Masterclass and dinner with Victor Diel of the eponymous domaine. Quite a brilliant event. The younger wines over dinner were good even the pairings were questionable at times (black pepper steak with Spatlese, Pigeon with Auslese?!). Some of them showed far, far better than when I tried them at the last dinner for some reason. However, it was the masterclass that really blew me away. A retrospective of the Goldloch vineyard thru some really strong vintages, the 1976 and '71 were quite mindblowing.
What about the Goldloch Grand Cru itself? After a whole series of wines from different pradikat levels and across a spectrum of dry wines, what mrked the terroir out for me was a nod towards the Mosel minerality due to its slate content, an expressive stone fruit spectrum, lovely high-toned florals, a nice balance between flesh and acidity and, finally, a rather distinct smoky spiciness with just a little herb edge.
MASTERCLASS OF OLD VINTAGES
1999 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Nahe
What a way to start a tasting. This is about as good as a Kabinett gets with a decade of age under its hood I think. Gorgeous nose showed nice savoury accents, with earth, kumquats, ripe apples just starting to brown and subtle but persistent mineral scents, all robed in flower and honey tones. I thought it would have smelled just like an old Burg if not for those honey notes. Palate was really delicious. Everything was in the right place here. Really nice weight on the fruit, along with fresh, high acidity and with very lime and lemony flavours outlined with a Mosel-like lime-stony minerality, reflecting the highish slate content of the vineyard. A little rubbery age marked the fringes of the palate. Finish was long and gentle, seamlessly sliding across the mouth with more lemon curd flavours, showing lots of persistence, length and just an incredible sense of minerality at the very tail. Excellent. One of the best Kabinetts I have had in a long, long time. (94 pts.)
1990 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe
Really good, but time to drink up I think. Nose was incredible. Tons of honey, some malted sugar, caramel, meaty tones underneath that, lots of umami floating around, some earth, a tiny bit of petrol and wafting yellow fruit scents and sultanas to round the bouquet off. Just a touch oxidative at points I thought. Palate started out wonderfully. Lots of life, with acidity zipping through flavours of dried apricots, more sultanas, kumquats and ripe lemons, all augmented by savoury meat tones and sprinkles of spice, suggestive of saffron and cumin. Lots of complexity, lots of honeyed weight on the mid-palate too. This really charmed my socks off. Finish was just as good at first, with some minerality and lots of length - it just clung to the mouth with preserved sour plum notes tailing away. Unfortunately, ths joy lasted for barely half an hour. After that, the flavours receded and acidity began to dominate. with more oxidative notes rising to the fore. Still though, a real delight when first poured. (93 pts.)
2002 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe
Another really good Spatlese. Not quite as complex as the 1990 given the 12-year age gap, but I think this has great bones and may well surpass the older wine in time. This shows all the hallmarks of a 2002 Spat, and has everything I like about the vintage. Really expressive, attractive nose. Gummy grapefruit, white flowers, earthy mineral, a tiny touch of rubber and inviting peach and apricot notes. Just absolutely pitch-perfect balance on the palate. Lots of lovely minerality on the attack, melding beautifully with ripe lemons and sweet apples and just that little bit of white meat, all presented in a slightly creamily textured whole, with almost acidity so wonderful woven into the wine that it was barely perceptible. Great poise throughout. Finish was mid to longish, with hints of mineral playing alongside vestiges of primary fruit, still speaking of the wine’s relative youth. Deliciousness now, I can only see this getting better and better over the next decade or so. (93 pts.)
1983 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Auslese - Germany, Nahe
This was a good wine for sure, but paled in comparison to the other wines on show. Strange thing - everything was in the right place, but there was just this strange smoky, ashiness that pervaded the wine, rather distracting from its other qualities. It was very evident on the nose on first pour, with honeyed, caramelly notes more or less buried under smoky, gunpowdery ash tones, along with some funky earthy notes. It blew off a little with time to show some underlying yellow fruit, but never quite disappeared completely. Palate was better. Still smoky, but not overwhelmingly so. Here, you could taste the nice ripe lemons, grapefruit topped with white sugar, and more slightly honeyed tones. Lots of acidity, good texture, nice balance. Maybe a little hollow over the mid-palate, but it did end very rather nicely, with a mineral laden finish with lots of mouthwatering freshness and sultana flavours that just clung to the mouth. Unfortunately, there was a little more of that distracting smokiness again. A puzzling wine, but certainly some amount of enjoyment to be had. (91 pts.)
1976 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Auslese - Germany, Nahe
A rare treat - this was in a completely different league from the 1983 that preceded it. Would have easily been wine of the day, if not for the BA that followed. Anyhows, I thought this was fantastic in its own right. Wonderful nose. Kerosene droplets mingled with beautiful, flowery perfume - chrysanthemums, osmanthus, rose petals galore, followed by a melange of fruit scents - peach, apricots, nectarines, fresh prunes and a touch of dried plums. A veritable fruit orchard, all wrapped up in a layer of golden honey tones. Awesomely good. Palate was rich and creamy, with multi-layered complexity and to-die-for-balance. Seamlessly integrated acidity was sewn like a golden thread through a melange of stone-fruit flavours, peach, apricot, more frgrant flower scents, some brown sugar and a lovely dose of serious minerality. With time, some herby, anglieca root scents started emerging on the nose and the palate, along with just a tiny hint of the smokiness that pervaded the 1983. On the back-palate, I got some touches of spice, like nutmeg and cloves. A joyous wine! Only on the very finish did the quality let up a bit, hitting a small spot of hollowness just before it wound down in a minerally linger. It fleshed out a little with time, but somehow never quite showed the joie de vivre that marked the wine from the nose, through the attack and into the mid-palate. Unfortunate, because it pushed the wine away from greatness into the merely “incredibly good” territory. Still though, what a treat. (95 pts.)
1971 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Beerenauslese - Germany, Nahe
Absolutely incredible. This easily made its way into the respective pantheons of the very best Rieslings and the very best sweet wines I have ever had. Deep amber colour. The nose on the wine was at once attractive and challenging. Unlike the '76 Auslese, which was eager to please and charming from the get-go, this was more stand-offish, yet more complex and intriguing. Opening with saline, clam-shell scents, somewhat like a cross between a Fino Sherry and an aged Chablis Grand Cru, it moved into minerally iron and earth notes, along with a shifting kaleidescope of vanilla, tangerines, orange peel and lime zest scents, with wafts of dried flowers and a touch of smoke in the background and, finally, a honeyed scent that just grew and grew in the glass. If the nose was intriguing, the palate was phenomenal. Still rich in the mouth, I got honey and apricots, along with more aged flavours of kumquats, preserved sour plums, dried fig skins, some rasins, and all sorts of preserved Chinese sweets. Towards the mid-palate, drops of mature honey, caramel apples and more dried figs. Plenty of length and persistence at the finish as well, filling the mouth with treacle notes and molasses, along with spicy nutmeg tones. A complete wine. Profound concentration, incredible complexity, yet still possessing a beautiful poise and balance and a wonderful sense of precision from start to finish. Victor Diel told us that the last half-bottle that was sold went to a private collector at 1000EUR. Way out of my league, but boy, it was a real privilege to be able to taste this one. (97 pts.)
DINNER WITH YOUNGER WINES
2004 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Riesling Sekt brut - Germany, Nahe
Unusual, a methode Champenois Riesling. Not undrinkable by any means, but I did not like it all that much. Vast amounts of acidity reminded me somewhat of English bubblies. Nose was alright. Yeast, a bit of treacle, white flowers, white fruits, some hot stones. I found it a little too sticky sweet smelling for my liking on first pour, but it got better, with the sticky scent receding and more earthy notes coming to the fore. The palate was anything but sweet or fruity though. My handwritten notes say “Dry!!!”, “Acid!!!”, and boy was it punishingly dry on the attack. Not quite tart, but with tons and tons of acidity assaulting the palate. All lime and mineral at first, but it did get a little better with time, showing some white fruit and plenty of flowery tones as it warmed up, especially towards the finish, where more white flower imprints mingled with bits of spice. A very-trocken trocken Rieslings with bubbles. Should get better with some bottle age, but I found it a bit difficult at the moment. (87 pts.)
2007 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Nahe
What a shift of gear from the last wine. This was really good. Beautiful, feminine nose showed perfumy chamomile and floral orange blossoms and elderflower accents, wafting over a bed of lychee cream scents and a little rivulet of mineral. Palate was very dry, and rather tight, as would be expected from a 2007 GG, but had plenty of depth in its primary ripe grapefruit flavours, accompanied by fleeting expressions of flowery poutpourri and elderflower, buttressed by a minerally backbone. Finish had good length, with limes, lemons and more mineral. Very nice. Very young at the moment, but this has all the qualities to make a smashing wine in future. (93 pts.)
2007 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Nahe
Excellent - a really stark difference from the last bottle I tried. Much more open, this had a very nice, expressive nose of white flowers, chalky mineral, some saline, seashell scents and plenty of peachy fruit. Palate had lovely balance, with nice freshness lifting peach and fizzzy lemon and citrus flavours. Very charming. Finish was seamlessly integrated with the rest of the wine, with more freshness and a nice bit of minerality. An excellent showing. (93 pts.)
2007 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe
Very good but, once again, I preferred the Kabinett at the moment. This was a bit tighter on the nose, with mineral, chalk scents and some white fruit - very Mosel-like. Palate was clearly young as well. Ripe lemons, flinty mineral, some grapefruit. All very primary and rather sweet for its pradikat level, but thankfully lifted by a whole truckload of fresh acid. Good depth and some buried complexity here I thought, especially clear towards the finish, which had plenty of power and persistent in its lime and lemon flavours. A bit monolithic, not quite together, this needs a lot of time yet, but the quality is certainly there. (92 pts.)
2005 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Auslese - Germany, Nahe
Strangely enough, here was another wine that showed far, far better than during the last Diel dinner. This was quite splendid indeed. Nose was lovely enough to elicit a “woah” from me. Bits of rubber at the rim, flowers, lots of tropical yellow fruit, a bit jackfruit like at points, pineapple and rambutans at others. A far cry from the reticent baby we had the last time. Palate was like night and day as well. More expressive pineapples and rambutans on the attack freshened by a squeeze of lemonade - a veritable explosion of fruit. Towards the mid-palate, I got a wafting rock-melon like flavours, very reminscent of Hokkaido musk melons. Deliciously rich, almost Goldkapsel level, but brilliantly balanced with acidity keeping the wine light enough on its feet all the way into the longish finish which showed some minerality. Only right at the very end did the sugary primary fruit of young Auslesen stick out slightly. So very young, but extremely good - almost unrecognisable from the last time round. How did this happen? Storage? Transport? This was an ex-chateau bottle, hence the difference, but boy, this was good. (94 pts.)
2005 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Beerenauslese - Germany, Nahe
Only 220 half-bottles produced. Expectations for this bottle were sky-high after the 1971 BA, but this was far too young to deliver. A nice wine, lots of stuffing, but nowhere near ready for drinking, just too sweet at the moment. Nose was pleasant enough - chamomile, flowers, peach, apricots, honey - very nice. Palate was still sugary sweet though, choked full of primary sugary fruit - I could just make out pineapple and ripe lemons. Lots of density, some balance from acidity and a longish finish (which showed a strange little touch of bitter almonds and Chinese medicine) bodes well for the future of the wine. Right now, not bad with dessert, but I really would leave it aside for a long, long time. (92 pts.)
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