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Subject: 2005 Initial Impressions

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GATC

Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420

12/02/2006 6:13 AM
The 2005's are just arriving here and I've only tried a few wines, but it seems like a pretty good vintage. I'm always leery of the hype, but so far so good. I've had the 2005 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett twice and I've very impressed. Tastes like a perfect middle Mosel spatlese. I had 1 bottle of the spatlese and I didn't think it was nearly as good as the Kabinett but it just arrived - will try again later. I had to try the 2005 Darting Durkheimer Nonnengarten rieslaner auslese. Still a little awkward and clearly not as good as the 2001 and much better than the 2003. My initial guess is that it will be closer to the 2001. I picked up 4 more wines which I will be trying in the next few days and I will base my big order for the 2005's on this.

ChangeMe

Grape Puncher
Posts:986

12/05/2006 8:50 PM
So far 2005 appears to me to be a hybrid of 2003 and 2001. The acidities are more in the 2003 mold, but not so soft. 2001 has better palate presence in my opinion, but 2005 offers great richness while not being as flabby as 2003. There are many great wines in the MSR this year, with Selbach, Haag and Prum being real stadouts. The Saar is especially blessed. Do not miss Zilliken. It is not a great year in the Pfalz, though Darting's Muskateller Kabinett Trocken is delicious.

Mr. Eiswein User is Offline

Grape Truck Driver
Posts:34

12/14/2006 6:56 PM
Quote: The acidities are more in the 2003 mold, but not so soft. 2001 has better palate presence in my opinion, but 2005 offers great richness while not being as flabby as 2003. There are many great wines in the MSR this year, with Selbach, Haag and Prum being real stadouts. The Saar is especially blessed. Do not miss Zilliken. There's a lot more botrytis in many of the 2005's than either 2001 or 2003. Some of those with lots of botrytis may take several years to show it, though. Some wines I've tasted have acidity that's both a bit low and a bit soft for my preferences, but here I'm mostly talking about those who are always 'the last of the late-pickers'. Some 2005's do have good acidity, but this may not be entirely natural, sadly. I'm not in favour of added acidity as it can taste rather artificial, but some may like it. Actually, a funny aspect of the 2005's is that quite a few BA's and TBA's have better acidity than 1-3 star auslese from the same winemaker - it seems the acidityincreased as the harvest neared it's end, which is unusual. I must admit I was very impressed by the Selbach wines, slightly less so by the Haag's, and not all that impressed by the Prum's. The Zilliken's were simply stunning, though I'm pretty sure that the ones I tasted at the VDP tasting in London were NOT the same as those I tasted at a London wine-merchant's. It seems that Zilliken is one of those who still makes every cask of his wine as a separate wine altogether, though of course it's illegal to state the cask on the label.

ChangeMe

Grape Puncher
Posts:986

12/15/2006 6:56 PM
Actually, acidification was highly unusual in 2005, at least from reputable growers. The acids are low, and in some cases still a bit disjointed, but theings are better knit together now than they were back in say June. I'm right with you on Selbach. Great collection. Zilliken does not bottle cask by cask, except that he does make small lots of auction auslesen. In any event, many growers list cask/fuder numbers on the label. It may be illegal, but it still happens regularly. (e.g. Catoir, Merkelbach, Schmitt-Wagner...) If wines are bottled cask by cask instead of in a "master blend" then they must have separate AP numbers.

Mr. Eiswein User is Offline

Grape Truck Driver
Posts:34

12/18/2006 6:26 PM
Quote: Zilliken does not bottle cask by cask, except that he does make small lots of auction auslesen. In any event, many growers list cask/fuder numbers on the label. It may be illegal, but it still happens regularly. (e.g. Catoir, Merkelbach, Schmitt-Wagner...) That's interesting. One of Zilliken's UK importers lists a variety of cask numbers on GKA's and up. It did indeed become illegal to say this on the label back in 1971, but then many laws are ignored. One thing I've noticed recently is a number of top growers in Zeltingen using the word 'Rotlay' (Red Slate) on the label. Rotlay was apparently one of the finest vineyards in Zeltingen in the 1950's, and was one of 60-70 different vineyard names reduced to just four. I wouldn't really want to have to deal with that many names, but it does seem as if this part of what is now Zeltinger Sonnenuhr really is something special. The fact that some of the vines are said to be over 150 years old probably also helps. It also became illegal to mention these vineyard names on the label after 1971, but maybe some of the growers are trying their luck.

ChangeMe

Grape Puncher
Posts:986

12/20/2006 12:21 PM
I find that many web sites confuse cask numbers and AP numbers (and also the other way around). Selbach-Oster, Vollenweider, Muller-Catoir, etc. are all starting to use some of the old parcel names (in very small print) on the labels. It's two things: 1) a great marketing trick 2) a recognition of those special parcels that make a substantially different (I won't necessarily say better) wine.

GATC

Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420

01/05/2007 11:35 PM
Unfortunately I have too busy and I have to say that in our part of the woods it has not been easy to get many 2005's. I hate to generalize since I've only tried 7 wines, but somehow the 2005 hype falls flat for me. Rieslingfan, your comparison to the 2001 and 2003 hit home when I tried the Darting DN auslese. It is definitely a cross between the 2001 (which is stunning) and the 2003 (which is disappointing). I was really impressed with the Fritz Haag Kabinett but disappointed in the spatlese. I was disappointed in the Christoffel spatlese, but very impressed with the auslese*. The Dr. Loosen that I had (UW spatlese) was good but nothing special. The Schneider that I had at a restaurant (the only 2005 riesling they had) was boring. I'm buying 2005's, but not as heavily as 2001 and 2002.

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