Ok, so I opened this bottle last night. Bought it at Binnys in 2014 and stored it properly.
Smelled nice and perfumey/floral. Ok, good. My first sip I thought “that tastes quite nice”. By the end of that thought, a new thought Came to mind. “Actually that tastes good”. By the end of that thought, what three seconds maybe, I thought “no, actually that tastes ok” when the moment finally hit me and I said to my fiancé that I don’t like it. I was through that mid palate phase within that three seconds and into the finish. The finish was long and excruciatingly bad. Lasted for about twenty seconds of “oh my God what is this aftertaste I am getting”.
Anyone else have this reactional series to a wine? What is it called? I have never experienced it before.
Truth be told I rated it an 85 but immediately dumped it down the drain and went for a rum and coke. I should lower my score to an 80 I guess.
I am now worried about cellaring any Rieslings including the case of German 2015’s I have.
Can you describe the taste anymore? Acrid and on the very back of the tongue? First thought would be Mercaptans but it could be others in the sulphur family. Any associated aromatics?
Check out some of this to see if it fits your thoughts.
I drink it seldomly but i do like it. I buy it more for my fiancé who does like it. Before I took my sip she had already told me she did not like it. I wish I had waited and took another sip and broken it down.
I’m not sure why a 5 year old Alsatian riesling should have any bearing on whether German riesling will age well. Do you have much experience with aged riesling?
Do you have much experience with Alsatian Riesling? Or had it all been German? They are two different beasts with different profiles, you may just not
Like Alsatian Riesling…
I could be on the wrong track, but just in case it helps- your experiences matches a handful of my early experiences with Alsatian Riesling- notably a bottle of young Clos St Hune (89 VT I believe it was) that had incredible aromatics and palate to match- but made me physically ill with a painful aftertaste. By physically ill, I mean stomach cramps.
Happened again a couple of times with young Trimbach and Weinbach wines- and has not been an issue since.
In my case, I blamed it on the strong petrol notes giving me something of a psychological reaction that became physical. But now I can taste young Alsatian wines without any issues whatsoever. Never had the same issue with German Riesling or any other wines. Just Alsatian Riesling.
Most of my riesling had been Alsatian prior to 2015 and most were Domaine Weinbach. I am transitioning into German riesling though as of 2015. So I had a few bottles of Weinbach left. Actually I now have one left and in the fridge ready to be popped soon. It is also a 2012 reserve personnelle. I will probably open it this weekend and report back.
Having read through all of those listed in that link, I have to say that was probably the closest to my experience. Never had that before ever. It started out really good and just moved quickly through and into that aftertaste. I am actually sensitive to a lot of taints especially cork taint.
i would not worry about your stash. if you have had these wines before and enjoyed, and your fiance normally likes them and didn’t like this one, sounds like an off bottle. In my experience, german riesling ages better than pretty much everything else out there.
I’ve tasted mousy taint on a few occasions and it was one of the most shocking things I’ve ever experienced (in wine). That, on top of your description, is why I thought of it. Crossing my fingers for you that it was just this one bottle! As a side note, some people are more sensitive to this taint than others. Another winemaker I know can hardly taste the taint at all. It could just be you’re very sensitive to the compound.
I’ve had a lot of Weinbach and absolutely love the house style. I will say that they tend to age much faster than other Alsatian wines and definitely faster than German rieslings like Prum or Donnhoff - they don’t seem to go through the closed or grumpy phase that is typical of those wines. There does seem to be a slightly higher rate of early oxidation with Weinbach which I accept because the good wines are so delicious, and that may have been the problem with your bottle. I find that they are best 5 to 10 years after release and anything beyond that can be dicy although the gewurtztraminer seems to age better. I buy and drink a lot of riesling and for me, Weinbach fills the early drinking slot in my cellar while I wait for the Prum, Donnhoff, Schaefer, etc. to mature at their glacial pace.
Would love to hear from anyone who has experience with older bottles of Weinbach…perhaps I’m being too cautious.
I’ve drunk quite a few bottles of this particular wine, as I really liked it on release, and it’s essentially Weinbach’s only dry Riesling. Think I had one earlier this year, and it was chugging along just fine, so hopefully your bottles was just off in some individual way. Probably should dig out whatever I have remaining, and drink them.