Got in to a couple old Auslese in honor of an anniversary, 1994 Weingut Hermann Ludes Klüsserather Bruderschaft and 1993 Weingut Wilhelm Weber-Ostermann Brauneberger Juffer. Both thanks to Fass, both crazy values (sub $40 purchased in the past few years), both showing beautifully and exactly why I love old riesling. The Weber-Ostermann actually showed up the Ludes, which took some air to start showing its stuff.
Weber: No notes taken, but from memory, it was both rich and lean, sweet and dry, acidic and fleshy fruit, a little bit of everything I could hope for. Just beautiful.
Ludes: Slightly tired at first, but came around with air. Some orange / black tea notes, lovely not quite ripe pineapple, plenty of mineral slate, pleasantly tart but muted acidity that kept everything in balance.
So thankful for Lyle bringing these oldies to market, at astoundingly affordable prices to boot. Glad I’ve got several more of that Weber-Ostermann.
cellar confusion/mismanagement led to some weeknight infanticide - followed this over the last ~7 days and theres a lot of really great material here, but it is extremely unfriendly at this stage even with a week of air. There was a big bitter green/mustard green note on the finish that seemed to dominate and didnt budge much while the rest of the wine changed, I encountered a similar (and much less agressive) note with a bottle of julien renard 21 a few months ago so my guess is that this is a winemaking decision/something that will age out? Still fun to follow along, but I’m going to stay far away from the other kissinger rieslings I have for a while.
Loewen acquired the vineyard parcel when the Schmitt-Wagner estate closed. Schmitt-Wagner made lovely, old-school pradikat wines from those vines for bargain prices.
While doing some cellar work, we discovered a 6 pack of 2014 Keller Kirchspiel GG that never got entered in CT when we bought it on release. What a find! Now I know 2014 isn’t the best German Riesling vintage, but still - 6 bottles of Keller drop in your lap unannounced, you are not going to complain!
We opened one that night with pork chops. From the first whiff, we knew this would be a delight. What a pretty, friendly, utterly delicious bottle of Riesling! No 2014 hollowness, nice balance and concentration. What it lacked in power and precision, it made up for in sheer enjoyment. I was reminded of my comments about vintage in the white burgundy thread. I have had every vintage of Kirchspiel ever made, except the latest, and so sure - I can name a number of vintages that are technically better than this 2014. But I couldn’t care in the least! I loved this wine. Nothing about it felt like a letdown, even though my brain could acknowledge it was “lesser” when compared to 2015 or 2013, for example. My enjoyment of wine simply doesn’t work that way. I was happy drinking a delicious bottle. My goal is not to drink the “best” every time, or even my favorite every time. I don’t only wear my favorite dress, or listen to my favorite album by a band. I don’t wear my best shoes every time i go out, or carry my best bag. Heck, I don’t even always want to hang out with my best friend.
Am I happy to have more of the 2015 than the 2014? You bet. Am I sorry to have 5 more of the 2014 now that I know how tasty it is? Not only am I not sorry, I am thrilled!
I’ve never heard of this producer. Looks like they’re new, and barely-if-at-all make their way to the United States. They have some pretty impressive fruit sources.
source material/vom boden offered them earlier this year and theyve been popping up on nyc wine lists recently - per offer this is the inaugural vintage (2024) for their rieslings from these sites. I think thatchers has occasionally had mortiz kissinger wines so they might get some of these in at some point as well.
I believe the Kissinger-Bähr is the new name for the Moritz Kissinger wines (with the possible exception of the Ohm series). Moritz married Jasmin Bähr and they run the estate together now.
Drank the 2019 AP9 (Sonnenberg) and 2019 AP19 (Herrenberg) Niedermennig Kabinett trockens side-by-side. The Sonnenberg came through MFW in NY and the Herrenberg came through a west coast importer.
The wines have a lot in common in terms of mineral profile, but the Sonnenberg shows a touch more acidity (reasonable given the half point less abv?) and the Herrenberg is just a little more complete and accessible. It’s also a hair darker. I wonder if in somehow getting to me from the west coast the Herrenberg became a bit more advanced, or if it’s just the nature of the site (@lars can hopefully chime in). In any case the Herrenberg is darker in color, richer, and just a more pleasurable bottle today, while the Sonnenberg feels buoyant with a near-infinite life ahead. Always a joy to open 2 Falkenstein!
Thanks, Shiraz! I’m glad you enjoyed the two 2019 Kabinett trockens from Falkenstein! (You forgot my last name in the username, but I saw your post anyway.) Was Farm Wine Imports the West Coast importer? Egon seems to have been a bit riper than Munny, which tends to be quite zippy.
Hah your full handle didn’t generate from my phone but I was counting on you seeing it! The Herrenberg was from PDX wine, I can’t remember how I ended up with it though.
Is AP19 being a riper wine typical across vintages?
I think 'berg and 'neck contain a comparable amount of free SO2 and are made in a similar way. My hypothesis is that Felsenberg and Kupfergrube present as more sulphuric throughout their lives just by nature of the porphyry soil.
Had this last week with pork chops. It had the very Mullen herbal signature. Tasted pretty dry for a Kabi feinherb though it was carrying slightly more alcohol at 10.5%. Really enjoyed this!
…last night it was time to check in on my stash of 2019 Max Ferd Richter Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett! Quite a different beast from the Mullen in the last post, this seemed maybe sweeter than Kabinett. But also fine. While a little reticent, in small amounts it had the all the Mosel descriptors you could think of.
Over 3 three warm afternoons the 2022 Von Schubert Maximin Grunhaus Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett is satisfactory, true to expectations. My family doesn’t care for medium sweet wines, so no one else accepted a glass, so I threw back this pale, low 8% abv blanc myself while cooking and puttering about Independance Day celebrations. On the first day, it was showing heavy petrol notes but those mostly lightened up after a day. To balance that, there is lots of zip on this young riesling which starts to show better after 24 hrs open in the fridge (no vacuvining, or decanting to smaller bottle). On the third day the acid blurs, and the tension fades, so perhaps this should be drunk on the younger end of the spectrum for this bottling. I am still holding my 2019’s. Conventional cork, no precipitates. I’d give this a B and hope those petrol notes moderate; it feels pretty sweet to me.
