Dentice had me buy some last year and they were all excellent. Will get some more.
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Completely agree. Bought a ton of 2021 and a decent amount of 2022 of both. Amazing wines and at ridiculously low prices (atleast here in Europe).
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Thanks.
The intimidation comes more from Riesling labels in general. Unless is says dry on label, I don’t know how to distinguish.
Abbie,
it’s not rocket science.
Relatively easy I find regarding well-established estates. Give me an example you don’t understand incl. photo. Fair to say Molitor is indeed a bit complicated due to the many wines he produces.
If the label says “Trocken” or “Grosses Gewachs” or “GG,” it should be dry-tasting.
If the label says “Kabinett,” “Spatlese,” or “Auslese” without the word “Trocken” on it, it will probably be at least a little bit sweet (also called an “off-dry” wine) all the way to something that tastes like a dessert wine.
Wines labeled “Kabinett Trocken,” “Spatlese Trocken,” or “Auslese Trocken” are going to be dry wines (or should be dry). “Trocken” usually indicates that the wine has been fermented to dryness and that there is minimal residual sugar left.
BAs, TBAs, and Eisweins are going to be full-on, sweet dessert wines (in general).
Molitor is a little bit different because he uses capsule colors rather than the word “Trocken” or the “Grosses Gewachs” designation to indicate the sweetness of his wines. But most other producers either use “Trocken” or “Grosses Gewachs.” For Molitor, you are just going to have to remember what the capsule colors indicate, but that’s generally not true for the vast majority of producers.
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This is what I needed.
Thank you so much!
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There’s also “feinherb” and “halbtrocken,” either which are probably going to be “off-dry” tasting wines (that is, a little bit sweeter than a fully dry wine).
There’s a lot more legal-nuance to the definitions of all of these words, but this is probably enough to generally guide you on sweetness levels.
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Very helpful.
Thanks again.
At least halbtrocken has some rules…Feinherb, as much as I love many of the wines, is more of a wild card.
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TrockenBeerenauslese (TBA) is as sweet as it gets!
Of course it literally means dry berry selection, so…
psst…Grosses, not Grosse. 
Whoops. Edited the post above.
It’s early in California, lol.
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Abbie, don’t believe any of these people.
They’ve been Rieslingized - a serious affliction where they no longer can tell what’s dry or sweet, up or down, but curiously, only in regards to Riesling. They retain full capability to distinguish the most minute RS in all other wines, but can not taste it in Trocken wines. It’s like a partial memory loss.
It spreads between German wine aficionados the most. Australian and some Austrian Riesling lovers seem to have developed immunity towards this debilitating disease.
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Checked out a grosser Zeltinger Sonnenuhr yesterday. I’m rather partial to Zeltingen as a close friend of mine came from there and his family still has ties to it. The wine was a bit reticent but still gorgeous. There isn’t another wine I would rather drink at a garden birthday party.
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The best wine I have ever consumed is a 1992 Steinmetz Brauneberger Juffer Auslese. I bought it in 2010 at Liner and Elsen in Portland. They had 5 cases which they brought in strictly because of it’s age; they had not ever heard of the producer. I bought only a single bottle at $22, thinking it was likely to have dessert wine levels of sweetness, and didn’t open it for a year as a result. Buying only one bottle is one of the biggest regrets I have in life. In the years that followed, as I begged retailers to find me a bottle, I was quite literally laughed at.
Part of me has always wondered if I overly romanticized a good but not great bottle. It was consumed on a much needed Mexican beach vacation at an upscale restaurant, and shared with an attractive local with whom I began a short and rather torrid affair. I have, with this bottle, for the first time since 2011, tried two additional Gunther Steinmetz wines in the last 30 days. They have both been almost as magical, consumed in solitude, paired with a bowl of cereal.
The best wines are Psychedelics. They take you on a journey to an ineffable place, induce a level of synesthesia, and have a kaleidoscopic presentation of their layers. This is definitely a psychedelic wine. It’s cool on the palate, full of mint flavors, but also savory with bacon fat and brine. It’s evokes a childhood memory of my father smoking a pipe with his favorite tobacco - a blend called “fruit salad.” The tobacco was only mildly fruity, and my father enjoyed it because of how smooth the smoke it produced was. This wine doesn’t taste of tobacco really, but there is a gentle smokiness which reminds me of this specific pipe tobacco.
The wine delivers a great deal of intensity on a frame that hides its density well. It has elegance to match the power. The finish is complex and lingering, but soft and playful, as opposed to resonant. It is remarkably rounded for such a lean vintage.
I don’t think I communicated anything useful about this wine, so let me just leave it at this: if you see this wine, buy it, it’s brilliant. It’s young and tightly wound; give it a few hours of air to let it unwind.
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Thank you Scott!
Last year I bought a few bottles of the Steinmetz 2021 & 2022 N. R. Am Fels along with N. R. Von den Terrassen (VdT), but haven’t opened one yet. You give me reassurance for the future! I have pre-ordered a dozen or more of the 2023s as well.
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If I’m not mistaken, Mosel Wine Merchant selected that 1992 Brauneberger Juffer Auslese.
I had the pleasure to connect with a gentleman in the Boston area who has unfortunately aged out of the wine game (health reasons). They wete aware of my passion for German riesling so I drove over and made an offer on around 65 bottles of primarily 71s,75s, and 76s with a smattering of 64s and 69s. Over the last couple days I opened two bottles. The first is the 75 Erbacher Marcobrunn Spätlese from the State Wein Domaine Eltvillej gorgeous bright copper color Crystal clear (in the photo the decanter looks a little hazy but it’s just condensation). Only very slightly sweet at this point. Peach, peach peel, hint of herbs, sage, a hint of sandlewood, lovely finish. Wow! I can’t wait to keep diving into the rest.
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The BA was a bit darker but gleaming almost like a high quality piece of amber. Dried apricots, a hint of prunes and golden raisins, great creamy mouthfeel. Long finish.
Look at the fill level of the Erbacher. Amazing at almost 50 years old. I was thrilled to see the Classic Wine Imports neck label. I was the German buyer for the company from 1997 to the 2000 teens.
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