WTN: Riesling, Rieslaner and Bordeaux

2008 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Feinherb
Really fantastic; incredibly fresh apple and white fruited flavours flecked with talc and floral notes over incredibly vivid stony/slatey minerality. It's just barely off dry with the faintest hint of sweetness at the back end, marvellous acidity that keeps it really electric and vibrant and finishes long with a sense of incredible refreshment.

2008 Müller-Catoir Haardter Herzog Rieslaner Spätlese
This is a spectacular wine on its own, but when opened with biryani the experience is hard to describe. Thrilling stuff, a fireworks display in the mouth with all sorts of crazy spicy, herbal and honeyed flavour elements on top of rich berried and tropical fruit, the sweetness matching the spice very well and fantastic acidity keeping it very refreshing throughout.

2006 Château Sociando-Mallet
This is the first Bordeaux I've had in a while that really made me want to keep going back to the bottle/decanter for more. Starts out tasting like a mix of equal parts cassis and gravel, and with time this unravels and opens aromatically to show accents of pencil lead, earth and green herbal/leafy accents that give a nice sensation of freshness, rather than anything vegetal. There's some tannic grip on the back end, but most of the structure here comes from the acidity, which makes this feel incredibly light and precise (almost like a ripe Loire Cab Franc at points ), and very food-friendly. Great wine that I need more of.

[Jenise]

Sure don't see many reports on 06 Bordeauxs yet. The SM sounds quite good--not that I need to buy more wine.

[David M. Bueker]

I was able to try a wide range of 2006 Bordeaux earlier this year (check the archives), and would have bought a bunch if not for the out of sight prices.

2006 Château Sociando-Mallet
This is the first Bordeaux I've had in a while that really made me want to keep going back to the bottle/decanter for more. Starts out tasting like a mix of equal parts cassis and gravel, and with time this unravels and opens aromatically to show accents of pencil lead, earth and green herbal/leafy accents that give a nice sensation of freshness, rather than anything vegetal. There's some tannic grip on the back end, but most of the structure here comes from the acidity, which makes this feel incredibly light and precise (almost like a ripe Loire Cab Franc at points ), and very food-friendly. Great wine that I need more of.

Hi Salil,
I don't know the vintage at all, but 2006 seems very young for a Sociando-Mallet to be enjoyable. Any comment on drinkability/expected trajectory?
Also, can't help but comment how far the wine geek world has come when a well-regarded Bordeaux is likened (in a GOOD way) to a Loire Cab Franc!
Charles

Thanks for the notes. I have the Sociando and Rieslaner and was wondering about them.

Hi Salil,
I don't know the vintage at all, but 2006 seems very young for a Sociando-Mallet to be enjoyable. Any comment on drinkability/expected trajectory?
Also, can't help but comment how far the wine geek world has come when a well-regarded Bordeaux is likened (in a GOOD way) to a Loire Cab Franc!
Charles

I was surprised by how accessible it was, though the bottle had been decanted for over an hour. It was certainly a lot more enjoyable than a few other '06s I've had recently, though the structure and balance certainly suggested this had a long way to go.

Sure don't see many reports on 06 Bordeauxs yet. The SM sounds quite good--not that I need to buy more wine.

I did a double take on 2006. At first I assumed it was a 1996, one of which I drank a month ago. But, to me, contrary to what Robert Parker Jr. said, it was much better in 2003 than it is now. I had a similar reaction to it as Salil did to an even younger SM. I opened it at a party and my wife and I quickly drank the entire bottle. Then we opened a second. It was so deep and spoke to us so profoundly. You know I am always good for a stupid anecdote. While Lynn and I were drinking the second bottle (and there was a third, and a fourth), a 6' 4" Hell's Angel in full colors, who was in addition a current heavyweight boxer (but that didn't matter, he was over the top in ominous presence even if he had been a shoe salesman), stepped up and asked me which bottle was "the good wine." For some even stupider reason than why I would relate this story, I steered him to a bottle that I would think a normal wine novice would like better, like a fruity cal cab, rather than let him try a glass of my precious nectar. That might give you an idea of how much I treasured that SM. The fact that I didn't share it has haunted me since that night. I have honestly contemplated inviting the man to a party I put on sometime just so I can let him drink a bottle all by himself. If the 2006 shows like the 1996 did, then I can share that one.

This comes to mind from your movie, Babette's Feast, when Babette gave the bottle of Clos Vougeot to the kid to place beside the General so he could drink the whole thing himself, an ultimate expression of grace. My brother's former girlfriend did it for me one night, after everyone had had their fill of venison cooked over wood chips; but it was so delicious to me that I piled up another plate and went off by myself to enjoy it in solitude. The woman just passed by without a word and plunked down beside my plate a freshly opened full bottle of 1989 La Mission Haut Brion. That's when I learned that particular gesture of grace that I did not reciprocate with the SM.

P.S. Edit: Woops, yes I did learn. The party preceded the venison event.

[quote="Covert"]

My brother's former [my emphasis] girlfriend ...just passed by without a word and plunked down beside my plate a freshly opened full bottle of 1989 La Mission Haut Brion.

I'd consider getting a new brother.

Charles