WTN: Various Germans

Been very busy, and haven't posted many notes recently, so it is time to change that.

2009 van Volxem Wawerner Goldberg Riesling Erste Lage
Not having had anything from van Volxem before, I was excited to try this. I’m glad to see that it lives up to the hype.
High-pitched floral, peach, slate, herbal, and lemon-pepper nose. Medium to full-bodied, lightly sweet, though clearly beyond halbtrocken, feinherb, or even off-dry. Rich and concentrated, though well balanced, with good underlying acidity. Definitely a different style from the Saar norm, and I can see why not everybody likes these wines. Shows a cool, refreshing minerality on the palate, along with pear, peach, herbal, and mint notes. Finishes with notes of prickly spices and watermelon rind. Excellent. Too bad that van Volxem is not currently distributed in Massachusetts, or I would buy more.

2009 A.J. Adam Riesling QbA Feinherb Hofberg
Big earthy/peachy nose. Full, slightly off-dry, with good underlying acidity on the palate, although the finish is a bit tart for now. Very mineral, with stone fruit, apple, and lightly spicy/herbal flavors. Very good, although not quite as good at this point as the excellent 2008 version that I had early last year.

2009 A.J. Adam Dhron Hofberger Riesling Kabinett
Medium-bodied, silky, elegant, well balanced, with citrus, apple, and mineral notes. Very good, though getting a bit pricy at $32.

2007 Grans-Fassian Piesporter Riesling Kabinett
Medium-bodied, elegant, lightly sweet, lightly sherbety, with lime, apple, and mineral notes. Good/very good.

2003 Franz Künstler Hochheimer Kirchenstück Riesling Spätlese
Moderate petrol on the nose. Combines the ripeness of the 2003 vintage with the relative corpulence of Hochheim Riesling. Moderately sweet with just enough acidity to make it work well. Although a bit closed at first, it opens up to reveal notes of honey, apples, pears, minerals, flowers, and baking spices. Very good, even if I think that dry Riesling is Künstler’s real strength.

1996 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Auction
From 375 ml bottle; AP #13. Delicate, botrytis-tinged, tropical fruit and mineral nose. Viscous, sweet, and precise; still very fresh, with vibrant acidity, and a strong mineral core. Certainly is a step up in power and length from your standard GKA. Tastes of tropical and citrus fruits, peaches, cherries, and ginger. Some whipped cream and spice notes on the finish. Excellent/outstanding.

Well done!

You made me realize hoe much I like Grans-Fassian and how little of it I have drank over the past couple of years.
$32 for Adam Kabinett? Ouch.
The Haag sounds incredible.

Cheers,
Bill

Nice wines, thanks for the notes. Dunno who your retailer for the Adam is, but sounds like there's a bit of gouging going on - I bought the '09 Kab from both Crush (NY) and Table & Vine (MA) at around $25-26.

You made me realize hoe much I like Grans-Fassian and how little of it I have drank over the past couple of years.

I was thinking the same thing the other week when I spied a bottle of 02 GF Piesporter Goldtropfchen Spatlese on the shelf. So I bought it and was hoping to be re-invigorated with GF interest. Alas it was merely a decent drink and GF quickly receded to the back of my brain. It's a tough world out there, so much competition!

Hi Bill and Salil -

Marty's had the AJ Adam Kabinett for $32. I haven't been to Table and Vine for about a year, although that's where my 2008 AJ Adams came from.

(Bill - Table and Vine is about 2 hours from me - I'll typically go there if I'm on the way to New York State. Marty's meanwhile, is about 20 minutes away from me, and they do have a lot of good closeout deals on German and Austrian wines. We'll see if the Adam Kabinett ends up there eventually in few years, especially if the Mosel has another banner year in 2012 or 2013. )

Adam makes so little wine that selling it is usually not a problem. Shame that Marty's gouges like that (just about every other retailer I've done business with who had the 09 Kab - Crush, Chambers, T&V, Pops, Canals Hainesport, etc - had a price 20% under theirs). The few closeout deals I've seen there are pretty much in line with regular pricing at various other places.

FWIW the Adam is $25.00 hereabouts.