That Leitz Klosterlay is exactly what I would expect it to be. The site is good but not capable of great except in truly extraordinary vintages.
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I forget how much I paid for it, but I didn’t exactly break the bank on any of these. It really paled next to the Stein which was a giant hit all things considered
Does my straw Christmas goat (Julbock) count as a pet?
My black cat, being a cat, refused to cooperate to have his photo taken even though I told him there is German wine called Zeller Schwarze Katz. He was not convinced.
2022 Domdechant Werner Guts-Riesling Trocken. Pale yellow, definitely dry with a nice bit of acidity, but not overpowering. Medium-light bodied. Lemon curd and tart green apple flavors cominate. Nose of green apples and flowers.
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2021 Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese
Sipped at this during the afternoon. Honeyed peach and apricot lead off the impressions with maybe just a drop of citrus (grapefruit?!). More fruit potpourri as the wine warms. Just-right sweetness, tart-edged. Light touch of minerality. Subtle acidity shows itself as an energetic flow like spring water from first taste to aftertaste. 7% ABV.
A very bearable lightness of being!
We have a White Christmas here south of Boston.
Wishing Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Cheers to all my fellow wine travelers.
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Lots of travel recently, so I couldn’t make this a full week (as it would deserve). No pet available either. I was able to get in a couple very affordable nice ones though:
2019 Beurer Gipskeuper Trocken
There are two different locally owned grocery stores that occasionally surprise me with close outs of Vom Boden wines, and this time I was excited to see Beurer in the mix. Petrol and tropical flowers on the nose, yellow stone fruit and citrus on the palate. While clearly past its youthful phase, there is plenty of freshness that stems from robust acidity and a hint of grapefruit bitterness. Tremendous value as always in Beurer’s Ortswein lineup (Kieselsandstein is my favorite).
2023 Alde Gott Riesling Spätlese Trocken
A bit of an oddball, but exciting - the producer is an upscale co-op known for Spätburgunder. Black Forest late harvest dry Riesling sounds wild, but then again Alsace is just half an hour west, and this clearly has an Alsatian streak to it. Intense tropical fruit on the nose and palate, full bodied, high acidity and modest RS keeps it balanced. Very young, would be interesting to see how this develops in the coming years. Great with richer seafood.
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Brian – hope you don’t let any haters/snowflakes bring you down. I’m thankful for the work that your wife does, and grateful that you’re highlighting this cause. I donated $100 to the ACLU-MO also.
From 12/20:
2023 Julian Haart 1000L
Dry, medium body, nice mineral stone fruit notes, apricot pith. Refreshing with satisfying complexity, could see this going great with Chinese/Vietnamese cuisine.
2015 willi schaefer graacher domprobst spatlese
Honeyed but light, delicate.
Nose very faint petrol, mineral.
Some apricot pith with time.
Deep florals.
A ripe / hot year but to me this shows the mastery of Willi Schaefer; in a good place for drinking now but still young.
12/21:
2015 JJ Prum graacher himmelreich kabinett.
Light sweetness with strong minerals.
Delicate. Great balance and becomes deeper as it sits with air. A lovely kabinett of substance and drinkable now but with plenty of years to go.
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Well balanced Kabinett, better to drink earlier in the night. Probably drank this too young. No petrol for me. Frankie just woke up after hiding when the smoke alarm went off.
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Thanks Fred! I’m more annoyed that people don’t have thick enough skin to just move on if they don’t like it.
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
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- 2019 Peter Lauer Kupp Riesling Faß 18 Großes Gewächs - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/25/2024)
Somewhat muted nose with touch of petrol, lemon. On palate, granny smith apple, lemon, touch of lemon candy. Likely a few grams of RS. Good acid and purity of flavors but still needs to age for full enjoyment. (91 points)
Posted from CellarTracker
I was surprised when @J_a_y_H_a_c_k posted a note on the 2018, since there is so much Riesling out there and I had already pulled this for Christmas. I think I liked it somewhere between Jay and his son.
Picture of the bottle in front of my daughter’s two gerbils. There are in their Barbie Era.
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I sent the winery a note to find out the level of residual sugar. They mentioned slate in their tasting note for the 2018 which. come to think of it, is very much what I tasted.
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Another precocious child I have no regret about draining early. Didn’t quite reach the heights of my last bottle, having an unexpected muted nose, but easily established itself as an outlier on the far right hand tail of the fine wine bell curve. Intense peach and nectarine flavors with a pithy bitterness, a deep well of salty and stony mineral flavors, smoke and savory mushroom like umami notes, and a little do-si-doe surprise on the palate which brings an arresting wild strawberry note. The mouthfeel is buttery and creamy with a mouth filling density free of weight. A great wine with lots of room to grow into something even greater. Such intensity, married to such finesse, with a mistress of complexity. A proof of concept for the Grosses Gewachs classification.
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Duchess can’t even bear to look at this $5.99 TJ’s selection and is contemplating how to steal the New York Roast in retribution for having to pose with such a lowly rendition of this noble grape.
2023 Bergstrasser Winzer Terra Starkenburg Riesling feinherb
This was supposed to be off-dry, but didn’t come across like it. Slightly effervescent, some tropical fruit, green apple, lemon, plenty of acidity. Doesn’t need to be chilled much, if at all. Not complex, but was perfectly fine in my tarragon sauce, and at $5.99, one cannot complain.
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Thanks Brian! Nice work!
Freedom isn’t free. Thank you, Dr. BS!
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It was great to read all the tasting notes and see what a variety of Riesling there is around in USA!
I am excited to see some of you Riesling drinkers on Friday at BD16! I just finalized my offers including two different Riesling bundles!!
@Mike_Grammer Emmrich Schoenleber is a great producer as well!
Haha dog-like characters are good qualities to have!
The 2002 Klosterlay I opened a year ago May, cellared at my off-site since release, was stunning. I saw your CT note from last December just now on this wine, and your bottle was clearly not right. A good bottle is vibrant, layered, and complex. For me 2001-02 Leitz was a peak for the Pradikat wines, 2004 a notch behind but good, although I don’t think there’s any reason to keep holding Schlossberg, Roseneck, and Klosterlay from those years.
It would not shock me at all if some bottles of the 2002 Klosterlay held well for much longer. Past 20 years we’re into the “good bottles” phase. Rereading my note I wasn’t entirely sure my bottle was fully representative.