Where did Muller Catoir go?

WINE TALK
1

I hardly ever see Muller-Catoir wines around NYC anymore, and a quick check on Wine-Searcher shows relatively few listings in the area – many for the Trocken, and some for back vintages. And what’s around is almost all riesling. You used to see lots of the sweet rieslaners, sylvaners and scheurebes, and even their spatburgunder.

Not that long ago, M-C wines were on the shelf in any store with a self-respecting German selection. They’re still represented by Terry Theise and Skurnik. And there seems to be a wider range of them on the market in California. What gives around here?

2

I do not care for the wines from the current winemaker, as compared to my dwindling stash from HGS. I have had a couple here and there that I really liked (an '08 Rieslaner comes to mind), but very few that really struck me as worth the elevated tariff over other wines. It is also worth noting that there are very few Catoir wines ever shown at the big tastings.

3

I miss the HGS rieslaners. Have either of you tasted any Rieslaners from Keller?

4

David wrote that he’s had an '08. I haven’t bought any M-C since the 2001s, but I bought a nice selection of those at the time and already had some from earlier vintages. I’m not boycotting them or anything, but most of my riesling purchases the last decade of so have been either Austrian or Alsatian.

5

I have some old ones I have to crack open.

6

Not sure where I heard it, but IIRC it was someone ITB saying that the M-C 2013s are rather good.

On an older note one of the best sweet wines I ever tasted was 1989 M-C Gewurztraminer Auslese. Amazing depth and layers upon layers of flavor.

7

Can you please remind me from which vintage do we see the currrent winemaker’s signature?
My last purchase was 2007.

8

Martin Franzen started making the wines in 2002.

The 01 and older HGS wines are singular and spectacular, though I’ve had some very good bottles from Franzen. (The 07 Muskateller TBA, 05 Burgergarten Riesling Spatlese, and 08 Herzog Rieslaner Spatlese immediately come to mind.) But by and large, the wines these days are really expensive even compared to a lot of other top tier German producers (Prum, Schaefer, Frohlich), and the wines aren’t as consistent - there are still the odd gems here and there, but also a lot of wines that are merely good but not exciting and rather overpriced for my taste.

ETA: BTW Howard, have not tried any Keller Rieslaner, but am very curious to. John Gilman is a huge fan, so I’m definitely intrigued.

I have had the Keller Scheurebe Spatlese a few times. It’s great, very tropical, focused and intense, but it’s not the HGS-era Gunther Mandelring Spatlese (but then again, what is? That was one of a kind wine.)

9

The '08 Herzog Rieslaner Spätlese is the wine I was referring to.

10

The Burgergarten spatlese is the MC I have the most experience with and honestly I do not see the clear divide in winemaking styles that others are seeing. The '05 is admittedly a bit aberrational but delicious. The '07 is sensational now, a worthy successor to the '01. Maybe a vertical is called for.

11

Keith,

I had two M-C '98 Burgergarten Spätelesen today, the regular and the halbtroken; if I can rouse myself I’ll post tasting notes. They were both absolutely excellent in their own ways but differed due to the differing levels of residual sugar.

12

I’m not surprised, as every 1998 M-C I’ve had has been excellent or better, though I’ve had more of the riper prädikats.

13

For some reason, Terry would say there is a difference, and I guess he should know. But I’ve had 04 and 05 BUrgergarten Spats this year, and found them quite good - maybe not up to 2001, but it’s hard to compare across both vintages and winemakers. A 2008 poured by Terry at a tasting here recently was very good, enough for me to buy some.

14

John, the one store here that carries the Thiese book has plenty of M-C on the shelf, and when Terry comes through town he almost always pours on of their wines.

To comment on the thread drift, I have two cases of mixed 2001, and oly a handful of more recent vintages.

15

Yes, this was a spectacular wine in its day—the Gimmeldinger Meerspenne. I drank through several cases of it and have one bottle remaining, which I will open sometime soon with Charles and Ursula Massoud from Paumanok. Ursula is a cousin of Hans Gunther Schwarz, and we have shared a few bottles of this wine together over the years. Drinking the last of them will be bittersweet.

16

My stash of older M-C goes back to a 1990 Rieslaner Auslese. 1998 and 2001 are my favorite vintages. The 1997s are overlooked gems.

17

My favorite M-C experience was a dinner many years ago where a friend served BBQ ribs with M-C Spatburgunder – a perfect match, with the fruitiness of the wine working with the sweetness of the sauce.

18

The last one I had, you brought to Bassman’s. There was a bunch around back in those days. Terrific wine.

19

Should we all come over? [whistle.gif] [drinkers.gif]

20

I miss the HGS rieslaners. Have either of you tasted any Rieslaners from Keller?

Try Keller Monsheimer Silberberg Rieslaner Auslese in a cool vintage. It’s neither Pfalz, nor H-G Schwarz M-C, but it’s a very nice style of wine where the extraction is not overdone.

For dry non-Rieslings do try the Scheurebe Trocken from Morstein. This is a superb interpretation of the vineyard and a thoughtful approach to Scheurebe that so easily gets its volume knob turned to 11 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgx4k83zzc)
As for Silvaner, Keller makes a very good, happy-sappy Grüner Silvaner Trocken and a sterner but equally great Feuervogel Silvaner. More ambitious and less joyful, but true to limestone and Silvaner. The Kellers like their Chablis and Feuervogel is stylistically closer to that than a Franken Silvaner.

Interestingly, Julia Keller has apprenticed at M-C under H-G Schwarz.

/Ulrich