I’ve had a bad string of wines recently, and with missing out on the Real Wine Assault and all, it’s been a bit of a vinous downer this past week. Thankfully the 2001 Maximin Grunhäuser Herrenberg Kabinett #10 was on hand to change that, although its charms were revealed slowly. The first day it showed lots of crisp sour pine, and while it slowly started to come together, it was still too thin and puckery for me, so I was not yet convinced. However, on day two it really rocks and rolls, although with neither rocks nor jelly rolls inside. Instead, it gracefully pleases with firm and compact sour Crenshaw Melon verdant cucumber jewels, if that makes any sense. I.E. tense kabinett sourness, firm jeweled fruit, moving towards evolution.
Nice. Plus ethereal. Equals Beautiful.
And it totally outclassed the 1997 Philippe Rossignol Gevrey Chambertin Cuvée Vieilles Vignes that was on the table next to it. Summed up as: dark red raspberry color and flavors, elegant crisp floral structure, a combination which seems disjointed, and while not entirely unpleasurable, not entirely pleasurable either.