2015 German Riesling - How One Vintage can Change the Landscape of an Entire Cellar

I have generally been the kind of wine collector who buys her favorite wines and producers in every vintage. Good vintages more, perhaps, but rarely to an extreme degree. Until 2015 in Germany. I have never bought so heavily in a single vintage in my life (I had some help from my husband - he bought most of it, actually), so I don’t know why I am shocked to see that my regional statistics and producer statistics on my cellar overall were so heavily impacted. Keller was always our biggest holding, but now Emrich-Schonleber (at #6!) and Battenfeld-Spanier have entered the Top 10, and Schafer-Frohlich and Laible hit the Top 20. Ratzenberger 2015 hasn’t even been released yet!

Anyone else see this kind of shake up from 2015 Germany? What other vintages i particular regions (like 2000 Bdx, for instance) have done this to your holdings?

Not really. 2015 was only up 10% vs the prior few year averages.

I didn’t buy Muller’s 2015s so that reduces his position but pretty much in line with average for the rest.

I guess Keller went up as I bought a mixed case!

I’ve purchased 8.33 cases which almost doubled my Riesling inventory.

I went long as well, essentially tripling my Riesling holdings. What I’ve tasted thus far has made me very happy. I might still buy more of what’s still around…

Me.

I have never bought any German Riesling until '15 vintage, suddenly I have 20 cases.

Nope. I like 2015 in Germany, but I don’t see it being significantly better than many other excellent vintages there lately, like 2012, 09 (especially in the Saar and Nahe), and certainly not 2001 (and I still have twice as much '01 German Riesling as I have '15, despite starting to open a lot of my Catoirs, Christoffels, and Donnhoffs in the last couple of years).

Meanwhile, 2015 in Austria did a number on my wallet. (Though not as bad as 2013.) So did the combo of 2009 and 2010 in the Loire (red and white).

I don’t think it’s wise to go crazy over any vintage: there is always $hitloads of wine every. single. year. In mechanical fashion, like an algorithm. I can see buying more of a vintage style you prefer, like 2010 Piedmont or 2002 Loire, but no need to be bananas about it.

Premox?

After buying tons of 13s, and knowing 15 was a warmer, richer year, I was pretty hopeful I wouldn’t buy anything from 15. But after tasting a few, I’ve dabbled a bit. They can be fabulously rich and tasty (though I think my 15s will be long gone by the time I start even thinking about drinking my 13s).

Yeah, I’m with you - the 15s are a bit more fun to drink now while I let the 13s sleep. But I’m burying plenty of my Alzingers. (Don’t sleep on their lineup, btw. '15 might be my favorite Hohereck Smaragd yet.)

I also really liked Gobelsburg and Brundlmayer’s wines. And the Nikolaihof Neuburger in 2015 is absolutely fantastic - I’m down to just one bottle now.

Austria!

2001 Germans completely flipped my cellar when I purchased 64 cases on release, and the momentum has been sustained. Never went that crazy again, but Donnhoff, Selbach, Prum, Grunhaus, etc. all stay at or near the top of my holdings, and likely will until I quit (significant) buying on retirement.

Since 2015 is my daughter’s birth year, and given the quality of the vintage worldwide, it has quickly escalated to a very large percentage of my overall cellar holdings. Riesling constitutes probably a third of that including magnums that might not be consumed in my lifetime. GKA and BA for the win! At least my daughter will drink well.

And despite the fact that I already have purchased a lot of 2015, I continue to scan the emails and it is very tempting to purchase a bunch more. The only thing holding me back is the thought of what I am going to do later this year when all the futures start rolling in.

Salil, good to know on the Hohereck, I did buy a few of those. Steinertal is very good. I need to post some notes on the few I have tried. Wasn’t enamored by the Gobelsburg Heiligenstein, a bit too ripe. The wine that blew my mind is Brundlmayer’s Lyra.

2010 for me. I went deep in France and Italy. Lots of great wines to be had.

Thanks Alan - I’ll have to look out for the Lyra in that case. I’ve been buying Brundlmayer mainly at the low end in the past - haven’t really explored the Alte Reben or Lyra bottlings.

I’ve generally preferred Gobelsburg’s Gaisberg to his Heiligenstein the last few years. I thought the '13 Gaisberg brilliant on release - the '15 is a bit richer, but also very good. (For Heiligenstein, I always find myself liking Hirsch’s version much more.)

Well, young man, you should learn what took me years to learn: buy fewer bottles of the higher end wines. You’ll be happier in the long run

got married in 2015, my wife only drinks Mosel Riesling, so we bought a fair amount.

The vintages I went really long on (for me at the time) were 1982 Bordeaux, 1990 Germans, 2005 and 2010 red burgundies and 2014 white burgundies

I wasn’t planning on buying much, but since everything I have tasted has been pretty stellar I have gone all in. The acid is rocking and totally matching the warm nature of the vintage. Totally seductive stuff.