WTN: A ton of Rieslings (with lots of Donnhoff) at Sichuan

Seven of us got together for a dinner at Grand Sichuan in NY with lots of Riesling and a few other wines. Lots of fun with great company, some really outstanding food (including a couple of the spiciest chicken and lamb dishes I've had in a while and some amazing dim sum that we ended up ordering four plates of) and an incredible of wines.

2001 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese trocken (AP #23-02)
WOW! Yeah, not a bad way to kick off the night. Just a stunning nose that kept getting better with time with aromas of citrus fruits, gravel, smoke, wet clay, flowers, spices and minerals. Seamless on the palate - the minerality, fruit, smoky and spicy flavours here are so perfectly integrated it's hard to describe. Just an amazing wine with incredible balance that kept improving with time - when we returned to this a few hours later it was just glorious.

2002 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese trocken (AP #12-03)
Started out a little funky, but the nose with time cleared to show bright lemon and lime flavours mingled with spices, minerals, mint and wet clay notes. Slightly austere in the mouth with tart citrus pith notes over lots of minerals and salty notes and bright acidity. Very enjoyable, but that 01 was really a hard act to follow.

1988 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese
Corked. Damnit damnit damnit.

1971 Staatsweingut Kloster Eberbach Hochheimer Domdechaney Riesling Spatlese (AP #026-72)
Orange-amber colour with some nail polish on the nose at first that blew off quickly to reveal flavours of caramel, baked apple and pear, ginger and orange peel. Burnished apple and citrus fruit flavours on the palate with some caramel and honeyed notes and surprisingly bright acidity. Really fun to sit with and watch this evolve over a few hours, with the acidity coming out more and the fruit picking up in intensity with some more air.

A quick interlude of red wines with the tea smoked duck
2004 Marchesi Alfieri Pinot Nero San Germano
Italian Pinot Noir that tastes surprisingly New World-ish; bright red in colour with lots of sweet candied red fruit flavours, a bit of spice and vanilla and some faint earthy notes underneath. A bit of heat on the finish (14% alcohol).

2001 Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz
Thanks to Keith "Aussie bringer" Levenberg. Amazing wine - just a stunning nose with olives, plum, black cherry, leather, spices and some faint eucalyptus and menthol notes that give (IMO) a distinct Aussie character. Still very young; muscular and slightly tannic in the mouth but there's a ton of fruit and richness here over the structure with more olive, plum, leather and red fruited flavours and an insanely long finish (Dan was calling this the Henschke Unendlich at one point). Tremendous balance and depth here, drinking very well now with some air but I can only imagine how good this will be when mature.

1999 FX Pichler Durnsteiner Kellerberg Riesling Smaragd
Rich and full with a ton of honey, minerals, white fruits and some petrol notes on the nose. Lots of extract and density with a slightly oily texture, drenching the mouth in honeyed flavours, citrus and white fruits and finishing long.

1999 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese
My favourite wine of the night, and I was saying "Wow!" before I even tasted this. Just an amazing beguiling nose with lots of honey, white fruits and minerals over exotic spicy and floral elements. Seamless in the mouth. Almost weightless with the clarity of spring water, incredibly bright, clear flavours of apples, peaches and pears infused with stones, slate and honey and a long, creamy finish. Stunning.

2002 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese
A little air and this was really open and stunning; incredibly bright and spicy with clear apple and peach flavours mingled with slate and flowers, very gentle and light on its feet and really delicious.

2007 Emrich Schonleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese
Fabulous soaring nose with spices, flowers, herbs, apple, peach, pineapple and citrus fruits and stony minerals. Fireworks on the palate; incredibly vibrant with bright, clear fruit flavours and spices over stones and metal shavings and an almost crunchy texture with electric acidity. Wow! I need to get my hands on some of this.

2002 Van Volxem Wiltinger Braunfels Riesling
TCA. Argh!

2002 Van Volxem Wiltinger Kupp Riesling
Fabulous nose that kept picking up with air, showing perfumed floral notes, honey, hints of petrol and smoke, green apple and pear. In the mouth a bit sweeter than expected with honey, apple and white fruited flavours over minerals and steel. Feels slightly flabby as this warms up, lacking a little in acidity and definition.

1998 Koehler-Ruprecht Kallstadter Saumager Riesling Auslese "RR"
Fabulous complex nose combining aromas of honey, white fruits, apricot, minerals, petrol and truffles. Full bodied and velvety textured in the mouth with a mixture of sweet white fruits and savoury petrol, truffle, cream and mineral flavours, very well balanced with good acidity and a long finish. Lovely.

2007 Forstreiter Gruner Veltliner Tabor
Couldn't taste this. Was still reeling from the explosively spicy red chillies dish with a few strategically-placed chicken pieces that Keith ordered and that I piled onto my plate (hey, the chicken was stunning if totally wine-unfriendly- once I got used to the sensation of having a nuclear bomb of chillies exploding in my mouth ).

2006 Willi Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Auslese
Botrytis bomb. Tons of honey, spices over some hints of brown sugar over apricots, pineapples and peaches. Intensely sweet, all baby fat right now with tons of fruit and honey and not that much complexity. But after some of the really spicy lamb and chicken entrees this was ideal!

2004 Schloss Lieser Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Fuder #14
Seemed a little closed and tight at first, then unwound with some air to show bright orchard fruit flavours over vanilla, slate, honey and faintly nutty notes. Kept developing and opening with air, although I didn't give this the attention I should have as I was focusing more on seconds of the 99 Hermannshohle and the Henschke.

2001 Schloss Saarstein Serriger Schloss Saarstein Riesling Auslese
Didn't get a note on this with my palate pretty much shot by this point. Although I did take some of the leftovers home (thanks Joe!) so will get a chance to explore this tonight with some food and air (and can add in impressions then).

A really great evening - hard to go wrong with a night with great friends, Szechuan food and a ton of Riesling!

[David M. Bueker]

Impressive.

So apparently it was just our bottle of '99 Kupfergrube that was boring. Looks like I need to pop a '99 Hermannshohle some time soon.

I'll review more closely when I get some time.

Not bad. Nice mix of vintages.

Which location of Grand Sichuan was this? I guess the cooking is still worth eating.

This was the one in Chelsea (9th Ave and 24th). Food was really, really good - we ended up ordering four portions of the soup dumplings (and still had demand for those later on), and the lamb, chicken and pork dishes were outstanding. Definitely will have to go back.

On an aside while I really enjoyed the Hermannshohle trockens, I found them a little on the austere side compared to some of the younger ones (the 06 and 07 Grosses Gewachs) I've had recently. The young ones had so much more texture and weight, felt more dynamic and interesting - just wondering whether those are better off drunk in youth than aged.

[David M. Bueker]

The style of the more recent Grosses Gewachs is not the same as the prior trockens (i.e. the young versions did not ever taste like the young GG wines).

Ah, didn't realize that. So were the old trockens generally more austere and lean in style (compared to the recent Grosses Gewachs)?

BTW, I really do need to find some of that 07 Schonleber to open with you and Laura soon - that was just an insane wine and probably up there with the 99 Hermannshohle (although totally different in style - just so bright, electric and vibrant, unlike any 07 I've had so far).

[David M. Bueker]

I think the older trockens were more austere.

Revisited the Schloss Saarstein tonight, there were a couple of very enjoyable glasses left in the bottle. A really beautiful nose with flowers, melon, orchard fruits and honey over petrol and smoky notes. Medium bodied and silky textured in the mouth with bright apple, melon and white cherry flavours up front and a tart kick of lime and lemon that comes in on the back end, finishing with very little perceptible sweetness. Delicious.

The style of the more recent Grosses Gewachs is not the same as the prior trockens (i.e. the young versions did not ever taste like the young GG wines).

I would suggest that the 03 was a bit of a stylistic watershed, although the 04 was again slimmer and more restrained.

Peter

1998 Koehler-Ruprecht Kallstadter Saumager Riesling Auslese "RR"
Fabulous complex nose combining aromas of honey, white fruits, apricot, minerals, petrol and truffles. Full bodied and velvety textured in the mouth with a mixture of sweet white fruits and savoury petrol, truffle, cream and mineral flavours, very well balanced with good acidity and a long finish. Lovely.

I finally got to taste this one, my first encounter with a Koehler-Ruprech "R" in maturity.

The nose is very memorable yet makes me feel edgy at the same time, as it dances perilously close to the edge of kink, pulling back with a shade of a wink. It shows chalk, black tea, petrol and burned rubber, combining for an almost bretty impression, while gently shoving the sugar coated apples to stage right. The palate is fresh, light and elegant, yet packed with flavors, and although the wine is an Auslese sans any mention of trocken, its balance is such that it doesn't register as more than off-dry, despite measuring in at 10% ABV and showing plenty of ripe fruit. It's not as silently domineering as K-H's wine can be in their youth, instead etching well-measured phrases across the palate, only wobbling at the finish, where a lightly alcoholic strand flares up.

2007 Emrich Schonleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese
Fabulous soaring nose with spices, flowers, herbs, apple, peach, pineapple and citrus fruits and stony minerals. Fireworks on the palate; incredibly vibrant with bright, clear fruit flavours and spices over stones and metal shavings and an almost crunchy texture with electric acidity. Wow! I need to get my hands on some of this.

Salil

A great evening of wines. I am especially pleased to read your notes on the Schonleber after putting a few of these in the cellar last week. It looks however as though I really should try one before leaving the rest to sleep.

Mark