Ok, in the past few weeks we had a thread about the Nahe, which I found very helpful. I’d like to know people’s opinions on the wineries of the Rheingau. The region gets a lots less attention here than MSR/Nahe/Rheinhessen(at least Keller). What wineries/wines are particularly good, what should one avoid?
I also admit that the VDP Rheingau auction thread inspired me to post this since one poster said there were no estates that interested him there (I haven’t seen the auction catalog, so I don’t know how broad the offerings are.
Personally, I have a sentimental spot for Robert Weil, since it was one of the bottles that introduced me to Riesling. I also know people have recommended Leitz, Eva Fricke and Schloss Johannisberg in other threads on Riesling. Thoughts/comments?
Lots of excellent producers in the Rheingau, just mostly not the historical estates of note.
Leitz, Spreitzer, and Weil are the ones I have the most of, but there are several others of note. Breuer and Kunstler are both excellent. August Kesseler makes some nice wines, though I have not had any in a few years.
Not a fan of the Rheingau. It has many of the most famous vineyard sites in Germany and most of the wineries making wine from these sites have underperformed for a generation or more. There are a few excellent wineries in the region like Leitz, etc., but for the most part IMHO this is the most underperforming major wine region in the world these days. It is just a shame that unless you get to try older bottles we have not experienced what should be the top of this region in my wine buying lifetime.
Robert Weil is my favorite I have had. Leitz, Kunstler, Breuer are fantastic. This is not an area that I collect however. I buy a few here and there. Interested in this thread. Thanks for the information.
Oh come on David I 100% predicted this comment. I watched you comment on Keller over and over and then I saw you post that you have not had the wines in 10 years.
Tell me how many wines you have had from JB Becker from the last 5 vintages. And we all know your cellar is public and you seem to post quite a few wines that you drink. I don’t see a single JB Becker wine in your cellar
I don’t mind disagreeing on wines but I do think it is unfair to comment on wines you only have a vague familiarity with.
Ah the Keller issue. I stopped buying the wines because I didn’t like them.
As for Becker, I was served some at tastings, and did not enjoy them enough to seek them out. I see you fawning over them, and knowing how divergent our palates clearly are, I continue to steer clear.
Thanks, Robert for mentioning Becker. Like JP Kühn, I forgot him because I rarely see the wines in my market. What I have liked about them is that older releases are available and fairly priced. For someone with only a small cellar, it’s a great way to try more aged riesling.
It is not just me who fawns over them. When Stephen started importing them to the U.S. almost every major sommelier in NYC flipped over them and immediately added them to their lists. The majority of the people I have poured them for fall in love with them. Not to mention he is a winemaker’s winemaker and revered in Germany by his peers.
As for wines you don’t like that is cool but I don’t think it is fair to keep giving opinions on wines you have not tried recently. The Keller wines have changed a lot since you stopped buying them. As have the recent vintages of JB Becker. I would be absolutely shocked if you tried the 2015 JB Becker Jean Baptiste and did not like it.
i am curious about any reports on Eva Fricke. CT notes are generally really positive and the prices always are pretty attractive, but ive never tried them
I like the wines very much but can’t say they are in my normal buying rotation. She just switched importers to The German Wine Collection and the prices are about to double. She trained at JB Becker before moving to Leitz and then on her own.
Well, this is one reason I started this trend. Wnever Rheingau is mentioned, people say it is underperforming. I am not expert enough to judge, though I will say some of the better Rieslings I have had have been from Rheingau, especially from Weil and PJ Kühn. I’ve also been disappointed by others, but that is true for most German regions for me, as well.
Why do people think the region underperforms? It is a matter of resting on one’s laurels? If so, why doesn’t MSR do that, since it is just as established historically as Rheingau. Is it simply that many of the estates, as far as I can tell, are larger in the Rheingau. I’m thankful for all the insight on this thread.
Some formerly well regarded estates (Von Simmern, Schloss Schonborn, etc.) just really dropped the ball starting in the mid-1970s. It dragged down the entire region. Weil was one of the main producers to pick it back up again. Eventually Leitz started making some really top wines, and others as well. Schloss Johannisberg is really coming back, but they had a long period of poor performance as well.