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Dr_Tannin
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2498
 | | 12/11/2002 5:18 AM |
| My best friend from work came over this evening. Our dinner was served w Ridge Lytton Springs 97.
Dessert, however, was pure liquid delight,served by itself.
From vines grown in the East Austrian sandy flatlands along the Hungarian border south of the Danube, Alois Kracher [Crack err] makes some of the world's most delicious botrytized sweet wines. This relatively unpopulated part of Austria remains off the tourist track. The Neusiedlersee [Nay say der slay]"New settlers lake" acts in part as border to Hungary, but is only the largest of a series of small lakes amidst low lying marsh flood prone terrain and around a national park. Extremely dry and warm in the summer, the cool fall morning fog promotes the onset of Botyritis Cinerea(noble rot) fungus on the local grapes. The grape varietals grown in this area include Furmint (Tokay), Welschriesling, Traminer, Scheurebe (Samling-cross of Riesling and Silvaner), Muscat Ottonel, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Morillon (Chardonnay), Bouvier, among others. Dry whites and reds are grown in the foothills nearby (Hugelland), but the area is best known for the sweet wines of Alois Kracher and Heidi Schrock,
As in Germany,degrees of sweetness define these kinds of dessert wines, with Oeschle a measure of the must weight(density)*.
Beerenauslese must be >127 Oe,
Trockenbeerenauslese must be >156 Oe
Kracher labels his wines with numbers corresponding to increasing concentration of grapes, somewhat analogous to puttonyos for Tokaji. Further, he separates wines with oak (NV)Nouvelle Vague [Nu vell vahg] "new wave ,Fr" and without oak (ZDS) Zwischen den Seen [sweyshen den zain] "between the lakes,Gr".
Released 3 years after harvest, in 375 ml clear tall bottles, with a Gold on White Label marked Weinlaubenhof Kracher, these retail from $50-70.00, but on prearrival and or sale can be had for $40-60.00. Vin Divino Importers in Chicago handles these, which means these can be found on Sam's shelves several rows deep. Only several hundred cases each maximum are imported, however.
My impressions:
Welschriesling #4 NV TBA-
$50.00. WA-95;WS-94; 10.5% EtOH V/V
Color: Gold to amber. Clear. Slow viscous legs.
Aroma: Kumquat and marmalade with a hint of honeysuckle
Flavor: Delicious thick peach and apricot preserves, ensconced in ring of caramel and butterscotch. Hint of tangy acidity trying to peek through, but there is no tartness. Slight spicy overtones typical of botrytis show up on the long finish.The intensity and purity of the fruit flavors is remarkably balanced given the sweetness, so as to smoothly coat the tongue and prevent cloying or harshness. Agree w ratings above. 94 pts
FYI, 1998 and 1995 are awesome years for these wines generally; the recently released 1999 are excellent, but with slightly more acidity and thus are a good vintage for which to try these for first timers. Note that the quality of the vintage is not by definition similar to that for the drier Western grown Rieslings/Gruner Veltliners. For a review on those dry wines, Enoselsa has posted his notes on several of his trips there on the WS and Squires' sites.
*To calculate Oeschele- subtract specific gravity of must from water and multiply by 1000.
Ferdinand Oeschle, aphysicist from Pforzheim, refined the scale first developed years earlier byJJ Reuss and can be correlated to Brix
DrT | | | |
| ojeffso
warren, new jersey
Wine Lover
Posts:4877
| | 12/11/2002 2:53 PM |
| doc-we need more of these posts. what's available now. where can we get it. what should we buy on pre-arrivals.
thanks. | | | |
| Seek
Upstate NY
Wine Thief
Posts:2772
| | 12/11/2002 3:23 PM |
| | The 99's are hitting the shelves now. I have 4 bottles coming in this week which I purchased (agreed to purchase) on wholesale pre-arrival pricing. I picked up 2 of the #9 Scheurebe Z.D.S Trockenbeerenauslese, and 2 of the #10 Welschriesling N.V. Trockenbeerenauslese for $47.99 and $49.99 respectively. I am going to have one with Christmas dinner. | | | |
| Dr_Tannin
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2498
| | 12/11/2002 3:40 PM |
| | Seek, I picked up 3 10's, 5 9's at same prices. Interestingly, most of Kracher's wine is exported | | | |
| RawReds
Grape Fermenter
Posts:646
| | 12/11/2002 9:06 PM |
| make sure to post the TNs on them! I bought a few during my honeymoon and was hoping to hold onto them for awhile and I wanna know what I'm missing  | | | |
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