In general I would consider myself fairly good reading German labels and quite well versed with the ins and outs of our beloved CT. This one, however has me stumped. Any help figuring out this wine and what seems to potentially be some differences in labels would be appreciated.
This is the label of the wine I have in my hands
This is the closest CT entry I can find
This entry’s picture:
The names appear to be the same but the labels are clearly different.
I’ve had the Felsentürmchen from other vintages I just can’t recall the label. The fact that the picture shown in CT seems to fit perfectly but the absence of the castle tower is totally throwing me for a loop. TIA.
Those 2 labels are the same wine. The picture of the tower is not important. The key word is “Felsentürmchen” which means “small rock tower”. It refers to exactly that which sits above the best subplot of the Schloßböckelheim Felsenberg vineyard. My understanding is that the word “Felsentürmchen” indicates it is only from that subplot, and that they can make say a Felsentürmchen Spatlese and/or a Schloßböckelheim Felsenberg Spatlese in any given vintage.
Ken has it mostly right. Donnhoff started producing the Felsenturmchen in 2006, from a “sweet spot” in Felsenberg vineyard. After a couple of years (as I understand it), the German VDP ruled that he could not use that name any more. So he started bottling the wine with the little castle on the label to indicate the designation. I’m pretty sure more recent vintages do not say Felsenturmchen (I think they say Turmchen). Now it just says Felsenberg, with the little castle picture.
Sort of…Felsenberg is the real vineyard name. Felsenturmchen is a quasi-legal parcel name. The Grosses Gewachs bottling still has to say Felsenberg on the bottle…somewhere.
I pointed Cornelius Dönnhoff to this thread and he replied “It’s the same wine. It has a different label because of he regulations in Canada. Basically you explained it right. Cheers Cornelius.”
