Sounds like you should skip it. There is an ocean of great wine out there. No reason to buy something you aren’t sure about, particularly if you are already well-stocked in the category. I bought heavily from the same German producers that I always do but haven’t tasted the wines and won’t until September.
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It’s hard to pass on Schaefer’s GD Kab… I have past regrets on that. Spat #5 is getting easier with the price bump every year.
Not necessarily a mistake. I think a lot depends on what you like German wines to be and how well stocked you are in ready to drink vintages. 2018 has some long term potential, but I see much value in enjoying a lot of them young.
The 2015-2017 run has been highly unusual. I see 2015 as a great and classic year of really huge wines. 2016s seem tame by comparison, but I am finding them more serious than I originally thought, and in need of more time than I had anticipated. 2017 is downright freakish. The wines are amazing, but they are huge and unruly- and it will be a very long time before we see what truly comes of them. I expect they will be great, but they will remain singular.
If you want a burgundy comparison, I would say 2015 Mosel is to 1999 red Burgundy as 2017 Mosel is to 2005 red Burgundy. I do not have a burgundy comparison for 2016 Mosel- but in Bordeaux that comparison might be 1985- another singular year that has behaved in a very unexpected manner, and wonderfully so.
With the 2018 German wines I tasted, as noted above, I felt as though I had come back to earth. While the vintage has its own unique characteristics- in the big picture they fit into the classic frame very well and are immensely charming. That said- in the realm of “greatness”, I do not see this vintage at the level of 2015, 2016 or 2017.
For my part- my overall bottle purchase in the 2018 vintage will be about the same as it has been for 2015-2017, but I am buying a smaller number of individual wines, but each in greater quantity than usual. Where I would normally do 5-7 Kab/Spat and 3-4 Aus+ for a given wine, I am now doing 6s and 12s for almost everything I am after. And I do that wanting to be able to drink a large portion of them young, and have them repeatedly as trusted and uncomplicated choices for more casual settings.
Anyhow- that is the full tale from my perspective in the hopes it helps.
I’m doing the opposite! Trying a few “new” producers who I haven’t bought in a while if ever (Adam, selbach) but smaller quantities even of Mainstays.
Selbach made some lovely wines. I am going long on their Graacher Domprobst bottlings. Had a long conversation about them with Johannes Selbach after the NYC tasting. He was pretty emotional about the Domprobst.
Selbach is the biggest buy for me this year. It was #2 in 2017, but in 2018 it becomes my main focus. The quality of the wines was the main reason, but the extra push to the #1 spot had a lot to do with him taking the time to come here (for the second time this year!) and bring a lot of his best wines with him. At a time when German prices are starting to take a more serious uptick, even though thoroughly merited in most cases, that begins to matter a lot as many of us have to start making choices versus just buying whatever we might want.
Just requested the Selbach Anrecht and Rotlay again for this year.
Thanks for the comments. I wound up holding off on a Schaefer purchase for only the second time since skipping the 2009s. I have a lot of Riesling to work through, and I would frankly prefer to work on backfilling, e.g., certain 90s vintages, 2001-02, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012-13, or even 2017 in Germany, if I’m buying anything at all.
The one thing I will buy however in 2018 is Falkenstein.
Solid move. I tasted a selection a few weeks ago. Ended up buying a number of 6 packs.
I have visited both Kai Schätzel and Schloss Lieser in April this year to taste their 2018’s (those that were ready to taste) and they were stellar!
(Full disclosure: yes I import and sell them.)
This should be in the general 2018 Germany topic, sorry!
I found this for $15 and bought a few, remembering how much I enjoyed this estate’s Riesling R about 15 years ago.
This did not disappoint. The body is somewhere between light and medium, and I agree about the lime acid notes, which reminded me of Australia. Nice complexity for the price, and I found the slatey finish longer than some on CellarTracker claim. Definitely some apple on the palate, along with a hint of pineapple, but also other minerals beside slate, to the point that there is a touch of bitterness, which I sort of liked. Well balanced. Would pair beautifully with non-funky cheese.
Vin Chicago has plenty, for those interested.
Kunstler is one of those rare producers where I prefer the dry wines to the ones with rs. They almost always produce such balanced results.
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