I’ve had two in the last two months that have been surprisingly sour: a Steinmetz Kestener Paulinsberg and the Egon Müller Scharzhofberger. (I just posted on the latter.)
It’s been a few years since I had a 90 below the Auslese level, but I expected these to be pleasing, somewhat dried out but delicately sweet wines. Instead, they were so tart as to be not that pleasant. Even allowing for the fact that the latter is a Saar, I was surprised.
What’s the experience of others of you with 90 Spätlesen of late?
I had a 1990 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spatlese over the holidays (not from my cellar), and honestly I would say that “dried out” pretty much fit the bill. That’s my only recent data point, so I won’t try to generalize.
John, I am surprised at your Steinmetz. I am guessing that we both bought from the same source, and while that is not one of the all-time greats (nor priced like one), I have had three bottles so far. All were fresh and tasty, with no sourness at all. Just good quaffable Riesling…
FYI, I’ve had two back channel messages from people saying that some winemakers were consciously trying to keep sugars down at that stage and/or realize with hindsight that they were too low on some 90s.
I’m going to try it again with different expectations. I was hoping for an ethereal, slightly dried out riesling with beautiful aromatics. What I got tasted like a young Kabinett or QbA Halbtrocken with little on the nose.
The pendulum for residual sugar has swung a couple of times in my history with German wines. When I first came to the wines it was just moving off of the 1990 low end. I think that recently we are seeing the pendulum swing towards slightly drier Rieslings as a reaction to perhaps going too far towards the sweet side for the residual sugar bottlings.
I look at a number of wines from 2003-2007 as being way too sweet.
Interesting. I would add 99 to that list, but I didn’t have an issue with the 07s.
I’ve always assumed the fluctuations were a function of the vintages more than anything, and the impact the growing season had on both sugar and acid. I hadn’t thought about it being a conscious move to sweeter wines.
Agreed on both counts.
From a couple of conversations I’ve had with various people involved with German wine (importers and a couple of growers), there’s a sense that some of the early 90s vintages (90 and 94 among them) were incredible young, but with age haven’t had enough residual sweetness to buffer the pretty high acidity and as a result some of the lower pradikat wines come across more on the austere/shrill/drying side these days. Some of the Auslese from the same period though are drinking very well (though with sweetness more in line with what one would expect from Spätlese). I’ve had some very good to outstanding 1990/93/94 Auslese in the past year, but very little that stood out at the Spätlese/Kabinett levels with a number of the wines coming across a bit too dry.
I’m with David as far as some of the recent vintages where a lot of wines have absolutely monstrous sweetness levels - a number of the 07s I’ve had came across just a little too soft and lacking the cut/vibrancy that I look for in more classic vintages, and in some I’ve wondered if I’d enjoy them a bit more with the r/s dialed back a touch given that it’s not a really high acid vintage in the way of 01 or 08. Most of the 06s are just bargain dessert wines.
Unfortunately there is a tendency among some producers in Germany now to make wines at both extremes and very little in the middle - I’ve stopped buying Wagner-Stempel (among others) for this reason, as the wines either seem to be punishingly dry and severe, or monstrously sweet wines (even his Spätlese) that are riper/sweeter than most producers’ Auslese. Thank heavens for producers like Selbach-Oster, Schaefer and Lauer who are willing to make Rieslings that have moderate levels of r/s (Lauer’s Unterstenbersch or Stirn, or Selbach’s Zeltinger Himmelreich Kabinett halbtrocken as a couple of examples) and are great with meals rather than being as sweet or dry as possible.
Aside re. 99s, I’ve had a lot of mixed experiences and it’s one vintage where I’ve found some wines a little too ponderous and sweet, and others incredibly well balanced, racy and precise (particularly in the Saar - Egon Muller’s lineup that year was just incredible.)
I enjoyed a 90 Muller Brune Kupp more than you liked the Scharzhofberger:
1990 Egon Müller/Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp Riesling Spätlese- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/23/2011)
Initially lean, still taught, could be a couple of years old not 21, some talcum and berry, grew seemingly riper the next day, still steely with lovely clarity, but somthing a little unclean on finish that wasn’t there before. Recognisable.
No. The wines of Egon Muller may be a bit richer than they used to, but that’s largely a function of the weather (same goes for Prum). The style has remained consistent…remained consistent…I like it!
Sorry to hear about the poor EM showing, John. A little surprising, too. Might be storage.
And David, have you had a JJ Prum WS Spat '90 any time recently? This post also makes me want to pull one (of my two, only) but I’d rather wait. For what? I don’t know…
This is fascinating. I have moved into an evolving re-thinking of how I appreciate German Riesling, and whether or not I really like it old, like I like most serious wines, or whether I might not prefer them more middle-aged. I wonder if my doubt on this question might not be based in wines like these you are talking about, Salil, because a lot of the “older” Rieslings I’ve had in the last couple of years come from '88-'96, or so. Like you say, the Auslese has been delightful, but the Spat/Kab somewhat not up to my hopes. Terrible generalization, but roughly true.
I had a Muller Cattoir 90 auslese not that long ago which was delicious but then it’s not a Mosel wine!
Do know what some people mean about recent vintages though; I had a Margarethenhof Ayler Kupp Kabinett from 09 that could easily have been a spatlese. To be fair I don’t tend to drink a lot of spatleses - mainly Kabinett and auslese although I do have some Donhoff spatlese. I took a punt on some 96 Karthauserhofberg kabinett and it is thoroughly delightful - not great but typical riesling of that producer. If I had one small criticism it would be a slight edge to the acidity but overall it’s a lovely wine from a mixed vintage. What I’m really looking forward to trying is a bottle of 95 Karthauserhofberg auslese - I picked up a case at all of $7 a bottle!