Broader thoughts on the wines - wow, just wow. What an unreal legacy. We didn't have his Muskateller (his '01 Burgergarten Muskateller might be my ultimate white whale wine right now), but had a spectrum of bottles across the various grapes with which he excelled - Rieslaner, Scheurebe, and of course Riesling. There's no "weak point" in the lineup - wines were spectacular ranging from the trocken through the TBA/Eisweins, and I can think of very few winemakers who could excel at such a broad range of styles and sweetness. A couple of the Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlesen were slightly disappointing - I've had some truly amazing bottles of both the '98 and the '01 (2133 and 2134) before, but we ran into some bad luck with that flight. The Scheurebes stole the show. (I might be slightly biased, as they're also the wines that got me into Catoir and HGS - my first true wow experiences with these wines were the '01 and '98 Scheurebe Spätlesen that David Bueker opened for me years back when I was in grad school.)
But a phenomenal evening, and one of the most joyous wine dinners I can remember. Thank you, Hans Günter Schwarz.
ODE TO SCHEU, OR THE HGS MEMORIAL DINNER - Noreetuh, NYC (4/18/2026)
- NV Jacques Selosse Initial - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Disgorgement 04 March 2010. Seth suggests the fruit here is from 2003-05. This wasn't my style of Champagne. I like Selosse from time to time (though certainly not enough to buy it myself), but this came across just a little too oxidative for my tastes. Deep gold in color, a touch soft on the palate, a compote of orchard fruit on the palate and more savoury and oxidative nutty notes around it. It feels a bit dull and flat and I'm left wanting more acidity or effervescence, though others at the table commented that this showed substantially better alongside the fried chicken. (By that time I had already passed my pour to Jayson and was enjoying the trocken far more.)
- 2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese trocken - Germany, Pfalz
And awaaaaay we go. What a great wine. Such a beautiful, haunting scent that only builds with air - so many layers of smokiness, florality, fruit, and other savoury notes all coming together into an incredible fragrance, and it's echoed on the palate where there's so much complexity and a lightness of touch and elegance that I rarely find in a lot of modern dry wines. This isn't one of those dry wines where it's trying to be overly impressive or as severe/dry/mineral as possible, it feels rounder and more generous than a lot of trockens/GGs today, and so easy to drink as a result.
- 1985 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Been several years since I had this wine, but it's always a joy to revisit it. Thanks Jay! This is lovely, perfectly mature with gentle red and dark fruited flavours at its core, and layers of more savoury cedary, gravelly, and tobacco flavours around the fruit. A couple of others commented on a lactic aspect here, but I didn't notice it - this is showing wonderfully right now, feels at peak or on a plateau, and was lovely to revisit when I returned to it much later in the evening. What a terrific wine. - 2001 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Those classic Graves charcoal/smoky/tobacco flavours feel bolder and more prominent here than they are in the '85 - that came across more understated and gentle, but this is much more forward with such intensity to the aromatics. The aromatics here are amazing, but it also feels quite undeveloped and primary on the palate - the dark fruit comes across with the usual Haut Bailly elegance, but it's also rather tightly wound, and there's a lot of fine grained tannin that clamps down at the back end. I'd love to revisit this in another 15 years.
- 2001 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru
Well this is awesome. Seth blinded this for the group, and we were all blown away before the unveil. Guesses zeroed into high end Burgundy and Vosne fairly quickly, and it was clear we were drinking something special. Such an amazing scent, an array of floral and exotic sandalwood-like spicy notes leading into a palate where there's a core of piercingly intense red and dark fruit. So much depth of flavour here, but the components all come together into a seamless whole that's conveyed with remarkable freshness and clarity. There's some fine grained tannin on the back end, but a lot of the structure now seems to come from the acidity which gives this such a sense of lightness and energy on the palate to match its breadth and power. The entire package is haunting to sit and drink. Thanks Seth. - 2011 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru
Also poured blind. Liked this though didn't love it - having this (unintentionally) poured right after a spectacular bottle of DRC didn't help here, as comparison was very much the thief of joy in this case. It doesn't have the greenness that characterizes a lot of '11 reds for me, but there is a slightly dirty/muddled aspect to the flavours beneath the core of dark fruit. Though sandwiched between the DRC and the first of the Catoir prädikat wines, I also didn't spend a lot of time exploring this.
- 2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
Glorious, as this so often is. It's the usual kaleidoscope of tropical fruit ranging from riper grapefruit, passionfruit, and yellow mango notes to tarter citric and green mango flavours, all accented with an array of florality and high-toned sage and other herbal scents. Intensely ripe and rich on the palate, sweet but so perfectly balanced with the acidity giving it a sense of real vibrancy and energy, and just flat out amazing. - 1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
My initial scribbles on this wine read "OMFG" and a morning later, I'm not sure what else to add to that. This for me sums up why we did this HGS tribute dinner. This is perfection, a level of complexity that's hard to describe in words, and pure joie de vivre. An absolute riot of tropical fruit - it feels riper and more intense than the '01 alongside, the floral and other herbal/spicy accents are even more exotic and perfumed, and of course the whole package is perfectly balanced. The best showing I've had from this wine, and the most appropriate setting for it. HGS was the man. - 1994 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
A dark amber color, considerably darker than the '98 or '01 alongside - the color looks more like one of the massive Catoir Auslesen/BAs than a Spätlese, and it also tastes intensely rich and sweet with a strong botrytised component. Lots of honey, orange marmalade, and lightly caramelized flavours here over the fruit. The exuberant Scheurebe tropical and floral/herbal flavours are more understated and play a supporting role here to the botrytised flavours, though this is still lovely (and I found it especially good with the Taiwanese flat cabbage).
- 1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
I've had some amazing showings of this wine, but this was one of the weaker ones. This was a bit underwhelming given expectations - it's very good, richly fruited with a slightly burnished, smoky tinge to the fruit here, but without the depth or sense of electric energy this wine has shown in the past. - 2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese #2133 - Germany, Pfalz
Not quite on the level of that god-tier bottle that Z brought to Ping's last year, but this was very good. Initially I found I just liked but didn't love this, but I found myself enjoying it more and more with air, particularly as this warmed up a little in the glass. Richly fruited with that ripe grapefruit character dominating, and smoky and lightly floral notes playing supporting roles. With time a stony mineral character becomes more prominent beneath the fruit and on the back end, and the depth and length here are impressive. Lovely wine, though the Scheurebes certainly stole the show tonight among the Spätlesen. - 2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese #2134 - Germany, Pfalz
Hideously corked. Sob. NR (flawed)
- 2001 Müller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Schlössel Rieslaner Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
A HGS Rieslaner through and through, deep in colour with those wild horseradish and chili pepper notes dominating the aromatics, and the ripe grapefruit and savoury smokiness playing a supporting role in the background. There's that slight textural roughness/coarseness that I so often find with his Rieslaners, balanced by just the right amount of sweetness. As usual, a wild ride of a wine and a joy to have this again after so many years.
- 1998 Müller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Schlössel Rieslaner Trockenbeerenauslese - Germany, Pfalz
It's been over a decade since I had one of these, and this seemed like the perfect occasion to open my last bottle. Yeah, this is special. The same wild, high-toned spiciness that the '01 Rieslaner Spätlese showed, but now it's on a far bigger frame with a lot more tropical fruit and sweetness and plenty of botrytised honey and marmalade notes. And yet that fiery - almost feral - Rieslaner spice still stands out up front. Intensely powerful acidity here, so fresh and electric again - this really hasn't changed much since my last experience in 2015, but I wish I had more. - 1996 Müller-Catoir Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Eiswein - Germany, Pfalz
Ridiculous. One of those wines where every single aspect seems so exaggerated and intense. The color is almost black, looking more like motor oil or PX sherry than Eiswein, and there's so much richness and piercing intensity to the ripe fruit here. The aromatics here are really something - there's a figgy character to the fruit, and high toned new leather and wood polish-like scents around the fruit, similar to what I've found in some older Sercial Madeiras. But of course it's somehow in balance because HGS was a genius, and this magically has enough acidity and tartness to match the immense sweetness. Unreal. - 2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Eiswein - Germany, Pfalz
The '98 Mandelring Scheurebe stole the show earlier, but this did its damn best to match it. Quite the contrast to the other Riesling Eiswein - whereas that's almost black in colour and smells like a TBA-Eiswein hybrid, this feels like an extension of the Scheurebe Spätlese. The colour is still remarkably pale and light, and the flavours just pick up where the '01 Scheurebe Spätlese left off with a similar array of ripe mango, passionfruit, and other tropical fruits accented with floral and herbal scents. It feels richer and sweeter though, with a honeyed and high toned ginger-like aspect on the nose, and again I'm blown away by the sense of clarity and freshness to the flavours here. A really special wine, apparently the last one that Schwarz made at Catoir, and a fitting way to end the evening.