D.C. German Wine Society 2019 Tasting

The local chapter has been catching up on their regular vintage tastings that have been put on hold for so long. They had the 2018 a few weeks ago and last night was the 2019 organized by Carl Willner at the Colonnade in a beautiful part of the city. Phil Bernstein from MacArthur Beverages, definitely a SME on German wines, hosted the tasting. It definitely showed that 2019 was a wonderful year for all classifications of German wines. Here are my notes (I’m not a as verbose as some of y’all).

Clemens Busch Trocken – Very light color and nose. Dry with high acidity and light tropical fruit. A very simple wine that is a back porch quaffer.
Clemens Busch Vom Roten Schiefer – Again, very light color and nose. A bit more acidity than the Trocken, but the fruit took a while to coax out and it was again light tropicals. A very light simple wine
Peter Lauer Ayler Kupp Fass 9 Kern - A step up! This was a very floral nose and a much bigger wine than prior. Sweet fruit showing through on this Kabinett with plenty of acidity highlighted by minerals and limes. A very nice wine. I’ve always been a fan of his wine.
AJ Adam Dhron Hofberg Kabinett – This had a bit of a barnyard sulfur nose to it that I kept swirling to dissipate and couldn’t. The underling fruit was a bit suppressed but it is there. I think needs more time and/or air.
Dr Wagner Ockfener Bockstein Kabinett – Big mineral nose but hints of chlorine to it. Swirling did dissipate the chlorine on this one. I’m so surprised such an inexpensive wine showed so well. Very classic Mosel. This is an easy buy.
Karl Erbes Urziger Wurzgarten Kabinett – Another QPR wine. The nose needed a little coaxing. Palate showed nice guava and limes. Surprising long finish to this one.
Vollenweider Krover Steffensberg Spatlese - Another step up here! More layers of complexity to this wine and increasing levels of sugar compared to the prior wines. Had a big nose with petrol palate and showing limes and honeydew melon.
Vollenweider Wolfer Goldgrube Spatlese – This was very similar to its brother but with a bigger mouth feel. I preferred the Krover because it seemed to integrate the fruit slightly better with the acid and sugar, but still a wonderful wine.
Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Spatlese #5 – Now we are sitting up in our seat. A well crafted wine showing green apple significantly in both nose and palate. Multiple layers to enjoy. I should buy more of these.
JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese - Mine and I’m sure the rest of the crowd’s WOTN. Super wow! So much complexity. You would think a wine like this being so young it wouldn’t be showing that well. But, my oh my, this just sang Mosel. The sweetness is definitely there but not cloying at all. A perfect combination of fruit, sugar, and acidity. A wine to hoard!

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How does one go about joining the DC German Wine Society?

Great and super helpful notes. JJP really did hit it out of the park in 2019, which I suppose should be the least surprising thing ever.

https://germanwinesocietydc.org/

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Cool notes, thanks for sharing Brian. Didn’t know there was a German Wine Society. Surprised there’s not more activity of the society in NY

The NYC chapter went dormant many years ago. I also ran a New England chapter for a while until my work travel demands eliminated any time I had to manage it. There’s a chapter in southern Jersey/Philly.

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Thanks for the information. That’s what I gathered from browsing their website. They still note you as the New England chair.

Seems like the DC chapter is the one that coordinates/post about the events in DC, Philly/NJ, and SF. Don’t see any recent information on the ‘main’ German Wine Society site, and the SF one seems down.

Bummed there’s no active NY chapter. So many riesling fanatics around here.

I’ll have to keep an eye out for future NJ and DC events

NJ/Philly has been run for years by a woman (a dear friend) in South Jersey. Not sure what will happen coming out of the pandemic. I haven’t discussed it with her. She used to run 4 or 5 events a year.

had I known you were going Brian, I would have gone. I let my membership lapse this year. Oh well.

The DC chapter is reasonably active. I think the reason why is the proximity to the embassies and a few members who are in the wine and travel industry. They’ve also managed to get a few younger folks through the meetup groups and are trying to up their social media presence. At least thats what it seemed like at the members meeting back in early 2020.

I have a few minor criticisms of the group, but overall they have nice events.

That’s good to know about the "younger folks. The pictures on the website make the events look like they could be held in a retirement home. I was going to join anyway when they announce the next event, but it’s even better if I’m not the only person under 65 (or maybe 75?). It also bodes well for the society continuing on.

What are your minor criticisms if I may ask?

Wife and I will probably start attending once the youngest kiddo hits 1 year old this year, will make it a bit easier for us to get out of the house at 6-6:30 to get across town. Sad to have missed this, but couldn’t quite swing it unfortunately.

Well, when I say “younger” its really under 50. You are correct that the majority of the people at the events are retirement age. There have been a couple 30-somethings, which was nice. Its not really fair for me to complain. If I cared enough, I would be more involved in the group and push for certain things. Overall, its nothing serious, really. I would certainly like to see a couple unstructured events per year.

Also, GWS has a huge variation in wine knowledge from casual wine fans to super nerds who’ve forgotten more about German wines than I’ll ever know. Much more variation than on Berserkers. I think that does limit the type of events you can have.

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I should have dropped you a note Eric. I’m sorry. I just assumed your were going because I thought you still had a membership. Dave and I (both of us retirement age!) were disappointed not to see you. But what you say is true about the variety in the crowd. Mostly folks over 70 I"d say with a smattering of younger ones. And the German wine knowledge is just as varied too. Some of the questions Phil got were obviously from novices but then others showed their expertise.

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Phil is fabulous. Glad you had a great time.

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I’m really glad that’s what you mean.


I turn 46 in a couple of days! champagne.gif

I might have taken offense otherwise! (Though I assure you, in my mind I’m in my early 30’s.)

Thanks for the info!