2021 German Vintage Report - Whats old is new...(UPDATED FOR VOM BODEN TOUR HIGHLIGHTS)

Robert_Panzer · June 22, 2022, 7:16pm

Ask and you shall receive, sir Robert.
In my experience, they seemingly all regularly request such analyses.

Nick_Amis · June 26, 2022, 12:02pm

I tasted around 30-40 2021s a couple of weeks ago (courtesy of Howard Ripley in London) and, as someone who’s not especially keen on austerity, enjoyed the wines a lot more than I expected - ended up putting in a request for eight six-packs of Feinherb/Kab/Spat wines. The acidity comes across as incredibly refreshing and the wines are just so drinkable, with only a couple of exceptions. It was also interesting that the Spat and Aus on show weren’t particularly sweeter than many of the Kabs, just had a thicker body. It was a big contrast to the 2018s, I can tell you!

Robert_Panzer · June 26, 2022, 12:09pm

I had forgotten to mention the Loersch wines, absolutely knockout good, with consistency in '20 and '21.
One particular revelation for me is his Fels Terrasse bottling, a feinherb styled wine from the incredibly dramatic Jungheld portion of the Trittenheim Apotheke. That stuff is tremendous, so much so that i’m offering it now in Mag and 3L, which is a stretch for a category of wine that consumers don’t really know well.
In value for the money, as well as pure substantive excellence, his address should not be missed for Mosel lovers.
I have an offer out now for the “regular” range of goodies, and will eventually offer his two Bernkasteller Ring auction wines (Kabi and Spat from the Apotheke) to those who participate in the “regular” offering.
I’ve not yet dabbled in commercially offering auction wines, but with how tremendous the '21 Kabi and Spat wines can be, I think that this is the year for me to do so…fun new frontiers…

Ben_M_a_n_d_l_e_r · June 26, 2022, 5:17pm

As I understand it, dry extract is in fact a measurable number, and is quite commonly part of the stats that German producers ask for when they send their wines for lab analysis.
Dry extract is what would be left if you evaporated/boiled off all of the liquid, and had solids that remain.
Acidity remnants would also be a part of dry extract, but there are lots of other compounds too.
In particularly low yielding vintages, wind evaporation driven concentrated vintages, as well as in older vine wines, there are higher levels of dry extract.
As Dentice alludes to, there is a greater depth of flavor in higher dry extract wines, you can taste it.
For red wines, such analysis is requested far less, as the presence of tannin and other skin driven solids proves to be a less useful indicator of flavor intensity than in the crystalline/transparent white wines.
Riesling is rightly celebrated for its particularly strong capacity to transparently express terroir, like crystal clear lake water that let’s you see through it, to sense its geological origins.
I am not a scientist, nor technical expert, so please pardon me if I am oversimplifying or misrepresenting reality.
I’m just doing my best to help people learn new detail about something that I have found to be really important and consistent indicator of other-than-fruit flavor intensity, particularly what we refer to as minerality.

The first part of your comment is absolutely right. “Dry extract” is a technical term with a specific meaning - it’s basically everything in the wine that isn’t ethanol, water, and other volatiles.

I find it perplexing when people use the term “dry extract” in tasting notes because in most cases it seems to mean something very different from the technical definition. The “dry” in “dry extract” means “having been dried by heating” as opposed to “not sweet”, so actually the wines with the highest dry extract are dessert wines. You can calculate the sugar-free extract by subtracting the sugar content but that’s not the same as total dry extract, which leads to some confusion.

The dominant components in the dry extract of a wine without significant residual sugar are organic acids and glycerol. Those two make up maybe three quarters of the dry extract. Most of the rest is potassium salts of organic acids, small amounts of residual sugar, other minerals and, for red wines, tannins.

So a wine can have high dry extract from being very sweet, or from having very high acid, or from being made with a yeast that produces unusually high amounts of glycerol, or a host of other reasons related to ripeness and winemaking choices. For these reasons, “dry extract” as a technical term cannot be related to any particular organoleptic characteristics of a wine, making the use of the term in a tasting note “meaningless” from a technical perspective.

But some people do use the term in tasting notes. I don’t really know why. People seem to use it to mean concentration and intensity of flavor, or to refer to weight and palate texture. In which case I don’t know why they don’t just say that.

Robert_Panzer · June 26, 2022, 5:41pm

Thanks for your input and precisions, Ben.
In addition to your clarifying definitions of other aspects, this section stands out to me:
“The dominant components in the dry extract of a wine without significant residual sugar are organic acids and glycerol. Those two make up maybe three quarters of the dry extract. Most of the rest is potassium salts of organic acids, small amounts of residual sugar, other minerals and…”
I use the term to connote the other than fruit flavor intensity, as well as other than pure acidity. I presume that such flavors in a lab analysis sense derive from the chemical set of organic acids, potassium salts, and other minerals that you mention. The “debate” about “minerality” in wine and its scientific causality is not one that I wish to rekindle here. I use the term “dry extract” to refer to that flavor family from the sets of compounds you describe, and find the term to be functionally useful, if not technically lab precise, in expressing as much.
To me, poetic license does not need molecular scientific validation to make it an effective communicator of organoleptic reality. In fact, it is often even more effective at communicating how a wine’s taste experience feels…

Ben_M_a_n_d_l_e_r · June 26, 2022, 8:01pm

Thanks for your input and precisions, Ben.
In addition to your clarifying definitions of other aspects, this section stands out to me:
“The dominant components in the dry extract of a wine without significant residual sugar are organic acids and glycerol. Those two make up maybe three quarters of the dry extract. Most of the rest is potassium salts of organic acids, small amounts of residual sugar, other minerals and…”
I use the term to connote the other than fruit flavor intensity, as well as other than pure acidity. I presume that such flavors in a lab analysis sense derive from the chemical set of organic acids, potassium salts, and other minerals that you mention. The “debate” about “minerality” in wine and its scientific causality is not one that I wish to rekindle here. I use the term “dry extract” to refer to that flavor family from the sets of compounds you describe, and find the term to be functionally useful, if not technically lab precise, in expressing as much.
To me, poetic license does not need molecular scientific validation to make it an effective communicator of organoleptic reality. In fact, it is often even more effective at communicating how a wine’s taste experience feels…

I share your reluctance to rehash long-standing debates about the origin of certain wine traits

I’m also a lab person who fully recognizes that there are elements to the sensory experience of wine that we can’t easily quantify, whether that’s because they are emergent phenomena or related to individual experience or simply not fully understood from a chemical perspective. I totally agree that some terms can have meaning to an individual, or to a group with a shared lexicon, without needing to tie the definition to something measurable. And as a lover of wine I’m far more interested in conveying the meaning of an experience than in quantifying it.

Because I think that how we communicate that meaning is important, I find terms that are so ambiguous to be a bit sticky. “Dry extract” and “minerality” both suffer from meaning different things to different people, so it’s helpful to have some additional context in situations where those involved in the conversation don’t have a shared definition of such a term. I’ve been glad to hear yours!

Robert_Dentice · July 2, 2022, 6:40am

Excited to report on 2021 vintage. First tasting was of my wines so I will not give detailed notes other than to say DAMN I love 2021! I made three old school, tension filled, Kabinett Trockens and they are everything I had hoped for…

Chilling in the Mosel today before the intensive tour starts tomorrow at J.B. Becker.

WilliamS · July 5, 2022, 5:22pm

While we wait for Robert Dentice to report back, which wines specifically of the Steinmetz are you referring to Robert Panzer ?

Russell_Faulkner · July 5, 2022, 5:31pm

This is wonderful. Light and packed with energy.

John_Glas · July 5, 2022, 9:39pm

Some brief impressions on Selbach/Merkelbach although some are 2020. CellarTracker! Selbach/ Merkelbach Tasting

Robert_Dentice · July 6, 2022, 6:59am

Five days in, visits to Wolfram Stempel, Martin Müllen, J.B. Becker, Keller, Emrich-Schönleber, Schafer-Frohlich, Saalwaecher, Ulli Stein, Phil Lardot.

For me this IS a Kabinett vintage! The wines are ethereal. The acids are ripe and in no way jarring. The Spätlese are very good but in comparison to other years not radically different in the way the Kabinetts are in 2021. Certain dry wines are stunning as well.

More to come!

WilliamS · July 10, 2022, 8:47am

How does it compare to the Kabinett?
Have you tried other winemakers 2021 spätlese?

Greg_K · July 10, 2022, 11:33am

Just got Robert Panzer’s 2021 offer for the 2021 Schaefer-Frohlichs
Love those wines - my favorite dry Rieslings, and based on some of Robert’s reports on Instagram time to back up the truck (and wince at the credit card statement)…

Brian_S_t_o_t_t_e_r · July 10, 2022, 3:00pm

Waiting for Robert D. to post more TNs from his trip, but based on his IG posts I think he’s passed out in the Thornicher Ritsch and missed his flight back.

Guillermo_M · July 10, 2022, 4:41pm

Credit card? What? You don’t pay by check?! You’re missing part of Robert’s charm!

Robert_Dentice · July 10, 2022, 5:03pm

In the air now! Short story is Mosel Kabinett!!! Kabinett!!! Kabinett!!!

As for Schäfer-Fröhlich the 2021s and GGs are freaking stunnging!!! I am going deep….

Yes the GGs are incredible but don’t sleep on the mid-level wines Vulkanstein and Schiefergestein, these are excellent wines made from the GG sites in the same exact way. You can drink these while waiting for the GGs to get some age.

There will be an auction GG this year called Finale a tribute to Tim’s father who passed away last year. Going no limit on this.

I also really loved the Weissburgunder Reserve and the Kabinett.

I visited 15 estates and tasted / drank close to 500 wines, will have a full report soon but wanted to comment on SF given Robert Panzer’s offer.

Guillermo_M · July 10, 2022, 5:39pm

The day before this thread was started, I had already ordered a 8 bottles of 2021 Steinmetz WSU Kabi and a case of another. I saw Robert P. mention him as a great GG source and Robert D. agree. But nobody has mentioned his 2021 Kabinetts. Does anyone have anything to report (hopefully good)?

Having dutifully read the thread, I have ordered some of Tim Fröhlich’s 2021 dry wines (a GG and the Schiefergestein Riesling and a couple of Weissburgunders, regular and R) and Alex Loersch’s 2021 Apotheke feinherb from Robert P.

I’ve liked the AJ Adam Hofberg Kabinett in the past (not wow but certainly good). I might give it a go for 2021 based on what Ken said. Is his Drohn Im Pfarrgarten feinherb a Spätlese feinherb or a Kabinett feinherb?

My other standard buys are the Selbach-Oster ZSU Ur Alte Reben Spätlese feinherb (from whoever has it – probably my favorite Mosel wine) and a mixed case or two of Max Ferd. Richter (also from Robert P. usually). I’m guessing the Selbach ZSU Ur feinherb will be great this year based on what Ken said about their WSU Spat but if anyone has tried it I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for the notes below about Richter, Hans-Peter. I think I’ve had the wines from every vineyard MF Richter produces from and my favorite has been Elisenberg edging out WSU by a hair (with Mülheimer Sonnenlay at the bottom of the list). Did you try the Elisenberg Kabi?

Considering your take on their Spätlesen, I’m a bit worried about that the sugar on the 2021 WSU Spätlese (77 g/L) is 10% more than the sugar on the Elisenberg Spätlese (70 g/L). That seems like a big jump, and a lot for this vintage where (for comparison) Alex Loersch’s Apotheke Spätlese Alte Reben clocks in at 68 g/L.

Thanks for all the notes guys. Keep 'em coming.

…

Kabinetts: In my book, Kabinett WSU consistently outperforms BJ Fuder 4 Kabinett, but the respective 2021 versions could be the best ever made - if the whopping acidity works out. (I’m not buying.)

Spätleses: The WSU SL is stellar (yet a light AL, due to the somewhat higher sugar, and with perceivable sweetness in the aftertaste), I’m surprised MFW didn’t go for 97 points -their ratings are often way too much on the high side to my taste (and they don’t do peer group)-, and I certainly believe that the BJSU SL is significantly weaker, there’s less aromatic interest and less definition (but dryish aftertaste here too). I’m inclined to give the WSU SL a whopping 94-96 points (certainly in 20 years), while the BJSU SL is maybe at 91-93 if it generates more complexity with bottle age. We had both SL next to each other, and WSU mopped the floor with BJSU, it was cruel.

On a side note, Elisenberg SL is very nicely done, too, very different in profile from WSU (obviously, the soils are completely different, so slate-induced spiciness is absent), with slightly less complexity apparent, but beautifully juicy, lots of substance, dryish aftertaste, this is proper Spätlese, you just want to drown yourself in this. That wine, too, I rate higher than BJSU SL, 93-94 points, possibly more with bottle age (it’s really not far behind WSU). That said, Elisenberg is very consistently producing fabulous Spätleses, it’s really a special place, so this is just more of the same. If you’ve liked it so far, you’ll also like it this year.

…

Note: I drank the wines, so had the benefit of seeing the bottle evolve over some time.

HTH & Cheers,
HPE

Robert_Dentice · July 10, 2022, 5:46pm

The day before this thread was started, I had already ordered a 8 bottles of 2021 Steinmetz WSU Kabi and a case of another. I saw Robert P. mention him as a great GG source and Robert D. agree. But nobody has mentioned his 2021 Kabinetts. Does anyone have anything to report (hopefully good)?

Having dutifully read the thread, I have ordered some of Tim Fröhlich’s 2021 dry wines (a GG and the Schiefergestein Riesling and a couple of Weissburgunders, regular and R) and Alex Loersch’s 2021 Apotheke feinherb from Robert P.

I’ve liked the AJ Adam Hofberg Kabinett in the past (not wow but certainly good). I might give it a go for 2021 based on what Ken said. Is his Drohn Im Pfarrgarten feinherb a Spätlese feinherb or a Kabinett feinherb?

My other standard buys are the Selbach-Oster ZSU Ur Alte Reben Spätlese feinherb (from whoever has it – probably my favorite Mosel wine) and a mixed case or two of Max Ferd. Richter (also from Robert P. usually). I’m guessing the Selbach ZSU Ur feinherb will be great this year based on what Ken said about their WSU Spat but if anyone has tried it I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for the notes below about Richter, Hans-Peter. I think I’ve had the wines from every vineyard MF Richter produces from and my favorite has been Elisenberg edging out WSU by a hair (with Mülheimer Sonnenlay at the bottom of the list). Did you try the Elisenberg Kabi?

Considering your take on their Spätlesen, I’m a bit worried about that the sugar on the 2021 WSU Spätlese (77 g/L) is 10% more than the sugar on the Elisenberg Spätlese (70 g/L). That seems like a big jump, and a lot for this vintage where (for comparison) Alex Loersch’s Apotheke Spätlese Alte Reben clocks in at 68 g/L.

Thanks for all the notes guys. Keep 'em coming.

…

Kabinetts: In my book, Kabinett WSU consistently outperforms BJ Fuder 4 Kabinett, but the respective 2021 versions could be the best ever made - if the whopping acidity works out. (I’m not buying.)

Spätleses: The WSU SL is stellar (yet a light AL, due to the somewhat higher sugar, and with perceivable sweetness in the aftertaste), I’m surprised MFW didn’t go for 97 points -their ratings are often way too much on the high side to my taste (and they don’t do peer group)-, and I certainly believe that the BJSU SL is significantly weaker, there’s less aromatic interest and less definition (but dryish aftertaste here too). I’m inclined to give the WSU SL a whopping 94-96 points (certainly in 20 years), while the BJSU SL is maybe at 91-93 if it generates more complexity with bottle age. We had both SL next to each other, and WSU mopped the floor with BJSU, it was cruel.

On a side note, Elisenberg SL is very nicely done, too, very different in profile from WSU (obviously, the soils are completely different, so slate-induced spiciness is absent), with slightly less complexity apparent, but beautifully juicy, lots of substance, dryish aftertaste, this is proper Spätlese, you just want to drown yourself in this. That wine, too, I rate higher than BJSU SL, 93-94 points, possibly more with bottle age (it’s really not far behind WSU). That said, Elisenberg is very consistently producing fabulous Spätleses, it’s really a special place, so this is just more of the same. If you’ve liked it so far, you’ll also like it this year.

…

Note: I drank the wines, so had the benefit of seeing the bottle evolve over some time.

HTH & Cheers,
HPE

I did not taste with Stefan Steinmetz but I did taste widely in the Mosel and I just can’t imagine his Kabinetts are not good, especially for the price. I also trust Lyle and he has tasted some and thinks they are great.

Robert_Panzer · July 10, 2022, 6:46pm

I will circle back w more detail on both Steinmetz and Richter, two more of the estates I represent, with outstanding wines in 2021…I have yet to offer either estate’s 2021s, which I will do in the coming few weeks…abbondanza!

Hans-Peter_Eisele · July 10, 2022, 6:58pm

Guillermo,

No worries, I’m always glad if my view can add value. No, I haven’t had the Kabinett yet. If you really like Elisenberg best (and I totally get why you would), you’ll love the 2021 Spätlese, I’m sure. It’s super juicy yet full and round, these 11 g/l acidity (which is pretty high for the Elisenberg, even by Kabinett standards!) do what’s needed to balance out the 73 g/l of rs that is has according to Goldrichs, a Riesling merchant in Berlin and usually my prime source for analytical values.

OK, of course you don’t know how our two tastes align, so let me just say this about the sugar levels: I know, right?! Normally I’m a worrier, too, when it comes to high sugar, but firstly 2021 is really special in that the Mosel has gone full Saar. According to Goldrichs, the WSU SL even has 82 g/l rs (I hadn’t realized it’s that much, but now I understand why I wrote “light Auslese”, haha), but this stands against 9.7 g/l acidity - which is roundabout Kabinett level in more normal years. What those values don’t tell you is the really astounding airiness of the wine because the aromatics are so translucent. So, my guess is that like a Zilliken (which I always find too sweet when young), the WSU SL will shed its fat and start shining in a couple of years, and be really brilliant in two decades. And if then, you still find it’s too sweet, fine, I guess you’ll just have to cope with a really frakkin’ delicious light Auslese in your glass and I’ll humbly accept your angry PM.

Cheers,
HPE