky.
2023 Zeltinger Riesling Kabinett Trocken is lovely, herbal, “sweet-green” (like sorrel, marigold), with fine outlines but also the typical fluff and richness., and also the typical ‘23 sharpness on the finish.
2022 Weissburgunder Trocken seems woodier than before (50% large old oak), but the 2023 Weissburgunder Trocken is much better, even with identical vinification; more complex and more refined, sleeker lines, more spiel. For sheer class, ONE PLUS
2022 Pinot Blanc Trocken reserve has integrated wood, by which it shows structural integrity, i.e., it's a “type” but the pieces fit and the wine makes sense, albeit it’s not my type. It has density but not opulence, and (maybe) for that reason it’s what you can call a “not-unsuccessful oaky wine.”
2021 Pinot Blanc Trocken reserve (open six days but bottle 70% full) is ten leagues better, as 21s of this kind often are. Shape, transparency, almost exotic interplay, dazzling. ONE PLUS (AT LEAST).
2021 Riesling Bömer (a bloc-picked cadaster in the Schlossberg) is as I remember it; no-quarter earthiness and no pandering to “attractiveness.” A rich-rooted wine of pure ornery truth. Salty and wild. TWO PLUSSES
2023 Zeltinger Alte Reben Riesling Trocken (in essence the overflow GG) is bottle sick and can only be gleaned from the finish, which is swollen with minerality. The grassy edge could come and go.
2023 GG Series:
Graben is a dancer with slippery limbs and an athlete’s bones. Flint and kirsch of course. Sleek outlines into a brash finish.
Domprobst stands out yet again. For grace, integration, mineral density and generous interplay of each of its elements, a good TWO PLUSSES Wehlen Sonnenuhr is more ethereal, a teeny bit slight after the Domprobst but the wonderful minerality that follows the typically swishing fruit is the final proof of the cru. ONE PLUS
Zeltinger Sonnenuhr is masterly, a wine that truly has-it-all., and with 12%. Just transporting. THREE PLUSSES
Schlossberg is more tightly wound, more determinedly mineral albeit with its usual green. ONE PLUS
Bömer is its gorgeously irritable self. The scowl, the heavy tread, the thick denim and the clumpy boots, the sheer being-its-fucking-self-ness, I mean, I surrender. ONE PLUS
2023 Riesling feinherb is beautiful, balanced, juicy and delicious, and more flexible in all things. Glug-glug-glug.
2023 Zeltinger Himmelreich Kabinett Halbtrocken a HUGE step up from the raspy 22, but this is one of the best ever, with exceptionally pretty floweriness and a flowing dance of mineral. ONE PLUS
The laudable Rheingau estate GOLDATZEL is alas another one in search of an American importer. (One of the things that struck me in Germany last month is the large number of really interesting estates who aren’t doing business over here.) Having raised this point with respect to Goldatzel I won’t labor it again here. But tasting his ‘23s left me reeling with frustration and admiration.
As was the case during this German trip – more a sentimental journey than a “tasting” trip per se – I skimmed through wines I’ll taste in my customary detail later on. There is a sense in which these high-definition, precise, delineated, and impeccable wines are misaligned with the zeitgeist as defined by the natty community, with its sometimes-tolerance of “purity” in the form of sludge. A perfect antidote is found here, for those who might seek it.
ALL 2023 AND ALL RIESLING:
Glänzstück is quite pretty in 23, showing the blossomy side of the year; slim and comely.
Winkeler Hasensprung Kabinett Trocken is extreme lemon grass and ludicrously good, sleek yet crammed with mineral, leading to a lovely finish like rock dust strained through spearmint – or the opposite… just what do I mean? TWO PLUSSES
Bestes Fass Trocken (JohannisbergerGoldatzel) is pure sorrel and sweet oolong-y plants and herbs. Lovely and “cool.”
Alte Reben Trocken (Johannisberger Vogelsang) might be the best vintage yet, which is saying something – just a paradigm of class and complexity; all the usual sweet straw but now with massive minerality; has the esoteric flower of the Nahe and the size and dimension of RG. A POSSIBLY STINGY TWO PLUSSES.
Geisenheimer Kläuserweg Trocken (just bottled) is almost creamy and highly herbal, in tank on the gross lees for a year, and also a sponti, and is entirely recherché, more of a löss GV than a Rheingau Riesling. ONE PLUS
Winkeler Hasensprung Trocken (same, just bottled, on the gross lees, but a blend of tank/cask) again I don’t recall a better vintage, just from sheer density of minerality, together with all the complex nuance-crazed dialogue of elements. TWO PLUSSES
Johannisberger Goldatzel Trocken has an utterly transporting aroma – it’s an experiment, a high parcel, called “In der Goldatzel,”much quartz and slate, made in halbstück, and like the others on the gross lees; it has a smooch of cask but if you accept Von Winnining you oughta love the shit out of this. It’s suave and salty and tastes like lebkuchen. ONE PLUS
2020 Johannisberger Goldatzel Trocken could be sold as “Kellerreserve”, late bottled and kept in bottle; it’s lapsed over into firne, which is a matter of taste, but I’d advise keeping it; often an early developmental plateau indicates stability, counterintuitively. No surprise, it freshens in the glass, and even shows pin-pricks of phenolics connected to the minerality. It ends up salty and umami-sweet, and quite compelling. ONE PLUS
Johannisberger Goldatzel Kabinett feinherb (my beloved) never ceases to stir me – but that said, the slender outlines of 23 are not necessarily ideal for this wine. Each of its classic elements are here aromatically and in terms of essential balance and expressiveness, but the finish feels theoretical and it’s also on the sharp side.
Johannisberger Hölle Spät feinherb starts off funky but the palate is both a juice bomb and a whip-crack; toasty as usual for the site, but this time a whirl of textures and flavors embedded in texture; balance is nearly perfect, and “nearly” can be debated. It’s a foamy sort of Rheingau wine. Only the brisk finish holds back the plus.
Johannisberger Hölle Kabinett smells precise and lovely; the palate rocks! A wine that’s sometimes seemed grafted-together structurally is seamless, spicy and with subtle mineral. Even the slight shrillness on the finish doesn’t preclude the ONE PLUS
Winkeler Hasensprung Spätlese smells glorious, and is the absolute paradigm of a Rheingau Spät; racy, sweets/salts/mints/ginger all melting into a wonderful minerality and a deliberate dry finish. There’s little “call” for such a thing but the world of beauty is blessed by it. TWO PLUSSES
SPREITZER was bound to be a fun visit, as Andi kept forgetting to send me samples and I’d fallen behind on his wines. Assuming I’ll get a chance to taste them properly at home, I settled for a run-through here.
I focused on the dry wines. That’s been my tendency the last few years, and I’m very often satisfied and not-infrequently delighted. But I looked for what had always been my absolute favorite of Spreitzer’s wines – a feinherb from the Hattenheimer Engemannsberg (grown on löss) – and of course it had been discontinued after I retired. The same fate awaited several other honestly perfect wines, including Catoir’s “MC Riesling” feinherb, Loewen’s estate Riesling feinherb, Strub’s erstwhile best wines (two feinherb wines from the Roter Hang), and even Johannes Selbach dropped the Graacher Domprobst Alte Reben feinherb in favor of a greater volume of the GG, which sells faster and fetches a higher price. Obviously I get it; growers exist by selling wine and there’s no point bottling something that sits in the warehouse for the sake of some doomed idealism. Those wines were effectively made “for” me, assuming I’d buy them, which assumed in turn that my colleagues and I could sell them.
I felt the loss acutely. The ever increasing quality of the dry Rieslings came close to redeeming the demise of the feinherbs – the key word being “close.” In effect the kind of Riesling I find to be the most ideal kind of Riesling is an endangered (if not vanishing) species, and it bums me out. It also indicates a kind of defeat. I tried and tried for years and years to make the case for these barely-not-bone-dry Rieslings, and it didn’t ignite. I can cite “reasons” why, and most of them are plausible and some are legitimate. But the fact remains: this crusade was a failure, and I don’t like failing any more than you do.
I wonder at the staying power of this anti-sweetness pathology, especially as this isn’t an argument for “sweetness” but instead for an essential pragmatism whereby wines are made to taste as beautiful as they can taste. I often say, before there is a wine there is an idea of a wine, but what I don’t say often enough is that the bestidea is not that the wine trails along behind an a priori concept (“It must at all costs be dry”) but instead that the idea is simply that the wine should taste as good as possible, and if that means it surmounts the bureaucratic definition of “dry” then that’s what it means.
I actually don’t like sweet wine very much any more. But we need to listen to the wine, let the wine lead, not wrench it to fit the “product-concept” you’ve pre-determined. Sometimes a very dry wine is just the ticket, and sometimes it isn’t, but it’s the very dry wine that must be produced because that’s the only one that people will buy.
But here I am arguing the case yet again – and I have already lost this battle. I receive a decent share of approval for the work I did (and am doing) and I’m pleased to receive it, but this defeat just looms. I’m a walking example of negative capacity! Anyway, poor beaten me ran through the very good dry Rieslings here at Spreitzer, and no one heard me raise a quiet toast to that absent feinherb friend.
2018 Goldberg Spätburgunder & Riesling SEKT 4 years on the lees; It’s good, lingering, a little snappy, a little angular; the aim is noble and it mostly works, especially on the finish. I applaud the ambition.
ALL RIESLINGS FROM THIS POINT ON
2023 Oestrich Muschelkalk is “that which we wish for,” shapely, angular, earthy, sinewy, chewy, solid and salty. Satisfying!
2023 Doosberg Alte Reben curious aromas, like fading peonies; palate is gingery, bright, a little brash, has a twang of phyllite (though there’s none in the soil) and a somewhat raspy finish.
2023 Hendelberg 1er Lage is vivid, a bundle of energy, wonderfully salty, full of terroir, big swell of interior flavor; nuts and quince perfume the finish. Might be stingy to withhold the plus.
2023 Klosterberg Alte Reben earthy Pfalz-like aromas lead into a solid, fantasia-of-mineral palate, a large-boned man with perfect diction, and an exciting wine that crescendos into the finish. ONE PLUS
2022 Klosterberg Alte Reben – bottle’s open longer but the wine has an improbable spiciness, as though it were fermented with cloves. Is it the bottle or the wine? We will see, presently.
2023 Rosengarten GG this is rather wild. It’s like a marmalade of rose hips and cranberries; the palate is less “curious” and is a slinky and angular critter. There’s also a certain volatility. The wine’s been “awarded” very high scores, so I wonder at my impression….
2023 Wisselbrunnen GG this smells as it should! This is RG Grand Cru. A toasted nut bread of Riesling, solid as a menhir. ONE PLUS
2022 Rosengarten GG another cranberry gelée; what’s going on with this Cru? It’s always been fruity and now it’s like some berry that came from a bog.
2022 Wisselbrunnen GG even better than the 23, or so it seems. Richer, more turbulent density, so the nuttiness peeks through as a nuance surrounded by walnut-oil and liquefied quince. Even the strict 22 finish can’t efface this guy. ONE PLUS
2023 Jesuitengarten Alte Reben (Halbtrocken) is both too young and too flowery to have yet integrated – and it is also a few grams too dry. It has its admirably obdurate affect – it’s always been a fave of mine – I think this will knit, but it’s an instance of ‘23 being less full-bodied than might be ideal. Let’s wait til I taste it at home.
2023 “101” starts off funky, ends up apple-y, works crunchy and bright; to me this is the Riesling ideal in a simple form. Wait for the funk to subside – about a minute – and you’ll have a genuine glug-glug-glug
Among the many young lions in Rheinhessen, none is better than the amazing estate BRAUNEWELL. I hadn’t visited since the new tasting room was finished, and this is quite some vision. I also got to see a wider range than I’d been seeing at home, and I was blown away by a wonderful range of SEKT, one of the first times I started feeling the recent hype over umlaut-bearing-bubbles from Germany was justified.
But first there were Pinot Noirs to taste….
2020 PN estate a tic oaky but also quite grown-up and marrowy. A “successful item” and a tasty wine.
2020 PN Kalkmergel is far more ambitious, if a little coarse; chewy and Chalonnaise-like; finish a bit woody – but there’s things to impress.
2020 PN Teufelspfad “GG” is rather high and mighty and not in a bad way; a kind of gnarl of PN that fusses and stamps its feet, yet another taster calls it “expressive and dynamic.” So what do I know?
2021 PN Teufelspfad that slim prettiness of 21, violets and sinew and a stretch of texture that pulls the sweet slim thread all across the palate, and the sheer quality of fruit here is captivating. Not many wines are this graceful, lissome and beautiful. TWO PLUSSES
2022 PN Teufelspfad is along these lines but richer; again the quality of the fruit remains, buttressed by larger umami (marrow, tomato and cask), and more “structure” viz tannin. It’s more explicable but no less beautiful ONE PLUS
SEKTS:
2022 Riesling Brut is a fine example of a usually inelegant genre. Deg 4/24, and has a lot of vinosity and mid palate juice; it tastes like a Marne Chard. Surprisingly good.
2021 Rosé Brut (all PN) deg 4/24 is a super pretty wine, as much so as Margaine’s Rosé. This is really a find! Usually to get this quality of fruit you get a sort of icky “charm” but this delivers both beauty and dignity. Wow. ONE VERY HAPPY PLUS
2021 Brut de Selztal deg 4/24, all three Pinots (including Meunier) and the quality exceeds much of what’s emerging from Champagne from, let’s say, not the top growers. Anti-varietal and full winey-ness.
2020 Blanc-de-Blancs deg 4/24, all Chard, and remarkably good, now we’re seriously comparable to Marne CH (40% cask, 60% in used barrique) but it isn’t “woody”; it has the rice-pudding jasmine tea dried apple quality that doesn’t insist it’s “German.”
2018 Teufelspfad Pinot Prestige should be tasted alongside BY’s 2016 Blanc de Noir, as this is spicy, “dark” charred, “blackened” even, fully tertiary, a bearded PN with ambition. ONE PLUS
2014 Grand Année (“Pinot” on the back label) It does what one expects in terms of “antiquity” and maturity. I’m trying to see if it justifies its ambition. It needs time in the glass. I’m as yet undecided; need to taste an entire bottle. In effect a table-wine with bubbles. ONE PLUS
RIESLINGS:
2023 Liter (“unser täglich”) is sprightly and taut and has the expected vitality. It’s dry for my taste, though it is effectively what it’s made to be. A feinherb version would have been more loveable.
2023 Blume “GG” is lovely and amazing; what richness for a 23! It’s almost a juice bomb; it has the end-palate scrape of 23 but it’s also quite lavish for a dry Riesling.
2023 Granit “G700” is a portrait of “mineral” (or rock-dust or crushed pebbles or whatever), and we have a ton of flavor here, in a system that tends to austerity; a salty and darkly focused entry and a severely dour finish. Germans say “für kenner” (for those who know) and here I’d say for lovers of things of this type.
OTHERS!
2023 Unser Täglich Scheurebe We gave an open house for neighbors and I had a bottle of this, and every single person who tasted it said “WTF is this? It’s just sick!” It’s halbtrocken but it’s best to keep that a secret. This ’23 is unusually pungent, even for this wine. Mega cassis, seductively salty, perfectly balanced. Every home should have it and should fight anyone who tried to steal a bottle. If you love it – as I do – this one’s especially tart and angular (which I love in Scheu) along with grilled pineapple. Call me ridiculous but for me this is one of the indispensable wines of the world, at least the world I want to reside in. glug-glug-glug – AND ONE PLUS
2023 Scheurebe Kabinett is a bit more polite and also less adamantly Scheu, but I like it. “Why it exists” is the question, but then again I want Scheu to be a writhing beast. This one, for now, is becalmed.
We paid a visit to BAUM-BARTH and discovered a genuine garagiste. Tasting in the little parlor that appeared to have been decorated some time in the early 1900s (charmingly so, I thought), the contrast to the gleaming new tasting facility at Braunewell was, let’s say, marked.
I don’t know what will happen with Baum-Barth in the States. I extol their virtues left and right, but the wine market is challenged and people are risk-averse. Please scroll back a bit in the blog for my detailed tasting report on the samples I tasted at home. If German Spätburgunder is any sort of thing these days, these wines represent the genre at its most honest and wholesome. They’re not fashioned to be “95-pointers” (thank god) but instead they live in the liminal zone between the humble and the grand, where wines succeed by their pure deliciousness.
The ’23s he shared with me are in bottle but not being sold for another 4-6 months. They like to mature them a little after bottling. This is what we tasted:
2023 Pinot Blanc; I was curious how this might be, having been completely thrilled with the ’22. At first I found this too oaky, but as it sat in the glass I saw how well he understands lees, how useful they can be, and I started to think the wine was very good. I’d put it next to many village Chassagnes; it has more cream than wood, just 13% alc. It’s like semolina and brown butter.
2023 Spätburgunder Ingelheimer – quetsch, rose hips, resinous herbs, lead into a spicy palate, with kirsch and even bergamot; focused and silky but overall floral, with angular fruit rather than the ‘22’s blood and earthiness. ONE PLUS
2023 Spätburgunder Großwinterheim is so spicy and chalky, sleek and textured; it has more minerality and conifer now and a flow of rock-powder. ONE PLUS
2023 Spätburgunder (estate, an unfinished cask sample) is salty and grippy; this one is earthy and gob-filling, with the fruit of cherry tomatoes.
2023 Spätburgunder Sonnenhang is flowery and savory – yes, both – with a lovely umami of roasted red beets. These are head-turners. ONE PLUS
Back to the Rheingau for a pilgrimage to KUENSTLER, with whom it had been established to focus on everything BUT Riesling as I was tasting those at home. We’d get to the Rieslings if time allowed. But first….
2022 SEKT Assmanshäuser Rosé is pretty, a little ungainly and angular, as if it needed either more ripeness or more tirage. Has some disgorgement concussion, so this may be a false reading.
2016 SEKT Hochheimer Stein Riesling Extra Brut ; take the crispness of the vintage and the lean stony nature of the site and you have an ambitious Sekt. It also has the flavor resembling premox, which seems to afflict many 2016 sparkling wines. There’s also a 2018 SEKT Vintage from a riper creamier year and the white tea and peony show though in a more texturally satisfying way. This said, the 2016 comes on, loses any decadence and stands proudly with its more ample sibling. I’d drink both happily with an edge going to 18 – though the empty glass of 16 has the more fetching aroma.
2021 SEKT Brut is useful and commercial, sort of on-the-money without being exceptional in any way. Like a Coteaux Sud Epernay wine 80%CH/20%PN.
2023 “Inspiration” PN Rosé is firm, with outlines and structure; it has character and posture; rose hips and an alert posture. To the dry whites…
2023 Alvarinho is as always a glory, and in this vintage even more earnest than the gulpers of prior years, but no less wonderful. One of Germany’s best kept secrets.
2023 Grüner Veltliner is exceptionally good; I’d liken it to an excellent Weinviertel DAC; vetiver and legume; basically nothing to say it’s “unusual” or grown where it doesn’t feel at home. ONE PLUS
2023 Sauvignon Blanc Kalkstein is another in a series of “smart” SBs from here, another one that surmounts all the usual objections; it’s scrupulous and varietal but doesn’t lapse into the many vulgarities and panderings the variety is prone to; it’s in the Pouilly Fumé family, more silex than red pepper. I like it wholeheartedly in its disciplined salty way. ALL OF THESE INDICATE, AS ALWAYS, INTELLIGENCE AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL.
2023 Weisser Burgunder “Mineral” is Chablis-like, possibly woodier than it needs, (10% new oak) but it has balance and poise on the palate. 2023 Chardonnay Kalkstein is curiously vegetal and brassica-like; it’s the first wine I can pass quickly by.
2023 Falkenberg Chardonnay is more expressive and also woodier – but I confess to liking it, and I’m not quite sure why. In principle I avoid such wines. This one tastes good. I think of lobster stock.
2023 Falkenberg Chardonnay reserve is creamier and feints to the “profile” of white Burg w/o attaining the seamless grace of the best examples.
DRY RIESLINGS (we had time after all….)
2023 estate Riesling is literally amazing. Such poise, such saltiness, such complete flavor, hitting every note, low-middle-top, salt-fruit-spice; many big-deal estate wines aren’t this good. I’ve said this all before. TWO PLUSSES
2023 Hattenheimer Smells fetching, inviting; tastes both grainy and surprisingly mineral – it is PRE-HARVEST from Pfaffenberg or is there other material here? Nope, it’s the higher segment, and it’s entirely outstanding; juicy, intricate, warmly constituted yet also filigree in its minerality. ONE PLUS
2023 KIrchenstück Im Stein is its perfect gnarly self – Leinhöhle in the Rheingau. ONE PLUS
2023 Stielweg Alte Reben this site is showing me something the last few years. This is so crammed with material and complexity I’ll need the hours required to taste it at home. It is clearly a superb masterpiece. TWO PLUSSES
2023 Domdechaney for the first time I see the florality also attending to this site; this is simply a Riesling masterpiece and a masterpiece of dispersal, such that everything leads into everything. If there’s an “off” note it’s a barely perceptible grassiness. But wow, this is why Riesling is revered. TWO PLUSSES
THE GGS
2023 Berg Schlossberg classic slatey fragrance, sleek and thready, little crushed bones of mineral filaments; like air when it first feels cold; careful and deliberate. The cru alone gives it ONE PLUS
2023 Pfaffenberg an alpha to omega contrast here; big loess and wheatbread toast and waffles, and then suddenly a mass, even a mineral mass, both obdurate and endlessly juicy – Rheingau pure. TWO PLUSSES
2023 Kirchenstück is overtly salty, spices and the caramelization of roasted meat; but this one is texturally irresistible; it kisses you as it slips down, shimmering as it lingers. TWO PLUSSES
2023 Hölle returns to rondeur, and it an admirable Hölle in a suitable vintage. In this case its overshadowed by its neighbors, but still it has embedded facets and still ONE PLUS
2023 Marcobrunn has a profound aroma, and once again feels top-heavy, like the person only exercised above the waist, and I continue to feel more sweetness would help – he says it’s in a trough – but this turbulent genius hasn’t quite decided what it needs to be. I’d like to see it wriggle free of the GG strictures and find its utmost expression on the moderate side of feinherb. ONE PLUS
A CONCLUDING PAIR OF REDS:
2021 Assmanshäuser Rotschiefer is utterly lovely. An apex of the beauty of Pinot Noir fruit. Delicate marrow but not delicate length – this girl lingers. Each thing she says, she whispers, but she says an entire novel of the etheric possibilities of PN. Simply as a human with a heart, I can’t love a wine more than this. As a “professional”….TWO PLUSSES
2020 Assmannshäuser Höllenberg (GG) is more bloody and marrowy but still poised upon sweetness; it’s a bit more tannic but also a bit more (what people call) Burgundian – a lovely wine in any event. ONE PLUS
STRUB
I missed tasting last year which means I missed the ‘22s, and I wasn’t really current with the goings-on here. It’s always tempting to wax sentimental – these are my oldest friends in Germany – but I think I’ll save it for the more detailed report later, (though a granddaughter looks exactly like Walter. It’s lovely and spooky.) What has happened is what’s happened (too) often; the range of wines with residual sugar has shrunk based on lack of demand. Understandable, if lamentable. So everything is DRY unless otherwise indicated.
2023 Grüner Veltliner smells like GV! Usually I see it too young, and it’s mute, but this is a nice frisky wine, like an exceptionally good Austrian liter.
2023 Silvaner as usual smells remarkable and tastes serious and with grip, earth (but not earthy) and even an almost intangible mineral; long finish in any case. On the delicate side in 23.
2021 Pettenthal Silvaner remains an amazing wine as it always was; wild fennel flower, hyssop. ONE PLUS
2023 estate Riesling is excellent, the best vintage yet, multi-faceted aromas, just juicy enough, salty and tangy; seems to unite the limestone of the south side with just enough charcuterie from the red soil. Long finish.
2023 Ortswein (i.e. village) has lots of red soil, a remarkable perfume in fact; excellent mineral texture with the maple-smoked ham of the red soil, usually Orbel. This has the “extra” point, the overtone of an exceptional wine. ONE PLUS
2022 Mundelpfad (Pettenthal) A new name for this cadaster-bottling, which I believe used to make the Kabinett. It’s a little gooey as some ‘22s have started being, and not showing much of the Pettenthal silkinesses; the wine is good of course, but it’s also a little on the rustic side.
2021 Mundelpfad (Pettenthal) smells wonderful and tastes no less; this has the verbena-hyssop family of green, plus the silvery grace of the site, plus a sweet lick of the ethereal. ONE PLUS
2022 Taubennest is the top cadaster in the Oelberg, and would be the “GG” if Sebastian cared to label it that way. It’s dense and with a lot of fir-forest texture, as if a path weren’t yet cut through it; I love it but it feels like a place they used to harvest xmas trees. Influenced by a very deliberate fermentation. ONE PLUS
2021 Taubennest is a rare instance of ‘22 being better. 21 is perhaps too fastidiously “described,” to the point it starts to decompose entropically. I perceive it as a sleepy child – stressed vines could be the culprit.
2020 Taubennest this smells typical, pure milk chocolate, dense and juicy, as I know it to have been. A late-released 2018 has a sensational aroma and flavor – conversation precludes detail but here we are TWO PLUSSES
2022 Steillage (Orbel) has the lumpen quality of 22 but with the stiff baked-ham element of Orbel. Also phenolic. A disagreement between site and vintage.
2023 “Thal” Hipping feinherb smells exactly like pure Nierstein, and tasted like it too. The question of whether it is yet in perfect seamless harmony is open to debate, but whether this is the place where Riesling is at its best…that debate has been settled. So glad they still produce this! ONE PLUS
2023 Riesling Raw is what natural wine would be if it were clean – it tastes like dough for birthday cake, with a sweet aroma (“the yeast cheats you into thinking of sweetness, but it’s actually bone dry.”) and the wine slips down almost addictively; it is a literally amazing wine. For a triumph against hideous odds, you have to say TWO PLUSSES
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