Wines with food

With spicy shrimp and veggies over rice:
2002 Leitz, Riesling Spätlese Rüdesheimer Kaisersteinfels:
10% alcohol, AP #24 079 019 03; flint, pear and cream soda aromas; the same on the lightweight palate adding notes of white grapes and a hint of RS, bright acids, a trifle lean at mid-palate; infinite finish. Very precise juice all about finesse. $25 on release; I’d pay that price again.

And a lovely dinner with friends:

With assorted goat cheeses:
1999 Nigl, Sauvignon Blanc:
Clean, crisp, slightly grassy and loaded with cut; very much of its place and a very long finish. Good wine and worth its $24. I’d pay that again for this wine.

With pasta and fresh chanterelles:
1996 Vogue, Chambolle-Musigny 1er:
Very, very good wine with time in the decanter; crystalline black raspberry fruit with depth, nuance, mineral and solid black raspberry flavors, balanced, and, as it opens, greater integration than first noticed; long finish. A distinct sense of class. Clearly Chambolle and showing very well after three hours in the decanter. About $40 on release; I’d pay that again for this wine (although current pricing for this bottling in any vintage is off the charts).

2001 Ambroise, Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Vaucrains:
Over-oaked, candied, flamboyant and without any earmarks of the vineyard; not even close to the Chevillon wines from the same place. Price unknown but I would not buy it at any price.

With sautéed halibut with chard and root veggies:
1997 Jobard, Meursault Genevrieres:
Not profound but approaching it; deep, clean scents and flavors that are distinctly Meursault, nice complexity, good balance and still, this is slightly closed. Excellent, interest holding wine; price unknown.

2001 Morey, Chassagne-Montrachet Les Callerets:
Woody from the get go and that quality stays with the wine throughout. Simple, second rate chardonnay from anywhere and nothing to get excited about. Price unknown.

After thought:
2001 Ogier, La Rosine:
Clearly of its place, distinctly northern Rhône and every bit a delight to the senses. ‘Wonderful wine with character and less than $20, wholesale. I’d buy it at that price.

Best, Jim

[David M. Bueker]

Interesting to read your note on the Kaisersteinfels. I tasted the wine for the first time at the winery in 2003.

Here's my note:

2002 Rüdesheimer Berg Kaisersteinfels Riesling Spätlese
This is partly from that 15-year old barrique in the cellar. It’s a dry-ish Spätlese, made from 90% Kaisersteinfels Trocken with 10% sweet Spätlese added to raise the residual sugar. There’s a distinct floral element to the nose, with hints of vanilla and hay (the barrique use is divulged after we taste) along with heirloom apple flavors and a spiced apple flavor on the lengthy finish. Intricate and elegant, if a touch different.

Interesting to read your note on the Kaisersteinfels. I tasted the wine for the first time at the winery in 2003.

Here's my note:

2002 Rüdesheimer Berg Kaisersteinfels Riesling Spätlese
This is partly from that 15-year old barrique in the cellar. It’s a dry-ish Spätlese, made from 90% Kaisersteinfels Trocken with 10% sweet Spätlese added to raise the residual sugar. There’s a distinct floral element to the nose, with hints of vanilla and hay (the barrique use is divulged after we taste) along with heirloom apple flavors and a spiced apple flavor on the lengthy finish. Intricate and elegant, if a touch different.

Not so far apart . . .
Best, Jim