My first Keller gmax

At a recent tasting of our SOBER group, our very generous host pulled out a 2006 gmax. It was a glorious wine, full flavored rich, but sporting serious acidity, and wonderful, detailed complexity. I loved the wine, certainly WOTN, and it had some pretty stiff competition, some predictable, some less so. An excellent pair of 1985s, a Lynch Bages from the good release and a Caymus, then a 1989 Mouton, a fine example from a period of coffee flavored wines, and a 1978 Mount Eden Pinot Noir which I was convinced was a superb CĆ“te Rotie. Second wine of the night.

Getting back to the gmax, much as I loved it, I could not get away from the cost. Because we tasted it blind, most of the initial guesses were that it was a Clos St. Hune. When the reveal came, I started calculating. The best white I have had in years, and I would have been looking for this in the $200-300 range. But at around $2000, I would never pull the trigger, even after retasting it. I have bought reds in this price range but never a white, and great as it was, I admit to being color prejudiced. I buy whites for current drinking, since premox reared itā€™s ugly head, so am not used to having bottles with some cellar age and price. But even without the shadow of premox, even the greatest white wines do not have the appeal to me of the great reds.

+1

Not even close.

Starting to change for me, though I would not and do not spend $2000 on any single bottle of wine. Curious, Mark, what ones you have found worth that? DRC? Older 1st growth Bordeaux? Rousseau? At this point, Iā€™d be inclined to spend that amount on the right older Coche, as I would a Rousseau Chambertin, and honestly, on a certain scale, I suspect both are ā€œworth it,ā€ just not a place I myself want to go. (Where, after all, would it stop?)

+2

Different strokes.

I would not pay the current rate for G-Max, but there are a number of white wines that hit the same pleasure level for me as the top reds.

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I also wouldnĀ“t spend that much money for G-Max ā€¦ 2000 is recent market price - some time ago it was available for less than 200, and I guess it is no more at the winery IF you can get some.
I know the 2006 (and 3 other vintages), it is a really great Riesling indeed.
The price increase is due to the recent hype - sad, very sad, but hard to work against it.
KellerĀ“s Morstein (and Abtserde) ist not much worse, sometimes even more interesting - but much cheaper ā€¦

Too many people worldwide have too much money - and they donĀ“t care how much a bottles is ā€¦ if only they wanna have it ā€¦ that ruins the market for other (less wealthy) wine lovers ā€¦

Interesting. Iā€™m the opposite.

Hard to beat a well aged white from dā€™Auvenay, Coche, or Roulot.

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-1 (= +1?)

Iā€™m also curious to hear the answer to this. Iā€™ve had some $100 wines that I cant imagine being much better, and I definitely cant imagine them being 20x better. Iā€™m curious if a $2000 wine is ever truly worth that much more than those 10x less

Never had this wine so no comment there.

But I certainly have had whites that blow great reds off the table. There is a reason at DRC one tastes Le Montrachet last after the reds. Yes I have had more reds in this category than white but great whites for me can more than hold their own.

I think there are more reds that moght fit into this ā€œsuper experienceā€ (for want of a better term) category but there are certainly many whites that also do for me. Not that I would actually pay 2k for any of them!

PS Iā€™ve been lucky enough to have the 06 g-max 3 times and it is fantastic!

-1

Most of my really expensive wines are old Bordeaux, many of which are going to be used in verticals. A few I buy whenever I see a great bottle and I love the wine e.g 1955 and 1961 LMHB.

There are a few curiosities I want to taste, a 1947 VCC, a 1921 Yquem, but very few are Burgundies, especially now that prices have gone through the roof. In fact I am happy to sell or trade them.

Last month I traded a pair of 1999 Rousseaus, as I have tasted them several times, and good as they are, they are not worth a fraction of $3k + they are going for. I got in return a magnum of 1947 Ausone and a case of Rossignol Trapet Chambertin 2015.

So no real rules for buying, but I am probably more conscious than most of how much they cost, and whether they make sense to buy, sell or keep.

Just last night (as my wife and I were enjoying a too young, but delicious '17 Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg), I was contemplating this very notion of the relative appeal of whites vs. reds. Ten years ago, I would have wholeheartedly agreed with Mark that red wines in general, and the greatest reds in particular, provide more pleasure than whites. I am very much in the opposite camp now.

As to the G-Max question, I have had the opportunity to taste the '09. It was fantastic, but I couldnā€™t rationalize spending $2,000 on any wine, regardless of colorā€¦

Mark -

Love VCC. Whatā€™s the story with the ā€˜47?

Nothing much; I have feelers out for a great example, but only with top vendors who know what they are doing. A lot of fakes, which I understand were from Rodenstock.

I agree with this, but finding the Abtserde is getting equally as difficult to obtain and the price is climbing steadily as it often is splitting hairs in quality between that and the G-Max for quality.

Would hate to do without reds but have to agree with you here.

Keller makes some great stuff, but at the end of the day I easily side with Henri Murger: ā€œThe first duty of wine is to be red.ā€