The Auswine Forum

[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=39749]OPEN HOUSE AT GEORG BREUER - Rudesheim (10/09/2018)[/url]

For once in my life I arrive somewhere to find a great event taking place that very day, instead of yesterday or next week. This was Open House at Breuer; an annual event where the entire recent vintage is offered for tasting, including the GGs which aren’t offered for sale for many years in some cases. In addition, they invite a couple of like-minded producers – Gunderloch from Hessen and Jurtschitsch from Kamtal – to bring some wines too. Since I was early (10.30am) I tasted the public Vinotek-available offerings in peace & quiet under the knowledgeable eye of Tove, the usual & helpful Vinotek host, before proceeding down to the Keller (1pm) for the second full walk-around tasting. There was too much to taste given the fairly short time I had available, and it would have been better to taste the Berg GGs all side-by-side sitting-down rather than sequentially on foot, so to speak, but it was still a privilege all the same. It might be good to find a way to get to Gunderloch someday too.
Vinotek Tasting
The Vinotek is a spacious, temple-like tasting room on the Grabenstrasse in the centre of Rudesheim. A must-visit if you’re ever in town.

• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254650]2017 Georg Breuer Riesling Sauvage[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {screwcap, 12%, €10} Clean apple aromas, fresh acid; bright and clean on the light/medium-bodied palate, straightforward but sound delicious apple flavours, slightly short finish. Honest wine for the short term.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254651]2017 Georg Breuer Riesling Estate Rüdesheim[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {screwcap, 12%, €15} Apple & grass with vivid acid; even a bit screechy. Medium body, plenty of flavour, medium length finish. Similar character to the GB Sauvage, but with greater depth & persistence. A few years’ cellaring will do this wonders.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254652]2017 Georg Breuer Riesling Estate Rauenthal[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {screwcap, 11.5%, €15} Against the Rudesheim Estate bottling, this is bigger, with more citrus and smoke than apple character. First hint of minerals on the palate. Medium-bodied richness all through a medium length finish. Very tidy, needs a few years probably.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254653]2017 Georg Breuer Riesling Terra Montosa[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 12%, €21} This shows restrained apple & slate on the nose & palate; is very young, with vivid medium acid medium/full body, the impression helped by the hefty mid-palate. Finishes very dry, medium length. Overshadowed in my view by the 2016 but still worthwhile.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254654]2016 Georg Breuer Riesling Terra Montosa[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 11.5%, €20} There are some apple flavours here but this is far more minerally, like licking slate and quartz. Medium/full-body, dry but not overly rich; medium acid and strong apple flavours on a medium length finish. Tightly wound and impressive.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254656]2016 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 11.5%, €38, AP 5.17} There are some restrained custard-apple flavours here, but this is mostly about the texture. Minerals and slate, almost with a red hint, like there was pinot juice here or something. Still rather closed; it has a dense medium/full body. The first pour was from a bottle open a week and deemed marginally sub-par; the difference in freshness was obvious from a freshly opened example. Suggests a long cellaring life, obviously.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254657]2014 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 11.5%, €41, AP 7 15} A bit somly, with a hint of kerosene, brown apples, slate. Tangy, medium-acid texture. Medium-full body but still elegant enough, and although dry on the medium-long finish there’s a sweetness that comes with intensity and richness. Very tidy, although I liked the 16 Rottland a little better.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254658]2016 Georg Breuer Spätburgunder GB[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {screwcap, 12%, €14} Smokey, and red cherries. But smoky enough for me to wonder about bushfires! Seems a bit marginal for ripeness, honestly; light-bodied, with a short finish. Cheap, so hard to be too picky. But honestly, find the extra € for the Spat.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254659]2016 Georg Breuer Spätburgunder Pinot Noir[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 12%, €21} Fleshy with cherry and blackberry flavours, quite polished, with gentle oak, low/medium dusty tannins, light/medium body and a nicely balanced, medium-length finish. Decent.

Keller Tasting
The Keller is located just behind the Vinotek, down a flight of stairs. I know it was a hot summer but I was surprised at how warm it was – although it’s not used for bulk storage any more. Possibly the effect of all the previous days’ visitors, and candles made a difference to the temperature. It’s certainly an atmospheric place to taste wine. All the upper-echelon Breuer wines are obviously too young and need further cellaring – that’s a given. And they had a technical sheet on hand, so the alcohols I list may differ marginally from the bottle labels (which are to nearest 0.5%). The list below is by producer whereas I actually made a couple of rounds to taste in a dry/sweet/red sequence.

• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254667]2014 Georg Breuer Riesling Brut Sekt[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, €18} Champagne method. Clean simple wine, flavours of pineapple, white flowers. Medium creamt bubbles, light-body, slightly sweeter-then-brut finish, on the short side a touch. Modest effort.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254668]2010 Georg Breuer Brut Sekt[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, €36} Champagne method, but made with Pinots Blanc, Gris & Noir, with a touch of Riesling added. Grapefruit and apple nose. Dry palate, with flowery flavours. Delicate medium-sized bubbles, medium length finish; not much autolysis character evident, especially considering 5 years on lees.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254669]1999 Georg Breuer Brut Sekt[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {magnum, cork} Even a decade on from the 2010, this is remarkable under-developed as well. Surely magnum format can’t stop time this effectively? There’s a hint of age to the custard apple flavours, with some brown leaves, but you’d never pick it as twenty. It has medium-sized creamy bubbles, medium weight, and a dry medium-length finish that sits a bit towards the front palate, but you’d never mistake it for champagne.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254670]2017 Georg Breuer Riesling Sauvage[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {screwcap, 12%, €10} I seem to have tasted this twice today – something I was trying to avoid – should have had the ‘GB Charm’ instead. Oh well. Second time around (consistency check!) Nose is a bit closed. Soft custard flavours. Simple charmer; well-structured, light-bodied, all front-palate, short/medium dry finish.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254672]2017 Georg Breuer Weissburgunder "GB"[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {screwcap, 11.5%, €12} Youthful, gentle melon flavours. No oak. A bit neutral and watery; dilute but dry. Crisp, mild. Light-body, short finish. Might work with seafood.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254673]2017 Georg Breuer Rüdesheim Orleans[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, ~€48} Pungent sour melon aromas. Yet the palate has a bizzare Turkish delight/rosewater flavour, almost suggesting a gewurz impersonater. The palate is dry, with low/medium acidity, no oak, medium weight, and a medium length, low-key but even finish. Great curio variety; but kinda pricey though.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254674]2017 Georg Breuer Rauenthaler Nonnenberg Riesling[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 12%, ~€48} Closed, slatey and steely. The palate has a certain purity to it, with spiced apple flavours, a dry talc-like texture and a gently focussed but quite tight medium-bodied palate with lots of mid-palate presence and a medium length finish. Aristocratic.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254675]2017 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 12.5%} Apple pie & minerals. Juicy palate. Tight, with tingly acids. Dry, medium body, medium acid, medium finish. Great presence on mid-palate. All a bit quiet at the moment but with potential. Sleeping.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254677]2017 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg Riesling[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 12.3%} Pure apples and slate. Shy now, but quality is obvious. The palate tastes much stonier; the fruit is very secondary to the rocks & stones. A geologists delight. It has medium weight, the acid doesn’t stick out by any means, being quite subtle, but there’s great balance & length. Long finish. All about texture just now. And class.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254679]2010 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 11.6%} Picking up a browning, cinnamon-like quality, although the aging impression may be exaggerated by proximity to all these 2017 bottlings. The palate is lively with super fresh medium/high acidity, apple/spice fruit, still clean, no kerosene, and an even palate structure. Medium weight and medium length; the finish could be a bit in between just now as it seems to lack much complexity. Give this 3-5 years longer.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254690]2017 Georg Breuer Riesling Auslese[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {375ml, screwcap, 8.4%, €15} Sweetly apple-like (again!) This is about off-dry for me, despite approx. 100g/l of sugar. The palate is tangy in texture, with medium-high acid giving freshness to the light-medium body, although it doesn’t avoid just a hint of cloying character. There’s a medium length finish. Tastes per the nose. Perhaps a bit underwhelming; a bit of cellar time will help.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254691]2017 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg Riesling Beerenauslese[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {375ml, cork} Aromas of passionfruit, apricot, mild honey. Very seductive. Same flavours, but supported with medium-high acidity, impeccable balance, and an endless finish, balancing the acid and the medium-sweet palate. Tantalises the entire tongue; a joy to taste. The 2008 rendition is for sale at €120/375ml, so it’s a fairly special wine.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254692]2015 Georg Breuer Spätburgunder "B"[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
  {cork, 12.5%, €38} Lots of cured meat aromas; pastrami & co, along with spicy oak. It’s medium weight, perhaps a bit disjointed due to youth, and the ripe but reticent spicy cherry fruit on the palate comes a distinct second to the low/medium finely gritty tannins and the medium/high acidity. All about texture. Feels like it wants at least five years cellaring. Medium length, dry and lightly astringent finish. Quite impressive and not over-priced.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254694]2017 Gunderloch Nierstein Riesling trocken[/url] - Germany, Rheinhessen
  {screwcap, €14} Spicy but rich nose, with a rich brown apple kind of aroma. The palate is tangy, with medium-high acidity, light-medium body, a bit stony-tasting, dry, refreshing, medium length; needs some time to settle. Good.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254697]2017 Gunderloch Nackenheim Riesling trocken[/url] - Germany, Rheinhessen
  {screwcap, €16} Has a real red dirt quality somehow, especially after the grey/white mien of the Breuer wines. This has spicy, citrus-derived flavours, medium weight and acid, with plenty of mid-palate presence, with a dry, medium length finish. These two village trockens were pretty decent I must say.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254698]2017 Gunderloch Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling trocken[/url] - Germany, Rheinhessen
  {screwcap, €32} Lovely, youthful nose of lime and dust. Exotic spiced lime flavours, with an intriguing red berry aspect. Medium weight, with high acidity which avoids harshness. Gives a long dry finish, even. Impressive stuff.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254699]2017 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling trocken[/url] - Germany, Rheinhessen
  {screwcap, €37} Smoky, surprisingly advanced, with a browning apple aroma. Spicy palate, dense, with acid reticent. Medium weight. Less smoky than the nose; the spice is elevated. Medium finish. For me, overshadowed by the Pettenthal wine despite being the flagship non-sweet wine according to the price list.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254700]2008 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Auslese[/url] - Germany, Rheinhessen
  {screwcap} Sulphury sweet apple smell. A bit candied. Off-dry, medium intensity; honey and apple flavours, medium weight. Super balance, medium length finish. Partly developed; should age nicely for plenty longer, especially under the trusty screwcap. The 2017 sells for €18/375ml, s the price might be quite competitive.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254704]2016 Jurtschitsch Riesling Ried Heiligenstein[/url] - Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal
  {screwcap, €22} Youthful nose, with lemon/mineral/steel aromas. Equally steely palate, with additional flavours of white flowers, custard. Light-medium body; sits a bit on the front, palate, maybe a touch simple. Short-medium finish. Sound enough, but the price-per-quality seems unfavourable aligned against the two German producers here today.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254705]2008 Quinta da Carvalhosa Douro Ardosino[/url] - Portugal, Douro
  {cork, 13.5%, €15} Minty nose, but there’s a fungal character too, more obvious ont he palate which is quite feral despite spoicy fruit and rotting strawberry and jammy flavours. Hot finish, medium powdery tannins, dry, light/medium body but with a short almost hot finish. Is this right? Not much wine in the bottle when I poured; is it a leftover from yesterday’s tasting? At any rate, not impressive; seems to be oxidised in some way or other. Similar grape composition to the senior Campo Ardosa cuvee.
• [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7254707]2008 Quinta da Carvalhosa Douro Campo Ardosa[/url] - Portugal, Douro
  {cork, 13.5%, €24} Better than its cheaper sibling, although I find this a bit inky and bretty over the rustic red fruits. The palate here is a bit stale too; with low/medium dusty tannins, medium acid and medium weight it seems well-enough structured but has a tired feel to it. I’d like to taste from a fresh bottle to confirm my opinion. Grapes involved, according to Breuer’s website, are Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional and Touriga Francese.

cheers,
Graeme

Great notes and looks like you would have had a great time.
Thanks for the effort put in, really helpful and interesting to see things like the euro pricing put in for each wine with the note.

Bobthebuilder wrote:really helpful and interesting to see things like the euro pricing put in for each wine with the note.

It's a novel initiative but I've never done it due sensitivity to local pricing.

Have to say the pinot a bit pricy! German pinot has improved heaps but!

Oh, I always think it's interesting, the pricing. Breuer's Montosa is €20 at CD, including EU taxes, obviously. You're hard pressed to find it for less than $60 here (say ~€40 equivalent). Which I mentioned at the winery. They nodded; €40 is about what it goes for in Sweden too.
Anyway, you can 'wine-searcher' all this stuff - it's hardly classified.
But this is another reason to buy the top end of the range to bring back. Those Rudesheim Berg rieslings at €40 would set you back $150 out here.
cheers,
Graeme