Had a great dinner at the Peking Duck House with Tom Reddick earlier in the week and we drank some killer Rieslings.
We started off with the 2004 Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen Grosses Gewachs and this wine was singing. My second bottle in three months. Lovely nose of white flowers, intense minerality, some petrol and some lime zest. The palate was rich, but rich in texture and minerality as fruit is second here as the terroir is beautifully expressive. I always get loads of minerality from Frühlingsplätzchen while Halenberg always seems a bit more rich in fruit but still has that stinging minerality. The wine kept opening and expanding over the next day too. Tremendous structure but drinking so well now. So drink or hold.
Next up was the 2005 Schafer-Frohlich Felsenberg Grosses Gewachs which showed a bit strange at first. Wild yeast nose, bready, almost like a wild grower bubbly, but soon became more civilized as the night went on and showed the wonderful finesse of the Felsenberg along with its trademark limey minerality and peach fruits. Juicy, textured and just enough acidity to keep it from falling into the no-acid zone. A place no Riesling ever wants to go. I remember this and Tim’s other GG’s from 2005 having better acidity and as they have progressed the fruit and texture, say the vintage characteristics are starting to really show themselves. The next day it drank like a white rhone. All texture and richness but still with a lovely lime and mineral finish. Got juicier too. I will hold my remaining bottles for ten years.
Next up was the 2007 Wittman Aulerde Grosses Gewachs. This started off closed and sinewy but slowly started to reveal itself until it was the only wine we were both drinking by the end of the meal. Distinctly mineral and almost chalky with chewy minerality but lovely finesse off the bat. It soon developed an out of this world complex and floral nose and then the fruit started to show up. The mineral crunch though dominated this wine and I loved it for that. Elegant as all Wittman tends to be at this level and extremely structured. This easily needs 10 years as the structure reminds me of a Meursault from a high-acid year and a mineral vineyard like Tillets. Great wine. Really needed a decant.
Then I wine I was anticipating greatly, the 2007 Keller Abtserde Grosses Gewachs which started off with one very distinct aroma on the nose. That was ginger. Then some brown sugar developed and the whole vibe of the nose was of airiness and nuance. Every sniff there was something new, plus the old aromas from the previous sniff kept developing. A heavenly nose. The palate was all Rocks and Fruit. Heheheheh. But it really was. Like biting down on a stone that falls in apart in your mouth like rock candy. So mineral, structured and young at this point but easily the highest quality wine of the night. The palate was just immense, yet graceful, with tons of structure and a long finish. A wistful wine I’d like to revisit in ten years. And five years. And tomorrow.
The final wine was a bottle of the 2007 F.X. Pichler Durnsteiner Kellerberg Riesling Smaragd which was ok but too rich for me. I’ve never really cared for Rieslings from this vineyard. Too nutty on the nose and too rich on the palate. An enormously complex wine but too much alcohol and richness fore me. Wish there was more finesse and it was toned down more. That’s all I can say about that one.
Sounds like it was a great evening- would have bet the '04 Emrich-Schonleber would have been the best “drink now” wine of the night, but it sounds like the '07 Wittman was irresistable in its youthful raciness. Not suprised of the showing of the '07 Kellerberg- to my mind a wine to show off for all of its complexity and larger than life attributes, but not capable of delivering a modicum of the enjoyment of a wine like the Abtserde. That knock at the door will be the Keller infanticide patrol looking for the remaining bottles of Abtserde '07!