This was a Thanksgiving wine, but I waited to post a note until I could get more. Secured another six pack and very happy as this is a magnificent wine, and was neck and neck with the Raveneau Valmur 1998 as my best white wine of the year.
I expected it would need time either in the decanter or glass to unfurl. Not so. Even as I was pouring the wine, it was exhibiting intoxicating aromas of apricot, honey, stone, and all spice. Alcohol was a refreshing 12.5% coupled with a lovely acidity to the wine.
Without doubt the wine of the night, the first bottle to be finished with people reaching for more even after the bottle was empty, and there was still plenty of 1989 Pichon Lalande in the decanter.
The Pichon was indeed lovely, encrusted in leather and anise was showing well, but was unexpectedly eclipsed by the S/F. A couple of other notables: an excellent Suenen Champagne and a beautiful bottle of 2008 Fevre Chablis Montee de Tonnerre
And finally the Turkey and stuffing were unbelievably good this year. In fact the best stuffing I have ever eaten.
Now I am going to blow your mind. If you think the 21 Felseneck is good, you need to try the Schafer-Frohlich Finale Auction wine! Tim did an auction wine in honor of his Father whom I believed died in 2021 from the best parcel of Felseneck. And it is not just bigger it is one of the most detailed precise wines I have ever drunk. The normal Felseneck GG is like listening to a great sound system, the Finale is like listening to a $2 mm sound system in a perfectly treated room.
Robert, much as I would love to try the Finale, it is almost exactly ten times the cost of the original purchase (it is more expensive now). I am reluctant to spend that much, although we may end up with a bottle for one of our OTT lunches.
The Felseneck was indeed a great bottle, racy and electric.
Also loved the Suenen, Fevre, and Pichon Lalande, but a good wine night overall. Only bottles I didn’t care for were a soft and empty 97 DDO Laurene PN and a 59 Vouvray where the cork was floating in bottle.
The only thing Mark is wrong about is the oyster dressing/stuffing was a little too sweet.
Really glad it showed well Mark, especially as I was the other person who suggested opening it
I opened a magnum for my birthday a few weeks ago and it was one of my favorite bottles that night as well.
Tim seems to have solved the sponti issues that made the wines a bit tough to drink young the last few years, which is great for those of us that love the wines.
I just picked up a pair of the 21, thanks for the heads up! WHWC has 7 left at $99 per.
The only other vintage of the Felseneck GG I have is the 18, if I was to open one in the near future, would it at least give me an idea of the greatness of this site? I know time would surely do the trick but I am getting frisky on pulling a cork.
The '21 Felseneck GG has been my favourite of ~50 x 2021 German Rieslings drunk so far. So much so that I was compelled to buy the Spatlese GK (excellent), Auslese (outstanding) and Eiswein renditions.
@Robert_Dentice - from previous threads, I know my Riesling palate is well aligned with yours. Have you had experience with their Eiswein also? One of the many things that has impressed me about the Felsenecks is how layered with fruit, ‘minerals’, salts, etc they are - I presume the Final is in the same vein?
