Tag Archives: Europe

April 9, 2013 · 7:27 pm

Castell – 14/02/2012

The muller thurgau wines are fresh and light but have no personality. The silvaner wines are certainly a big step up, but aren’t as good as the Wirsching wines. There is occasionally an interesting flinty chalk minerality in these wines, which adds an extra layer of complexity.

Trautberg Silvaner Traminer 2010
Some lovely musky floral aromas, nice viscosity and texture, and a nice balanced level of ripeness.

The top silvaner wines have a slight green herbaceous edge, combining nicely with green tropical notes. I didn’t think much of the weissburgunder wines, as the variety doesn’t really offer much.

The spatburgunder wines similarly were very thin and looked sour. The wines aren’t really what I’ll remember about this amazing estate and village.

Ancient documents at Castell

Ancient documents at Castell

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April 9, 2013 · 7:17 pm

Weingut Hans Wirsching – 14/02/2012

Silvaner Kabinett Trocken 2011
The highlight, even though it isn’t one of the top wines. It represents exceptional value and shows the quality of the fruit and the skill of the winemaker in achieving such balance in the blend. It has a slight reductive dusty spice due to its youth, but then opens with lovely kiwi and green papaya with hints of green onion.

Silvaner Spatlese Trocken 2010
Richer in volume and weight thanks to the ripeness of the fruit at harvest, but the powerful acids were well-integrated with a nice finish.

Iphofer Julius-Echter-Berg Grosses Gewachs Silvaner 2010
An even richer honeyed lemon grass nose, showing some dried tropical mango, pineapple and guava on the palate.

Tri Terra 2008
One of the unique wines they produce consisting of white burgundy grapes, including chardonnay, weissburgunder (pinot blanc) and grauburgunder (pinot gris). Tasting the 2008 I was surprised to see quite pronounced malolactic oaky notes of lanolin, butter and almond oil, and on the palate it was overworked and flabby. The delicate nature of the acids lends itself to less barrel and malolactic handling, and in my opinion should use a finer-grain light toast older barrel, with almost no malolactic fermentation.

Bottles aging in the cellars of Hans Wirsching

Bottles aging in the cellars of Hans Wirsching

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April 9, 2013 · 4:50 pm

Weingut Christmann – 15/02/2012

Trocken Riesling 2010
An orange blossom nose with a great lemon pith texture in the mid-palate. There was great balance and freshness in this wine, vibrant acidity and purity of fruit.

Gimmeldingen Trocken Riesling 2010
A slightly dustier reductive citric nose, and was more delicate in its mineral complexity.

Deidesheimer Paradiesgarten Riesling 2010
Even more subdued in character, but had a fuller and richer palate structure, and included some roasted vegetable complexity.

Mandelgarten Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2010
Much more intense in colour and viscosity. On the nose it was slightly toasty and flinty, but on the palate was loaded with minerality. This was a wine of pure personality, and would cry if it were drunk too young.

Weingut Christmann wines

Weingut Christmann wines

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April 9, 2013 · 4:40 pm

J.L. Wolf – 15/02/2012

Weissburgunder 2010
Thrilled to see a balanced yet textural weissburgunder that actually had some personality.

Grauburgunder 2010
Disappointed to taste a very simple grauburgunder, presenting as out-of-balance with too much sweetness and lacking in extension on the palate.

Riesling Trocken 2010
A great expression of cool-climate riesling, lovely and fresh citrus notes with good acid fruit balance.

Wachenheimer Riesling Trocken 2010
Lovely floral peach nectarine freshness on the nose, and some residual sugar derived texture and viscosity to offset the acids.

Wachenheimer Riesling Spatlese Trocken 2010
Much more subtle and haunting on the nose, and significantly more complex and intense, finishing with a slight herbal spice element.

Pechstein Spatlese Trocken 2010
Sourced from the top parcel, and has a very volcanic explosive nature on the nose and palate, with everything turned up to 11. It also presents as very wild and unpredictable, something that would be fascinating to see develop in the bottle.

J.L. Wolf tasting

J.L. Wolf tasting

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April 9, 2013 · 4:32 pm

Mueller-Catoir – 15/02/2012

Haardt Riesling 2010
A lovely talcy citrus nose, great freshness and intensity.

Gimmeldingen Riesling 2010
A fuller and richer mid-palate grapefruit white berry character.

Musbach Riesling 2009
Presented a steely minerality and more opulent yet sea-salty palate.

Buergergarten Riesling 2010
Had a shy and complex nose, but showed the density and depth of the lower yields and higher ripeness level.

Herrenletten Riesling 2010
In a similar vein, but had a more tropical and floral component on the nose, and richer earthier mid-palate structure, a more powerful expression.

Mandelgarten Riesling 2010
Expressed slight porous rock minerality, and a fossilised salty texture but not flavour.

Breunel in den Mauern Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2010
From the Buergergarten vineyard, was astonishingly complex and elegant, expressing superb consistency of fruit and a unique mineral texture and balance.

Two of the Mueller-Catoir wines

Two of the Mueller-Catoir wines

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April 9, 2013 · 4:20 pm

Dr. Bassermann-Jordan – 16/02/2012

The basic rieslings are all very clean and fresh examples of the variety, and possibly the best value I have tasted, particularly the Pionier 2011.

Jesuitengarten Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2010
Had a rich mineralic honeyed peach nose, ripeness and texture on the palate and wonderful concentration and balance.

Jesuitengarten Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2008
Quite closed but slightly perfumed, had some richness and savoury elements, and was beginning to pick up some oily nectarine complexity.

Kalkofen Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2010
Much quieter than the Jesuitengarten, showing more earth and citrus with a firestone warmth on the palate.

Kalkofen Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2009
Brighter and juicier, and more approachable now than the 2010 is. It still has some of the earthy notes, but it is also picking up some subtle toasted nut complexity.

Pechstein Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2007
Unmistakable brooding contemplative nature of other vintages and estates. After almost five years it is showing some great tertiary characters, such as a sweet oily texture, dark currant concentration and superb volume. It is not a riesling for the feint of heart.

Deidesheimer Hohenmorgen Auslese 2007
Lovely and fresh with good balance of acids and sweetness, but isn’t really a patch on the sweet wines of the Mosel.

Hohenberg Kabinett Riesling 1976
Lovely and rich golden but not at all brown in colour. On the nose there was a fascinating lemon barley cordial and orange peel aroma, along with candied ginger and blackcurrant tea. On the palate there was so much complexity it was hard to pinpoint, but I did see some caramelized onion and hard cheese in there. It was nice to take the taste of this wine with me as I said farewell.

Two vintages of Dr. Bassermann-Jordan Jesuitengarten

Two vintages of Dr. Bassermann-Jordan Jesuitengarten

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April 9, 2013 · 4:09 pm

Dr. Buerklin-Wolf – 16/02/2012

Gaisbohl GC Riesling 2009
A monopol vineyard owned exclusively by the estate, a rich and slightly oily nose, and ripe strawberry lime cordial viscosity and weight, with full texture from a little residual sugar.

Hohenmorgen GC Riesling 2009
A very delicate toasted nut and green minerality, with less intensity of fruit and more mid-palate savoury texture and length.

Pechstein GC Riesling 2009
Similar to the J.L. Wolf I had tasted the previous day, showed the influence of the unique volcanic basalt soil composition. It showed a much darker more intense yet subdued fruit character, was quite brooding for a riesling, had great purity yet many dimensions.

Ungeheuer Riesling Trocken 2003
Retaining very ripe tropical pineapple primary fruit, but picking up some nougat and honey bottle-aged characters, lacking in oiliness though.

Reiterpfad Riesling 1999
Some wild sweet spice subtlety on the nose, and a glazed orange and custard palate, very soft and slightly toasty.

Pechstein “R” 1998
A special sweet wine produced from an outstanding vintage. It had a lovely rich yet haunting nose of kerosene, nuts, caramel and lime, with astonishing complexity and depth on the palate, creamy toasty and earthy at the same time. I was tempted to buy a bottle at only 35€.

Pre-biodynamic wines of Dr. Buerklin-Wolf

Pre-biodynamic wines of Dr. Buerklin-Wolf

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April 9, 2013 · 4:00 pm

Weingut Knipser – 17/02/2012

Blauer Spatburgunder 2009
Quite intense dark fruit, and is more like a cabernet franc than a pinot noir.

Kalkmergel Spatburgunder 2009
Very aromatic, having a red berry and slight leather component, and was quite dense yet supple on the palate finishing somewhat earthy like the Blauer Spatburgunder of the same vintage.

Kirscharten Grosses Gewachs Spatburgunder 2007
Very intense yet subtle, combining forest fruits and black cherry with velvety tannins and persistent length.

Kirscharten Grosses Gewachs Spatburgunder 2008
Much tighter in the tannins and brighter on the nose, showing more minerality and freshness.

Burgweg Grosses Gewachs Spatburgunder 2008
Much softer earthier palate with broader tannins, red fruit freshness and less acid concentration.

The winery also makes wines from other red varieties such as syrah and Bordeaux grapes, but the wines are less consistent and better in warm vintages.

Laumersheimer Kapellenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2003
Deemed the best dessert wine in the world by Decanter Magazine. It was a rich bronze colour, had a very subtle quiet nose, and on the palate combined walnuts, cornbread, treacle and dried muscatels.

Knipser Burgweg 2008 GG Spatburgunder

Knipser Burgweg 2008 GG Spatburgunder

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April 9, 2013 · 3:52 pm

Reichsrat von Buhl – 17/02/2012

The Pechstein Riesling Sekt I tried, along with the Spatburgunder 2009 were both good wines, but weren’t outstanding examples, just good for the variety and style.

Pechstein Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2010
Floral, ripe and earthy on the nose, and was the most elegant and linear I had tasted from the vineyard and vintage.

Pechstein Grosses Gewachs 2009
Looking very quiet at the moment, much softer and less intense but richer and riper on the palate.

Ungeheur Rieslings 2010
Very tight, lean and concentrated, expressing more tropicality and minerality.

Ungeheur Rieslings 2009
Showing its age nicely with kerosene oily aromas and textures, coupled with vibrant fruit of dried peach and lemon curds. I was surprised that I could detect a difference in the residual sugar between the two vintages, which was only one gram more for the 2010 to balance the acids.

Rupertsberger Reiterpfad Auslese 2010
A very smoky mineralic nose, rich stone fruits on the palate and a very concentrated yet clean and pure finish.

Reichsrat von Buhl Ungeheuer GG Rieslings

Reichsrat von Buhl Ungeheuer GG Rieslings

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April 9, 2013 · 3:39 pm

Rene Mure – 21/02/2012

Not having tasted any pinot noir wines from Alsace, I was not familiar with the style. From a purely unbiased quality perspective I found the pinots from Mure lacked depth and structure, but were very clean pure examples of the variety.

Cote de Rouffach Riesling 2009
Talcy spritzy lime sherbert aroma, full flavour ripe citrus peach and good intensity.

Vorbourg Riesling 2008
Brighter and tighter in the acid structure, with a dusty minerality, less fruit but more expressive.

Clos St Landelin Riesling 2009
Floral wattle lemon barley aroma, was rich and soft on the palate, but requires some cellaring to fully express itself.

Clos St Landelin Riesling 2010
More powerful in its minerality and had a nice dried herbal element, exhibited finesse and elegance with spectacular balance.

Clos St Landelin Pinot Gris 2009
Very subtle smoky cheese charcuterie nose, was lovely and rich on the palate, with great volume and suppleness.

The gewürztraminer wines were a little out of balance, showing too much ripeness and sweetness for the acids and alcohol.

Clos St Landelin Selection de Grains Noble Pinot Gris 2002
Lovely creme anglaise lemon toffee aromas, but seemed to lack the necessary acid balance for longevity and freshness.

Rene Mure wines in bottle and glass

Rene Mure wines in bottle and glass

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