WTN: Spice garden

Have been on a bit of a Christoffel kick lately, and drank through a couple more '08s recently.

2008 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese
Quite enjoyable and certainly nothing to complain about at its price tag, but this was rather disappointing after the phenomenal bottles of 08 Treppchen Kabinett and Spätlese I've had recently and the 2-star Auslese from this site, which was spectacular. There's plenty of bright apple and peachy fruit here with youthful babyfat and spritz that makes it very easy and fun to drink, but it's pretty much a one-note wine without much depth in fruit or other flavours, certainly none of the bright Würzgarten spice or aromatics I was looking forward to. The only real miss I've had among the '08 JJCs so far (though I'm glad I have a good deal more of the Treppchen).

2008 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese one-star
On the other hand... there's this. Such vivid, bright red fruited flavours - all cherry and strawberry with a little splash of lime, touches of spice and floral elements and a really intense slatey mineral base beneath that makes it feel almost crystalline. Pretty much everything I could expect from this wine and then some, with a sense of amazing purity to the flavours here, lots of depth and the acidity keeping it really precise and light. Stunning wine that I will have to buy more of.

Great notes. I love Christoffel and the 2008s sound great.

Any notes on the 2008 Christoffel U.W. Auslese 3-star?

Thanks for notes. I haven't bought Christoffel in years. I bought quite a few '99s, '01s, '02s. There the whole PC grey market thing with the '02s and '03s happened- I bought more '02 and some '03s at $8 for Spatlese, $12 for * Auslese, $16 for Auslese*** (or something like that). Think that was last I bought, as it always seemed too high after that.
As an aside, while I do think estate underperformed in those transition years, those remained good deals. Strangely, the '02s I bought GM at PC outperformed the TT bottles I bought before the firesale.

[David M. Bueker]

They certainly did not underperform in the first transition year, 2001. Best collection in the Mosel - perhaps ever.

I agree, the 2001 Christoffel's are out of this world, as far as my tastes go. And I've long maintained the the 2003 ** and *** Auslesen from Christoffel were superb deals from PC (I bought something like 2.5 cases of the ET and UW), although I found everything below that uber level to be flabby and dull.