Just cleaning out some old emails and I found data sheets that Trimbach sent to me on the 97, 98 and 99 Cuvee Frederic Emile for a blind dinner I was hosting. All three say that there was no malolactic fermentation. Is this normal for Riesling? Does it explain some of the laser sharpness I get in the CFE?
As a thread drift contained in the OP - I had the Grgich Hills Chardonnay on Saturday and it also had no malo and only neutral oak. Very nice. Between the Grgich Chardonnay and the Grgich Zin, I now have more respect for a winery that I always thought should be consigned to the “steakhouse wine list” along with Jordan (the new ones - the old ones are very good), Sonoma Cutrer and Silver Oak.
I would assume most rieslings do not go thru ML in order to keep acid levels higher. I know that is the case donestically, especially with stainless fermented and aged versions.
If acid levels are too high, on the other hand, you could try to push thru ML to reduce acid levels.
In Alsace, with rieslings, there is almost no ML anywhere that I know of.
The wines last forever on their malic and other acidities.
Just curious if you had your dinner or are having it.
Had the '99 CFE recently…and it’s mostly acids in my last two outings with it. Not much fruit at all…even after some long aeration to try to find it.
If not, please report in after you have the dinner.
Meh. The Lingenfelder (I think it was a 1995 Auslese Trocken) was interesting for a few sips and then just fell flat as Riesling. I got to try a second bottle a year or so later and it had collapsed into mush.
I had one in Washington state back in 1999, but it was a complete travesty. The malolactic was the least of its issues. The biggest problem was the 100% new oak.
Before this thread I had never even considered that any anywhere Riesling had ever gone through malo. I think of any white variety, for some reason I have the hardest time picturing what this one would be like.
Andre Ostertag, a bidynamie wine maker in Alsace who went to wine school in Beaune , has long gone against the traditional Alsace methods. I visited once (in 2001), but he wasn’t there; his sister was. I bought a few bottles, but have no familiarity with the results. I found the place a curiosity, but never delved into it,
While Ostertag Riesling sees no oak, malic acid is allowed to completely convert to creamy lactic acid in every vintage. The perception of acid has less to do with malolactic conversion percentages and more to do with a wine’s terroir and time of picking.
FYI, in this piece from the World of Fine Wine republished by the VDP, Stephen Reinhardt refers to some 2012 rieslings having gone through malo. This Decanter article says the same thing about 2012. Neither one names any particular producers or wines.
Vom Boden, the importer, says that the 2009 Vollenweider Schimbock Riesling went through malo, though this sounds like a generally idiosyncratic producer.
I wonder, Jay, whether they let it go “through” ML totally, ie, all the malic stuff convert to lactic? Often, winemakers stop malic in particular vintages…when partially done by lowering the temps in the winery.
“Actually, long-time winemaker Pierre Trimbach, Jean’s brother, told me that in 1993 the malolactic fermentation started naturally, and he let it finish.”
As for malolactic fermentation and Riesling, I can’t help but refer to David Schildknecht’s comment on this topic. There are, indeed, many German Rieslings (including GGs) that go through malo.