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

[Robert_Dentice]

WHAT?!? Not Max Kilburg??? I was sooooo looking forward to hearing how well, or poorly, Max managed the 2021 vintage.

Very interested on your take on Hofgut Falkenstein, Julian Haart (such a pity the yields are so minimal!) and Keller Scheurebe (as well as the others).

Unfortunately I don’t have Instagram, but it sounds like an astonishing trip!

I did not see Max for a tasting but he did come to our Rieslingstudy party on Friday.

Both Falkenstein and Julian Haart were outstanding.

At Keller, I tasted the old vines Scheurebe from Morstein and it is great but a bit more Morstein than Scheurebe and sadly there is no dry Scheurebe this year only Kabinett.

[WilliamS]

WHAT?!? Not Max Kilburg??? I was sooooo looking forward to hearing how well, or poorly, Max managed the 2021 vintage.

Very interested on your take on Hofgut Falkenstein, Julian Haart (such a pity the yields are so minimal!) and Keller Scheurebe (as well as the others).

Unfortunately I don’t have Instagram, but it sounds like an astonishing trip!

I did not see Max for a tasting but he did come to our Rieslingstudy party on Friday.

Both Falkenstein and Julian Haart were outstanding.

At Keller, I tasted the old vines Scheurebe from Morstein and it is great but a bit more Morstein than Scheurebe and sadly there is no dry Scheurebe this year only Kabinett.

Thanks for the highlight!
Your take on the Keller Morstein Scheurebe Alte Reben is significant.

Were you able to talk to Max? What did he say about the 2021 Kilburg Ohligsberg & Goldtröpfchen Trocken/Kabinett/spätlese compared to ditto 2019 & 2020?

(You poor guy; you just get home from an intense, exhaustive trip from which you no doubt are suffering jet lag, trying to scribble together notes to an insatiable Internet all the while being bombarded with questions by impatient dewbs! But I DO REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!)

[Keith_Levenberg]

Hmmm. After reading this thread, I am finding it very difficult to stick to my “don’t buy more wine, especially German wine” pledge.

Because that was a bad pledge

[Yule_Kim]

I’m a fan of Willi Schaefer. Both 2021 Kabinett wines, Graacher Himmelreich and Graacher Domprobst, are very good. I was also impressed with the 2021 Graacher Domprobst Kabinett auction wine. It’s a stunner.

I was actually thinking of buying just Domprobst Kabinett, but would you suggest I get a mix of Himmelreich and Domprobst?

Thank you everyone for this great thread. It has been very helpful with my wine purchases the past couple of weeks.

[Lars_Carlberg]

I’m a fan of Willi Schaefer. Both 2021 Kabinett wines, Graacher Himmelreich and Graacher Domprobst, are very good. I was also impressed with the 2021 Graacher Domprobst Kabinett auction wine. It’s a stunner.

I was actually thinking of buying just Domprobst Kabinett, but would you suggest I get a mix of Himmelreich and Domprobst?

Thank you everyone for this great thread. It has been very helpful with my wine purchases the past couple of weeks.

In most vintages, I get a mix of the two. I tasted the pre-bottled wines in late March and just remembered that the 2021 Domprobst Kabinett auction wine was outstanding. It comes from a specific cask. I liked it even better than the 2020 auction Kabinett. As for the regular 2021 Kabinett wines chez Schaefer, I liked them both, whereas I preferred Domprobst to Himmelreich in the 2019 vintage. Andrea Schaefer said that they did trials of their Kabinetts under screwcap and natural cork over a number of years, and the wines under natural cork had more finesse.

[Lars_Carlberg]

Feinherb and Halbtrocken wines are also excellent and some growers are paying attention to these categories and the subtle differences, for example Weiser-Künstler made a stunning Gaispfad Kabinett Halbtrocken that is usually the Kabinett Trocken. I asked why they went with Halbtrocken for the label instead of Feinherb and they said because Feinherb has no limits and some can be too sweet and in Germany it is understood that Halbtrocken is close to trocken whereas Feinherb can be anything. German wine law states that Halbtrocken can be up to 15 grams/liter of residual sugar. Feinherb is not an official category. Not suprisingly their answer made perfect sense in that wonderful German way.

In mid-May, I tasted the 2021s at Weiser-Künstler. Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler gave me the same explanation for why they decided to label it 2021 Trabener Gaispfad Kabinett halbtrocken. It has 13 g/l RS; halbtrocken can be anywhere between 9 and 18 g/l RS. I really liked their new Trarbacher Schlossberg Sekt, which has only 10.5 percent alcohol.

[Yule_Kim]

I’m a fan of Willi Schaefer. Both 2021 Kabinett wines, Graacher Himmelreich and Graacher Domprobst, are very good. I was also impressed with the 2021 Graacher Domprobst Kabinett auction wine. It’s a stunner.

I was actually thinking of buying just Domprobst Kabinett, but would you suggest I get a mix of Himmelreich and Domprobst?

Thank you everyone for this great thread. It has been very helpful with my wine purchases the past couple of weeks.

In most vintages, I get a mix of the two. I tasted the pre-bottled wines in late March and just remembered that the 2021 Domprobst Kabinett auction wine was outstanding. It comes from a specific cask. I liked it even better than the 2020 auction Kabinett. As for the regular 2021 Kabinett wines chez Schaefer, I liked them both, whereas I preferred Domprobst to Himmelreich in the 2019 vintage. Andrea Schaefer said that they did trials of their Kabinetts under screwcap and natural cork over a number of years and the wines under natural cork had more finesse.

Thank you Lars for your insights – much appreciated!

And thank you Robert for starting this thread and your incredibly informative and thoughtful posts!

[Jozef.P]

Robert, it was good to see you at Hofgut Falkenstein. We initially planned to sit in the back garden to taste the first few wines, but Johannes wanted to show you some of the vineyards right away instead. You got to taste 6 of the 20 or so Rieslings from 2021. Unfortunately, we had to pick and choose, but I think it gave you a good snapshot of the vintage. Missing in the lineup of 2021s were, among others, Egon, Meyer Nepal, Palm, Gisela, Ternes, Klaus, and Förster.

(Note: you forgot to include Hermann Ludes among the estates that you visited on your list.)

I’m glad you had a blast in Germany and a safe trip back to NYC.

Hi Lars, I got a nice allocation for Falkenstein 2021, that includes a case of spaetlese - how do these compare to the kabinetts in 2021. I am familiar with mosel kabi style wines, but not so much spaetlese. When do you drink the latter wines?

[Robert_Dentice]

Robert, it was good to see you at Hofgut Falkenstein. We initially planned to sit in the back garden to taste the first few wines, but Johannes wanted to show you some of the vineyards right away instead. You got to taste 6 of the 20 or so Rieslings from 2021. Unfortunately, we had to pick and choose, but I think it gave you a good snapshot of the vintage. Missing in the lineup of 2021s were, among others, Egon, Meyer Nepal, Palm, Gisela, Ternes, Klaus, and Förster.

(Note: you forgot to include Hermann Ludes among the estates that you visited on your list.)

I’m glad you had a blast in Germany and a safe trip back to NYC.

Hi Lars, I got a nice allocation for Falkenstein 2021, that includes a case of spaetlese - how do these compare to the kabinetts in 2021. I am familiar with mosel kabi style wines, but not so much spaetlese. When do you drink the latter wines?

In general what I have found is that the Spätlese are the real crowd pleasers in the Falkenstein lineup. Everyone loves them from novices to hard core Riesling freaks. I opened a Meyer Nepal Magnum and it was the star of a Rieslingstudy party with about 200 wines. I personally love the Kabinett Trockens but I am a Riesling Freak. I did not taste all of the 21s but I can’t imagine they are not great.

[Jay_B]

Feinherb and Halbtrocken wines are also excellent and some growers are paying attention to these categories and the subtle differences, for example Weiser-Künstler made a stunning Gaispfad Kabinett Halbtrocken that is usually the Kabinett Trocken. I asked why they went with Halbtrocken for the label instead of Feinherb and they said because Feinherb has no limits and some can be too sweet and in Germany it is understood that Halbtrocken is close to trocken whereas Feinherb can be anything. German wine law states that Halbtrocken can be up to 15 grams/liter of residual sugar. Feinherb is not an official category. Not suprisingly their answer made perfect sense in that wonderful German way.

In mid-May, I tasted the 2021s at Weiser-Künstler. Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler gave me the same explanation for why they decided to label it 2021 Trabener Gaispfad Kabinett halbtrocken. It has 13 g/l RS; halbtrocken can be anywhere between 9 and 18 g/l RS. I really liked their new Trarbacher Schlossberg Sekt, which has only 10.5 percent alcohol.

I’m very excited to try the Wei-Ku ‘21s. There’s something about their wines that stops me in my tracks. Just elegant, soulful wines across the board. I still haven’t tried their sekts but glad to hear they’re continuing to produce them, I’ll make sure to do some catching up with those.

Like others have already said, I really appreciate the trip notes, vintage reports, and all the knowledge shared in this thread. The Halbtrocken / Feinherb point is especially helpful here. Feinherb has always been a head scratcher for me in the context of the exacting terminology of German wine as it isn’t a reliable stylistic compass in my limited experience. Now I know why!

[Robert_Dentice]

Feinherb and Halbtrocken wines are also excellent and some growers are paying attention to these categories and the subtle differences, for example Weiser-Künstler made a stunning Gaispfad Kabinett Halbtrocken that is usually the Kabinett Trocken. I asked why they went with Halbtrocken for the label instead of Feinherb and they said because Feinherb has no limits and some can be too sweet and in Germany it is understood that Halbtrocken is close to trocken whereas Feinherb can be anything. German wine law states that Halbtrocken can be up to 15 grams/liter of residual sugar. Feinherb is not an official category. Not suprisingly their answer made perfect sense in that wonderful German way.

In mid-May, I tasted the 2021s at Weiser-Künstler. Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler gave me the same explanation for why they decided to label it 2021 Trabener Gaispfad Kabinett halbtrocken. It has 13 g/l RS; halbtrocken can be anywhere between 9 and 18 g/l RS. I really liked their new Trarbacher Schlossberg Sekt, which has only 10.5 percent alcohol.

I’m very excited to try the Wei-Ku ‘21s. There’s something about their wines that stops me in my tracks. Just elegant, soulful wines across the board. I still haven’t tried their sekts but glad to hear they’re continuing to produce them, I’ll make sure to do some catching up with those.

Like others have already said, I really appreciate the trip notes, vintage reports, and all the knowledge shared in this thread. The Halbtrocken / Feinherb point is especially helpful here. Feinherb has always been a head scratcher for me in the context of the exacting terminology of German wine as it isn’t a reliable stylistic compass in my limited experience. Now I know why!

Jay - the quantities of Wei-Ku are down significantly due the vineyard issues in 2021. Grab them when you can. I thought the QBA, the blue label with the owl was outstanding for an entry level wine. I think it just landed, I don’t see any on winesearcher yet. I need to buy some myself!

Also Falkensteins are starting to drop got my first offer last week!

[Guillermo_M]

I saw some mention the Skurnik offer and I don’t think all are ITB. Is there such a thing for consumers? Asking especially re Selbach-Oster, Willi Schaefer and A.J. Adam.

Same question about Falkenstein (except about whoever imports them).

Normally all those I have to buy from retailers that don’t carry the entire range.

[Lars_Carlberg]

Robert, it was good to see you at Hofgut Falkenstein. We initially planned to sit in the back garden to taste the first few wines, but Johannes wanted to show you some of the vineyards right away instead. You got to taste 6 of the 20 or so Rieslings from 2021. Unfortunately, we had to pick and choose, but I think it gave you a good snapshot of the vintage. Missing in the lineup of 2021s were, among others, Egon, Meyer Nepal, Palm, Gisela, Ternes, Klaus, and Förster.

(Note: you forgot to include Hermann Ludes among the estates that you visited on your list.)

I’m glad you had a blast in Germany and a safe trip back to NYC.

Hi Lars, I got a nice allocation for Falkenstein 2021, that includes a case of spaetlese - how do these compare to the kabinetts in 2021. I am familiar with mosel kabi style wines, but not so much spaetlese. When do you drink the latter wines?

In general what I have found is that the Spätlese are the real crowd pleasers in the Falkenstein lineup. Everyone loves them from novices to hard core Riesling freaks. I opened a Meyer Nepal Magnum and it was the star of a Rieslingstudy party with about 200 wines. I personally love the Kabinett Trockens but I am a Riesling Freak. I did not taste all of the 21s but I can’t imagine they are not great.

Good afternoon, Jozef. Are you referring to the two 2021 Euchariusberg Spätlesen—Klaus and Förster? If so, these have higher must weights and residual sugar than the Euchariusberg Kabinetts.

As Robert pointed out, the Spätlese wines, especially those with the term “feinherb” on the label, are crowd-pleasers. These include Onkel Peter, Meyer Nepal, and Palm. You can drink them anytime—as you can all the wines. In most vintages, Meyer Nepal has an Oechsle level in the low to mid-80s. It’s a brisk wine. I also love to drink the Kabinett trocken wines, such as Munny, but they can be a bit austere for many tasters and need time to open up. I like to drink them over a couple of nights to see how they evolve. In the 2021 vintage, I really like the residually sweet Kabinett wines—in particular, Gisela, Kugel Peter, Ternes, and Mia.

[Lars_Carlberg]

I saw some mention the Skurnik offer and I don’t think all are ITB. Is there such a thing for consumers? Asking especially re Selbach-Oster, Willi Schaefer and A.J. Adam.

Same question about Falkenstein (except about whoever imports them).

Normally all those I have to buy from retailers that don’t carry the entire range.

In late March, I tasted the 2021s at A.J. Adam. It’s another impressive collection from one of the very best producers in the Mosel region.

[Jozef.P]

Hi Lars, I got a nice allocation for Falkenstein 2021, that includes a case of spaetlese - how do these compare to the kabinetts in 2021. I am familiar with mosel kabi style wines, but not so much spaetlese. When do you drink the latter wines?

In general what I have found is that the Spätlese are the real crowd pleasers in the Falkenstein lineup. Everyone loves them from novices to hard core Riesling freaks. I opened a Meyer Nepal Magnum and it was the star of a Rieslingstudy party with about 200 wines. I personally love the Kabinett Trockens but I am a Riesling Freak. I did not taste all of the 21s but I can’t imagine they are not great.

Good afternoon, Jozef. Are you referring to the two 2021 Euchariusberg Spätlesen—Klaus and Förster? If so, these have higher must weights and residual sugar than the Euchariusberg Kabinetts.

As Robert pointed out, the Spätlese wines, especially those with the term “feinherb” on the label, are crowd-pleasers. These include Onkel Peter, Meyer Nepal, and Palm. You can drink them anytime—as you can all the wines. In most vintages, Meyer Nepal has an Oechsle level in the low to mid-80s. It’s a brisk wine. I also love to drink the Kabinett trocken wines, such as Munny, but they can be a bit austere for many tasters and need time to open up. I like to drink them over a couple of nights to see how they evolve. In the 2021 vintage, I really like the residually sweet Kabinett wines—in particular, Gisela, Kugel Peter, Ternes, and Mia.

Thanks for the info, Lars - I have 6 herrenberg spaetlese, all feinherb (AP3, AP4, AP11) and 3 euchariusberg (AP5) and 3 oberschaerhaus (AP18). I guess it will be mix different types of spaetlese then.

I just took what was offered to me - and still find it difficult to know what to expect from the bottles I bought (alcohol isn’t mentioned either on the invoice).

[Robert_Dentice]

I saw some mention the Skurnik offer and I don’t think all are ITB. Is there such a thing for consumers? Asking especially re Selbach-Oster, Willi Schaefer and A.J. Adam.

Same question about Falkenstein (except about whoever imports them).

Normally all those I have to buy from retailers that don’t carry the entire range.

A number of retailers do pre-offer campaigns for Skurnik. Flatiron wines just did a big one.

Falkenstein is different by state. Lars can give you more info. Each importer has a slightly different schedule. Massachusetts is usually first and New York last with everyone else in between from my recollection.

Also a few stores gray market the hard to get stuff like Willi Schaefer but I am not going to mention them because I am not 100% sure it is gray market.

[Lars_Carlberg]

In general what I have found is that the Spätlese are the real crowd pleasers in the Falkenstein lineup. Everyone loves them from novices to hard core Riesling freaks. I opened a Meyer Nepal Magnum and it was the star of a Rieslingstudy party with about 200 wines. I personally love the Kabinett Trockens but I am a Riesling Freak. I did not taste all of the 21s but I can’t imagine they are not great.

Good afternoon, Jozef. Are you referring to the two 2021 Euchariusberg Spätlesen—Klaus and Förster? If so, these have higher must weights and residual sugar than the Euchariusberg Kabinetts.

As Robert pointed out, the Spätlese wines, especially those with the term “feinherb” on the label, are crowd-pleasers. These include Onkel Peter, Meyer Nepal, and Palm. You can drink them anytime—as you can all the wines. In most vintages, Meyer Nepal has an Oechsle level in the low to mid-80s. It’s a brisk wine. I also love to drink the Kabinett trocken wines, such as Munny, but they can be a bit austere for many tasters and need time to open up. I like to drink them over a couple of nights to see how they evolve. In the 2021 vintage, I really like the residually sweet Kabinett wines—in particular, Gisela, Kugel Peter, Ternes, and Mia.

Thanks for the info, Lars - I have 6 herrenberg spaetlese, all feinherb (AP3, AP4, AP11) and 3 euchariusberg (AP5) and 3 oberschaerhaus (AP18). I guess it will be mix different types of spaetlese then.

I just took what was offered to me - and still find it difficult to know what to expect from the bottles I bought (alcohol isn’t mentioned either on the invoice).

You can’t go wrong with those selections: Palm, Onkel Peter, Meyer Nepal, Förster, and Lorenz Manni (Ober Schäfershaus). The latter is a dry wine with only 10.5 percent alcohol.

[Yule_Kim]

I saw some mention the Skurnik offer and I don’t think all are ITB. Is there such a thing for consumers? Asking especially re Selbach-Oster, Willi Schaefer and A.J. Adam.

Same question about Falkenstein (except about whoever imports them).

Normally all those I have to buy from retailers that don’t carry the entire range.

In late March, I tasted the 2021s at A.J. Adam. It’s another impressive collection from one of the very best producers in the Mosel region.

Any tips on AJ Adam? Flatiron is still doing the Skurnik offer in SF, so I was planning on picking up some bottles.

I was thinking of the Hofberg Kabi and maybe a bottle or two of the Goldtropfchen Kabi and Im Pfarrgarent Feinherb just to try them out (I have no experience with AJ Adam at all), but I was wondering about Adam’s Trocken. What are your thoughts on them in 2021 (and for the Kabi and Feinherb for that matter)?

Thank you again!

[Guillermo_M]

I saw some mention the Skurnik offer and I don’t think all are ITB. Is there such a thing for consumers? Asking especially re Selbach-Oster, Willi Schaefer and A.J. Adam.

Same question about Falkenstein (except about whoever imports them).

Normally all those I have to buy from retailers that don’t carry the entire range.

A number of retailers do pre-offer campaigns for Skurnik. Flatiron wines just did a big one.

Falkenstein is different by state. Lars can give you more info. Each importer has a slightly different schedule. Massachusetts is usually first and New York last with everyone else in between from my recollection.

Also a few stores gray market the hard to get stuff like Willi Schaefer but I am not going to mention them because I am not 100% sure it is gray market.

DC seems to be a Falkenstein-sparse city. Bassin’s gets a couple of bottlings and that’s it, from what I’ve gathered. Who’s the importer here Lars Carlberg?

Not to knock on DC retailers, don’t get me wrong. Bassin’s gets a ton of Donnhoff, Emrich-Schonleber, Keller, Spreitzer, Weiser-Kunstler, and Willi Schaefer. Both Bassin’s and Calvert Woodley carry good variety of Selbach-Oster, JJ Prum and Dr. Loosen. Calvert Woodley seems to love Karl Erbes and Dr. H. Thanisch too. And they both have a one or two bottlings from other producers like von Schubert - Grunhauser, Peter Lauer, Josef Leitz, Dr. Hans VonMuller, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, St. Urbans-Hof, Kruger Rumpf, Clemens Busch, Fritz Haag and Zilliken. There are just so many producers, good ones, out there and I understand that there’s only so much shelf space at these stores and carrying the entire range of each is impossible.

[Robert_Dentice]

I saw some mention the Skurnik offer and I don’t think all are ITB. Is there such a thing for consumers? Asking especially re Selbach-Oster, Willi Schaefer and A.J. Adam.

Same question about Falkenstein (except about whoever imports them).

Normally all those I have to buy from retailers that don’t carry the entire range.

A number of retailers do pre-offer campaigns for Skurnik. Flatiron wines just did a big one.

Falkenstein is different by state. Lars can give you more info. Each importer has a slightly different schedule. Massachusetts is usually first and New York last with everyone else in between from my recollection.

Also a few stores gray market the hard to get stuff like Willi Schaefer but I am not going to mention them because I am not 100% sure it is gray market.

DC seems to be a Falkenstein-sparse city. Bassin’s gets a couple of bottlings and that’s it, from what I’ve gathered. Who’s the importer here @Lars Carlberg?

Not to knock on DC retailers, don’t get me wrong. Bassin’s gets a ton of Donnhoff, Emrich-Schonleber, Keller, Spreitzer, Weiser-Kunstler, and Willi Schaefer. Both Bassin’s and Calvert Woodley carry good variety of Selbach-Oster, JJ Prum and Dr. Loosen. Calvert Woodley seems to love Karl Erbes and Dr. H. Thanisch too. And they both have a one or two bottlings from other producers like von Schubert - Grunhauser, Peter Lauer, Josef Leitz, Dr. Hans VonMuller, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, St. Urbans-Hof, Kruger Rumpf, Clemens Busch, Fritz Haag and Zilliken. There are just so many producers, good ones, out there and I understand that there’s only so much shelf space at these stores and carrying the entire range of each is impossible.

Domestique is the spot to get Falkenstein in DC. Williams Corner Wines in Virginia is the importer.