Drinking German Riesling Young vs Old

I have heard that one can drink German Rieslings very young for the freshness or older, but not in between as it goes into a dead stage. Is this really true? And if so, how many years is considered, young and what ages should I avoid?

No it’s not true.

Often there is a grumpy or slightly grumpy stage from around 3/4 to 7/8 years roughly. But not always.

I generally prefer wines from the Mosel from top producers at around 12-20 years old, though I’ve had many at 40 or more years that have been great too.

Interesting. What exactly would be the contrast in flavor profiles from a 1-3 year old to a 12-20 year old? I’ve never really had an aged Riesling so I don’t know how much I will like them.

But surely that grumpy stage is what he’s referring to?

In general I love them young and then after they emerge from that state which varies from year to year and producer to producer. For example Donhoff’s 2005s are drinking superbly now, IMO the 2004s still need more time.

I don’t know where you heard that. I don’t think any riesling lover will tell you that.

I assume we’re talking about sweet Germans, though I think the same thoughts apply to Trockens.

I love 'em young, but they take on all sorts of secondary notes with age – the famous diesel/petrol notes. Moreover, the wines – particularly the less sweet ones like QbAs, Kabinetts and Spatleses – dry out a bit and became lighter and more delicate. Together with the tertiary aromas, this can make them sort of etherial. The denser wines, Auslese and up, also dry a bit, but they’re so sweet to begin with that the lightening of weight is less noticeable.

Try to find a 10-20 year old Mosel QbA, Kabinett or Spatlese from a good producer and I think you’ll see what I mean.

I don’t think there’s a strong drop-off in enjoyment during what little of a dumb phase Riesling has. The taste is muted a little but that’s about it.

There is no age to avoid, only vintages that you might not like as much as others. If you want to see what a Riesling that’s just coming into it’s older phase tastes like, try to grab a 2002 Spatlese or a 2003 Auslese.

John - You never find any German rieslings that go through a shut down period? I see that all the time. 2012 Willi Schaefers for example are not friendly drinking at the moment.

Christoph himself mentioned that Mosel/his wines do tend to go to sleep a bit around that 5 year mark.

From the Mosel Fine Wine folks -  The drinking window provided refers to the maturity period: Mosel Riesling has a long development cycle and can often be enjoyable for 20
years and more. Like great Bordeaux or Burgundy, the better Mosel Riesling generally goes through a muted phase before reaching its full
maturity plateau. At the end of each tasting note, we provide a drinking window, which refers to our estimation of the maturity period for the
wine. This maturity period consists of the “fruit” and “terroir” phases defined in our review of Maturing Mosel (which can be found here).
 Without further reference, all fruity-styled wines are assumed to have in addition a drinking window of 1-3 years after the vintage: Fruity-styled
Mosel Riesling is also extremely enjoyable in its primary fruit phase, which typically lasts 1-3 years after the vintage. This primary fruit drinking
window always applies and is therefore not referred to in each individual tasting note.

I have found many German Rieslings to go through a shut-down period. Not all though - it’s tough to predict.

Beware - extreme generalities ahead…you have been warned…read with big grain of salt

The period from release to about 2/3 years old is the primary fruit phase. That holds for pretty much all the wines - trocken through all sweetness levels. SOME wines then go into a mute/shut-down phase after that. The phase can last from 3-10 years depending on the wine. Of course this shut-down phase can seem different based on the wine. Sweeter wines (e.g. Spätlese, Auslese) can still show quite a lot, but that is often the sweetness speaking, not the inherent complexity of the wine.

So then sometime between 7 and 15 years old the wine wakes up. It is often then in an early maturity phase with some developed aromas/flavors that depend very much on the wine. Smoke, petrol, more minerality as the sweetness/fruit/baby fat has backed off with age, etc. can come in starting at this point.

After that development process continues, as the wine gets more and more aged character, loses sweetness, shows more of its bones. Enjoyment is really based on personal preference, as some folks like all the aged character, while others like more primary fruit.

This is all quite variable - both what happens to the wines and individual perceptions of the wines. Jay thinks the 2012 Willi Schaefer wines are not friendly right now. I have had several recently (last 2 months) and disagree. It’s personal.

I wish you had posted this a couple of days ago. Just popped a 2012 Willi Schaefer GH Kabinett that was singing two years ago, and it was not pleased. Pretty jagged in texture and just wants to be left alone.

How would you feel if you were awakened from a deep sleep?

Don’t touch the Ausleses either. I really needed a Riesling about a month ago and took a risk with a #14. What a waste of a bottle.

The original OP referred to a “dead phase.” I’ve never really experienced anything approaching dead. The sugar always keeps the fruit pretty apparent, in my experience, even if there is less in-your-face fruit than you get on release. But “dead”? Not like many reds and some whites (e.g., Condrieu and, supposedly, Huet Vouvray).

Not that I drink a lot in those middle years. I really adore them with some serious age.

I’ve had plenty that were completely mute for years.

I’ve had a few go closed at about the 3 year mark like David says, but it’s pretty rare. I drink plenty in that zone and love them. Of course, one man’s dead phase is another man’s happy shedding of baby fat.

In my experience, rieslings do go through dumb stages during their evolution. For dryer rieslings, this can be anywhere from 3-10 years from vintage.

As often as you drink Riesling wines, I am going to accept this as gospel.

Of course, one man’s dead phase is another man’s happy shedding of baby fat.

This. For the OP, it’s whatever you prefer. With age, they often drop the young vibrant fruit, they pick up what are for me some metallic notes, and if they have a petrol quality, can amp up. They still have sugar, but that starts to caramelize or whatever it is that happens to sugar in wine over time, so they don’t seem as sweet on the palate. They’re very different and they offer things that you only get with aged wines.

But I still like them young. As others have said, see if you can pick up a few older ones and try them. Tasting is far better than reading!

I opened a Von Hovel Oberemmeler Hütte 1990 auslese some weeks ago. This was beatifully bothyrtized without the petrol that you often find in aged riesling and the sweetness was perfectly balanced (much less than many young ausleses I’ve had). It really matched very well with the Foie gras/lobster salad served to it.

I was wondering, is it typical for certain areas to exhibit more the petrol during the ‘adolescence’ of the wine? I’m not a big fan of the petrol scents so I assume I just need to keep them past this stage…