08 Pegau / 01 Prager / 05 Pepiere

A random smattering of bottles to open the year that I thought would be helpful touch points for the community:

2008 Pegau CR - a controversial bottle given the amount of VA/variability to be had. I’ve been working through half a case and several earlier bottles definitely showed spritz/elevated va. This bottle was excellent, with classic pegau aromas of coffee, toffee, some bramble, without the brettiness of earlier vintages. I don’t drink Pegau very often, but when I have an on-point aged bottle, I wonder why. Excellent showing and hopefully indicative of maturation rather than variability.

2005 Pepiere Clos de Briords en magnum - lot of anticipation going into this, as people in my circles have raved about it. It was less ‘wow’ and simply good. More rounded than younger Peps, but didn’t have that extra gear I’d want from a magical bottle of aged Muscadet. As comparison, a bottle of 05 Luneau Papin I had probably 2 years ago was more memorable. Maybe it just needs more time neener

2001 Prager Klaus - such a joy to drink. No danger of going over, in fact hit a second gear after about an hour of air. A quarter of the bottle sealed in a repour showed spectacular when revisited. Starts with classic floral wooliness, but hit a second gear of citric fruit and stone. Far more memorable than a bottle of 01 Trimbach CFE I opened last fall.

Cool wines and notes, Faryan.

08 Pegau have been mostly good to me until I polished off the last of my case purchase, maybe about 8 years ago.

Also, now I wonder if Pepiere’s Clos de Briords are really not meant to go that long, e.g. 15 years?

Great notes, and I completely agree about Luneau Papin. In fact, I’ve tasted both side by side at Dressner tastings, and it’s not much of a competition, the LP wines just have a lot more going on.

Exactly as I would expect.

Agreed. Prager is life :slight_smile:

2001 was a fine vintage for Prager … and the Wachau valley …

The 2008 Pegau was always fine to drink, despite being from a smaller vintage … I’ve still 11 bts left for the next 10 years. No VA issues here in my cellar …