So my maiden voyage posting TN’s on Berzerkers. I have not posted tasting notes on a wine bulletin board in over two years. It feels good as that is what I did on the board that shall not be named and that is what I will do sometimes here. Not all the time, I need some content for my blog, ya know. But hey I double post so it is what it is. Just sayin’.
Here is a bunch of wines from recent weeks, but be easy on me because [imnewhere.gif]
2002 Fichet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Les Referts” - This was boring. Nice minerality on the nose, but lacking real mineral stank and depth like a Roulot, Jobard, or even Carillon. Just a pretty nose. Palate was big and powerful with still some unabsorbed oak on the finish. Not complex at all. Just kind of dull and flat. Purity is good, but this Fichet, the stuff is always pure, but this wine did not excite me, nor has almost any white burg, less some '07’s that I have tasted recently. I think my palate is moving away from white burg. The flavor profile does not do it for me any more and so little of them have that wonderful diaphanous quality that my beloved Riesling has. And when I find one that does it tends to cost more. I love Aligote though.
2007 A J Adam Dhroner Hofberg Riesling Spatlese - A J Adam is doing fabulous stuff in the Mosel. He is also the winemaker at Heymann-Lowenstein, which is a top notch estate in the Lower Mosel. He makes Riesling using spontaneous fermentation with natural yeasts in a reductive style like JJ Prum, Rienhold Haart, Knebel, Clemens-Busch, Van Volxem and many more. The way their grandfathers did it. As a result of this I have had a high miss rate (many closed “funky” bottles) with Adam, but when the wines are one they can be absolutely ethereal. This Spatlese was good but just seemed clumsy on this night. Nose was mostly broad notes of botrytis and some slatey notes in the background. The palate was clumsy, but very elegant and pure. The acidity is what turned me off the most. Barely there. An ok wine on this night and either closed or in a mood. I am sure it has the material to be spectacular but it will take time to get sorted out. This actually did not show reduced like his wines sometimes can show, this showed clumsy and closed. More like an evolutionary thing rather than a winemaking thing.
2007 Descombes Regnie - Maybe my current favorite producer of Beaujolais. Amazing selection across the board and he makes great examples of some off-villages, with his Regnie being a great example of that. A wine that needs a decant as this has some serious stuffing. Lovely aromas of spice, orange zest, autumnal leaves, red flowers and some earth. Palate is juicy and pure with excellent balancing acidity. Gains heft and tannin over many hours and they are sweet and delicate tannins. This is a wonderfully constructed wine that I think will age for up to 10 years. Fantastic. I cannot wait to taste the Regnie VV in 2007.
2005 Robert Weil Kiedricher Grafenberg Spatlese - I do not like Weil at all. How’s that for a full disclosure? They use commercial yeasts which make all the wines stay the same. They just have different weights according to pradikats and the fruit flavors are all the same. Some are more concentrated than others and they are a friggin’ ripoff. The Gaja of Germany. They are also way too sweet for me. This had typical Auslese weight, dull citrus fruit and no flaws yet totally devoid of any real character.
2004 Keller Dalsehimer Hubacker Riesling Spatlese GK # 26 - This was a great bottle of Spatlese. Just perfect right now. So elegant and diaphanous with nice complex resin, pine, citrus, strawberry and stone fruits flavors that last and last. Buffered by stellar acids. Weightlessness and precision define this wine. Just perfect. I have one more bottle and I’ll wait a bit as this will get better. It is not all about the Grosses Gewachs here.