What I can’t understand about him is that his vintage comments never match the ratings. I understand great producers can make good wines in mediocre vintages. Yet the ratings don’t differ much from the great vintages.
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Oddly, Vinum Weinguide Deutschland, which was published earlier this month, has the following title for its chapter on Mosel wine and the 2022 vintage: “The Mosel can be dry!” This is in contrast to The Wine Advocate article mentioned above.
When you only have about 12 points to work with how much difference can there be?
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Probably the wines are compared in that specific vintage and not with other years. So the best wines of the vintage get a good rating and so forth. Otherwise it would not make much sense.
Some first thoughts - plenty left in bottles for another try tomorrow so I will update this.
2023 Dr Hermann Trocken (12%)
Limes and wax on the nose. Not much sponti funk. Also tastes like limes and lots of wax. Warm finish, quite balanced. Ready to drink, despite youth.
2023 Dr Hermann Urziger Wurzgarten Kabinett Alte Reben (8%)
Limes and wax on the nose. Not much sponti funk. Waxy and pineapples. Not much apple. Finishes caramelised pineapple. Plenty of other tropical notes. The pleasure is in the simple juiciness - pineapple juiciness.
2023 Dr Hermann Erdener Teppchen Kabinett Alte Reben (8%)
Limes and apple on the nose. Still not much sponti funk - but a bit more than the previous two. Much more racy, acidity very present here. Apples and lime. Long. Not as filigreed as 22 or 21.
2023 Loersch Glimmerschiefer Feinherb (11%)
More sponti on the nose. Crunchy, bitter green apples. Long from the bitter note rather than acidity. Hard to assess, not integrated yet.
2023 Josef Bernard-Kieren Graacher Domprobst Spatlese *** (9%)
Surprised to see this amongst the early releases, but giving it a go. OMG. Nostalgia moment, hair standing up on my arms. Taken back to the auction-find 1970s bottles that got me into Riesling a decade ago. Retro nose - butterscotch & honey: botrytis. Can not remember a spätlese this botrytic in last 5 years. Pineapple and butterscotch palate. So much fun to drink a wine like this young. A total wild card, but will now be backing up the truck tomorrow!
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Love me some sponti-funk!
Have just tasted two Julian Haart 23s: Haartattack and Goldtropfchen Kabinett. The former was a crowd pleaser and not significantly different to the 22. The Kabi was quite sponti and pretty closed up. Acidity down a little from previous vintages but still balanced. A very promising wine I think but difficult to assess w/o looking back to previous vintages’ performance and development!
Grab me a handful of those Späts would you mate?
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Are you in Germany?
SOvery is, I’m not.
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A wonderful couple of hours tasting with @Lars_Carlberg, Johannes and Mark Williamson owner of Willis wine bar.
We tasted most of the 23s. Not surprisingly a delightful set of wines.
I also tasted at Klosterhof, Ludes and Kilburg.
Across the wines there was a noticeable amount of dry extract, more playfulness than 22. Along the lines of 19 but less exuberant? Anyway it’s early days.
(I sell all of these but probably not to you lot).
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Safe to say that dry wines performed the best in 2023? How were the Falkenstein Kabi Trockens?
Did you taste any of the Klosterhof reds from 22 or earlier?
Hard to say. All four estates really focus on the dry end.
A Klosterhof TBA was exceptional.
Didn’t try any reds (apart from Max’s). Tried a Klosterhof last year but I forgot which.
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It’s worth commenting that it was 26-28 degrees and the bud break is the earliest ever. Though officially they said it’s the same as 2014.
I‘m taking a lunch break in Euchariusberg. It’s 8 degrees Celsius with winds gusting up to 60 km/h.