What follows are impressions on the German wine (and one important, bonus Austrian – more on the Austrians later), not formal notes. I try to give each wine I taste a good assessment, but there are of course limitations to such an event. The notes are as I wrote them that day!
Assorted Trocken/Halbtrocken/Feinherb Table
I was impressed with a number of these wines here, and will say in general that I enjoyed the dry wines very much. For those who still think that Terry Theise ignored or does not care for dry wines, I will say that about half of what was available to taste in the room was dry or at least feinherb.
Highlights from this table were:
2014 Muller-Catoir Haardt Muskateller Trocken – lots of mint and green herbs
2014 A. J. Adam Riesling Trocken – lime, herbs, very refreshing
2014 von Othegraven Kanzemer Riesling Trocken – bright, green fruit, bracing mineral finish
2014 A. J. Adam Im Pfarrgarten Riesling Feinherb – deep fruit and mineral bass notes, long finish
2014 A. J. Adam Dhron Hofberg Riesling Feinherb In den Sangerei – apple, underripe pineapple, racy
2014 Theo Minges Scheurebe Feinherb – mint, grapefruit, hint of green mango, yummy
von Winning
This was another impressive showing from von Winning. I thought the Rieslings were excellent across the board, and I even consented to taste one of the Sauvignon Blancs, which I found to be “not horrid.” That is high praise from me for any Sauvignon Blanc!
Highlights here:
2014 von Winning Riesling - downright tasty. Good value daily drinker.
2014 von Winning Deidesheimer Hergottsacker 1er Lage Riesling Trocken – very spicy, quite complex and bracing
2014 von Winning Langenmoregen Riesling Grosses Gewachs – very deep, rich and also elegant at the same time – interesting wine!
2014 von Winning Kirchenstuck Riesling Grosses Gewachs – dense, almost tannic, needs lots of time
2014 von Winning ‘Winnings’ Riesling – Crisp, ripe fruit, good persistence, nice value
Eugen Muller
This was my first chance to taste through this Pfalz producer’s portfolio. I really enjoyed trying the wines of the “other Muller.” The quality here was high and consistent.
Highlights included:
2014 Eugen Muller Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Spatlese Trocken – peach fruit, chalky, long finish, excellent
2014 Eugen Muller Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spatlese Trocken ‘Ziegler’ – deeper fruit than the Jesuitengarten, excellent mid-palate depth, dry, minerally finish
2014 Eugen Muller Forster Kirchenstuck Riesling Spatlese Trocken ‘Cyriakus’ – intensely peachy, red raspberry-esque fruit, fantastic, almost salty minerality, delicious!
2014 Eugen Muller Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spatlese – tropical, complex, finishes almost totally dry
2014 Eugen Muller Forster Kirchenstuck Riesling Auslese – spice, orange, very drinkable auslese, no heaviness at all
Darting
It was lots of fun to catch up with Heike Gersteinhofer again. We have seen here for years at these events. The wines were excellent as well, one of the best collections in recent years from Darting, though I miss tasting the Rieslaner Auslese!
Highlights here:
2014 Darting Durkheimer Fronhof Riesling Kabinett Trocken – a refreshing wine on the high side of trocken, sold in liters because 750 ml would not be enough!
2014 Darting Ungsteiner Weilberg Riesling Kabinett Trocken – also the high end of trocken, so shows a bit off dry, very peachy and refreshing as well
2014 Darting Durkheimer Hochbenn Muskateller Kabinett Trocken – floral, floral, floral!!!
2014 Darting Durkheimer Nonnengarten Riesling Kabinett – Fresh, ripe, crisp, gluggable, for a hot day eating outside - so drinkable!
2014 Darting Durkheimer Nonnengarten Gewurztraminer Kabinett – Spicy, aromatic, very expressive
2014 Darting Ungsteiner Honigsackel Scheurebe Spatlese – grapefruit, mango, mint, Scheu goodness
I also tasted both the Pinot Meunier and Spatburgunder. Both were deliciously easy to drink. I really wanted to grab a sandwich and the bottle of Pinot Meunier!
Hexamer
Always a fun table, and this year was no exception. I tried to warm up to the Sauvignon Blanc, but no can do…
Highlights here were in a number of areas:
2014 Hexamer Riesling Feinherb ‘Porphyr’ – pleasing level of sweetness, just easy to drink – value choice
2014 Hexamer Meddersheimer Altenberg Riesling Kabinett – fresh fruit and bright acidity, bracing
2014 Hexamer Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Spatlese – rich, more auslese like, good ager perhaps
2014 Hexamer Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Auslese – the spatlese on steroids!
2001 Hexamer Meddersheimer Altenberg Riesling Hochgewachs – perfectly aged Riesling, great chance to stock up for those who missed 2001 the first time around
2012 Hexamer Meddersheimer Altenberg Riesling Eiswein – intensely minty, ripe and racy! Delish!
Donnhoff
Lots of fun catching up with Cornelius Donnhoff. We had a good discussion about the Oberhauser Leistenberg Kabinett, where I noted that he has been ratcheting down the sweetness the last few years. He said the RS in the 2014 is about at the level of what was in the 2007 Estate Riesling.
Lots of highlights here as expected:
2014 Donnhoff Roxheimer Hollenpfad Riesling Trocken – Iron, minerals, good acid backbone. Not for fruit lovers
2014 Donnhoff Hermannshohle Riesling Grosses Gewachs – Herbal, fruity, complex and bracing finish
2014 Donnhoff Oberhauser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett – just off dry, pear and peach fruit, racy and refreshing, easy to drink a lot of this
2014 Donnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spatlese – peaches, strawberries, spicy finish, outstanding! Laura’s wine of the day, and a darned close 2nd for me.
2014 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Riesling Spatlese – Deep minerality, crunchy fruit. Cornelius reminded us that there was no auslese or eiswein from Brucke in 2014
2014 Donnhoff Niderhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese – Laser sharp minerals, tree fruit, endless length
2014 Donnhoff Niderhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Auslese ‘Goldkapsel’ – (of course all the Hermannshohle Auslese have gold capsules) – balanced, very drinkable, great depth and length, like a distillation of the spatlese
Kruger-Rumpf
What a great table this was! The quality was very high across the board, from the basic trocken through the auslese. I could list every wine as a highlight, as this was my favorite table of the day.
But the top highlights were:
2014 Kruger-Rumpf Riesling Trocken – floral, fruit and excellent depth, great, great dry wine value!
2014 Kruger-Rumpf Munsterer Riesling Trocken – all from the Pittersberg, good fresh fruit, chalky finish
2014 Kruger-Rumpf Dautenpflanzer Riesling Grosses Gewachs – spice, citrus fruit, persistent minerality
2014 Kruger-Rumpf Riesling Feinherb ‘Schiefer’ – lots of orange zest, spice, just off dry
2014 Kruger-Rumpf Binger Scharlachberg Riesling Spatlese – tropical fruit, rich, full bodied, outstanding
2014 Kruger-Rumpf Scheurebe Spatlese – grapefruit, papaya, spice, sage, not too sweet – delicious and exciting Scheurebe
Strub
I have been drinking the wines from here since the early 1990s, and they just keep getting better. There were a couple of wine (listed below) that just blew me away.
Highlights:
2014 Strub Niersteiner Oelberg Riesling Trocken ‘Im Taubennest’ – bracing minerality, yellow fruit
2014 Strub Niersteiner Hipping Riesling Feinherb ‘Thal’ – Outstanding! Complex vanilla, peach, red berry fruit, just off dry, dangerously drinkable
2014 Strub Niersteiner Bruckchen Riesling Kabinett – bright, clear fruit, not as chalky as it has been
2014 Strub Niersteiner Hipping Riesling Spatlese ‘Flachenhahl’ – Great balance and clarity, orange and peach fruit – a refreshing spatlese!
Selbach-Oster
There is not much to say, except that Selbach-Oster continues to be an amazing source of great wine and great value. Johannes does it again! Great talking to him, and when I asked, he said he is very happy (“no complaints at all” – high praise from a German!) with the move to screwcaps for many of the wines.
Too many highlights, but here goes:
2012 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spatlese Trocken – minerals and lime fruit
2014 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese Trocken – round, deep fruit, excellent length
2014 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese Feinherb ‘Uralte Reben’ – In my top 5 of wines of the day. Off dry, lime, peach, incredibly long finish – love this wine
2014 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett – Minerals doused in lemon lime juice – great as usual – love this kabinett
2014 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spatlese – Take the kabinett and turn it up to 11!
2014 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese – rounder than the Schlossberg, fantastic depth of fruit, long finish
2014 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Auslese – green tea, peach, pineapple – yum!
2014 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sclossberg Riesling ‘Schmitt’ – peach, lime, minerals, looooong finish
There were a few other highlights among the German wines I tasted, notably:
2013 Meulenhof Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett #8
2014 Spreitzer Wisselbrunnen Riesling Grosses Gewachs (I ran out of time to taste the range here…damn)
2014 Schlossgut Diel Burgberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs
And then I have to mention the wine of the day for me…it came from the Austrian part of the tasting (more on that later when I have a chance to type it up):
2013 Brundlmayer Riesling Zobinger Heiligenstein Alte Reben - This wine had incredible, unending depth of minerals that subsumed the fruit into the mid-palate. The finish was long, long, long – amazing stuff!!!!!
Thanks to Terry Theise and the folks at Skurnik wines for allowing Laura and I to attend yet again!
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