Clear winner of the “Berlin Riesling Cup” with 2011 Felseneck&Felsenberg GG. Tim Fröhlich, the master of spontenous fermentation, presents a brilliant 2011 collection with drive&kick, finesse, juice and BIG mineral grip. A bit challenging at the beginning by the wild notes of spontenous fermentation, but will go away after 1h. Such subtle crystalline citrus fruit with a razor-sharp minerality and floral&herbs notes. Faszinating polished, with precision, depth and overall crystal clear. CHAPEAU
94pts.
P.S. In addition the 2011 Spätlese GK version is even better 96+pts.
P.S. some impressions from my visit at the estate in 2011
primus inter pares Tim is the front-runner at the region NAHE in 2010. In addition his 2010 portfolio is one of the best collections I´ve ever tasted. Exciting wines from bottom to top. Terroir-wines at its best.
It will be very, very difficult for any other german estate to outperform Schäfer-Fröhlich. His 2010 Felseneck GG is Top 3 and 2010 Felseneck Spätlese is Top 5. But also the entry-level Rieslings “Bockenauer” Riesling trocken oder “Felseneck” trocken are thrilling.
Tim already should buy some tuxedo, as he will win a lot of Riesling trophys in autumn…
Tim Fröhlich
2010 Bockenauer Riesling trocken
Bockenau was harvested on 15-23. november, stony old terrace, 100% Porphyr
What a wild bouquet…really for freaks. Terroir pur! 90-93 Oechsle, 12,5%, , wonderful
ripe acidity. Breathtaking QPR
2010 Felseneck trocken
the grapes were gold-yellow and little in size.
Magic nose, dark notes, smoky, spice, power, inner precision and extract density.
Mamma mia, this is good!
2010 GGs
2010 Lagenwein „Bockenauer Stromberg“
based on Porphyr, shows freshnness, inner density and good potential,
lovely juice for the future, but already offers great drinking pleasure
2010 Bockenauer Kabinett
87-88-89 Oechsle, 9,5 % acidity, 55g RS
from the Felseneck, wild notes, freshness&finesse, fruitsweetness, Kabinett-typical and fine minerality
2010 Felseneck Spätlese
25 years old vines
good ripe acidity, mint, crystal clear, 102 Oechsle, healty grapes, magic precision and what a balance and inner density. Mind-blowing!
96-97/100
2010 Felseneck Spätlese GK
WOW…it even get better. Older vines, 35 years old, steeper vines, harvested on the same time like the Spätlese. A masterpiece!
98/100
2009 Felseneck Eiswein
230 Oechsle, dances like a primaballerina on your palate
2009 Felseneck TbA GK Auktion
300 Oechsle, unbelievable concentration, also such light on its feet BRAVO
99/100
Here some impressions from “Felseneck”. It´s really cliffy…
Any thoughts on where that “sponti” nose comes from? It’s very distinct and noticeable on Tim’s wines, and on a few others that practice spontaneous fermentation (e.g., Schloss Lieser), but others that use native yeasts do not experience that distinctive “sponti” nose. And I’ve never experienced it in any domestic US wine made with native yeasts regardless of variety.
I know that the “sponti” scents will dissipate with aeration and/or cellar age, but it’s a problem for some of our customers who aren’t willing to be bothered with decanting and don’t age their wines. Too many excellent German rieslings without “sponti” to persuade them to buy a S-F and do what’s necessary. There are a few who don’t notice or mind that scent, but more find it objectionable at some level.
Regardless, I completely agree regarding the brilliance of Tim’s wines. At the Wiesbaden GG tasting in August, I actually thought the Halenberg stood out, but all of the wines, including the Felseneck, were superb.
I find it difficult to come up with useful descriptors, and of course saying it smells like fermentation odors isn’t really helpful unless you’ve spent some time in a winery during fermentation. Some people liken it to sulphury odors, but I think it lacks that “rotton egg” character that usually results from too obvious SO2. To me, it smells somewhat beer-y, and I also sometimes think of plastic when I encounter sponti. Somewhat herbal in nature, too. It’s not unpleasant, but does seem like an “off” characteristic given the beautiful pure fruit that underlies most German Rieslings, even the dry ones. Fortunately, it usually dissipates with aeration or bottle age.
Maybe someone else has a more accurate descriptor of this?
David, with due respect: I think your post makes less than zero sense…
Tim Fröhlich IS The Master of Spontaneous Fermentation. Its pretty much well established when you are talking about Riesling. Personally I find this very appealing with sponti notes and -spice.
But maybe i am misunderstanding some internal joke here?
/Claus
Claus - I was having fun juxtaposing the idea of wine doing its own thing with no intervestion versus someone being the master.
(Though I will say that plenty of other folks allow spontaneous fermentation and achieve stunning results, so unless there is some objective criteria that makes TF the best I still do not agree.)
Spontaneous fermentation is not merely sitting back and waiting for the wines to ferment. You have to pick extremely healthy grapes and do a lot of sorting. You have less of a chance of the fermentation starting if your must has been too rigorously filtered or if you add post-harvest sulfur, or spray sulfur too late (for oidium). You also have to walk a fine line between cleanliness and sterility in the winery (presses, tanks etc.) to ensure that you have a healthy and beneficial yeast population. As is sometimes the case, you also have to know what to do (and you must be able to recognize the symptoms) if your yeast starts producing H2S –adding nutrients (or copper) is often against the philosophies of those who undertake Sponti. You need enough nitrogen in the grapes, but not enough that you will have problems with Protein precipitation. And you’ve got to wait -not only for the wine to start fermentation, but also for it to finish fermenting. It can be nerve-racking to watch your must ferment at a rate of an Oechsle every couple of days (or slower still) while you’re still sitting at 20-30 Oe (and your neighbors have finished fermentation weeks ago using commercial yeast.)
In Germany, there are dozens of producers who swear by it, though there are many (some very good wineries that you all know) who try for Sponti, and when it doesn’t work for one reason or the other, they give up and add commercial yeast.
Red and Orange wines are much easier to ferment to dryness because of the nutrients in the skin, and whites benefit from a little skin maceration too. It could be argued that not all varieties and wine styles are suited to Spontaneous fermentation, but I have become completely convinced of its merits for all but the simplest of wines (we have our entire production fermenting quite well through sponti -17 different wines, all white, in both stainless steel and Cask.)
What are spontaneous fermentation aromas? For Riesling they are usually savory -grains, root vegetables (like parsnips or carrots), carob, and bread. I have found that far more complexity and depth can be achieved and the wines also have a more complete and seamless texture at the expense perhaps of simple, straightforward fruitiness. When the sulfur compounds react with alcohol and become oxidized, onion, chives, garlic, rubber, sauerkraut, and rotten egg can result. These later are obviously not desirable flavors and need to be held in check. Some of these volatile flavors will burn-off during fermentation, but corrective measures (like racking and oxygen) can result in a loss of fruit and primary aromas.
If you think that you don’t like spontaneously fermented wines, I’d only ask that you first buy a decanter and use it –you might change your mind. Some of the flavors that you may object to will be lost with a little air and you will likely end up with a more complex and interesting wine in your glass.
Any thoughts as to why some SF wines have that “sponti” nose while others don’t? Even different wines from the same producers, all of which are made by SF, can show markedly different levels of the sponti characteristic. And I’ve never smelled it in any wine made outside of Germany, and plenty of producers claim to use “native yeast” in making their wines, although perhaps this means something different to them than “spontaneous fermentation” means in Germany.
Your description of what “sponti” smells like is as good as any (I agree “savory” is apropos), although I still have a hard time describing it meaningfully to someone who hasn’t experienced it. I know some people actually like the aroma, but for me it’s a bit of a distraction, although the beauty of the underlying wines by the likes of S-F is more than enough to overcome it. But I can’t really say I find it a desirable trait. So I’ll keep my decanter handy (or better yet, wait a few years).
David, no offense intended. This is a discussion that I find interesting and thought that more information might be of some help as there seem to be a lot of questions about Sponti.
Bennett, There are a lot of variables at play. Different yeasts ‘work’ at different temperatures and different pH levels, and have different nutrient requirements. If one parcel was harvested on a very warm day, and another on a cool day, or if the cellar temperature was different for each during pressing, clarification and the start of fermentation (or if the fermentation temperatures of two musts vary –and they always will without temperature control), or if the tanks were of different sizes for different musts at any given time (large tanks or casks can generate a lot more heat during fermentation than smaller tanks), it is likely that different yeasts will dominate a ferment at some point and the flavors will be…different. Survival of the fittest and any given Sunday and all.
I know that there is a lot of discussion about whether ‘wild’ yeast, or the store-bought yeasts that a winery may have used in the past (or currently with other musts) have become the majority population in a winery, but I think that this also has a lot to do with how rigorously you sterilize before harvest. It is a very difficult question to answer without a lot of testing.
I also need to point out that musts fermented with commercial yeasts can have just as many problems as those fermented spontaneously. Commercial yeasts generally have much higher nutrient requirements (mostly Nitrogen) than natural yeasts and without nutrients like Diammonium phosphate (DAP), they are likely to produce off-flavors associated with H2S production.
Lastly, sometimes in Germany, Böckser (flavors derived from H2S) is called Edel (Noble) reductivity!
Cheers,
Bill
That would be a difficult undertaking. Some do both and I don’t know of anyone who would dump a must down the drain instead of setting some commercial yeast to work if they had to. But there are many producers who do all that they can to encourage it and go years without too much difficulty.
I suppose we could start a list on another thread.
