WTN: A few 2011 Germans

All three of these guys have 2011s waiting to be bottled, but this was a taste of the very earliest releases. Simple wines, but delicious.

2011 A. Christmann Riesling Trocken QbA -Pfalz, Germany 12,5% alc.

The 2010 was my personal QPR of the year. It's too early to say with this one. The fruit is completely shut-down post bottling. It took a few hours for any stone fruit to emerge and for a while, it was all citrusy Pink grapefruit. Nice mineralitaet though, and plentiful acidity (right now more more in the spotlight than the fruit, which wasn't the case for 2010 even though Christmann didn't de-acidify that vintage.) I really like the structure of the wine though (texturally, it feels very right) and I'm looking forward to trying this after a few weeks. Shows promise.

2011 Mueller-Catoir Riesling Trocken (Black Label) -Pfalz, Germany 12,5% alc.

Much more forward than the Christmann. Lots of ripe peach and floral aromas but also not lacking in acidity. One cannot really speak of complexity at this level, just pleasure, which this wine is already showing. Drinking great right out of the chute.

2011 Bergdolt St. Lamprecht Weissburgunder Kabinett Trocken -Pfalz, Germany 12,5% alc.

FUCK is this good! So pure and crystalline with very fine pear and melon flavors (on day two it started going a little apricot on me too) Also and surprisingly with very strong acidity. This is Pinot Blanc that drinks like Riesling and boy is it cheap (Euro 7,50). Also an early bottling by Bergdolt (some '11 Riesling is also bottled.)

We also drank a very nice Bernhart 'S' Spaetburgunder 2009 that I didn't take notes on. Young with rather hefty tannins, but lovely aromas and succulent fruit to boot. Pushing the envelope at 14%, but it wasn't unbalanced and really rather elegant.

Cheers,
Bill

Mouth-watering . I've just read a post on another board where Martin Zwick, who used to post here occasionally, reports on a tasting of 2011s at Weil and implies that we have a "vintage of the century.

It's a pleasant change of pace when someone implies that we have a vintage of the century.

Mouth-watering . I've just read a post on another board where Martin Zwick, who used to post here occasionally, reports on a tasting of 2011s at Weil and implies that we have a "vintage of the century.

Doesn't Martin imply that every year?

In all seriousness, it should be a very good vintage for very ripe wines and a great one for dry wines (and regional differences are important ones.) How producers dealt with acidity deficiencies will be a big factor. We shall see.

Cheers,
Bill

Hi Bill -

Thank you for the early notes on the 2011s. Glad to hear that acidity wasn't an issue with any of these.

Hi Bill -

Thank you for the early notes on the 2011s. Glad to hear that acidity wasn't an issue with any of these.

Me too. A sign of things to come or just more inclusion of less-ripe lateral-shoot bunches? I know that Christmann did less 'selection' of ripe berries for their better wines too, but I have only heard second-hand how they taste. The next few weeks and months will tell. Today I opened a 2011 Silvaner from the Staatsweingut Neustadt mit Johannitergut that is very good too with clean, ripe apple and citrus flavors and also no lack of acidity. Excellent value year in and out for a Liter-bottle.

Cheers,
Bill