Back to Sarah’s initial point, I went deep on 2005 BDX as it was just around the time I was getting into wine, I liked BDX, and I bought into the hype.
Part of buying into the hype is not truly understanding the reference point between what differentiates this vintage from what the critics (or the vignerons) are saying.
In hindsight, I wish I bought less 2005 BDX, not only because I had less referential knowledge at the time, but I’ve come to value diversity and quality over breadth and homogeneity.
As such, I’m trying to apply that to the latest few bumper crops, including 09/10 Burgundy, 2014 White Burg, 2015 Germany/Austria, etc… There will always be another vintage, and there will always be the opportunity to hit the next pitch.
Partly with you on this. Quality for sure is key - diversity is less important for us now. Though we still buy consistently vintage to vintage, over the years, we’ve come to buy fewer and fewer producers in each of the regions we love, and have started buying more depth of our favorites. I’d rather have a case of my favorite cru from a particular producer rather than 12 mixed bottles. The pleasure of following that wine over 10 - 20 years or more is greater for me than the pleasure of tasting more widely. We’re lucky that we can still buy an exciting variety, but it’s far more focused than in the past.
I don’t think we could have bought so deeply in 2015 Germany if we didn’t have a high level of comfort and experience with the region. It’s not a new thing for us at all. That’s why my initial post was largely about producers getting shuffled around on my Top 20 list rather than “suddenly I have a ton of Riesling!” Not that there’s anything wrong with that, either! Holdings of these producers were already significant for us. It’s far less of a gamble to buy multiple cases of Emrich-Schonleber Halenberg GG when you already know it’s one of your favorite white wines in the world.
Well 2015 did not change the overall makeup of my cellar because it was 75% German prior to 2015 but I sure do have a lot more to drink! I did go deeper on some producers than in the past and added many new ones. And I am still backfilling on 2013 one of my all time favorite vintages because I love Acid!
Let me clarify as there’s a nuance that I didn’t flesh out: I have say 30-35 producers that I find warrant buying often. Several of these have several different cuvees (e.g., Ganevat!). I think it’s unreasonable to buy a case of each cuvvee from each producer each vintage, let alone a 6 pack. As such, I buy more opportunistically, looking for 3 bottle lots of diverse vintage/region/style combos, even as low as 1-3 for real expensive bottlings. Part of the rational is a desire to keep my cellar < 1000 bottles given my consumption pattern and desire to age my BDX/Burg/Piedmont . I completely get that focus on key areas that one loves is a logical evolution in wine appreciation, but even that can be hard to manage.
Agreed, Faryan. The realities of budget and space are limiting factors, so one must always be selective and adjusting one parameter impacts all the others. How one selects will necessarily be driven by differing priorities, drinking patterns, and simply what makes one happiest. Not to mention that the best laid plans… I find it interesting to hear how others have developed in their drinking/buying patterns as my own development has surprised me somewhat over time.
One thing to remember is that often vintage assessments are just wrong. My guess is that this will not apply to many 2015 Germans, but only for those who like higher acidity (which I do).
Parker pushed 1986 and 1990 Bordeaux. Are they better than 1985 and 1989? Not clear. And, using Faryan’s method, buying favorite producers in a lot of vintages, it does not matter.
Did you buy any 01 or 02 Germans? Those were years – particularly 2001 – that many people went long on riesling for the first time (per David B’s post above). 2001 really put German riesling on the map in the US market. Some of us had been buying before that, but the range of wines available really expanded after that and people who had never bought a riesling began laying them down. There hasn’t been that much hype for a vintage again until 2015.
'01 and '02 Germans on release were before my time buying, or just when I was beginning to buy. But I have backfilled some and Jonathan had some. I really started buying Riesling around 2004 vintage.
The '15s are much less screechy than the '10s, based on what I tasted at the Rieslingfeier ten days ago (notes posted here). I found many 2010s too high in acid for my tastes. By contrast, among the '15s we tasted 10 days ago, only a handful of dry or near-dry '15s seemed too tart to me.
I think Howard is in the minority in finding many 15s disappointing, based on people I know who attended that tasting or have tasted the vintage elsewhere. I’m not saying it’s the vintage of the century, as there have been lots of good vintages. But it seems mighty strong to me. (I loved a lot of '07s and adored the '12 Kabinetts.)
I have found less acidity in the German Rieslings versus the Austrian ones from 2015. I did not go long on German Riesling but bought two mixed casesof Austrian 2015 Riesling. Only bought 6 bottle of Selbach from 2015.
First off, '13 is nowhere near the quality of '10 or '15, so write that off now.
'15 has a balance that is closer to '12 (not as high though), but nowhere near the cliff edge that is '10. Overall I find '15 to be a wonderful drinking vintage that will likely age well. A few wines hit the heights, but most live in that very good range.
I went really long on the 2001 Germans, having about 25 cases or more at one point, though I’ve consumed a lot already. The only region-vintage combo that beats that is 2005 Bordeaux, where I somehow ended up buying around 42 cases.
I bought 130% of the Riesling I already had in the cellar (1976-2014) with the 2015 German vintage. For me this is how I wish I could have behaved with the 2001 vintage.
As a data point, I slightly more than doubled from my average of 2013 and 2014 purchases. 2015 is a fantastic vintage, but when already buying wines from stellar producers like Keller, Donnhoff, Schafer-Frohlich, Lauer, etc. there are plenty of amazing wines in every vintage. Interestingly, my average bottle price is lower for 2015, as I bought heavier in the “lower-level” wines that benefited from the high ripness and extremely friendly harvest conditions.
Re: acidity, the combination of sunny days and cool nights during September and October of 2015 allowed high levels of TA to develop despite the ripeness and extreme heat of the summer. Stefan Rumpf of Kruger-Rumpf pointed out to me that their 2015s have higher acidity than the 2014s, despite the stereotypical view of a weaker vintage as “thin, green, tart”. (Fantastic wines, and great value, BTW)
All that being said, 2016 looks very promising too…
Holdings of these producers were already significant for us. It’s far less of a gamble to buy multiple cases of Emrich-Schonleber Halenberg GG when you already know it’s one of your favorite white wines in the world.![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}