Here are my quick impressions from an in-store tasting of German wines on Monday 11/17/03.

2002 Kurt Darting Dürkheimer Michelsberg Riesling Kabinett (Pfalz)
Aromas of sweet hay and peaches come jumping out of the glass. Very effusive, but this is overly sweet and heavy for a kabinett. I would be more convinced if this was labeled as a “starred” spätlese or even if it were sold as a small auslese. There’s no denying it’s a quality wine, especially for $11.99 (before case discount), but it’s no kabinett.

2001 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett (Nahe)
This has really closed down. Laura left some in a glass for the whole 90 minutes of the tasting, and it just started to open up near the end. This is a brooding kabinett! Yep, it’s brooding. Once again there’s no denying the quality of the wine, but when it opens up again I think we’re in for a mature spätlese at least. Time in the glass brought this closer to that model than having it emerge as kabinett. Once again great value for auslese from a fantastic producer at $21.99, but it’s not kabinett.

2002 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett (Nahe)
First bottle was the victim of cork. Nose was odd, and the palate was lifeless. Second bottle was served too warm since it had not been pre-chilled. Still there’s a lot to be said for this wine. It’s not nearly as heavy as the 2001 (even warm), and the bright fruit combines with a chalky sensation in the mouth. I really like the wines from the Leistenberg. Damn the fall of the dollar versus the euro, as this is now $26.99. (Given the relative change of the two currencies 20-25% is about the right price increase.)

2002 J. J. Christoffel Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett (Mosel)
Two things about this wine stood out. Number one was that it had a plastic cork. Good first step, but please let’s go screw cap. Number two was that it tasted like a kabinett. Granted it was likely harvested close to auslese ripeness, but it had delicate strawberry, apple and spice flavors, and really danced on the palate. So at least it showed as a kabinett. I’m sure it will age like a spätlese. $17.99

2002 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese (Mosel)
Wine of the night for me. Great nose of minerals, lime, apples, lemon zest, more rocks that was as lively as you could hope for in German Riesling. Really fantastic on the palate as well, with all those rocks making a great framework for classic Mosel spätlese. The apples and citrus all came together in a seamless combination. This was not a big spätlese, but rather the model that used to be spätlese before global warming/declassification/voodoo spätlese. $24.99 and worth every penny. Schaefer is still under priced for the wine in the bottle. I do not buy enough Willi Schaefer wines.

2002 Prinz Hallgartner Jungfer Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau)
I had never tried a wine from this producer. Not bad stuff at all. Lots of flowers, peaches and fresh apricots show up on the nose. It’s sweet on the palate, but the fruit tastes fresh, and the acids kick in on the finish. It’s not a big spätlese, but the balance is good, and it would make a pleasant aperitif. QPR is a touch questionable at $22.99, but you can spend a lot more and not do as well.

2001 Max Ferd Richter Veldenzer Elisenberg Riesling Spätlese (Mosel)
Perhaps this is closing down, but I found it surprisingly light and characterless. Gentle, soft, sweet fruit with virtually no acidic backbone. A case of stealth cork? Judgement reserved on this wine until I can taste it again.

2002 Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau)
Definite case of stealth cork. I could not get people to agree with me, but I had tried this wine twice before and it was vibrant and complex with tons of fruit, great acidity and a fantastic integration of botrytis. This bottle had NONE of that. It was flat sugar water. No there was not any wet cardboard, but it was corked. Blah! Johannes Leitz spends a lot of money on corks, but sometimes one gets through. Blah! Fie on organic closures!

2002 J. J. Christoffel Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese (Mosel)
Kabinett times two. Back to natural cork by the way. Plenty of strawberry and spritz. Mini-moscato was a good descriptor. There’s too much trapped CO2 in Christoffel wines these days. It does settle down with time in the glass (or a decanter), but come on. Where does it stop? The aromas and flavors were very good, with characteristic Würzgarten spice and berry along with some fine apple fruit. Sweetness was properly balanced with the acidity, and it tasted like spätlese. It’s a good value in fine Mosel spätlese for $21.99, but just decant to clear the bubbles.

2002 Spreitzer Oestricher Lenchen Riesling Spätlese “303” (Rheingau)
They’re not fooling anyone. This is auslese. Not only that, it is really good auslese. It’s top class auslese. But it’s not spätlese. Incredibly sweet, with flowers, peaches and a distinct orange flavor on the finish. The acids really kick in at the end, so with a few years I think this will be stunning. But it’s auslese. Rule #1 for German wine in the new millennium: try a bottle and then re-label everything you own to correspond to the appropriate pradikat. At $34.99 this is a really nice auslese, and it’s in full bottles, so it will age nicely. But it’s not spätlese.

2002 J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese (Mosel)
I love the moans and groans around the room whenever somebody opens a young Prum wine at a tasting. “Ugh. What is that smell?” “Oof!” “Holy cow, that’s really weird.” “Wow, does that stink.” No exception here. Underneath all that leesy, yeasty funk lays a really nice spätlese, with tons of floral, apple and lemon cream flavors. Just give it 10 years and you’ll be very happy. Prum wines are not made for the commercial marketplace, as they will sell through no matter what. $29.99 with a bonus aroma for free!

2002 J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese (Mosel)
Ditto. Underneath that Prum haze is another wine true to its origin and pradikat. The flavors get correspondingly more intense, and the persistence on the finish is amazing. This wine just goes on and on. This is beautiful auslese, but do not open until Christmas. That’s Christmas 2018. $34.99 for 750 ml, but that’s great value for world class, age worthy white wine. Try getting great Corton Charlemagne for $34.99.

2002 Keller Dalsheimer Hubacker Riesling Auslese (Rheinhessen)
Big! Sweet! Big! Sweet! Yes there’s fruit (peach, nectarine, apricot), but it’s big and sweet. The acids seems totally disconnected from the sugars. This is an out of balance behemoth. Will time cure it? I have no idea. All I can say is that without balance I’m not interested. $32.99 will get you a big, sweet wine.

2002 Keller Dalsheimer Hubacker Riesling Auslese*** (Rheinhessen)
Bigger! Sweeter! Lots of botrytis! Gosh this is huge. Maybe 15 years will make this a truly interesting wine, but I feel like I would be betting all the chips on one number in roulette. There’s no balance between the acids and the sugars. I found this horribly cloying. Too sweet, too big. $89.99 for 375 ml, so too expensive as well.

There was also a 1989 Oestricher Lenchen from Eser, but it was badly heat damaged, and tasted like it was a 1979.

We bought Schaefer and Prum auslese.

Nice notes, Rf. I bought the 2002 J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese last week for $29.45 and we had it with friends this past Saturday night. While I agree mostly with your notes, I found it lacked the intense freshness of the '01 Spatlese, which I consider the better of the two. I'm now trying to make up my mind if I want to get some more of the '02 Auslese before they're all gone.

Btw, the Christoffel's are bottled in cork except for the kabinet and perhaps the estate Reisling. Those are in a plastic cork. When I was purchasing these I opened one of each (to make sure I liked them) and was a bit suprised when we popped the kabinet and saw it was plastic. The guy at the shop got a different corkscrew because they sometimes break the screwpull imitations.

Rieslingfan, which Schafer Spatlese did you try? I think Wili has a number of different ones from Graacher Domprobst. The only difference is small lot numbers located on the bottle. We have a few different ones in the store and I already reserved myself some Cristoffels (Urz Wurz Aus and some Erd Trep Spat). Just wondering if I should grab some Schafers before they disappear. Donnhoff made great wines in 2002, but they are a bit more expensive than Cristoffel and Schafer. Thus, I passed on them. The Norheimer Dellchen Spat was especially great, but I didn't want to pay the extra $10 over the Cristoffels.

jb

That's a great price for a Schaefer. I seldom see any around here and the prices are much higher. Actually, the prices you are getting are much lower than in the West Coast. My deeply discounted prices (for buying 30 cases of futures) is not much better than your regular prices.

We have some of the Hermannshohle Spatlese in the store. I think it is $39-40. I'll check when I go into work tomorrow. The AP#9 we have as well. We have 7 or 8 different Schaefer wines. I might have to pick up a few of those as well. Thanks for the info.

jb

Thanks, that makes me feel great.

Actually, there are a lot of problems with the distribution of wines, period. In some ways, we are lucky in CA and in others we are not.