01 & 02 affordable Germans - Loosen, Gunderloch, Breuer

[GraemeG]

A Sydney retailer held a German Wine dinner earlier this week, in a Japanese restaurant, and it seemed the ideal chance to try some quality wines. Wines were served as grouped below. Notes are a bit brief, but I was eating and talking at the time! For the record, Heymann-Löwenstein and Dr Loosen are Mosel producers, Gunderloch is Rheinhessen, JL Wolf is Pfalz, Dönnhoff is Nahe, and Breuer is Rheingau. All these estates are distributed in Oz through Cellar Hand in Melbourne, so they shouldn’t be that hard to find around the traps – assuming they aren’t sold out, of course. Some of the allocations are pretty small!

<b>]nv Albert Mann ‘Baron de Castex’ Cremant de Alsace</b>
A light fizz, with a muted nose and soft creamy texture on the palate. Just enough acid to keep it fresh.

<b>2001 Georg Breuer ‘BG’ Riesling
2002 Dr Loosen ‘Dr L’ Dry Riesling</b>
The <b>Breuer</b> is straw-coloured, with a slightly sweet floral and musk nose. ItÂ’s a bit lean on the palate, with fresh acid which is persistent, but not overpowering. The <b>Loosen</b> wine, similar in colour, has more of a lemon-liminess to itÂ’s bouquet. ItÂ’s fresh and clean on the palate, with a prickliness verging on spritz. A bit short on the finish, but perhaps marginally preferable to Breuer.

<b>2001 Georg Breuer ‘Berg Roseneck’ Riesling
2001 Georg Breuer ‘Montosa’ Riesling</b>
The <b>Roseneck</b> is almost a pale green colour. The nose is soft and muted, perhaps offering a little flint and cold steel by way of aromas. It’s very dry on the palate, and has an almost floury texture – the acid is there but the fruit seems very ripe. The balance is all very front-palate though, although there’s respectable length on the finish. <b>Montosa</b>, on the other hand shows some real spicy and green apple aromas. This is quite flavourful – rich and slithery on the palate. It’s broader than the first wine, and although seeming to lack the same purity of flavour is slightly more satisfying at this young age. It’s dry in absolute terms, but the fruit seems quite sweetly flavoured.

<b>2001 Heymann-Löwenstein ‘Schieferterrassen’ Riesling
2002 Dönnhoff Estate Riesling
2001 JL Wolf Jesuitengarten Grand Cru Riesling</b>
Three wines, all of which technically qualify as QbA, surprisingly. The <b>Löwenstein</b> is an old friend now, having sampled it at the ‘cellar door’ back in April. It’s a dark mid-straw colour, and has a very developed nose. It’s quite weighty on the palate, despite the relative lightness of the flavours – a wine that seems to be carried by an almost greasy mouthfeel and distinct aldehydic qualities. Moderate length finish. The <b>Dönnhoff</b> is a very pale straw colour and has a lollywater nose. Despite this, it has surprising weight on the palate, with a hint of spritzy acid which dissipates surprisingly quickly. It’s very mouthwatering and gluggable, but not hugely profound. The <b>Jesuitengarten</b> is a straw-green colour, with a nose of lifted green apple & lime. This is quite big, with grapefruit-type flavours which run through a weighty palate. An attractive and satisfying wine, but perhaps not great value for money at A$80, twice the price of anything we’ve tried so far.

<b>2000 Georg Breuer Berg Schlossberg Riesling
2001 Georg Breuer Berg Schlossberg Riesling</b>
The <b>2000</b>, served from a handsomely tall magnum, showed a restrained wet slatey nose which followed through on the acid-driven palate. There’s some broadening of the texture as the wine lingers on the palate. Attractive body and good length. The <b>2001</b> perhaps reflects the better vintage conditions – this has incredibly clean steely fruits carried by rapier-like acidity that positively dances on the tongue. It’s very young, and may not be quite so satisfying drinking as the 2000 at the moment, but will doubtless develop better.

<b>2002 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Spätlese
2002 Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese</b>
Both these wines were a watery pale colour, with only a hint of straw. <b>Gunderloch</b> yielded tropical stonefruits with a splash of apricot. Gentle and delicate on the palate, the slight sweetness is carried by luminous acidity. Immensely drinkable. The <b>Loosen</b> showed some spicy fruit salad aromas – almost reminiscent of a dry Hunter verdelho! The acid seemed softer than the Rothenberg and the wine perhaps less persistent. Still a very good wine, but Nackenheim takes the honours here.

<b>2002 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Auslese
2002 Dr Loosen Urziger Würzgarten Auslese
Gunderloch’s</b> palest straw colour has picked up a tinge of green here. The nose is faintly tropical and maybe even a bit sulphurous. There’s a flash of spritz, and the slatey acid carries all before it, with very little botrytis evident. Very palatable. My experience with young Auslese is really non-existent, so I assume these really need some years before singing their song properly. <b>Loosen’s</b> wine is a bit appley – I don’t find much spice here at this stage. The sweetness in this wine seems to be fruity rather than sugary and gives the wine a weighty persistence. Trusting that sugar and acid will grow into a wondrous thing I guess…

Cheers,
Graeme

[fred]

Graeme,

Liked the notes - but surprised that given the raves about the vintage there was less comment on the acid and steeliness I associate with the potential for great aged rieslings cf 1976.

Also - with the exception of the oblique reference to the $80 pricepoint of one wine as being double anything prior to that point, there was little indication of pricing. I thought some of the Kabinett wines of the better producers were priced from mid to late 20s up? Was rrp provided?

Interesting to see examples of dramatically different areas for riesling compared - did you reach any (tentative) hypotheses on terroir/style or did they run contrary to any preconception?


Young auslese (and even trickier TBA) is very difficult to pick in terms of development until you've seen a few - and then watched them over a decade plus! It makes predicting what Hunter semillon will be like (without ever having tasted a good aged one ) look easy! The biggest difference is that there is an outside world which has tried (had access to) those wines while in Oz our access has been relatively limited.

ciao - and thanks,

fred

[Ian S]

Graeme
Good topic. I'm looking to venture into German Rieslings, just for variety.

Interestingly we ran a rieslings of the world tasting a few months back. We had the Dr Loosen up against Jacobs creek (in Uk similar prices & both are big scale producers). The Jacob's creek won easily with the Dr Loosen sweet, fizzy (ok I'll accept spritzy-I'm just being provocative) and lacking in length. We also tasted it after giving the bottle a good shake (scientific huh!) & the blandness was overpowering with the CO2 removed. The Jacobs Creek, whilst not a great wine, was great value and well made.