The following wines are what I've pulled from the cellar and reviewed thus far. There are a number more to get through before the month is out and I'll do the rest in another post towards the end of the month.
I'm sure TORB and the Red Bigot will be all over this thread like a rash.
Maximin Gruhauser Abtsberg Riesling Spatlese 1998
November 15th, 2008 | Category: Germany, Riesling
Holds an incredibly infantile pale straw/green with a starbright, polished gleam - almost white gold. Simply awesome to view in the downlights. Initial white floral tones to a marvellous, composed and discreet bouquet of redcurrant, lemon curd, kaffir leaf, lime, slate and schist. The palate is drop-dead gorgeous, still tight and nervy with abundant lime and redcurrant fruit, perfectly melded with steely, indelible acidity providing the necessary foil for this near-perfect example. This should last and last and hopefully improve to obtain an exceptional rating in the mid- to long-term. For now, I’d award this stunning example, 93 points, something, seemingly, many scribes are loathe to do because of its somewhat lower status in the German Riesling hierarchy. The most drinkable bottle of this I’ve opened thus far and just starting to hit its straps. Drink now-2020+. 8.0% A/V. 9 bottles left in the batcave.
Postcript - over the last couple of hours this wine simply gets better on the palate revealing crisp new season green apples and a slatiness not forthcoming earlier. The wine has sweetened up fractionally and now has a slightly broader personality which I find both intriguing and stimulating as the acidity is now more in the background. Still finishes with good grip and terrific length. The nose hasn’t budged. Still wonderful.
Leo Buring Special Release Eden Valley Riesling 2000
November 15th, 2008 | Category: Eden Valley, Riesling
Still garnishing a lovely, almost youthful, mid-lemon/light gold colour with astonishing brightness followed by an enticing bouquet delivering lime, orange marmalade, honey on lightly browned toast, some petrol/oiliness with a lovely twist of passionfruit and dried herbs at the end that keeps you interested. The palate reveals a pure, focussed expression of bottle-aged Riesling that combines a core of ripe, musky citrussy fruit, garnished with dashes of toast and honey that literally fills the mouth with a burst of flavour as it unfolds through the mid-palate but then, cleverly, kept in check by beautifully-judged, well-meshed, cleansing, mineral-rich acidity. The wonderful balance of fruit and acid is maintained well after swallowing. Nearing its peak drinking window, so pretty much a drink now to 2012 proposition. 90 points. 12.0% A/V and sealed with a cork closure. Nice wine.
Furst von Metternichscher Schloss Johannisberger Riesling Auslese 1971
November 04th, 2008 | Category: Germany, Rheingau, Riesling
AP number 26026 019 72
A decidedly burnished rusty brown/gold colour - looks half-knackered at first. Reveals an ancient, but somehow still vibrant and fresh, classical dessert-styled bouquet of caramelised brown sugar, poached- pears, -nectarines and -yellow peaches, baked apples, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and the merest suggestion of oxidation in the form of slightly dusted apricot kernel. The palate, likewise, is alive and kicking with an abundance of identical nuance delivered on a rather more linear platform than the nose suggests. Surprisingly focussed and well-delineated, this virtual “relic†has nowhere to go, but as it did not disintegrate in the glass whatsoever for the entire period of assessment and preparation of this note, I’d think it could hold on in its present form for some years yet. There’s still a vestige of cleansing acidity to counter the excessive sweetness of the very late-picked fruit. (To me, this could be well over the Auslese Oechsle scale; I’m thinking way up there, almost into the trockenbeerenauslese levels of somewhere between 120 and 150 Oe?) The wine finishes very cleanly harbouring an acid-rich and spicy apricot overlay with very fine precision and a rare elegance that belies the considerable viscosity and lusciousness to be found in the fore- and mid-palate. A bloody beauty, if you ask me, and an absolutely outstanding example of something David Bueker* very kindly hinted to me, a while back now, might just be worth leaving be (sometimes luck can be way on your side). Well, I only punted on the one bottle - there were a few more to be had at the time, and I didn’t pay much at all - my, am I one happy drinker just at the moment. 93 Points! …. and a touchdown, if you ask me.
* David Bueker is an American with a wealth of wine knowledge (particularly on German Riesling) who promptly and generously helped me with his expertise in acquiring a most wonderful stash of beautifully cellared German treasures some months ago. If he lived closer or ever visited Australia he is more than welcome to drop by and try as many of my diminishing pile as he likes.
Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling Vendanges Tardives 1990
October 31st, 2008 | Category: Alsace, Riesling
Maison Trimbach is a famous Alsace producer (est.1626) based at Ribeauville, in the north-east corner of France, a region that runs, north/south, in a long, thin strip, adjacent to the mostly rugged Vosges Mountains to the west and the German border (the River Rhine) to the east. Over the years, I have drunk this company’s wonderful range of white varieties - mostly Riesling, but also stunning examples of Pinot Gris and Gewurtztraminer, in many guises and vintages dating back to 1983 - from the entry level all the way up to the most remarkable Clos St. Hune Vendanges Tardives Hors Choix 1989 (98 points). Their better wine’s possess a rare austerity but, seemingly, are always blessed with amazing complexities (including a striking minerality with bottle-age) and unequalled durability compared to some Alsace producers who have been inflicted with, what I perceive as, a very unhealthy desire to pander to a particular famous palate (three guesses who!) who awarded mega-points to mostly sweet, fat, cloying and high alcohol examples from this region. Hopefully, this trend will fizzle with time.
The Wine
13% A/V. 21g/l Residual Sugar. High quality cork closure.
Exhibits a healthy, vibrant light yellow gold colour - exceedingly good clarity and brightness for its age. The haunting, integrated and seamless bouquet reveals an elegant wine resplendent in near-full maturity - a fascinating melange of grapefruit, citrus peel, quince marmalade with utterly enthralling soft undertones of baked yellow peaches and spicy apricots (from botrytis, no doubt), a hint of kaffir leaf, the merest suggestion of passionfruit and a trace of wood-smoke. And, as the piece de resistance, all this wrapped in a subtle, but quite remarkable, permeating minerality derived from the soils* of Trimbach’s Geisberg and Osterberg vineyards. (*These “grand cru†vineyards “comprise of clay and limestone on a bed of sandstone. It is infused with chunks of muschelkalk, an Alsatian geological term that refers to a variety of alluvial deposits containing fossilized remains of mollusks.†- Excerpt taken from the 1999 Alsace Edition of the “Riesling Reportâ€Â).
If anything, the palate displays a more youthful, energetic persona, brimming with mouth-filling fully ripe fruit (aka the nose) that drives astonishingly well right through to the end. The superb structure, incredible balance and delineation underwritten with such brilliant finesse and focus realises a most special experience. And to end the almost perfect finale, this extraordinary Riesling finishes with indelible, rapier-like, minerally acidity and awesome length. Drinking brilliantly now but should last (if well-cellared) until 2020. 96 Points.
