It’s been quite a while since I’ve had a wine from Kloster Eberbach. I was a friend with Bob Collins whose company, Old Vine Imports, was the importer in CA and NV. He sold me '01 Steinberger Kabinett and '02 Rauenthaler Baiken Spatlese for single digit prices. When I mentioned looking for birth years wines (1954), he went into the Bibliothek on his next visit (that’s what he called it). He said the only '54 they had was a Spätburgunder. I passed.
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Had these a couple of nights ago. Ludes was still quite fresh. Excellent wine, nice balance. I guess a Keller this old almost qualifies as a unicorn. 2000 was an iffy vintage in Mosel and Rheingau. A vintage I’ve avoided, too much of a mine field. Not this bottle. Still had a good amount of sweetness with just the right amount of backbone to keep it from being ponderous. What was most noticeable was the texture. Like drinking silk, just stunning. Yum. Maybe the weather problems bypassed Rheinhessen?
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What a nice guy! I bought lots of stuff he brought in (thru WHWC and Premier cru). I went with Claude Kolm to a trade riesling tasting one time when I was in SF and he introduced me to Bob. A couple of years (?) later, I tasted Roumier’s lineup of 95s and fell in love with the Ruchotte Chambertin, which of course was unavailable to me. Then I remembered that Old Vine imported the Bonnefond version of this wine so I called to see if he still had any he would sell me or to direct me to a retailer who had bought it from him. He said he was sure it was all sold - but then offered me six out of his personal stash - at a very good price. I filled out the box with various Vollenweiders. He shipped it overnight at his cost! This was in 2005. Is he still with us?
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Nice. I had a bottle of this a few weeks ago and it was quite fresh and lively. I’m out of practice dissecting the pradikat wines, but it was delicious!
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I remember those Bonnefond wines he sold. I purchased all of my 2001-05 Vollenweider from him.
AFAIK, he’s still around. Last I saw him was in 2020 or 2021 at Merrick Dowson’s memorial service. Merrick was the founder/owner of Adventures in Wine. Bob was (still is?) sourcing and direct importing wine for clients and storing it at AIW’s warehouse. OVI is long gone.
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A 2010 Ludes spatlese was superb earlier this summer… less dramatically electric than more recent Ludes I’ve drunk but delicious
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Are you in the US?
I need to find that. The 2010 white-cap Auslese is my absolute favorite. Kind of surprised to hear it lacks that electric element, which the Auslese definitely had/has. 
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No, I’m in England but this was drunk in the Mosel… Don’t get me wrong, it was still pretty electric! Just calmer than some Ludes I’ve tried… was the 2010 Thörnicher Ritsch Spätlese
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2015 Schäfer-Fröhlich Felseneck GG. Our first of these, purchased on release. We generally feel that 10 years is the minimum time to wait for real pleasure and character from top GGs, and this bottle did nothing to change our minds about that “minimum” part. A very pretty, citrus dominated nose, with some chalky minerality, but mostly holding its breath on the palate. There’s a lot of expression in there, I think. Right now, though, it’s just well made young Riesling. Like having dinner with someone you know is a brilliant conversationalist, charming and funny, only tonight she is just listening and thinking. Hold these another 5 years if you really want to talk.
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Favourite Nahe GG!
We tried a little 1998 JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr horizontal with friends last night at Peach Farm. Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, GKA. The GKA and Spatlese were preferred by all, including me. The Spatlese seemed like it was “at peak”, the GKA was outstanding but also no hurry to drink. None of the wines were bad or showing too much age, and the Kabinett was still tasty and not even hinting at “over the hill”. They all went very well with fried soft shell crab, fresh fried salt and pepper shrimp and a lobbie in ginger sauce. Yum!
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Recently opened a 2016 Kemmeter Wines Riesling “The Controlled One” (Finger Lakes) to have with fresh grilled Thresher Shark with a dab of pesto. Very nice dry balanced riesling with a bit of petrol. Combination of citrus and orchard fruit with good acidity for length. I have always liked Johannes’ dry rieslings since his days at Anthony Road.
Add - “The Controlled One” means he added a selected yeast for the fermentation. We also have his “The Spontaneous One” from the same year that is a wild fermentation. Will try that one soon.
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Kemmeter was my fav “new” finger lakes producer last time I went up. And the dumplings were so good.
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2021 Lardot Der Graf tonight… needed a lot of air to open up - I was disappointed for an hour or so - but then stunning! Pickled lemon, orange, elderflower, jasmine, slate, gentle hint of soy sauce, pine … My first Lardot but definitely not my last
Always loved that wine. David Schildknecht turned me on to it when he started working at the Party Source in 1994. I see I bought 6 759s and two half bottles from him. Wonder I took possession? Probably David hand delivered it on a return trip to DC, which is how I used to get the Mugneret-Gibourg he sold me.
2024 Weingut Stefan Müller Krettnacher Altenberg Riesling Kabinett
The lasered acidity, some citrus pit action and delicious lemon and grapefruit ripeness. Precision at 7% abv.
A lip-smacking 42 second finish.
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Stopwatch precision!
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Falkenstein Riesling Sekt brut nature. The riesling characteristics shine through, with only a hint of the lees aging showing on the finish. Absolute citrus party that is fruit forward enough that my brut nature hating spouse also loves it. Electric sparkling lemonade with beautiful acidity.
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Concept Riesling is a well-respected wine merchant based in Düsseldorf that specializes in Rieslings from top producers such as Emrich-Schönleber, Schäfer-Fröhlich, Keller, Julian Haart, and Willi Schaefer. In their latest HALBVOLL podcast, released this morning, they interview Erich Weber of Hofgut Falkenstein.
Episode 34 – Erich Weber: The Man Who Reimagined Dry Saar Riesling
In this episode, Erich Weber from Hofgut Falkenstein is our guest – a true icon of the Saar region. He tells us how a chance encounter with an opera singer with diabetes laid the foundation for his uncompromisingly dry wine style and why the most important decisions for great wines are made not in the cellar, but in the vineyard. We discuss the bold development of the winery, the consistent approach taken against the then-current Mosel trend towards sweet wines, barrel aging, and the unique energy of Falkenstein wines.
An episode that proves: Great wines are not created through trends, but through conviction.
To see Episode 34, click here.
(It’s a shame there’s no longer a preview to show how links will appear when posted. It looks fine on my smartphone, but on my laptop, the YouTube image is much too large. That’s why I edited my post and added “click here” with a hyperlink.)
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