WTN: 2005 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese

[David M. Bueker]

2005 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe (2/27/2007)
My first chance to really sit and drink this wine (as opposed to tasting). Utterly beguiling sums it up well. The aromas combine ripe fruit and a salty mineral element. The flavors are a wash of sweet fruit (peach, pineapple, apple, raspberry, cherry, etc.) with perfectly balanced acids to finish dry and clean. Intensity allied to elegance. Typically amazing Donnhoff wine. It has reached the point where it is hard to be impressed. Every year it's the same thing: perfection.

David,
It is hard for me to give others in the Nahe a fair shake because of what Dönnhoff does year in and out. I always end up drawing comparisons. That said, I have had some superbly stunning wines from Armin Diel (and others). The styles are as close to opposite as I can imagine -Dönnhoff like a symphony, Diel like a cannon-ball. What are your impressions of the 'other guys' in the Nahe?

[David M. Bueker]

Bill,

I like your analogy, but I would keep it musical. Diel is like a Mahler Symphony, while Donnhoff is a Mozart Piano Concerto. I happen to prefer Mozart.

Schafer-Frohlich is another worthy challenger in the Nahe. The wines are more in the Donnhoff style. Emrich-Schonleber is also consistently outstanding in a richer style. Hexamer and Kruger-Rumpf are very good for value.

Bill,

I like your analogy, but I would keep it musical. Diel is like a Mahler Symphony, while Donnhoff is a Mozart Piano Concerto. I happen to prefer Mozart.

Excellent!

Bill,

I like your analogy, but I would keep it musical. Diel is like a Mahler Symphony, while Donnhoff is a Mozart Piano Concerto. I happen to prefer Mozart.

Schafer-Frohlich is another worthy challenger in the Nahe. The wines are more in the Donnhoff style. Emrich-Schonleber is also consistently outstanding in a richer style. Hexamer and Kruger-Rumpf are very good for value.

But I like Mahler. Some regard Mahler as pompous. They should learn about irony. Diels wines are irony free ...


Peter

[David M. Bueker]

My thought on Diel are much like my thought on Mahler. I admire them both, but do not much care for either.

But I like Mahler. Some regard Mahler as pompous. They should learn about irony. Diels wines are irony free ...

Peter, I also think Mahler was a master of musical irony. But it's a very painful sort of irony - macabre even. I find this sort of irony a bit too depressing to listen to, though I do admire his music. Can't say anything about Diel though.

Peter, I also think Mahler was a master of musical irony. But it's a very painful sort of irony - macabre even. I find this sort of irony a bit too depressing to listen to, though I do admire his music. Can't say anything about Diel though.

Otto,
Diel depresses me too. Maybe there is a connection there...(I'm half kidding. I think Diel has improved substantially, and since 2002 has produced some very fine wines, as well as to good old pompous stuff.)

I agree that Mahler's irony of often somewhere between painful and sarcastic, but there are also lighter moments, which are more playful and accepting in their irony. I think he really exhausted to possiblities of that concept...

Peter

[David M. Bueker]

Jeepers...why did I have to bring up Mahler...

For what it's worth, the Hermannshohle was even better on night two, with more apparent structure, penetrating length and greater fruit delineation.