WTN: 5 Recent German Wines

Here are notes on five German wines that I had over the past month.

2009 Hans Wirsching Iphöfer Kronsberg Scheurebe Kabinett Trocken
Medium-bodied, slightly off-dry, and nicely balanced, with good underlying acidity. Shows citrus and currant notes, with light, transparent minerality, and a lightly saline element. A very good wine, although Feinherb would be more appropriate than Trocken here.

2003 Keller Riesling Großes Gewächs Hubacker
Nose is stony/mineral and slightly floral, with the fragrance of white pepper. Full, rich, round, dry, silky, and intense, yet very well balanced, with good underlying acidity – especially impressive for 2003 (I read that Klaus-Peter and his team picked very early that year). Brilliantly mineral, with amazingly complex notes of apples, pears, citrus oil, wildflowers, baking spices, black pepper, mixed ground herbs, smoke, and mixed seeds. There is really something new in each sip. Impressive length on the finish. Outstanding.

2003 Müller-Catoir Hambacher Römerbrunnen Riesling Kabinett
Hambacher Römerbrunnen is not a vineyard that I see on any label very often. I really like the nose of celery seed, coriander, and lime sherbet. This is a full-bodied, almost plush wine that manages to stay nicely balanced, thanks to particularly good underlying acidity for the vintage. Good finesse and lift makes the Spätlese-strength sweetness less immediately obvious. Quite mineral, with sugarplum, apricot, strawberry, baking spice, and white pepper notes. Very good/excellent. (Imported by Boston Wine Company, not Theise/Skurnik)

2003 Fred Prinz Hallgartener Hendelberg Riesling QbA Feinherb
Again, this is from a site that I was not familiar with before. Vanilla/mineral nose. Full, quite ripe, plump, creamy, and off-dry, with apple/herbal/custard/wet stone/mint notes. Definitely more complex than I expected, but the 12.5% alcohol is on the high end for Feinherb, and it shows on the finish.

1999 Kerpen Bernkasteler Bratenhöfchen Riesling Spätlese
Moderate petrol, and some floral notes on the nose. Full, sleek, and round; well balanced, and moderately sweet for a Spätlese, with good underlying acidity. Tastes of honey, apples, pears, pineapples, and spices, with transparent, rather understated, minerality. Very good.(Imported by Boston Wine Company, not Theise/Skurnik)

[David M. Bueker]

Hambacher Römerbrunnen is not a vineyard that I see on any label very often.

You got me. I had never heard of it until now!

Hambacher Römerbrunnen is not a vineyard that I see on any label very often.

You got me. I had never heard of it until now!

Thanks for the notes. I love to read about positive experiences with 2003!

Andrew and David,

Hambach in the town immediately south of Neustadt an der Weinstraße and has been incorporated into Neustadt itself (like Haardt, Gimmeldingen, and Mussbach to the north have.) The Römerbrunnen is a completely unremarkable vineyard that borders the train-tracks (I ride by it every day) in the flats of the Rhein-plain. Its good to know that it is capable of good wine! I don't know if M-C still owns (or ever did own) vines there or if they happened to purchase the wine (or harvest it themselves) in 2003. Maybe they needed some more riesling kabinett? How is it labelled? Gutsabfüllung? Abfüller? Abgefüllt durch?

I'm surprised to to find that a wine labelled 'Trocken' showed even a little rs. Normally, though they are allowed to use up to 9 g/l like the rest of Germany, trocken means 5 or less in Franken (and people say that the Pfalz wines are too dry!) I'm glad the wine was nice. I love Franken, love Scheurebe, and love Wirsching. I need to find that wine!

Happy Thanksgiving Guys!

[David M. Bueker]

I would suspect with the '09 Wirsching that it's the ripe fruit of '09 giving the impression of sweetness more than the amount of RS.

How is it labelled? Gutsabfüllung? Abfüller? Abgefüllt durch?

I'm surprised to to find that a wine labelled 'Trocken' showed even a little rs. Normally, though they are allowed to use up to 9 g/l like the rest of Germany, trocken means 5 or less in Franken (and people say that the Pfalz wines are too dry!) I'm glad the wine was nice. I love Franken, love Scheurebe, and love Wirsching. I need to find that wine!

Bill and David -

First off, I still have the Müller-Catoir bottle, and it is labeled as Gutsabfüllung.

Second - David is probably right about the ripe 2009 fruit making the Wirsching taste less Trocken than some.

I still have the Müller-Catoir bottle, and it is labeled as Gutsabfüllung.

Interesting. I wonder what has become of it. Maybe it goes into the MC Riesling QbA in cooler vintages?

Cheers,
Bill

Hambacher Römerbrunnen is not a vineyard that I see on any label very often.

Just looked in the 04 Terry Theise German catalog: one of the wines he brought in that year was a 2003 MC Riesling Spätlese trocken from that site, and he mentions that Hans-Gunter Schwarz normally used that site for his Liter Riesling.