Based on the mag of Schonleber Sarah brought to my birthday last year, they are drinking very well.
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Due to unintelligent decisions from myself I have not many left but every time I open a 2007 Hermannshöhle, a 2009 Felseneck or a 2008 Halenberg I regret…
Sarah is more wise
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Great thread on an interesting topic.
This past year I came to terms with my enthusiasm for drinking kabinetts young. A few comments on this board made me feel better about that, or at least worry less about the missed opportunity of cellaring these wines for the long haul. I need to do a bit more due diligence of trying more kabinetts at various stages, and do the same study with GGs, which I’ve been buying to cellar but almost never drink…yet. I’ll need to look for some bottles at auction to test the waters instead of assuming I’ll like them best at 10+ years out.
From a storage perspective, I’ve made the unfortunate decision of basically buying double the Kabinetts (and feinherbs) that I like. This way I can drink a good amount young, while still socking away quite a few for aging.
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(From a quote by KP Keller) This is really an important point. As someone who hunts for older Trocken Rieslings (I only started collecting in earnest with the 2015 vintage) I’ve had very very limited success. There is almost nothing in the secondary market, which I always assumed meant that these were mostly getting consumed on the younger side.
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Also true of aged Kabinetts.
I find GGs in Europe and older Trockens on wine lists in Germany. I do have lots of 2000s era GGs and would be more than happy to open some for you.
From my recent Mosel trip:
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Sadly, for a whole bunch of reasons, I’ll be putting all my keller, SF, Donnhoff etc etc GGs (06-15) up for auction in the next month or so so I’ll never get to find out the answer!
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I’m sorry to hear that. If you are ever in the Indianapolis Indiana area PM me so I can open a great bottle with you.
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Recently opened a Burklin-Wolf 1997 Pechstein. Excellent and still young.
Matthew,
I too am dipping my toe into this style of wine. Years ago (early 00s) I would taste some of these wines when young and think “wow this is showing some alcohol and is disjointed and wow it’s expensive”, so it slipped to the back burner.
Recently, I’ve gotten to try some things courtesy of a friend - 11 Donnhoff Hermannshohle GG and some things from Van Volxem and hey, they’re a lot more charming than I had thought. So I’ve been looking at some of the Reserve GGs from Loosen and a few others.
Based on this limited sample size and again with lots of generalization, I’d put it like this - either drink them young or drink them at 10+ years. My gut says that while they have the structure of white Burgundy, their aging curve is closer to white Rhone wines where they’re just unpleasant to drink around 5-7 years post vintage.
Thanks,
Zachary
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That’s a wonderfully kind response. When we finally have the house built in Florida, consider yourself invited!
This thread is why I spend too much of my time reading this site. Thanks all.
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As William Kelley mentioned Koehler-Ruprecht, I was host of a K-R vertical back to 1996 in 2016. Here some impressions and article by Stuart Pigott.
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Koehler-Ruprecht is in their own league. Can be extremely impressive. Most are
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“What’s the Matter with Grosses Gewächs,” an article by David Schildknecht, takes a critical look at GGs.
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As I mentioned before, there’s nothing like old Grünhaus, especially from Abtsberg, which, before the mid-20th century, was formerly known as Herrenberg. The 1990 Abtsberg Spätlese trocken has only 11 percent alcohol. Most dry Kabinetts, much less GGs, have higher alcohol levels. The 1989 Abtsberg Spätlese trocken has just 9.5 percent alcohol. Alfons Heinrich, who retired in 2003, was the longtime cellarmaster at Maximin Grünhaus. Stefan Kraml took over the winemaking duties with the 2004 vintage. He came over from the von Othegraven estate.
Over the weekend, I had a couple of mature residually sweet Grünhaus wines. One was a Kabinett from today’s Herrenberg. The other, a Spätlese from Abtsberg. But the star was Weiser-Künstler’s 2013 Gaispfad trocken, which was refreshing and a mere 10 percent alcohol. It wasn’t the Kabinett trocken either.
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I am on the same frequency
And luckily the lesser Prädikat Abfüllungen are still cheap. Also the mature ones from the 90’s
I bought a stash of QBA for sub 10€ and they still steal the show served with almost any other dry Riesling
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My first WB comment here…
My limited GG experience has overwhelmingly positive across all ages. But the ones that have truly floored me and helped solidify German riesling as my favorite genre of wine had 10-15 years of age. Last year it was 07 Kirchspiel out of magnum. In '22 it was 08 Felseneck and 07 AbtsE. In '21 it was 09 AbtsE and 10 Felseneck. Two recent dives into Von der Fels 04 have also been very good. I feel like the '19 and '21 GGs will age even better than predecessors, which is maybe a nod to the evolution of the GG winemaking itself?
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