All the discussion of the VDP auction (I won a few bottles at the extreme low end of pricing) and recent German Riesling vintages have got me thinking about the far sweet end of these wines. While I love the dry/off-dry Rieslings, I merely only like the really sweet stuff.
At the extreme end of sweetness are the Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eisweins. I’ve had very few of these because the costs are high and (for me!!!) they haven’t seemed worth it.
Especially because (and now the battle begins) I adore Sauternes and very good ones are highly available and modestly priced. Even d’Yquem (by far the top priced Sauternes) starts to look cheap compared to top TBAs.
When I have an itch for a very sweet wine, Sauternes scratches my itch. But my quivering credit cards aside, I’m curious. What do folks like about these very sweet wines? How are they distinct from Sauternes? Are there worthy ones less than $100 for a half bottle?
I think they blow Sauternes out of the water for several reasons, but especially the low alcohol. I think you can find some 15ish year old Schloss Loeser BAs for under $100 and they tend to be stunning (they are more power and tension, not elegance).
Thank you for posting this. I’ve had the same question and am curious to see what the fuss is about.
Quality pradikat and GG wines from the top producers are often cited as the best QPR in the world of fine wine, but the high end stickies seem like some of the most expensive wines in the market.
I agree with j_rock. Sauternes for me lack the acidity and accompanying tension of sweet German Riesling, and therefore don’t have the balance. They come off as flabby to me even when I enjoy them. I would also note that while TBA and BA are rare and expensive, you can buy goldkaps that get you a pretty good way down the road for much, much less. I think it’s a little hard to get started down this road because people don’t open the wines too frequently and when they do, it’s generally one at a time instead of at some mega tasting with tons of open bottles. I think a good way to show them is to always bring one to tasting and to break it out at the end so everyone can try. Pretty often they show as wine of the night.
Alex
I would probably own/drink more stickies if I was living in Germany. Though expensive, I found pricing there ex-cellar much more reasonable than trying to buy at retail here.
I drink a lot of both. Sauternes have more structure and alcohol. TBA and BA’s have more pure fruit and acidity. Age accentuates these differences even more. While I’m a fan of both my preference is for German.
Agreed that GKAs are a sweet spot (pun unavoidable) for value and power/concentration/sweetness/etc., especially when some producers GKAs (or LGKAs) are as ripe as others’ BAs (I’m thinking of Schloss Lieser again). That being said, in my experience and opinion, there is just a certain magic you find once you cross the line into BAs/EWs and of course TBAs that makes them extra spacial and worth splurging on occasionally or more).
curious about the answer to Matthew’s question as well. my sweet wine vote though is Vin Santo. especially if we’re talking QPR side of things. but i also agree with the general consensus so far that i would choose a BA or TBA over a sauternes for balance of acid/sweetness every time.
I’m interested in what others say, but I think it’s hard to compare since there are so many mind-blowing German dessert wine producers while there seem to be 1 or 2 Sauternes producers that usually clearly stand above the rest (maybe I’m wrong). Also, I’m sure you’ll get a lot of different opinions, and honestly there are soooo many dessert wines I need to try, but I’ll vote for Fritz Haag TBA and Donnhoff Eiswein. I guess they are much harder to find than Sauternes, but I think they are right at the top of the German dessert wine mountain.
Prum goldkap. Once you start getting beyond goldkap anywhere, you are talking rare and expensive. There is no TBA/BA that I think of as east to source. It only comes in some vintages. Egon might make the most, but then you are talking $10,000 a bottle.
There’s one bottle (per WSPro) of the Haag TBA in the US today - $500 for a split.
There’s a number choices for Donnhoff Eisweins in the US starting at about $200 for a split.
I’d give these a spin but at $200 for a half bottle it’s hard to just go for it. Btw there are some Schloss Lieser BA splits for $99, I might buy one of those.
Or I’ll wait and try one from a generous Berserker one day.
Btw I love GKAs and Ausleses and have had quite a few from Prum, Willi Schaefer, Molitor and others. And those can be excellent, but not quite in the same vein as the ultra stickies.
Well, there are a lot more than one or two great Sauternes producers. Yes d’Yquem stands above the rest in price, and is consistently among the best (or the absolute best) in quality. And like German Riesling stickies, quality is (and qualities are) very vintage dependent. But there are easily 10 good to excellent Sauternes producers that I’ve had, and I am extremely far from an expert - open at most three or four a year. And the wines are absurdly cheap and available, even if you want to pick up something with a lot of age. E.g. 1988 Climens for $110 widely available (for a 750!) in the US? Crazy.
I can drink Ausleses quite happily on the porch before dinner. They also work beautifully with some Asian foods, and for some reason shine with Chinese spring rolls. Fried food and Auslese generally have an affinity, and I hate to say it, but Macdonald’s fries and Prum Spatlese seem to enjoy each other’s company.
Agree that there is no Yquem on the supply side, when it comes to TBA. If you want virtually any vintage of Yquem, on any day, you can find it on offer somewhere at some price, even if it’s more than you want to pay. That is not true for any TBA.
I think Sauternes, and especially Barsac, are the value/ availability plays.
And a lot depends on what you are doing with the wine. Rieslings Goldkapsul are killer with not too sweet fruit based desserts, but for something heavier you may want to go BA if available and affordable or to Barsac for say Climens.
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