Dennis, and yet it’s a small report compared to The Riesling Report on Weingut Keller… Can you imagine?
Thanks Rodrigo, more notes and impressions on German wine coming soon.
Charlie, I warned you…this is only for the seriously wine passionate people without a life. You need time to read it. If just interested in impressions on the actuall wines, scroll down and ignore my take on the vintage, the winery in general and my steamy account on how I lost my virginity in the Abtserde vineyard, thanks to Julia Keller.
Paula, feedback will come - but still remains second priority at the moment. That’s the main draw-back of not being a full-time professional wine critic - ahhh, the time (!) I would have to taste and publish extensive reports with impressions and news from the wineries… So the answer to your question, I have no time whatsover to roam the German country side to taste many non-VDP estates (with some notable exceptions). Although the VDP estates are just the icing on the cake, I think most wine lovers passionate enough to hang around at wine forums like this, are most often familiar with and drink these (VDP) very wines. I too was at the excellent Mainzer Weinbörse and as always, despite me running between the estates with fours glasses at a time (to speed up the tasting and make room for comparisons), I barely had time to scratch the surface of so many fun and interesting wineries. I wish we would have five days, instead of two - and even that wouldn’t be enough to taste them all. Instead, I need to find those small gaps in my schedule as a full-time teacher, when I can make quick commando raids to Germany in my spare time and with those limited restirictions try to to taste has many wines and possible. At least I finished my short trip according to plan, by spending a lovely afternoon with Rebecca when tasting the portfolio at Dr Crusius and then with Maximin the last day at Maximin Grünhaus, only to quickly return to Frankfurt…to miss my flight. Staaau and total chaos at the airport resulted in a “fun” experience sleeping overnight on the floor at the airport. But then again, as they say, it’s passion, isn’t it?
The tasting with the Haag family (Schloss-Lieser) was so much fun, with the biggest surprises to me being the wonderful feinherb lineup this year. Crispy, salty and simply delicious. Looking forward to the GGs on my next trip. The re-tasting at Willi Schaefer was “boring”. I mean, what can you say? Wine after wine like a delicate feather barely touching your palate… I could basically have finished their production on my own (if Christoph and Andrea would allow me). Tasting with Oliver at Fritz Haag was, as always, an absolute delight and some of the wines this year (the 2021 vintage), mark my words… I’ll be stocking up (for medicinal purposes, of course…). When residual sugar meets slate salinity and minerality, combined white the peach aromas of the Brauneberg Juffer site, it creates…magic. Tasting at Dönnhoff (two days) was just one big confirmation that some of their wines this year are simply outrageously delicious. I was particularly pleased with the Weissburgunder S this year but then…some of the Rieslings… OMG. Dr Heger, Künsler and Meyer-Näkel were full of suprises. So much to report on!
But more on that later, now my lunch break at work is over and it’s time for the main priority - setting grades for about 200 students. Deadline today and tomorrow.