During the #rieslingstudy017 weekend I did a German Chardonnay study at a collector / winemaker dinner on Saturday evening. German Chardonnay is rarer that hen’s hens teeth in the United States so my selection was dictated by what I have in my cellar. I find many similarities between German and Oregon Chardonnay so it was very cool to taste these with Evan Martin of Martin Woods who hosted the dinner and other winemakers including Jason Lett of Eyrie Vineyards. I was the MC so did not have time to take detailed notes but have some high level observations. I will be doing a major German Chardonnay study this fall similar to last years Spätburgunder study. Overall I am VERY excited by this category.
source | material sold a few of these in miniscule quantities
2020 Moritz Kissinger - This was a crowd favorite. Jason Lett commented on its level of reduction. It is an interesting combination of natural style winemaking yet with a very serious undertone. This is a stunning wine, I am sad I only have a bottle or two.
2021 Weltner Rödelsee - Fascinating wine it tasted more like riesling. High acid and energetic. I liked the wine a lot. But if I wanted a Chardonnay and grabbed this I might be disappointed.
2016 Durst - Young this was the greatest German Chardonnay I have ever had. I even called it my wine of the year and described it as a hypothetical blend of Chablis and a GG Riesling. It has advanced quickly and not in a good way. Curious of the SO2 protocol.
2019 Lukas Hammelman - Overall a very nice complete wine. Still a bit young and the oak showing just a tad. If I am honest this is expensive at around $80 as are many of these wines when they get through the three tiers.
2022 Wasenhaus Filzen - This is still very tight. I would have put my money on this being the wine of the tasting. It needs more time.
2019 Jonas Dostert - This was the most unique wine of the tasting and along with the Kissinger my favorite but for completely different reasons. Like all of the Dostert wines light, focused, an emphasis on minerality. 256 of 926. It is fascinating how much Jonas gets out of his wines with only 11-11.5% abv.
2014 Ziereisen Hard - I just don’t get the Ziereisen wines. Every time I open one, I for lack of another word am bored. A few others liked this and it did open with time. I wish I could have spent more time with it to try to figure it out.
German Chardonnay has long tradition, it is not as if the category was invented by the young wild generation. Discerning domestic wine drinkers would bring up names like Huber, Chat Sauvage, Juelg, Rebholz, Wageck, Ziereisen, yes, and many more. International (lack of) availability might skew the picture somewhat.
Simplifying things, not many similarities to Burgundy, more like Jura or New World. Ripe yellow instead of crispy green apples.
I agree but just like Spatburgunder I am much more interested in the younger generations version of Chardonnay. I do have some Huber on the way as it has been awhile since I tried one. But even Huber is made by a younger winemaker and in a much different style than his father.
@MaciejK do you have a current favorite amongst the producers who have been working with Chardonnay for awhile?
I have never broadly explored in this category as I prefer a different style, nowadays even less so. I have fond memories (and still some bottles) of Richard Oestreicher/Franconia (some from French clones) and Juelg/Palatinate (all the way in the south, I think some grapes grow on the other side of the border, so effectively French). If you prefer something more funky, Knewitz has many fans.
Best picture i have of my 2021 Makalié Chardonnay…
Must say that it disappointed me a bit. Spot on high’ish acidity and a delicious herbal touch to it. But the fruit profile was just way to exotic for my personal preferences. And there was not a lot to counter balance it. Not a bad wine at all, just not as exciting for me as their Spätburgunders.
Had saved a bit of it in the fridge and forgotten all about it. Five days later it was still drinking as well which is impressive for a very low sulfites wine. But the fruit profile was still an issue for me.
On pop and pour it was just a slightly less exotic fruit version of Makalié. Ah well…
Second glass a few hours later was a completely different story. It had opened up much more citrus focused. With salt and raw fennel notes. Everything i also look for in my Jura to counter balance the fruit profile. Only 12% abv and high acidity.
Thanks for the notes on these. I have found a couple of German Chardonnays to be good wines but not very Chardonnay like. Guessing it has to do with vine age, clones etc.
Wow, I would never have expected “exotic” to be a fruit descriptor for a 2021 German Chardonnay! Because of the nature of the vintage I would have expected the complete opposite.
It will be interesting to hear how Wasenhaus’ 2021 whites are.
Maybe not such wild like several Chardonnays of your study, but for me the new benchmark in Germany. It flashed me!
Of course I am biased, but I spoke with one of the best taster in Germany who works in the wine business and who drinks also a lot of wild stuff, he was flashed too. He tasted it 3-4 days after me at the estate Keller in March.
I think it is too early to tell. The Andreas Durst mentioned above was incredible in its youth. Not so much now. But the winemaker also has one foot in the natural camp so I am guessing he did not use much sulpher.
