TN: Riesling premox?

I generally drink most of my prädikat Rieslings very young as they tend to be too tasty to be buried away for a decade+. That being said the others I have had around ten years of age have seemed a lot less advanced than this one. Surely a top producer’s Spätlese should be still considered young at this point? On CT there are a couple of other worrying notes so I have to wonder if it is just this bottle that did not quite deliver or something else. There was about half of the wine left on the second day and it had been kept in the fridge. The A. P. number is 3 536 014-13-07.

  • 2006 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (26.6.2017)
    Day1: This is a weird one. The color is very dark for an eleven year old. There is an evident butterscotch note on the nose which otherwise offers notes of apricot, lemon zest, beeswax and motor oil. On the palate quite rich and palate-coating with very intense, ripe fruit and solid acidity. Very much dominated by apricot and red berries with a great tangy edge. Loses some fruit on the finish but overall a nice, lively wine, although feels quite advanced.
    Day2: Over the hill, flabby with a liquor-like quality to the fruit.

Posted from CellarTracker

2006 is a seriously odd vintage. Lots of botrytis (even when producers said there was none), dark colors (again, botrytis) and more mature flavors (once more botrytis). There have been no indications that Grunhaus has premox issues.

What David said. I’ve had a very dark but not oxidised 06 BA from Grunhaus.

A deep color in a BA is less unusual than a deep color in a spätlese…

I’ve never heard of premature oxidation issues at Maximin Grünhaus. Ideally, we would ask the winemaker Stefan Kraml to hear what he had to say about the 2006 Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Spätlese (AP Nr. 13). It was a vintage with lots of botrytis, as mentioned above. Generally speaking, a botrytis-affected Spätlese would need higher amounts of sulfur dioxide to protect it from spoilage and oxidation. But I’m sure the necessary dosage was applied to this wine.

Your description doesn’t make this sound oxidized. Just sounds botrytized to me. Sugar acts as an antioxidant, so it’s pretty hard to oxidize German riesling. Plus, Max. Grunhaus is usually pretty high in acid, another preservative.

I popped a 2006 Grunhaus QbA a couple years back, and it too was a fairly advanced medium gold. Certainly darker than you would expect for a QbA. I think it’s just the vintage.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Definitely this one was not similar to the oxidized dry wines I have had, but I guess what I was most surprised by was how the wine had died overnight in the fridge. If anything I would expect a wine like this continue to improve there. I’m definitely a fan of Maximin Grünhaus and my past experiences with their wines have been very different.

Regarding Lars’s comment it would be great indeed to hear the winemaker’s thoughts on this very wine.

You’re welcome, Ilkka.

On another front, too bad von Schubert changed the Grünhaus packaging for the 2016 vintage. I don’t care for the cleaned-up label and extra-tall bottle.

Perhaps a combination of 2006 vintage and some heat damage?

Could be. This bottle was from a very reputable German merchant so provenance should be quite good but it is always possible.

von Schubert changed to extra tall bottles? pileon

I still remember panicking when I couldn’t pack up my Julian Haart wines since the &^(&%@ bottles wouldn’t fit in any of the cases!

Winemakers - stop it! Just stop it!

Taller than GG bottles??

The extra-tall bottles (350 mm) are the same size as those for the Superior and GG wines. Grünhaus has been fiddling with their look for years now. But the most recent changes are less subtle.

As a follow-up to my previous post in this thread, I published an in-depth piece on “flutes” and labels, with a special focus on Maximin Grünhaus.

I did not buy a lot of 2006 but I have a 6 pack of 2006 Schloss Lieser NH Auslese LGK. It looked pretty good at release but I haven’t tasted one since then. I must try one soon to see its evolution.

Nice article, Lars. I’m disappointed to see the new Grunhaus labels as well. It’s hard to see how they will make a difference for their target audience; as you note, it’s still rather antiquated, just now without any charm or personality.

But as for what it’s in the bottle: how are the 2016s there? Mosel Fine Wines was high on them.

Thanks, David. I only tasted a few 2016 Maximin Grünhaus Rieslings at Mythos Mosel. Yes, Mosel Fine Wines gave the 2016s from Grünhaus high scores. Jean Fisch later confirmed to me that it’s a great vintage at this venerable estate.

Opened a Half bottle tonight. Light golden colour. No hint of premox. Beautiful flavours and good acid grip. Drinking very well now.