Table 13: Strub
2010 Gruner Veltliner Kabinett trocken
Very nice; green limes and snap peas lifted by moderate acidity, lacks a little vibrancy on the back end but quite pleasant. Good.
2010 Niersteiner Oelberg Riesling trocken 'Im Taubennest'
Lots of layers and depth here; fruit, herbs, salty mineral notes and much more, there's impressive length here but the acidity sticks out and this feels a little sharp and angular on the back end.
2010 "Soil to Soul" Riesling
Pleasant; moderately sweet, well balanced but rather simple. Nice entry level wine and good QPR.
2010 Niersteiner Bruckchen Riesling Kabinett
Fresh peaches and pears with more richness than I'd expect from a Kabinett in any other vintage; elegant and nicely balanced. Very good.
2010 Niersteiner Paterberg Riesling Spatlese
Ripe peachy and faintly tropical fruit accented with green herbal notes, bright and refreshing with moderate acidity. Good+.
2010 Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling Spatlese
Superb - lots of depth, energy and persistence; fruit, florality and chalky minerality combining into a fantastic whole. There's plenty of acidity here and a vibrancy that the other wines didn't have, but it's very well balanced.
Table 14: Kruger-Rumpf
2010 Dautenpflanzer Riesling Grosses Gewachs
Stony and a bit austere, there's a lot of acidity here and it feels rather severe.
2010 Munsterer Rheinberg Riesling Kabinett
Electric. There's a lot of extract and sweetness here, plenty of ripe white fruited flavours and minerality but it feels just barely sweet with really intense acidity cutting through. Very good, but I'd want something with some fat served alongside.
2010 Munsterer Dautenpflanzer Riesling Spatlese
Very similar to the 09; full of incredibly vibrant citrus, apple and white fruited flavours tinged with minerals and spice. Excellent.
2010 Binger Scharlachberg Riesling Spatlese
Softer and a bit creamier than the Kabinett and preceding Spatlese; there's some overt botrytis here and lots of sweetness (Stefan said about 50% of the fruit here was botrytised). A step down from the great 09. Good+.
2010 Scheurebe Spatlese
A bit dull. Tastes like a slightly soft Riesling; bright white fruits with moderate acidity and none of the wild Scheurebe character.
Table 15: Hexamer
2010 Spatburgunder Weissherbst
One note and boring, and that one note it plays isn't particularly great either.
2010 Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Quarzit
Bracing. This'll have teeth rattling on a hot humid day in the tropics. Pale fresh fruits over stone, *really* high acids.
2008 Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Quarzit Reserve
A recent release that spent a long, long time fermenting. This one's under cork (the 2010 Quarzit is under screwcap), but it shows a bit reductive and smoky, with some energetic swirling shows bright apple and citrus fruit complemented by more savoury, faintly smoky elements. Very good.
2010 Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Kabinett
Ripe peachy/citrus fruits over a powerful acid spine. Not for the acid averse. Very good.
2010 Schlossbockelheimer In Den Felsen Riesling Spatlese
Exotic, lilac-tinged fruit with an undercurrent of mineral salts. Very fresh, precise and clear, showing tremendous acidity underneath but at the same time the whole's very well balanced. Excellent.
2009 Sobernheimer Marbach Riesling Eiswein
Pungent, tropical fruit accented with rich honeyed elements and high toned horseradish-like notes. Incredible sweetness, intensity and length. Excellent.
Table 16: Donnhoff
2010 Tonschiefer Riesling trocken (from Oberhauser Leistenberg)
Pale, fresh fruit; steely and stony beneath. Not entirely sure about the balance here - there's good richness, but a faint back end sting from the acidity and a little finishing warmth. That said, the Donnhoffs were a little warm (one of the first tables I visited, and the wines hadn't been in ice very long), so I'm not sure if that's due to the serving temperature more than the alcohol.
2010 Kreuznacher Krotenpfuhl Riesling Kabinett
Fresh apples and deeper, savoury earthy notes; vibrant with bright acids but there's a strange phenolic harshness on the back end that surprises me.
2010 Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spatlese
A basket of green and red apples and white cherries dusted with floral notes, conveyed with a sense of real electricity - there's really bright acidity underneath that keeps it razor-sharp and very fresh. Excellent.
2010 Oberhauser Brucke Riesling Spatlese
Wow! Powerful, packed with peaches, cherries and other red fruits over a vivid minerally and salty base; deep, long, very ripe but superbly balanced by its acids. Outstanding+.
2010 Oberhauser Brucke Riesling Auslese 'Goldkapsel'
Richer and denser than the Spatlese, adding a honeyed flavour element but the fruit's still incredibly fresh, clear and precise and there's a sense of sheer drinkability and lightness to this that most other Auslese (heck, most sweet wines) at the tasting didn't have. Outstanding+
Austrian impressions:
(picked and tried a couple of things from random tables, but only really spent time at Nikolaihof)
2009 Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Ried Lamm
Brilliant - layers of peaches, green citrus fruits and some fresh herbal notes up front; turns more savoury on the back end; great balance with fantastic length. Excellent/outstanding.
2009 Hirsch Heiligenstein Riesling
Strange tasting this after some of the 2010 Germans; this came across rather ripe but a little soft and creamy.
Nikolaihof was perhaps my favourite table (well, them and Selbach-Oster) - one outstanding wine after the other.
2010 Gruner Veltliner Hefeabzug
Lovely - fresh, bright citrus and green pea notes, finessed and light on its feet.
2009 Gruner Veltliner Im Weingebirge Smaragd
All about purity and clarity. Green Gruner fruit, minerality and other savoury notes conveyed with such remarkable lightness. Excellent.
While talking to Christine Saahs, I mentioned Neuburger and she pulled out a bottle from under the table that may be the best wine I tasted at the event-
2010 Neuburger
Freaking amazing. Layers of white fruits, green beans, minerals, savoury mushroomy and smoky notes - so much depth and complexity here that it's hard to put into words. There's a sense of restrained power, creaminess and yet fantastic clarity and focus. Wow!!
2008 Riesling Vom Stein Smaragd
Vividly stony and layered with pale, fresh Riesling fruit. Very light on its feet again, yet packed with material and flavour. Excellent.
2007 Riesling Steiner Hund Reserve
More herbal and stony than the Vom Stein, and with more layers, depth and richness. Outstanding.
2010 Gelber Muskateller
Very pretty; bright and floral, slightly sweet up front but the acids kick in on the back end and it finishes almost dry. Very good.
Part 3 (Champagnes and a few random reds) will be up soon.