My first premoxed German riesling

2002 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling “Selection.”

I can’t even find this wine in CellarTracker. It’s 11.5% alcohol and the back label says it’s dry, but corresponds to Spatlese dry.

Anyway, the cork was great, although it had completely blackened on the outer edge, as though you had burned it with a match (see photos below). The wine had a deep brown coloration, and the usual bruised apple type flavor of oxidized white wine, as you can see from the photos.

Has anyone had premoxed German riesling? Was this being a dry riesling something that makes it more vulnerable than a typical off dry German riesling?

Spatlese Trocken - harvested at a ripeness level normally considered Spatlese, but fermented longer until the sugar level drops to Trocken dryness.

It would be more susceptible to premox without the residual sugar left of a normal Spatlese. Cork coloration like that usually means there’s been some seepage.

Couple of possibilities:

1. Standard heat damage resulting in premature aging
2. Not a wine for long keeping

I have never until recently thought of Richter as a candidate for extended aging.

David is of course right as that looks like it might have had some seepage, which could be caused by poor storage. And most don’t consider Richter a top producer.

I’m also not sure I’d consider 18 years of age a candidate for premox anyway. A few '02s I’ve tried lately (Von Schubert & Prum Spats) seem to be in a good spot, although I definitely like some fruit still left in my Rieslings.

The black cap is most likely from a type of fungus. Many German wines (especially the sweeter ones) tend to get this on the corks.

Thanks everyone. I actually didn’t realize it was a trocken until I started typing the post today.

The aging of German rieslings has been so bulletproof for me over the years, I guess I got complacent thinking about whether certain bottles should hold up or not.

Chris, this is a fascinating subject. I have had dozens of the most delicious German rieslings – from trocken to auslese and beyond – with decades of age, sometimes badly beaten up in shipping, and not once have I experienced what you describe. Just lucky?

Yet on the other hand my “problem bottle” rate with Alsatian riesling (Z-H, Weinbach, Trimbach, Barmes-Beucher, etc.) is quite high. More so of course with dry than VT or SGN.

Certainly insufficient data points, but still…anyone else have this experience?

Alsace had a real premox problem, especially in the late 1990s/early 2000s. It’s not totally gone now.

The Germans are known to be meticulous about every little detail. I wouldn’t be gobsmacked if told that Mosel Riesling wineries had a person inspecting & testing individual corks.

My experience, particularly of Alsatians, is probably not as extensive as yours, but I have had the same impression as you.

I’d gotten perhaps a little complacent about the Germans because they have been so bulletproof on aging.