Tag Archives: Germany

April 13, 2013 · 1:14 pm

Weingut Gunderloch – 10/02/2012

Fritzs Riesling 2010
Lovely and fresh with a little R/S to keep it approachable and friendly.

Qualitatswein Riesling 2010
Orange and mango aromas and a soft acid freshness

Nackenheim Riesling 2010
Slightly more reductive mineralic nose and more rich and concentrated youth.

Nierstein Riesling 2010
Fuller and broader and certainly more approachable now.

Rothenberg Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2010
Dense in the mid-palate, and with such concentration and austerity makes you want to drink it in at least 10 years.

Rothenberg Spatlese Riesling 2010
Some lovely tropical pineapple mango characters, and had fantastic balance and concentration.

Rothenberg Auslese Riesling 2010
More juby glycol texture and viscosity.

Nackenheim Rothenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2008
Includes the juice macerating on skins for 30 days and takes a year to finish fermenting. The wine is one of the most complex I have ever tasted, as it had the rich syrupy stone fruit and fresh acids, but then showed exquisite oxidative hazelnut and oats.

Top dry wines of Gunderloch

Top dry wines of Gunderloch

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April 9, 2013 · 9:49 pm

Weingut am Stein – 13/02/2012

Wurzburger Stein Silvaner 2010
A slight spritz to it, a very bright fresh nose and palate, but was pretty simple.

Wurzburger Grosses Gewachs Silvaner 2010
A lot more mineral influence, good mid-palate breadth, some viscosity from residual sugar, but was quite warm at 13% alcohol.

Wurzburger Innere Leiste Grosses Gewachs Riesling 2009
An interesting sesame seed character but it tended to overwhelm the fruit.

Wurzburger Innere Leiste Spatburgunder 2008
Some pronounced dark fruit notes with some savoury spice, and a hint of chocolate. In general the wines were a little alcoholic and textural, lacking in finesse and freshness.

Weingut am Stein wines

Weingut am Stein wines

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April 9, 2013 · 9:45 pm

Rudolf Furst – 13/02/2012

Spatburgunder Tradition 2010
Nice spicy raspberry and red cherry notes on the nose, with very light delicate silky tannins and sweet fruit vibrancy.

Centgrafenberg Spatburgunder Grosses Gewachs 2008
Very concentrated red currant nose, great balance and elegance, and an earthy texture with some cumin and cinnamon complexity.

Schlossberg Spatburgunder Grosses Gewachs 2009
Much more opulent rich wine, with darker berry notes, toasted nut complexity and a savoury finish.

Hunsruck Spatburgunder Grosses Gewachs 2009
More blackforest and chocolate elements, and had a grainy tannin texture.

Hunsruck Spatburgunder Grosses Gewachs 2003
Evolved in the bottle to show smokier toasty red currant fruit, with a dark nougat macadamia complexity on the palate.

Centgrafenberg Frueburgunder 2009
Different, presenting as quite stalky and brambly on the nose, but a little salty and warm on the palate.

Riesling 2010
Quite spritzy and vibrant showing slight herbaceous notes.

Riesling 2009
Much softer and more voluptuous, with the herbaceous characters evolving into ripe cucumber and capsicum.

Riesling 2005
Showing bottle development of lovely rich kerosene, crushed hazelnut and walnut, volume and viscosity, lovely texture and length.

Burgstadter Centgrafenberg Eiswein 2001
Amazingly rich and dense in colour and viscosity. There was a very creamy vanilla texture and flavour, combining with citrus to have a lemon custard character.

Rudolf Fuerst wines

Rudolf Fuerst wines

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April 9, 2013 · 7:44 pm

Weingut Horst Sauer – 13/02/2012

Muller Thurgau Kabinett Trocken 2010
Very clean fresh and palatable, but lacked in any real character, a consistent them with the variety.

The silvaner wines tended to have the same melon and pear characters, but had a little bit more depth and finesse to them, possibly thanks to the minerality of the soil.

I then compared the 2010 and 2011 vintages of the riesling wines. The pear and honeydew melon notes were very prominent in the 2011 wines, showing consistency of terroir influence, and had good soft freshness and rich viscosity. The 2010 wines by comparison showed more intense minerality, concentrated grapefruit and pineapple, and showed more savoury olive oil texture.

The Grosses Gewachs 2010 Silvaner and Riesling were both exceptional, but I wasn’t such a fan of the sweet wines, which included the Scheurebe Spatlese 2011 and Silvaner Beerenauslese 2010, as they were a little clumsy and lacked finesse and acid balance.

Different barrels at Horst Sauer

Different barrels at Horst Sauer

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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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