whiner
Second star to the right, and straight on till morning
Wine Thief
Posts:2867
 | | 09/14/2005 12:17 AM |
| Nice nose of peach, apricot, slate, and baked apples with a seemless transition to palate. Still a little petulance on the palate and a bit tightly wound -- I think this will be better in 3-4 years -- but certainly a delight to drink now, too. Medium bodied and not too sweet (maybe drier than the '02 Kabinett) this is a very pretty wine, but not a "wow" wine. 90+
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I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland.
-- Woody Allen | |
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GATC
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420
| | 11/24/2005 6:19 AM |
| | I found this to be a little closed. I bought 5 cases since I like these as everyday drinking wines, but it never seemed to open up all of the way. The auslesen seem more open, which seems the opposite to me. Still a very nice wine and I still prefer Christoffels to other Mosels. | | | |
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jason
Napa Valley
Wine Addict
Posts:6756
| | 12/20/2005 8:03 PM |
| | Water white with green hints, a medium nose of RIPE fruit, peach, pear, citrus, apples and minerals. Medium minus body, medium plus intensity and medium plus acidity. Very ripe and seems to need a few years to come into its own. I am in no rush to open anymore. 90pts. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Destemmer
Posts:77
| | 12/25/2005 4:11 AM |
| 8%. Decanted for 2 hours, served at 55F. Light yellow. Zinging minerality on the nose with white peach, apricot and a hint of lime. Meduium bodied, balanced acidity/sweetness. Quite pretty, but a little shy.
90pts. | | | |
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Rothko
Palm Beach
Wine Thief
Posts:2843
| | 01/16/2006 4:05 PM |
| | I had a bottle last night. Apple, apricot and citrus flavors, and nice acidity/balance. Delicious. I should buy more, if I had anywhere to store it. | | | |
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GATC
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420
| | 03/10/2006 11:03 PM |
| | I should provide an update. Had about 6 bottles since my last post on this and the wine is drinking fabulously. I just tried the 2004 and I was disappointed - completely disjointed and not nearly as big as the 2003. Of course the 2003 is more like an auslese so this may not be a fair comparision. At $7.99 at Premier Cru, this was a steal. Too bad they are all out. I bought 8 cases total and made the mistake of giving them out as gifts. Now I have less than 6 bottles. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Puncher
Posts:986
| | 03/11/2006 2:53 PM |
| A shop local to me now has the 2003 for $12.99. With no shipping and no tax that's not all that much more expensive than the PC deal.
I've had the 2004 and really liked it. It's much more the classical spatlese (though it's still auslese must weight), and I found it very well integrated, though I prefer the 2004 kabinett. 2003s while a real value are just too atypical for me. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 03/11/2006 9:30 PM |
| | I don't think that "atypical" equates with "not worth buying." I love the 2003 *** for its youthful fruity exuberance and crisp balance. Actually, I don't find it atypical, but most of my history with German wines in BAs, TBAs, and Eisweins. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Puncher
Posts:986
| | 03/11/2006 9:45 PM |
| | I didn't say they were "not worth buying." For me they are not, but for many folks they represent a fine value in what is very good wine that is unfortunately not my style. Given the prices these have been dumped at I only wish that I really liked them. | | | |
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GATC
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420
| | 03/13/2006 3:17 AM |
| | The 2004 spatlese was much better the 3rd night. It was better integrated and it reminded me what a spatlese tastes like - I've been "spolied" by the 2003. I understand your comment on the 2003. If you drank the 2003 spatlese blind and someone told you that it was a special auslese, you may like it more. I enjoy the *** as much or better than a Weil BA that I had at a Dee Vine Wine tasting (I would not every pay for it since it was over $100). My only fear is that after drinking the 2003's that I will have trouble drinking "regular" vintages, no matter how good they are. In a funny way, that may have been the problem when I drank the 2004 spatlese the first night. It was kind of a shock. If I wrote tasting notes that night, I'm sure I would have included tart apple. | | | |
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GATC
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420
| | 07/07/2006 11:29 PM |
| Now that I have had a number of the 2003 and 2004 spatlesen, I have to say that the 2004 is nice the first day, but the 2003 is much better than the 2004 on the 2nd and 3rd day, which is important since that is how I normally drink these wines.
I've heard that the 2005 is supposed to be fantastic (haven't we heard that before?), but certain growers, including one that I like a lot, say that it is the best they have every seen. Looks like I am going to bypass most of the 2004's and save up for the 2005's. | | | |
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Claret
Reno, NV
Grape Sorter
Posts:249
| | 07/08/2006 4:49 PM |
| | My plan is also to go deep on 2005's based on the early reports. Germans have become my preferred white wines over the last few years. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Puncher
Posts:986
| | 07/10/2006 2:38 PM |
| I will have to disagree with the 2005 assessment. I did not much care for hte 2005s on the Christoffel table. The auslesen were pretty good (one person there thought they were great), but most folks I spoke with were unimpressed.
I am actually not that high on the 2005 vintage as a whole. There are some great wines, but it either showed much worse than it is, or 2005 is not nearly up to 2001 standards. A few wines were some of the best I had ever tasted, but the average level (that was so high in 2001) was just not there. | | | |
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GATC
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420
| | 07/13/2006 8:04 PM |
| I only ordered 5 cases of the 2005's. I guess I'll see how they turn out. At least there will not be a run on the wines.
It is nice to see a pretty good run of vintages 2000-2005. I knew there was a good argument FOR global warming. | | | |
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jason
Napa Valley
Wine Addict
Posts:6756
| | 02/03/2008 7:50 PM |
| | Clear, star bright, low concentrated straw core with green hints. Low viscosity, moderate nose of slate like minerals, currants, peach skins, tangerine, apricot, citrus and spice. Sweet, way over a Spatlese with medium body, moderate plus acidity, high complexity and long length. Currants, wet stone, slate, apricot and citrus on the palate. 88pts. | | | |
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Winoman
Herndon VA
Grape Sorter
Posts:379
| | 03/02/2008 6:36 PM |
| | I have most all of the Christofell offerings for 03, 04 & 05. I have not cracked any 05 just yet (though I am expecting great things) but here is my impression of (the very many 03 and more then just a few 04s) I've had. The 03 - particularly the *** Auslese is just so incredibly rich, sweet and vibrant that it is very tough to beat as an early drinker (and it drinks much more like a Rhine wine then a typical Mosel IMO). Most any (young) Mosel Spat/Aus from 04 - from nearly any producer - seems thin(er) and more minerally in comparison - while not at all a bad thing - I think its just very hard to compete with the Aus *** and to some degree with the ** from Treppen (?) vinyard which displays similar concentration and sweetness but somewhat lesser. The Spatlese from 03 is OK (by which I think it is a fine drinker but nothing so special) - the 04s are much cleaner and are far more balanced (much more noticibly acidic) and still very tasty - accross the board IMO - and still quite sweet and concentrated - just not to the degree of their 03 siblings. I think 03s will not age well at all and should definitly be drunk sooner rather then later (and we are working on it! ...but oh we will be so sad when we finish the last - particularly of the *** - we have perhaps 4 left...). I see the 04 as a much more ageworth wine that will drink much better then the 03 in the long term - though the 03s are just super right now! I'm expecting 05s to be somewhere in between and hopefully combining the best characteristics of 03 & 04. I believe that have been rated quite highly - at least the Auslese has I think - and I picked up several. | | | |
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