TN: 2004 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Kupfergrube Riesling Spätlese

WINE TALK
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  • 2004 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Kupfergrube Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe (9/25/2009)
    Mmm, stinky diesel and mineral funk. The palate is a pure sweet and sour balance of salt, tart and sweet. Gorgeous Spätlese, complex, effortless, sophisticated, hedonistic. My wife wanted some Riesling with dinner, so I popped this on a moment’s notice and had a glass myself after dinner. Will report back tomorrow on the rest of the bottle. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Sounds delicious, Eric. [cheers.gif]

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I should be picking up some Krotenpfuhl Spatlese soon - thanks for the note!

4

I’m a big fan of this as well, thanks for posting on how it’s doing.

Cheers,
-Robert

5

Thanks for the note. It brings back memories of one of my earliest wine hobbies - German QmP wines in the 60s and 70s fuelled by a persistent salesman, an old retiree of the House of Hallgarten in the UK, who introduced me to the great wines QmP wines from all over Germany including the Nahe.

One of my favourites was from the ‘Copper Mine’ - the Schloßböckelheimer Kupfergrube Riesling wines [usually the Spatlese or Auslese with the occasional half of Beerenauslese] of the Staatliche Weinbaudomäne with the famous spread eagle emblem which was sold IIRC in the late 80s to private owners who still produce the wine.

Not the Dönnhoff of course but still an excellent wine in those far off days. Good memories.

I have more recently developed a taste for some of the best dry German Rieslings from e.g. Keller having always drunk the Alsace versions but for a real blast from the past I open a classic QmP - and enjoy an exquisite, racy, high flavour, low alcohol wine with acidity balancing the residual sugar.

6

Dönnhoff really hit it out of the park in '04. I love every Spätlese of his I’ve had from that vintage. The wines are incredibly pure & focussed.

7

To be honest, I did not care for his '04 wines on release (and I realize I am in a very distinct minority with that opinion), because I found the wines sweet & relatively simple. That said, I do have a few cases socked away, hopefully awaiting some positive development, including 6 bottles of the wine Eric has reviewed here. I have been assuming that the wines were still too young to revisit, but depending on his “day 2 follow-up”, maybe I’ll pull a cork or two to check things out.

8

I didn’t get to it last night, but I generally find these hold on very well in the fridge. Personally I have found that a lot of the 04 Spatlese have drunk very well from the get-go whereas some of the 03’s were a bit more sugary and flat.

9

The '04 vintage at Donnhoff is very good, if a small step behind 2001 and especially 2002 for spatlese.

'03 is not good now, and I have little hope for it. The Kirschheck spatlese is a flabby mess, and even the Brucke is lifeless.

10

FWIW, the 03’s have improved since release, although given a choice between 02, 03 and 04, at the Spatlese level I would easily opt for 02 and 04 over 03.