Last 93 pointers of the year

2008 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (12/31/2021)
Served double blind. Olives galore. Like, to the (almost) detriment of everything else. A little smoky as well, I guess. Unmistakeably northern Rhone syrah, though. The palate is thinning out, and shows quite a bit of age as well. The general lack of distinct fruitiness had me thinking this was one of the relatively mature vintages, perhaps 2000 or 2004. 2008 was also a contender but I found the fruit more advanced here than it ought to have been. High acid and saline elements; relatively little fruit remaining. Given the age I was thinking that Côte Rôtie would have been the guess, but with 2008 St. Joseph would also have been in play. As a postscript, it’s been years since I’ve had this – previously it was back in the day when Tru was still operating, and this was sitting on the list for under $100, and you could have it as often as you wanted, too… (93 pts.)

2014 Weingut Keller Kirchspiel Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Rheinhessen (12/31/2021)
Served double blind. Unequivocally German riesling from the spicy aromatics on the nose. A very slight hint of reduction with plenty of sweet fruit tones as well (and though sweet, this didn’t feel like it was tropical or heavily ripe). The palate is surprisingly light given the intensity of the nose, and shows its acidic cut and minerality more prominently. The (relative) dilution of the fruit had me easily thinking a recent less-ripe vintage with 2014 fitting the bill most closely. I ended up guessing Emrich-Schönleber as a producer though. (93 pts.)

2001 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Nahe (12/31/2021)
#15-02, 8.5% abv. White capsule (there’s only one bottling of this as far as I’m aware), and a super leaky bottle that was still fortunately very much sound. Slightly smoky, with floral tones on the nose. The aromas aren’t particularly fruit-forward here. This bottle also has a slight bit of petrol on the nose. The palate is quite subdued, but not lacking in flavour or concentration at all; there are some sweet stone fruit notes as well, but overall the sweetness doesn’t suffer from Prädikat creep. High acidity, but texturally this is creamier than I would expect. (93 pts.)