After a couple of unsanctioned events to welcome visiting winemakers (Nadine and Julian Haart and Julia and Klaus-Peter Keller at Robertas (remind me to tell you about the 2017 Keller Pettenthal Auction and 2018 Keller Scheurebe!!!) + Leo Alzinger and Andreas Hütwohl at Secchu Yokota) the official start of Rieslingfeier was upon me on cold crisp NYC night and I could not be more excited!
Apologies I really wish my notes were better however I really try to just listen to everything the winemaker has to say especially when its Egon Müller.
This first event was a small dinner for 12 guests at Momofuku Ko featuring Egon Müller. Mr Müller is an enthusiastic and staunch supporter of Rieslingfeier and has come almost every year (one year he had to be in Australia for harvest). Every year he and Stephen Bitterolf come up with a “geeky” wine theme and he digs deep in his cellar to make it happen. This year the theme was “off” and “on” vintages. The idea was to compare and discuss great vintages and not great vintages side-by-side. It is an absolute joy to discuss wine with Mr. Müller as he has an unbelieveble memory and is very open and honest.
The night began with our group being ushered into the kitchen to find a selection of American beers and snacks from the Momofuku Bar menu (I highly recommend eating at in the experiment Bar area) notably - Fried But Cold Chicken, Osetra caviar and Crepes and Pickle Sandwiches. As an attendee of many wine dinners I have to say this was so much better than the usual stand around waiting for all of the guests to arrive drinking some just ok welcome wine whilst knowing you really don’t want to waste any alcohol consumption capacity because of what is to come (usually particularly boring for me since I am always early)! More than half of the guests were from out of town including one person who flew in from Hong Kong - it is after all Rieslingfeier! The restaurant did a great job with the entire evening - food was excellent and paired extremely well and the wine service was outstanding. I highly recommend their private room for wine events.
Flight 1 - Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Kabinett
Fascinating flight that was a great way to highlight the theme.
87 - Brown in color. Egon said it was because he had to deacidify. He did note that 87 was the last year that he had to deacidify and that 87 was the bad vintage in Germany. Despite the color it was a lovely that paired well with the food. It tasted sweeter than the other Kabinetts most likely due to the deacidification. Drank much better than the color and vintage would have suggested and a quirky wine that paired well with the food.
88 - light crystal clear color. Beautiful demur nose. Savory with everything in balance.
89 - Ripest of the three and a beautiful overall wine with everything in balance. Definitely the best wine of the flight but the other two definitely had their own unique personalities.
Flight 2 - Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Spätlese
81 - This wine was a real stunner and was a great choice for this theme. I have not had many 81s and have always written the vintage off. This was light, fresh and minderal driven and simply a joy to drink.
83 - As expected a beautiful all around wine with everything in balance. Riveting.
Flight 3 - Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp Spätlese
I should start saying I don’t drink enough of the Le Gallais wines. This dinner helped me to understand the difference between this vineyard and Scharzhofberger. Interesting the soil is red slate. The vineyard is half owend by the Müller estate and they have a 99 year lease on the other half. Egon called these wines rich in comparison to Scharzhofberger I struggled a little bit to understand what he meant by this
14 - One of the best 14s that I have had. Lighter in style but still very juicy with lots of depth.
15 - Surprisingly open for a 2015 and an another perfect overall wine. Balance is always key to the greatness of Egon’s wine. And even though they might be ripe/sweet he has to have the correct amount of accompanying acid.
Flight 4 - Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Auslese
06 - Really tough year with lots of Botrytis. Another quirky wine that is enjoyable to drink but lacks acid for me. It will be interesting to follow this vintage over time.
07 Much more acid and enjoyable for me. Beautiful overfall wine.
And then things got absolutely nuts! An extremely generous and long-time collector added these bottles!!!
Finale Flight
Apologies the notes trail off here as I was simply engrossed in the wines.
71 Egon Muller Scharzhofberger Auslese Goldkapsule - what an honor to taste this wine. Absolutely beautiful wine that I could have sat with all night. It was not as big as I thought it would be. It was a perfectly balanced wine that so many things going on it is impossible to describe.
71 Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp BA - Another moving experience. Gasoline, petrol nost then ripe brown fruit followed by Lapsang souchong and over time a patchouli aroma develops.
88 Egon Muller Scharzhofberger BA Auction - The highest level wine made in 88. The striking aspect of this wine is how dense and packed the flavors were but yet it was still light on its feet.
90 Egon Muller Scharzhofberger TBA Auction - There were only 24 750s sold at the Auction in I believe 98. Such an honor to drink this wine and with the person who made it! Dark, dark brown extremly viscous and packed with every flavorable imaginable. An emotional and moving wine…
Apologies for all of the typos! Off to the walk around tasting…
