Regarding 2021 vdF, this happens sometimes with wines. We had the same disappointing experience also last autumn regarding a highly praised/rated 2021 GG at a GG-arrival tasting.
P.S. if somebody want to sell his 2021 vdF bottles, I will buy everything.
It definitely wasnāt the best bottle of the 2009 morstein. Itās my fourth time with the wine, and while Iāve never loved it, it has never before been quite this easy to dismiss. Nonetheless, I thought the alcohol was too prominent and that isnāt just bottle variation. Regarding the von der fels, Iām interested to see what happens to it over time. Usually part of what makes von der fels so wonderful is that itās leaner and not quite as rich as the GGs - I donāt really think of them as substitutes for one another but different wines with different purposes. This bottle showed incredibly fleshy and forward and had a fundamentally different fruit profile than anything that came before it. It occurred to me that we might have moved on to Austrian gruner. I donāt think the big surprise was that it was highly rated or praised (which frankly I wasnāt really aware it was) but that it was Kellerās von der fels. It didnāt play to type.
As Alex noted, it was definitely not the best bottle of 09 Morstein. Talking to the somm about it, he noted a descent amount of the cork was soaked through when he opened the bottle.
As for the 21 von der fels, it was not the best showing of 21 VdF I had, but it was also not too different from the 6 or so times I tried it. Namely, to me, the 21 VdF has always come across as riper and tinged with a touch more RS than what Iād care for in a dry riesling. Time will tell how the wine will change, and I hope it does for the better. For now, I continue to prefer the 20 VdF. Iāll continue to hold onto my bottles though