On Friday I was invited to a very special tasting of aged dry Rieslings. What the heck of a tasting, simply mind-blowing. Why?! We had the luck that our host has the perfect wine-cellar. The Rieslings were in perfect condition, a 1999 Nonnenberg presented such youthful with no hurry to drink. And the wines showed how great Dry Riesling can age if well-stored and how great some dry Riesling already were before the Grosse Gewächse-era which started in 2002.
2002 Dönnhoff „Hermannshöhle“ Spätlese trocken
Rocking start in the tasting. The Hermannshöhle was such elegant&aristocratic with a silky texture. In addition showed a lovely freshness and a subtle minerality in the background. Furthermore such precise and crystal clear on the palate. The master Helmut Dönnhoff showed his great craftsmanship.
2002 Künstler „Hölle“ Auslese trocken
off-bottle. Unfortunately the bottle had the famous plastic cork. Mr. Künstler used the plastic for half of the production of the Auslese trocken. As I had already several bottles of this wine, all with plastic cork were oxdized. Fair to say the winemaker changed the off-bottles.
2001 Wittmann „Morstein“
Classic Morstein with its powerful minerality. A mix of limestone, tobacco and ripe peach. Impressive performance.
(click to enlarge!)
1999 Breuer „Nonnenberg“
A masterpiece. Polished, cool stylistic and with a huge minerality. Such youthful, almost still a baby. Every sip shows new aspects and complexity of the wine. For all attendees the WOTN. I had the luck to meet Mr Breuer in 2002&2003 in Berlin, as he was a pioneer for Dry Riesling and a fighter for the Grosse Gewächs introduction. He died in 2004.
2000 Heymann-Löwenstein „Röttgen“
A botritis monster. Too BIG.
2000 Van Volxem „Vols“
Surprise of the night. Performed such light-footed with finesse. Surprisingly such slim and playful on the palate. I have to admit that I didn’t predict such a good performance, as the wines of Roman Niewodniczanski were in the first years such opulent or baroque that I had my doubt about the aging potential. BTW, here we have the first vintage of Van Volxem. Kudos to the cellar master Gernot Kollmann who is now cellar master of Immich-Batterieberg.
1998 Koehler-Ruprecht „Saumagen“ R Auslese trocken
off-bottle
1998 Rebholz „Kastanienbusch“ Spätlese trocken
Positive impression. In the last years I had several disappointments regarding aged Rieslings of Rebholz. They are very special and it is not easy to find the perfect drinking window for Kastanienbusch GG. The´98 showed quite well.
1999 Sauer „Lump“ Spätlese trocken
Unexcitedly good. Amazing Riesling with balance&harmony and huge huge drinking pleasure. The bottle was empty in minutes. ALL loved the wine. Another surprise of the night.
1988 Heyl zu Herrnsheim „Niersteiner Brudersberg“ Spätlese
Off-dry Riesling with 10,5%. Such nice and was in good shape with great drinking pleasure. Everything is on the right place and shows great craftsmanship from the famous winemaker Michalsky
2005 von Othegraven „Altenberg“ Auslese
Perfect match with a blue cheese. It was interesting to see how the cheese helped the wine to perform better.
1971 Schloss Schönborn „Winkeler Jesuitengarten“ Kabinett
Such seductive like 1001 night with flavors of cinnamon, nuts, orange peel and oriental spices. Lovely harmony. Perfect finish of the night.
Cheers,
Martin
It’s always nice to see some notes on aged dry Rieslings. I’ve only been collecting them for a few years and am still trying to figure out at what age to open the wines.
glad you included the pictures… that “Lump” bottle is so interesting! this is a tasting I would have loved to have been present for! well made Riesling I’m pretty sure is just about immortal.
I’m in agreement with Doug, this is awesome that you shared this with us. The GG’s represent about 85% of the Riesling in my cellar and the 2012’s seem too young to open right now. So I’m hoping that another 4-5 years they’ll start to hit a prime window…it looks like they can stay there for decades.
I would recommend to open a bottle in 2020&2021, just to get a first impression.
I would recommend drinking the first bottle of GG in the first 12-24 months. Second bottle after 7-8 years.
And don’t forget to save a bottle for drinking after 15 years.
P.S. and my most important recommendation is NOT to decant. Just open the bottle the night before. The next morning add the cork and put the bottle in the fridge. Trust me!
Thanks! I do always open a bottle in the first year or two. I really love them on release.
Do you use this treatment when they’re young and after a few years, or only one or the other?
To open the bottles the night before works great for young GGs. But also for cool climate vintages like 2008&2010& 2013 which have a loooong aging potential. Try it also for other vintages.
For example 2 years ago I made a big tasting of 2008´GGs and it helped a lot to open the bottles the night before.
Martin (and others who have experience with this), would you use the same approach with opening GGs to open other dry rieslings that may be of GG quality?
My greatest Riesling experience was some years ago at a BerserkerFest NYC (a lunch event, not the main events) where Izzy Nosnik brought a '71 of some sort (can’t recall) - the only time I’ve ever had a Riesling (at that time) aged for so long, and it was eye opening, to be sure.
YES, Brian.
I should also point out that the winemaker KP Keller also use this method for his wines at the estate.
AND use a Zalto “Universal” stemware.
I have Gabriel Glas Gold. Zaltos seems just too big for white wines. Though I do recall at Peter Lauer being served their GGs in burgundy glasses and it really seemed to help.
Gabriel Glas Gold is good too. But I should point out that winemakers like Tim Fröhlich, Philipp Wittmann, KP Keller, Markus Molitor etc. use Zalto Universal for their Rieslings.
AND the winemaker Markus Molitor told me that he tested all important wine glasses on the market at his estate, as all glass manufacturer send him a sample. Finally his choice was Zalto.
Great notes as always, Martin. I had a 2012
Schaefer-Frohlich Felseneck GG in March:
Youthfully green tinted and sleek on day one, shut down on day two, more fruits in addition to minerals showing on the palate day three:)
I first tasted that 2002 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle Spätlese Trocken at the winery in October 2003. It blew me away. For €18 I bought some. Had my final bottle last year, and it was nothing short of a revelation.
The price hasn’t moved much in 15 years…
Except that now I have to buy it in the USA, and it’s GG so there is an additional price premium.
But GGs are better.
Ack! How could I forget!