I have zero interest in auction prices, as I don’t buy auction wines. I used to, and don’t see the incremental quality increase to be worth the more than incremental price increases. Plus, auction wines tend to be bigger and richer most (not all) of the time, and I don’t normally go for that in my preferred Rieslings.
Of course I pay attention to pricing on regular wines. $75+ for Egon Müller Kabinett is now outside my preferred range, especially since I have never felt they were better than say J.J. Prüm. Different, yes. Better, no.
Some interesting comments regarding the Egon Müller Kabinett. I doubt very much they use declassified grapes with botrytis. I recall Mr. Müller talking on a panel discussion focused on classic Kabinetts saying the irony of this class is that it actually takes more work and expense to make a Kabinett because you need special parcels in cooler areas, much more attention than just simply letting the grapes get riper for higher pradikats. And yet the market will not pay more for a Kabinett than a Spatlese or Auslese because that is just that way it is. Admittedly this was before his Alte Reben starting selling for what it sells today auction. Nevertheless the sentiment is still the same with a few minor exceptions.
Also Egon Müller never really made dry wines in the 80s although I do know they accidentally made one in I believe 83.
I personally still buy some of the Kabinetts which will soon be over $100 for the non-auction but I view them as more like a top Spatlese. I much prefer Falkenstein when I want a classic Kabinett.
It’s a lot harder to make Kabinett than Spatlese and Auslese I believe.
We are seeing prices rise for a good few ‘old fashioned’ Kabinett wines. Which I view as a good thing. Though Egon’s Kabi can often creep up in alcohol.
Currently drinking 2004 Le Gallais Auction Auslese. Beautiful despite a dodgy cork and being slightly advanced.
Stephen Brook talks extensively about it in “The Wines of Germany”. And Egon IV has spoken about it as well in various interviews. Again, I think it is no longer the case, although I have no idea if it’s stopped as a matter of practice or as a reflection of the vintage.
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Here’s a good example from a quick internet search:
ROSS: It seems the majority of German winemakers avoid botrytis in their Kabinett and Spatlese, as if it is a danger.
Egon: I don’t see it as a danger, I see it as something that can give to the wine more complex flavors and aromas than a wine without botrytis. 1997 was maybe a once in a lifetime vintage with very little or no botrytis and extremely ripe grapes and wines that have been flavorful and nice to drink from the start. If I look at other vintages with little botrytis like 2001, 1996, or 1990, then you have wines that are very hard and very difficult to assess when young. The 1990’s are really only just starting to open now and I think if there was a little more botrytis in 1990 the wines would have developed much more favorably - they would not necessarily have turned into greater wines. They were drinking well for one year after bottling and then they shut down completely and took ten years to come back again. With a little bit of botrytis there would have been a softer transition.
That’s not a terribly unique point of view. Helmut Dönnhoff has said similar things, specifically regarding his 1990s, which he thought could have used a touch.
Back at home in NYC with my books. Brook quoted Mueller as saying that botrytis grapes went into the Kabi and spat in 89, 97 and 99 because it rained at the end of harvest and “the grapes had lost concentration and acidity by the time they were picked”. I’ve had the latter two of those wines. Reinhardt says “for finesse, sophistication l, and precision, [the kabinett] is unmatched by any wine in the world, especially when it is botrytis-free”.
Brook also noted that some dry wines were produced from 1980-1996 “but the Mullers themselves often found these wines disappointing”.
I read your earlier comment as they always put in declassified botrytis grapes in the Kabinett which I found very hard to believe. Based on the things you posted here it looks like depending on the vintage they might use them / are open to it which I can see.
As far as the dry wines the only one I have ever seen was the 83 in the cellar. I think I heard they made a GG in 2018 or did I dream this?
The MFW guys reportied that Egon is trying to make a GG and have a barrel that is still fermenting (with the implication that it maybe ferments to dryness).
I definitely didn’t mean to imply that the kabi always has botrytis grapes. I haven’t noticed any in recent vintages. I had a dry '89 that I bought at chambers. It might have been labelled as a Qba. I can go back and check.
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Lets hope the wine does not ferment all the way to dryness A dry GG will go for crazy prices at the auction. Not sure what a Egon Muller Feinherb would sell for but surely a lot less than a GG.
A dry GG will go for crazy prices at the auction. Not sure what a Egon Muller Feinherb would sell for but surely a lot less than a GG.
