Spent Sunday evening with friends drinking riesling.
First up was a few things to wet the palate.
2001 Lauer Riesling Sekt
Super umami rich. Fresh apricots, quince paste. Good acid backbone.
2020 Schäfer-Fröhlich Spätburgunder Fröhlich Blanc de Noir trocken
Bright fresh red fruits, medium body and structure. Beautifully pure, vibrant and with a pep in its step.
Then we dove right into the first set of rieslingstudy wines. study, a study in vine age in the Nahe with Emrich-Schönleber’s 2020er wines, both the GGs from Frühlingsplätzchen and Halenberg, and their young vines counterparts, Fruhtau and Halgans.
Very fun comparison between the young vine wines to their respective GGs. What a stark difference vine age makes. The young vine wines were much more approachable and open at this stage. The GGs are clearly a step above in density and concentration, but at this moment they were very coiled up and while towards the end of the evening, they did open up some, they weren’t as approachable at the moment as their young vine counterparts. The Frühlingsplätzchen wines were all about mineral intensity and acidic tension. The Halenberg wines by comparison were more powerful and broad, and with some more salted fruit showing. Across the board, excellent and delightful wines.
Then came a study in slate colour with some 2019er Clemens Busch GGs. The Marienburg vineyard in the Mosel has has several plots with different coloured slates, and Clemens Busch bottles each of those plots separately with Falkenlay being grown in grey-slate and Fahrlay in blue slate. As an aside, one may discern what colour slate the wine came from by a quick glance a the capsule colour, as Clemens Busch uses different coloured capsules to indicate the slate colour.
The blue-slated Fahrlay had some sponti funk to it on open, which needed some time to blow off, but when it did it revealed notes of grapefruit, green apple, mustard seeds and apricots. Big, tensioned wine. The grey-slated Falkenlay was more open and inviting, with a riper fruit profile, but still filled with the same tension and textural depth of the Fahrlay. Each was very distinct, but very much cut from the same cloth.
Midway through dinner there was a wee bit of a break from riesling to drink some various other things brought.
2007 Ayala Champagne Grand Cru No. 7 Brut
Blend from 7 different grand cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims. Citrus, grilled lemon, almond cream, chalk and a good deal of autolytic notes.
2012 Château Montus Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec
Poured blind. Ripe tropical fruit, papaya, guava. Saffron, almond cream. Rich and waxy, but bone dry. A 80-20 blend of Petit Courbu and Petit Manseng. Very much outside of my wheelhouse with this, no way I’d go there as a guess, especially given it was my first time with trying Petit Courbu. Guessed aged semillion.
2013 Arnaud Ente Bourgogne-Grand-Ordinaire
Red fruits, cherries, cranberry, some smoke, but overall quite green and stemy.
2016 Domaine Harmand-Geoffroy Gevrey-Chambertin en Jouise
Poured blind. Medium weight, a mix of red and sweet dark fruits. Some earthy undertones and svelte tannins. Guessed 2017 Gevrey-Chambertin.
2016 Weingut Keller Frauenberg Spätburgunder GG
Light on its feet, but with great depth and structure. Black cherries, herbs, and beautifully integrated tannins. A delightful spätburgunder.
2007 Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz vom Buntsandstein Riesling Spätlese trocken
Cork broke halfway through, out came the cork extractor to the rescue—a trusty tool that doesn’t see much use, but comes in handy in situations like this. Quite ripe tropical fruits on the nose with peach, papaya, and bruleed pineapple. In a very mature stage, loads of petrol, but a nice acid backbone to it.
Finally, dessert came around, and we entered into the last set of rieslings—all ausleses. First up were two 2009er Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr ausleses, a white capsule #6 and goldkapsel #9.
2009 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese #6
In a great place now. Beautiful rich and creamy. Loads of ripe stone fruits, deep mineral core and excellent acid and length.
2009 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel #9
Much of the same profile of #6 white capsule. With Ripe stone fruits with a mineral core, but everything is more precise and finessed. The Goldkapsel auslese had fruit partially affected by botrytis (30-50%), and it shows it in its concentration and intensity.
1988 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese
Served “blind”. But by unfortunate happenstance, I overhead the name of the producer from the person who brought bottle when they asked for it to be brought out. On the nose it was unquestionably aged auslese. Golden in colour and bursting from the glass with honey, ginger, grilled white peach, candied Budah’s hands. Great depth and a strikingly long finish. So it became a question of vintage and which of Prum’s vineyards. Guessed 1976 W-S, but turned out to be 1988.
2010 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese #10
Mineral driven, very intense. Sweet peach and apricots. Iris flowers and beeswax. Still just a baby.