I’m doing some serious Spring Cleaning and found some older German wines in various states of abuse: capsules mangled, labels coming off or rotting, and (my favorite) goo coming out of the top. So, I decided to open them up for the staff as an educational exercise. It was fun!
Franz Karl Schmitt 1976 Niersteiner Hipping Riesling Spatlese (750ml)
The color of this wine was a light golden hue. Surprisingly light in color for a 33 year old Spatlese.
Aromatically, this was all about tobacco leaf with dried yellow fruit.
While there was decent fruit initially, this wine hit the gas about halfway across the palate, the ripe acidity bringing clarity to the fruit: dried orange rind, reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally dry apricots.
Finished fairly dry, but tasty. Very much alive and kicking despite its brutalized label and capsule.
Schloss Schonborn 1976 Hochheimer Domdechaney Riesling Auslese (750ml)
An absolute horrorshow of a capsule on this one. Not only was it mangled from mishandling somewhere along the way, but a thick layer of muck was poking through the holes. The cork itself was surrounded by a black ring of death. This required an artist’s touch to remove the cork in one piece. I’m not an artist apparently, it came out in two…
Dark gold in color, like burnt amber.
Aromas of dried leaves, rotting and charred wood with a hint of dried apricot hiding back there.
The flavors were remarkably complex and tasty. A compilation of banana, apricot, char, and oxidative (the good kind!) elements combined into a fairly yummy wine with decent acidity.
Dr Fischer 1982 Wawerner Herrenberger Riesling Auslese (750ml)
This bottle was nearly flawless on the outside. The capsule had seen better days, but the label was almost clean!
Plus, the color reminded me of a recent vintage with its nearly clear yellow color.
The aromas of fresh broccoli and wet moss were an unpleasant surprise to say the least.
Its true! Looks can be deceiving!
The flavors, well, there weren’t many to describe. This wine was completely dried out. Like drinking unflavored Maalox, all chalk, no fruit. Maybe some sour apple, but otherwise completely “blah.”
Like I said, the OUTSIDE was nearly flawless…
Dr Burklin-Wolf 1989 Wachernheimer Gerumpel Riesling Auslese (375ml)
I probably should have kept this little half-bottle for myself!
The color was just this side of golden, still yellow.
Very ripe aromas of white grapes and fruit candy. On aroma along this was a real showstopper!
The body was full of juicy, ripe fruit and vivid acidity. This had one part “Lemon Yellow Zonkers,” one part “Apple Slate Surprise,” and One Part “Spring Breeze off the Rhine.” Fine wine.
Richter 1976 Winninger Bruckstuck Riesling Beerenauslese (750ml)
See you at the party Richter!
cough Sorry, my inner-Ahhnold took over for a second.
Dark, and I mean DARK, gold in color. The aromas were even dark and muddy.
Somewhere behind this murk was hiding a decent wine one day. Not TO-day, but ONE-day, long ago.
Toffee, caramelized apricot and raw cane sugar in the body for flavor.
Boring. Too bad.
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