1997 Gouges NSG Vaucrain
Lovely nose, long tart on the palate, explodes on finish with cranberry and underbrush. As much as I like this at first it continues to open and develop over the next few hours becoming friendlier and lusher. I am very happy with this purchase.
1990 Chateau Magdelaine
Another from the summertime winebid lots. Shows young with some nice ripe fruit on first pouring but rather reticent. 1 and half hours in the decanter later it’s delicious, very open showing attractive notes of lavender and underbrush. Love this too.
1992 Kunstler Hochheimer Reichestal Auslese Trocken
No need to be scared off by the words Auslese Trocken here, at 12% it displays a deep rich honeyed complexity that is beguiling. Yet another winner.
1990 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffur Sonnenuhr Spatlese - unlike the Kunstler this really needed an hour or so to show what it has but then it pulled ahead to display a delightful crystalline complexity that put it in contention for WOTD
1999 Lopez de Heredia Gravonia - I had never been a huge Gravonia fan, finding the white Reserva a huge step up. But this is very good indeed, definitely the best Gravonia I remember drinking.
Thanks for the notes, Jay. Having come late to the party it is nice to see TNs for nicely mature Rieslings, 1990 Bordeaux, and 1997 red burgs from you and others on this BB.
We visited Fritz Haag in May, some very nice wine. Tho he didn’t pop anything that old for us (not that I expected him to). Nice guy, but he sure likes to knock them back!
I have to say, touring the Mosel really got me to appreciate the wines. It took a day or so (I hadn’t had so many previously), but somehow tasting a lot of them at once gets you to notice the power and subtlety much more. The best one we had was the '82 Moselschild in my signature, that’s really something (and I still have one or two downstairs). A whole story goes with that experience, but it’s too long to repeat here.
While I would love to take credit for both the foresight and patience to have cellared these the Magdelaine and Gouges were both recent auction purchases. And I think Salil picked up the Rieslings at HDH.
I had that 1997 Gouges Vaucrains at a dinner at Triomphe over a decade ago and loved it. I’ve been placing bids at auction ever since and never won any until a Leland Little auction earlier this year.
I did snag a Les St. Georges a few years back which was very good but not as good as the Vaucrains. But I didn’t give it as much air which may have been a factor.