An older Scheurebe

2000 Kurt Darting Ungsteiner Herrenberg Scheurebe Auslese

Having had a good result pairing the 2000 Darting Rieslaner Auslese with the same dish, I tried this with a North African beef stew. Moderately spiced with cumin, cinnamon, etc though not really hot spicy, and lots of dried apricots and prunes that make it sweet.

So this is a 21 year-old wine from a truly bad vintage (I confess to not knowing the Scheurebe-specific vintage impression) and supposedly particularly bad in the Pfalz. The grape is not known for aging like Riesling. It’s been on my list for a cull party.

The color was clear and was mistaken for red by others at the table. I’d describe it as a very dark golden orange, not really brown.

It was very sweet, tongue coating but not hugely viscous, with wonderful apricot/peach flavors that were intense and long-lasting. Most surprising perhaps was the great acidity. From the fruit and the acidity I would have guessed it to be an Eiswein.

The note from my other bottle, in 2008, turns out to be much the same, dark then too, except for botrytis, which didn’t stick out this time. It may really be immortal (I have no more and don’t expect to see it).

I found Terry Theise’s description from his 2001 catalog, which quantitates the must weight and acidity:
“2000 Ungsteiner Herrenberg Scheurebe Auslese
130 degrees Oechsle (way into BA) with . . . ready? . . . over 16 grams of acidity. Over-the-top pink grapefruit. If this is “Auslese” then I am Marlene Dietrich; huge, succu-lent, caramel-ly; tremendous acid spine; lime-essence finish. Showy but solid! +
SOS: 4 (between three and fifteen years)”

Fascinating. Thanks for the note Charles. FWIW, at least once in the way back (ugh…1999 is “way back”), Darting dumped “declassified Eiswein” into a Gewurtraminer Spatlese. I wonder if that also happened here.

I suppose we’ll never know.

Wow, Charles…amazing color for a white only 21 yrs old. Sure looks like a red to me.
Tom

Yes, Tom. Folks thought it was a red. I don’t have a pic but even in 2008 I wrote “ My goodness! Quite dark, like a Sam Adams ale, causing unfounded concern about oxidation.”

I emailed Terry Theise to ask if he had additional thoughts. He was kind enough to reply.

“I haven’t had that wine since tasting it at the winery in early 2001. As you note correctly, 2000 was a vintage best forgotten, but Darting managed to put at least a few viable botrytis-wracked grapes to good use. I doubt there was Eiswein in it, simply because no Eiswein could be made from that difficult year. With 130º Oechsle already, there would have been no need to further enhance the wine in any case. Heavy botrytis on grapes that weren’t physiologically ripe would have the effect of concentrating acidity, as must have been the case here.”

That explanation for the huge acidity is really interesting to me, and suggests a way that silk purses could be made from sows’ ears.