We had some friends over last night to explore the proposition that you ought to start opening GGs at 10 years or so. So with a ham and some pineapple relish (which had a savory base to it), and Hasselback potatoes and spanakopita from Serious Eats we had:
2011 Shafer-Frohlich Halenberg Grosses Gewachs (19 12) 13% abv
Out of a Burg stem. Blue slate and quartzite. Pale yellow. There’s a beautiful spicy nose here - salty lemons, gardenias, apricots. The palate has a graceful texture (which I think is buffered by maybe 6 g/l RS?) but it’s clear as a bell. With a couple of hours of being open - after we had run through all the wines and were going back this picked up some surprising Scheurebe catty/cassis-pink grapefruit aromas and flavors.
2012 Willi Schaefer Himmelreich Grosses Gewachs (12 13) 12% abv
Burg stem. Slightly brassy yellow. The nose here is more linear - candied lime, white flowers, a touch of vanilla, but bright and zippy and slender. The texture is - and acid is + and to me has the perception of more RS than the Shafer-Frohlich. A very Mosel wine in structure and the only one that seemed like it might be hitting maturity, even if on the young side.
2013 Dr. Loosen Erdener Pralat Grosses Gewachs Reserve (60 15) 12.5% abv
Burg stem. Pale to moderate yellow. Just a powerhouse nose here. Very ripe red skinned peaches, redcurrants, a touch of dryer sheet, very spicy and salty/mineral. The palate leads off the same way before a wave of acidity and dry extract torques the palate. I can’t remember the last time a wine has such sweetness of flavor profile and was so structured at the same time… and the transition is seamless. After 24 hours of being open, this basically hasn’t budged. An incredible wine, and WoTN for me.
People who think that Erni makes cute sweetish wines for the American market should do themselves a favor and find a bottle of this. It’s a stunning expression of a great terroir.
2014 Shafer-Frohlich Felseneck Grosses Gewachs (23 15) 13% abv
Burg stem. Blue slate and quartzite again. Pale yellow. This is a pile of summery blossoms - magnolia especially, along with some ripe melon aromas and apricots. The palate (like the Halenberg) seems to have just a shade over threshold RS so that some sweetness of marzipan and coconut come into play. Impeccably balanced and just lovely to drink.
And with a pavlova that had citrus, blueberries and a blood orange curd, I opened a couple of sweet wines:
1999 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch GK Auslese (02 00)
From a 375, regular Riesling stems here. A good amount of tartrate at the bottom of the bottle. Moderate + yellow. There’s a fantastic delicately smoky-petrol nose on top of candied lime, honey and overripe pears. The palate has the texture of warm jelly and still shows medium + sweetness and moderate acidity. I’m not sure this has much more upside - my gut says this vintage was overshadowed by 98 and 01 but has turned out better than people thought it would.
2014 Dr. Loosen Erdener Pralat GK Auslese (44 15)
From a leaking 375, so science! Riesling stem. This is moderate yellow and smells like like the GG Reserve - it’s a blowtorch of yellow and red fruit all sun warmed and perfectly ripe. The palate is relatively dry for a GKA but is has a honeyed texture offset by some razor precision.
I think what impressed me most about the GGs was how young they all seemed. But for my palate at least, I want to try GGs young, then just forget about them for ten years.
Thanks,
Zachary