Berlin Riesling Cup - Grosse Gewächse 2011

Last week-end I organized and hosted the “Berlin Riesling Cup”. I served blind 40 Top-Rieslings of the vintage 2011 to a group of sommeliers, wine-dealers, journalists and Riesling-lovers. Winner was 2011 Schäfer-Fröhlich “Felseneck” GG

(Click to enlarge!)


As I often say 2010 was a winemakers vintage, 2011 is a winedrinkers vintage. The 11s are relatively easy to understand&approachable with a sublime&ripe acidity and a lot of drinking pleasure. I don´t think the 11s have the aging potential of the 10s or 08s, but we will find out. On the other hand it is helpful to have such great&ready Dry Grand Cru Rieslings while the 10s are sleeping in the cellar. I find 2011 is a similar vintage to 2009 and 2007. Again the “Berlin Riesling Cup” underlines the fact that the Best Dry Grand Cru Rieslings Grosses Gewächs come right now from the regions Nahe&Rheinhessen when you have a look to the Top 10.


Ranking

1 Schäfer Fröhlich Felseneck 95,22
2 Schäfer Fröhlich Felsenberg 94,56
3 Von Winning Langenmorgen 94,00
4 Battenfeld Spanier Am schwarzen Herrgott 93,89
5 Wagner Stempel Höllberg 93,78
6 Wittmann Brunnenhäuschen 93,44
7 Keller Abtserde 93,33
8 Dönnhoff Felsenberg 93,33
9 Diel Pittermännchen 93,22
10 Christmann IDIG 93,22
11 Emrich Schönleber Halenberg 93,11
12 Keller Pettenthal 93,00
13 Diel Burgberg 92,67
14 Van Volxem Scharzhofberger P 92,67
15 Kühn Landgeflecht 92,44
16 Kühling-Gillot Rothenberg 92,11
17 Emrich Schönleber Frühlingsplätzchen 92,11
18 Rebholz Kastanienbusch 92,11
19 Battenfeld Spanier Frauenberg 92,00
20 Rebholz Im Sonnenschein “Ganzhorn” 91,89
21 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle 91,63
22 Künstler Hölle EG GK 91,44
23 Van Volxem Gottesfuß 91,33
24 Schloss Johannisberg Johannisberg 91,33
25 Breuer Nonnenberg 91,33
26 BW Pechstein 91,11
27 Wittmann Morstein 91,11
28 Bürklin Wolf Kirchenstück 90,89
29 Fürst Centgrafenberg 90,78
30 Van Volxem Alterberg AR 90,78
31 Künstler Hölle EG 90,67
32 Kühling Gillot Pettenthal 90,56
33 Bürklin Wolf Gaisböhl 90,56
34 Keller Morstein 90,22
35 Schloss Schönborn Marcobrunn 90,11
36 Bassermann Jordan Pechstein 90,00
37 Keller Kirchspiel 89,67
38 Horst Sauer Eschendorfer Lump 89,33
39 Dönnhoff Dellchen 88,56
40 Ress Rottland 87,67
41 Breuer Schlossberg off-bottle/cork


Best GG of the night for me was 2011 Keller “Absterde”

Surprise of the night was the estate DIEL

2011 Diel “Pittermännchen” GG und 2011 Diel “Burgberg” GG were stunning.


Cheers,
Martin Zwick
http://berlinkitchen.posterous.com/

Cheers Martin!
I have no idea what the numbers are good for (I love that wine .14 more than the other…), but the collective respect in the room for the stars of the evening is good news indeed.
Any tasting notes??
Seems like 2011 is a great dry wine vintage.
Any sign of the Wagner Stempel Heerkretz?

Robert,

maybe the 2 Danes will publish some impressions in english. I had no time, as I was the host.

As I often said, “2010 is a winemakers vintage - 2011 is a winedrinkers vintage”.

No “Heerkretz” served.


Cheers,
Martin

Thanks Martin… you are such a good source of timely information. The quality of the Felseneck continues to astound me, and I will defintiely add the 11 (and glad that another 6 pack of the 10 just made its way into my cellar at an attractive price). For the 11, is it still advisable to open the day before (as I did with great pleasure last time I tried the 10).

Henry,

honestly I was totally surprised about the result,as the Rieslings from Tim are quite wild as you know. Or as the famous german dealer Pinard de Picard says “born to be wild”. I thought these wines are not everbody´s cup of tea. BTW, a strong recommnedation is also the sweet 2010/2011 “Felseneck” Spätlese GK.

In addition the german journalist Stephan Reinhardt strongly recommends 2011 “Schiefergestein” Kabinett.

Cheers,
Martin

And the Vulkangestein, a dry wine from uniquely volcanic soils, is an amazing value. A baby GG if you will…

Many thanks to you Martin for arranging this great event. The food was faboulus as always and Martin is the perfect host. His wine-knowledge is in a league of its own and everybody felt very relaxed during the 8 hours (!) of tasting
It was an evening of many heights and a few depths, and there was some wines which caused some controversy……
First of all: the bottles were popped and poured directly from the fridge (9-10⁰C). IMO they should have been open for 24 hours in order to do the wines justice.

• 1 Schäfer Frölich is a huge fav of mine and it was absolutely deserved the his 2 wines became 1st and 2nd , although I did not rate the Felseneck as high as it deserved because of lack of airing time.

2. Keller Morstein was a mess to begin with – sulphur smelling and not in balance. After 15 minutes in a swirling glass it became spitzenklasse and it will be one of the greatest GG in 2011. Absterde was another story – accessible from the start.
3. The Wittmann wines were once again great.
4. Schönleber GG´s were in a strange place, not yielding much
5. Diel surprised me be both great balance and expression. Dönnhoff likewise, but this was more to be expected.
6. Pettenthal: great controversy. The Kühling-Gillot was IMO heavy flat imprecise warm and messy. The Keller example was lasersharp, in balance and with the perfect acid expression. Some rated the K-G highest…… .

7.         Everybody waited and waited for a flight of G Max and La Borne, but  <img src="/uploads/db3686/original/2X/3/3bd35321ffd7ed2243d1d518ebb606d554360600.gif" width="50" height="22" alt="neener" title="[neener.gif]"/>
   

8. My top ten: (Very happy to be able to spot may favs blind)

1. Schäfer Fröhlich Felsenberg
2. Keller Morstein
3. Keller Abtserde
4. Wittmann Brunnenhäuschen
5. Wittmann Morstein
6. Schäfer Fröhlich Felseneck
7. Wagner Stempel Höllberg
8. Dönnhoff Felsenberg
9. Keller Pettenthal
10. Diel Burgberg

Lotta great wines on the top of that list. Diel has been pretty good for the last couple of seasons!

Good to hear, just picked up a few of the Schafer Frohlich Felsenberg.

Thanks for your post Martin,

I have unfortunately not been able to get to Germany this year to taste anything (and Arizona is both a literal and figurative desert with regards to Riesling) , and this was very helpful info. Much appreciated.

Cheers

Todd

P.S As I often say 2010 was a winemakers vintage, 2011 is a winedrinkers vintage. The 11s are relatively easy to understand&approachable with a sublime&ripe acidity and a lot of drinking pleasure. I don´t think the 11s have the aging potential of the 10s or 08s, but we will find out. On the other hand it is helpful to have such great&ready Dry Grand Cru Rieslings while the 10s are sleeping in the cellar. I find 2011 is a similar vintage to 2009 and 2007. Again the vintage underlines the fact that the Best Dry Grand Cru Rieslings Grosses Gewächs come right now from the regions Nahe&Rheinhessen.

Worth-reading article by Marie Ahm about German Riesling:

http://www.jamessuckling.com/the-potential-of-german-riesling.html

P.S. If you´re looking for a new book about german Riesling. Here we have a new released book by the well-known journalist Stephan Reinhardt.

This brings up an interesting point, Martin. For several years in a row, now, I come away from Wiesbaden thinking that the same handful of producers, always from Rheinhessen and Nahe, had the greatest wines at the tasting. Is it because they are superior producers to everyone else, because of inherent superiority of their vineyards, and/or because of favorable climatic conditions in those areas for each of the vintages? Not having anything better to go on, I’m inclined to think it is a combination of the three.

Challenging question, Claude. Of course it is a mix of all three. For example I heared last week-end that the winemakers of Pfalz region will maybe harvest this week. In contrast the winemakers of the Nahe region did´n´t even think about it right now. This explains a lot…

Martin: The 2011 Schiefergestein is quasi the “second (dry) wine” from Felseneck. It’s one of my favorites. The fruity Kabi has Felseneck on the label. I might be wrong, though. I really like Tim’s wines, especially Felseneck. I, however, have to cringe a little (sorry) when seeing such a great line-up of dry German Rieslings judged by point scores with decimel points. In addition, there are some other top wines out there. A couple of weeks ago, I tasted Wittmann’s 2011 GGs, including an old-vine Riesling called “La Borne,” alongside Ansgar Clüsserath’s. And Eva’s Apotheke Spätlese trocken (no GG) was no slouch either.

Is that quote really from Tino Seiwert of Pinard de Picard? In Germany, K&U is one of the top merchants as well.

La Borne is indeed an amazing wine, Lars, but it is an auction wine and made in very, very tiny quantities.

BTW, you can get some great wines, too, if you go across the street from Wittmann to Groebe.

Lars,

yes, it is from Tino. Have a look: http://www.pinard-de-picard.de/news/n_12.10.09_TinosWeine.html

And don´t worry about the scores with decimel points, we have deep respect for the GGs. This is a kind of statistic we only make once a year. I outscource this to a friend, who makes it like this. As a host I have a lot of other things to worry.

No doubt, “La Bourne” is great, but like Claude said in very small quantities and sometimes only at auction.

Cheers,
Martin

The Battenfield-Spanier I loved at Wiesbaden and at the estate in August. That is a special site. I also had mixed feelings about the Kuhling Gillot Pettenthal. Tim, as usual, killed it in 2011. Wagner-Stempel also, if it was tasted, would have placed in the top 10. Easy as I tasted all of those at Wiesbaden and the quality is comparable.

Lyle, did you have the Wagner Stempel Heerkretz GG??? The Hollberg was in the lineup, and placed well, it seems.