A few riesling enthusiasts gathered together for dinner to drink some riesling
Theme was beat the 2013 Keller Abts Erde.
Everyone brought a dry riesling to throw into the mix. We had the somm sort out the order and did everything blind. Not knowing which rieslings were being opened or who brought them.
Non-blind aperitifs:
2019 Muller-Ruprect riesling trocken- I’ve quickly become a big fan of this producer after discovering them through source material. Not the most complex wine, but was just fun drinking. Light, citrus forward and zesty.
2001 JJ Prum W-S kabi- the bar was quickly raised when this followed shortly. Loomi, peach blossoms, petrichor, peach blossoms with the signature Prum sponti still there. Clean and light on the palate. Beautifully aged kabi
2020 Egon kabi- this is just mineral water with a tinge of citrus and watercress spritzed on it. So delicate and refreshing.
We then dove into the dry blind flights
Flight 1: 09 Keller Morstein v. 09 E-S Fruhlingsplätzchen trocken (what is now the Fruhtau cuvee).
Both seemed a touch tired to me. The 09 Morstein had a touch more heat on the nose and the palate. The E-S was a bit brighter and a better mid-palate concentration. E-S edged it out to me, but some preferred the Morstein.
Flight 2: 17 Keller Kirchspiel v. 19 Battenfeld-Spanier Frauenberg
Kirchspiel always seems to be my least favourite Keller GG. A touch smoky and herbal with some tropical fruits. More than a few were guessing Keller. Surprisingly though, I found it much less precise that the Battenfeld-Spanier. The Battenfeld-Spanier had loads of crushed rocks and minerals on the nose and great mid-palate density that pushed it above the Keller for me.
Flight 3: 2018 PJK Lenchen vs. 19 Wittmann Morstein
The PJK had an obvious oak influence to it, but not enough to make it off-putting.I’ve found he Wittmann bottles are always inconsistent and having tried another bottle of 19 Morstein recently, upon having the bottle revealed it made me think the one that was opened was not a representative bottle. Wittmann still edged out the PJK by a good deal in my book though
Flight 4: 13 Becker kabi halbtrocken v. Nikolaihof Steiner Hund (forgot to jot down the vintage). Both super tired and borderline undrinkable. A few of us poured most of our pours out.
Flight 5: 13 Keller Abts Erde vs. 13 Keller Pettenthal
Both drop dead gorgeous and pretty much everyone at the table was guessing both were Kellers, though I think the room was evenly split between liking one vs. the other. The Abts edged the Pettenthal for me though. Before the reveal we were all saying that if one of those wasn’t Keller there was going be a run on whatever wine that was. Bummed it was my last bottle of 13 Abts Erde, but what a joy was it to drink this bottle and share it with friends. A stunning wine in a great drinking window. I now need to track some more down.
Flight 6: 20 Schafer-Frohlich Fruhlingsplatzchen vs. 21 Keller VdF
Despite a friend’s attempt to throw me off by opening the bottle 36 hours, the classic S-F sponti notes stood out like a sore thumb. I typically don’t particularly mind the S-F sponti, especially in more recent vintages where it seems to be less aggressive and offensive. Delicious wine, but not meant to be consumed anytime soon. The 21 VdF was not particularly great with many of us were discussing if we were even in Germany.
We then moved on to some pradikat wines and I stopped taking mental notes. Though 2015 Ohligsberg Auslese** and Schubertslay Auslese that were generously opened and shared were both stunning and probably the showstoppers of the evening. Crystalline wines, that blind, I think most would struggle to remotely guess spatlese, let alone auslese. I think the room stopped in silence for a few minutes while we tasted these. What a treat it was to try Julian Haart auslesen for the first time.
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