We are not Riesling drinkers (we have typically found them too sweet — at least the California ones) and have a total of 0 in our cellar.
I recently ran across a deal that I bit on from sommselect:
1990 weingut Christoffel berres urziger wurzgarten Riesling kabinett
link to wine: SommSelect - Exceptional wine from around the world, delivered to your door
For educational purpose:
What would would be a good more modern bottle to open alongside this ages Riesling?
I’d be interested in trying that Riesling.
For something to compare with I might just try a more recent vintage Kabinett from a good producer like Prum. Not sure if you could find the same bottling in a more recent vintage for a more direct comparison? I don’t know the producer or vineyard but some of the more hardcore Riesling people probably do.
There are numerous producers of that vineyard. If I recall correctly, Christoffel-Berres as an estate is no more.
I think that’s right. Sometime in the late 1990s? Although I somehow think I saw an early 2000 vintage, but haven’t heard of them since.
Anyway, for the OP, I have no idea what your Riesling experience is, but the vineyard is Ürziger Würzgarten, which is a pretty well-known site in the Mosel and as David says, there are plenty of producers using those grapes, including JJ Christoffel, Dr. Loosen, Mönchhof, S.A. Prüm, and Markus Molitor. It might be interesting to find one of those to compare.
The 1990 was considered a great year. I would love to try that wine at this point. Should be magnificent.
you’re gonna get a lot of suggestions for German Riesling here. They’re all gonna be great. But if you want something a little different, and domestic (since you mentioned California), check out Hermann Weimer winery from the Finger Lakes. they’re under $30 (under 20 for their base-level dry riesling) and are fantastic.
now for the German side: if you don’t like sweet riesling, and are willing to spend a few bucks, I would definitely suggest checking out riesling labeled “Grosses Gewachs” or “GG”. They are always going to be dry (or at least perceptively dry) and will always come from what the producers feel is a good site. My favorite producer of GG wines is probably Donnhoff.
If Cali-Riesling is too sweet, German might be, too.
Why not try an Austrian?
Austrian is a good alternative as are wines from the Alsace. Austrian is much harder to find in my market than wines from Germany and the Alsace. I have found that the wines from better producers in Germany have plenty of acidity to keep the wine from being cloying. I find this information from Wine Folly to be quite useful in explaining German Riesling wine. Understanding German Riesling by the Label | Wine Folly
These guys get some of the best in the world, all across the “sweetness” chart:
I recommend Dr Uli Stein if you don’t want too sweet. His trockens easily rival many of the greatest GG. Also, Gerhard recommended Austria. There are some truly tremendous Riesling from there as well. I am taken with Alzinger to be sure. I wouldn’t get caught up in the “sweetness” argument too much, as I find there is a place for each of the manifold levels (for lack of a better term) of sweetness in Riesling.
Really great guidance in this thread! Thank you! Let me know if anyone is in the boulder Colorado area and maybe we can share!
I mostly want to try apples to apples to taste the age. Will try to go for something from the same vineyard to open side by side. Will take some research.
If you want to try a more recent wine try another Urziger Wurzgarten from another recent great vintage like 2015. This is a top vineyard site.
1990 is a fabulous vintage, but I have never had a wine from Christoffel-Berres so I do not know how good the wine will be. I have had a number of excellent wines from J.J. Christoffel https://www.skurnik.com/producer/christoffel/ (including from Urziger Wurzgarten) but almost all of these have been from before 2001. Other excellent producers of Urziger Wurzgarten are Merkelbach and Loosen.
If you want to try a Riesling that is very dry, I would try a wine from Alsace from Trimbach. Their Cuvee Frederic Emile generally is outstanding.