Mosel (mostly Saar) Rieslings were a staple until it started getting warm.
My ideal was 7-8% alcohol, ~1% RS, almost 1% TA and pH at about 3. To say they tasted dry with 10g/l is a serious understatement. You could feel the enamel peeling off of your teeth.
I can’t tell you how much I miss those wines (Winzerverein Ayler Kupp Kabinett, they were almost giving it away). 2021 is something of a throwback for the region and I’m enjoying them.
Each of those is an individual bottle, consumed by me, then run for a full panel at my winery’s lab. I’ve run over 120 white burgs at this point, I left off the producers intentionally and only included Chablis for this discussion.
GF is residual sugar.
Threshold for RS is usually around 2g/L in most dry whites (German Riesling being the exception). It’s been my experience that most Burgundy is less than 1g/L, and the vast majority under 0.5 g/L. US wines are definitely a mixed bag when it comes to that. I’ve had wines run over 4 g/L, and bottled those that were less than 0.05 g/L (threshold for detection).
Happy to answer more!
Historically, Chablis has pretty ripping acidity and a leaner texture, I doubt anything < 3.0 g/l would be perceived at all and could easily be seen as drier than or as dry as a WV Chardonnay with .2-.3 g/l. That said, our pHs typically run 3.0-3.1 and I like to be below 2.0 grams but don’t worry about it much once we clear that bar.
For a vintage like 2018, while I agree with @Dan_Kravitz that this is a success for the vintage, it’s definitely a clear statement on climate. I don’t think of 3.3 as a pH for white wine, and coming from Chablis that number is a bit of a shock.
I opened my fifth bottle of the Domaine de L’Enclos yesterday. This was the second bottle that met my expectations and was really very enjoyable. Two more were meh and one went down the drain. They all came from the same source. At least one was noticeably golden. Storage was not an issue. Vintage? Producer? Cork? Premox?
Cork or DIAM stopper?
Cork
Given that, the only thing that makes sense is premox.
Curious as to what you are using to measure - Foss?
Cheers
Has the 2001 vintage (and the positive reaction it has engendered from many German wine lovers, rebuilt any momentum for trying producers trying to produce again these wonderful Kabinetts from the past that so many of us grew up on? Or, is that impossible for most vintages because of changes in climate?
Howard,
Did you mean 2021? That’s the most recent vintage with acid levels comparable to the '70s.
I defer to people with German wine experience in this century. I have only drunk a handful of German wines from the 2000 vintage forward.
But I don’t think these wines can be made any more in most vintages. The sugars reach too high a level too early. I hope I’m wrong.
Sorry, yes, I meant 2021
Run on a Y15 - enzymatic Y15 Automatic Analyzer – Admeo. If there’s any question, we’ll check with the hand measures (AO for SO2, Cash still for VA, manual pH and titration for TA, etc.)
Those have been some of the more funky examples I have had in the past. They are a more natural course of Chablis wines. The quote from their website - passion to craft Chablis wines from living soils and healthy grapes, according to “simple and natural” methods and a good dose of “observation and patience,” which to me reads as a natural method of winemaking… I too have had good bottles from them and rather out of line bottles. Not Premox, more natural without the focus and precision I would expect. Not a lot of SO2 use there, and less than focused winemaking if that makes sense. When they are great, they’re great. If not, they have gone off the rails a bit…
Interesting to see such high pHs. Would be interesting to see if that corresponds with machine harvesters.
Certainly not in those Grand Cru (and likely not a majority of the others, knowing the producers) - I do think it’s a vintage thing on some of them - heat in 2019. And other climactic with growers trying to push sugar ripeness in a a vintage like 2021 where you would see a higher propensity of secondary buds pushing and throwing wonky fruit (that and mold/mildew). I assumed more in the 3.2’s would have made sense across the board… I get the concept with machine harvesters - higher potassium by splitting berries - but I never really saw that creep in my Pinot Gris in Oregon that was machined.
The village lots I could easily see a correlation where producers are trying to push sugar at the expense of acidity, or possibly limitations of harvest - a dearth of pickers at the appropriate time, or ability to get machines in an expeditious manner. It’s the often overlooked part of winemaking - logistics. That 2019 Chablis in there with the 2 grams of malic is what got this whole discussion going for me about Chablis. I’ll be keen to ask that producer more about that as I continue my research and write it up.
All of this I know you know William!
Thanks to all, especially to Trevor for the great granular detail.
From a February visit to Chablis, we heard producers talking about elevated ph’s well above 3.3 in recent years. Things are changing dramatically.