GG’s are a new, complex and fascinating category in German wine. I have been thinking about which ones drink young well and which ones demand age. The young ones are a bit harder to define than the demand age ones, but I’ll give it a whirl.
Demand Age - Schonleber, Frohlich, Karthauserhof, Rebholz, Burklin Wolf, Clemens Busch
Good young - Wagner-Stempel Hollberg (not Heerkretz, which needs 3-6 years), Von Buhl Pechstein, Willi Schaefer, Schloss Lieser, Donnhoff
Its a small list I know but am calling on all the German wine aficionados for more clarity.
Rebholz '09’s were young and delicious but with age they truly blossom in my experience. Schonleber, for example, the '04’s are sinfully great now, but for me, they were very tight until they reached their apex.
I have never had an older Dellchen but I’d agree on the others. I always just thought it sucked when it was young.
What say ye on Keller? They all taste fine young, older, in my opinion, not so nice. Wittman also demands age. A lot I think.
Just looking at a couple of the producers where you say “good young” - Schaefer and Lieser - they both make sweet wines that age very well. In fact, as much as I love drinking Schaefer Kabinett in its precocious youth, I think it is miles better with age - lots of it. Also given the relative youth of the GG style (which I find distinct from the normal spatlese trocken) are we really even totally honed in on what these wines will ultimately be?
David, no we aren’t honed it at all. Lieser and Schafer GG’s are delicious and I have never had one that has been super closed young. But then again never had a Fritz Haag GG that has been open and giving young either. I really have trepidation aging any Mosel GG’s, esp middle mosel ones as I am just not sure. I have some of both GG;s in the cellar and will probably crack 'em in 2-4 years.
Agree on Schaefer Kabinett. Gets better with age but is fun to drink young, a '94 Domprobst in 2009 was silly good.
I open a 2002 G-Max recently and initially it was so shut down that I thought it was heat damaged. After about an hour it exploded into one of the most unique and amazing Dry Rieslings I have ever had.
This is probably #1 on my list of “areas of the wine world that I need to explore.” The couple times I’ve looked around, I haven’t struck upon a bottle and a price that made me jump in to buy, but I’m sure it will happen one of these days.
If anyone knows a great buy right now that would be a suitable entree into this category, please share.
I’ll echo Robert’s thoughts on that '02 G-Max from Rieslingfeier - the pour he gave me (after it was open for some time) was absolutely compelling. At the Keller/Prum dinner, we also had bottles of G-Max from '02 and '04 that were fantastic.
Rebholz is tough - they’re so damn good young that it’s hard to keep hands off. I appear to have gone through most of my 08 GGs, which were stunning on release - but I have faith in the 09s and the lone bottle of '07 Kastenienbusch that I’ve locked away in the cellar. Great, great wines. Schonleber’s in the same boat - I get the impression from the wines I’ve had that they’ll age superbly, but holy god they can be spectacular on release.
There’s an '05 Donnhoff Hermannshohle GG I’m curious to break into some time later this summer (dry Riesling dinner in NYC?), but all I know with Donnhoff’s trockens is that I really like the wines young.
The few von Buhl and Bassermann-Jordan GGs I’ve had all came across so ripe, intense and concentrated (with just a trace of alcohol) that I can’t imagine them aging as gracefully as say a more restrained Rebholz GG.
But the German trocken in my cellar I feel most comfortable about aging for the long term is my 2010 Koehler Ruprecht Saumagen Kabinett trocken. Lyle, have you tried that yet?
I don’t like them either. Too flashy, lacking soul, and sometimes just plain nasty, out of balance and hot. G-Max and Abtserde I do like, the other I find maddingly inconsistent.
It will age but not like the old KR’s used to age. Had '01 Auslese Trocken in Deidesheim this past summer and it blew my mind. I like the '10’s but I don’t think a Kabi Trocken would age and improve for anything more than 10 years.
Rebholz, I will disagree and say besides SF they are the the most closed young. Salil, you should have kept '08’s and drank the '09’s and 07’s if you have to drink them young.
Please add me to the non-Keller bandwagon. Maybe my expectations were too high after the raves I heard from so many sources or maybe I’ve just tried the wrong bottlings but of the admittedly small sample people have opened for me (maybe 4-5 bottles total) none have thrilled me or inspired me to buy.
re what to drink young while not GG Kunster Steilweg Old Vines is fantastic young but an '05 late last year was either shut down or just didn’t age well. I’ll reserve my other bottle for another 5 years in the hopes it’s the former. Lyle has reported on the Kunstler '05 GGs showing well so I may pull one of those. On release I don’t see much reason to pay the upcharge as they don’t seem noticeably better than the Stielweg but perhaps they are aging better.