I don’t think people are getting riled up as much as trying to frame the vintage for what it is. In my opinion, and I haven’t tasted much at all, but read between the lines enough, 2021 is unique and worth buying but isn’t a hallmark vintage you should stock up on. People who either buy truckloads or none are an anomaly to me. If you like a producer why wouldn’t you buy at least modest amount each vintage. I do as such with Prum, Keller, Willi Schaefer, and Stein.
Stephan Reinhardt came out with his reviews today, here are a couple of quotes.
“There have not been comparably radiant, electrifying Rieslings for years, maybe decades.”
“But my first samples on the Nahe and Mosel showed that the 2021 Rieslings in particular are wines for two, three or even more generations!”
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I also buy the same producers every year. 2021 is ideal for my personal palate preference that is why I am going deeper this year, particular Kabinetts, than a normal year.
Zero. But I’m quoting people who have tasted. If you think it’s wrong, take it up with the person I quoted. We’ve been over this and over the numbers too.
And I say what I said having bought already over 2 cases of Kabinett and several tockens/GGs. So, I have to deal with the consequences, though unlike other years, I went heaviest on Steinmetz Kabis and he picks late. I also have bought several Spätlese feinherb that may not be able to deal with the acid as well. It is what it is.
I don’t have wines to sell.
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I’m guessing we have very, very different definitions of going deep, but how do you compare this vintage to 2019 for Kabs (which I have tasted extensively, for me)?
And there are 7 Kabinetten in his Top 100 vs 22 Spätlesen
2019 is a nice vintage with decent acidity. The 2021s are smaller in scale but yet have more of everything if that makes sense. It is this really interesting blend of acid, fruit and dry extract at lower alcohol levels. Think of it as a muscular Ballerina.
And you took this quote completely out of context.
The full quote is:
Higher predicates than Auslese—Beerenauslese, Eiswein or Trockenbeerenauslese—are even rarer, and when they do exist, the quantities are so small; but “unfortunately,” they are also fantastic in quality, so the prices, if the market controls them, threaten to become astronomically high. After all, the best high predicates are Rieslings to keep for several generations! There have not been comparably radiant, electrifying Rieslings for years, maybe decades. So far, among the high predicates, the 2021 TBAs from Fritz Haag, Dr. Hermann and Max Ferdinand Richter are at the top of the podium, even among the Auslesen.
He’s talking about Auslese+ not about Kabinett
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I loved the 2019 Kabs (especially Schloss Lieser’s) because they were really just discounted Spatlesen 
I have heard the muscular ballerina analogy before. Didn’t end well. Of course Robert and I clearly have different views on what constitutes a balanced wine. It’s all good, but our tastes are very different.
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This other quote is also out of context.
The quote, edited for the topic at hand is this:
The acidity in 2021 is abnormally high and not for heavy minds or sensitive stomachs. Nonetheless, it does not stand in isolation but is counterbalanced by considerable extract levels at moderate alcohol levels. Above all, potassium and calcium buffer the analytically frighteningly high acids, which were reduced by precipitating tartar. Those who have hastily deacidified may soon run into problems: chemically deacidified wines will not age as well as natural wines, if they can age at all. There were other methods to cope with the acidity, even if the winegrowers were scared at first during the harvest and after the first tastings of the musts and even the young wines. Longer standing times on the skins are just as effective a means of natural pH correction as the pressing process itself and, of course, the extended time on the lees—perhaps the most elegant means of integrating the acidity well and building body or texture. Many dry 2021s, especially Rieslings, have just been bottled—at the end of July and beginning of August; many others continue to lie on their lees. Many freshly bottled wines are still barely ready for tasting, if at all, as the Grosses Gewächs tastings in Wiesbaden earlier this week showed. But my first samples on the Nahe and Mosel showed that the 2021 Rieslings in particular are wines for two, three or even more generations!
This is exactly what we have been talking about.
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Not quite sure what you are trying to prove?
You really need to taste the wines….
Do you really think most of the producers we talk about here deacidify?
Yep. We all have different tastes. What appeals to one, may not to someone else. Sometimes there’s overlap, or not at all. It’s in part why it’s so interesting to read people’s tasting notes on wines on the forum. Over time, one starts to get a sense for certain Berserker’s preferences and where those stand in relation to their own.
I highlighted two sentences. The point is the high acids and how to balance them.
And balancing extremely high acids is very hard to do. Lots of failures in 1996. Fewer, but still a lot in 2010. Hoping for better in 2021, but not holding my breath.
I’ve tasted some two dozen 21ers now. Only found one out of balance with respect to the acid. Not as big a sample size as Robert or others. I do tend to prefer more acid in my rieslings than many though.
i bought a goodly amount of the 1996 vintage. It turned out to be not so goodly as the acidity remained hard and unforgiving over time. I recall being told early on that the issue was a predominance of malic over lactic acid.
There were very few bottles of 1996 from anyone that I enjoyed, although it was great as a teaching tool. But I do recall a lot of hub-bub initially over this vintage and the striking but wonderful acidity. is 2021 a reprise?
Richter was quoted in Mr. Panzer’s offer as comparing his 2021 wines to 1996 (“We compare the 2021 vintage to 2004, 1996, and 1991, but it is probably even better than those ones”). That’s a scary thought to me.
I did write to Mosel Fine Wines regarding this concern. Their reply : “We published in the latest Issue a graph on total acidity, but indeed we did not go into detail on the difference between malic and tartaric. The big difference between 2021 and say 1996 is that in 2021 the main part of the acidity is tartaric. Even though it is on the high side, we believe that most of the best wines (especially the fruity and sweet wines) will evolve superbly well over time.”
Wine for thought…
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My 2 ¢. This bickering seems to have run its course and to have devolved into something very academic and unproductive.
Try the wines like Robert and Rodrigo have. If you like them, buy more. If you don’t, don’t, and sell the ones you have—there will be interested folks as it is a short vintage and allocations are way down. If you are too chicken to play, or would rather spend your money elsewhere, so be it. Your prerogative.
Personally, I love 1996 and 2010 so Bueker’s fear of a repeat is actually like honey to this bee. Not that I needed encouragement. In 1996, like always I think, you had to buy the right wines. They weren’t hiding.
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I’m buying a few cases of '21, mostly Müller. Don’t believe the hype about “classic” vintage of the century. Especially from the ITB fellows who have something to sell.