October 2006
Monthly Archive
The third and final workshop on the second day of the Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting in Sydney.
This workshop focused on Riesling from the new and old world, in an off-dry style.
Dry River “Craighall” 2004
Slightly less pungent nose than the 2005 I tried the previous day, but still had some sweaty, funky elements as well as crisp green apples, lemons and lime. There is a good balance between sweetness and structural acidity. Nice drinking and will probably provide enjoyment over the next 2-3 years, but was just seeming to lack something special to take it up to the next level of quality.
88/100
Cave Spring “CSV” 2004
The nose is fresh and shows notes of florality and grape juice. Palate shows very aggressive acidity that disrupts the line and length of the wine. I don’t know if it’ll settle down with time, but on this showing it was very difficult to drink.
84/100
J. L. Wolf Forster Pechstein Spatlese 2004
In contrast to the 2004 Spatlese Trocken that I tried from this maker in workshop two, I thought this was quite good. It has a very floral, perfumed nose with apples, pear, steel, slate and minerals. Shows excellent palate structure and has a lingering finish. The sweetness is restrained and plays only a background role.
88/100
Wittmann Westhofener Morstein Spatlese 2004
Pure citrus peel and lime scents on the nose. Acid is aggressive on the front of the palate, but then drops away in the middle and leaves cloying sweetness on the finish. This wine seemed to be struggling to find balance on this occasion.
85/100
Bonny Doon “the Heart has its Rieslings” 2005
Has to be a contender for one of the most cringe inducing names I’ve encountered. Had a nose of lime, lychee, slate, grapefruit and pear. Palate shows good length but needs some additional acid in order to avoid the sweetness dominating and to find balance.
87/100
Clusserath-Weiler Trittenheimer Apotheke Spatlese 2004
Pungent, powerful, slightly over the top nose of washed rind cheese, yeast and sulphur. The palate is good, balanced and long - but it’s hard to drink when your nose is sending you a signal that you don’t really appreciate in your Riesling.
85/100
Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtropfchen Spatlese 2004
Has a reductive nose, minerals, sulphur and phenolic characters. Biting acidity on the palate comes in over the top of the sweetness. Hard to judge at the moment, it may calm down with additional time in bottle.
86/100
Weingut Clemens Busch Pundericher Marienburg Spatlese 2004
A nose of good purity - steely, slate and minerals. Balance and length suffer from cloying sweetness on the back palate.
87/100
Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Halenberg Spatlese 2004
Old wet sweaty boots along with struck match sulphur. Acid dominates the palate. I was not too fond of this wine.
80/100
Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Spatlese 2004
Like freshly squeezed lime juice on the nose. The palate is tight and elegant, with sweetness present but cooperating with the other elements of the well-structured palate. I could see this getting better with additional time in bottle.
89/100
Weingut Josef Leitz Rudesheimer Berg Schlossberg Spatlese 2004
Aromas of slate, petrol and apricot on the nose. A really good acid structure and balance to the rich palate, seamless integration of components and a lingering finish. It should be very good with time to develop.
89/100
Dr. Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten Spatlese 2004
Icing sugar, slate, earth, lime and violets form the nose. Displays an elegant palate with tight focus and superb depth of flavour. It is delicious to drink now, but give it 10-15 years and it should be brilliant.
91/100
Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Spatlese 2003
This looked a bit out of place as a product of the 2003 vintage alongside the previous 2004 wines. On the nose it had ripe peaches, mango, pineapple, a floral candy like element and concentrated raisins. A rich and slightly broad palate, with the acid struggling to keep to the tempo of the rest of the elements.
86/100
Pegasus Bay “Encore” 2004
Grapefruit, passionfruit, honey, apricot and a fair hit of botrytis. Palate exhibits very high richness, excellent flavour depth and fruit concentration, but the core acid structure reins things back from being cloying. Lacks complexity at the moment, but could improve if given another 3-4 years.
90/100
Mount Horrocks “Cordon Cut” 2004
Lemon meringue, pineapple and some sulphurous notes. Palate lacks acid and the sweetness seems cloying as well as exhibiting harshness on the finish. This was not nearly as good as the excellent 2005 that I had on general tasting. Sealed under screwcap, but I wonder if there was something slightly off about this bottle.
82/100
This was an very good master class with the interesting and charismatic Ernst Loosen. This was the second of three master classes on day two of the Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting.
First up was a wine that is part of a joint venture between Chateau Ste. Michelle in the USA and Ernst Loosen that was started in 1999. Ernst spoke about the goal of this venture as being the best mix of old world knowledge and technique along with the best unique expression of Washington Riesling.
Chateau Ste. Michelle “Eroica” 2005 - (Columbia Valley, Washington, USA):
Essence of banana on the nose, along with apple, mango and other tropical fruits (mostly pineapple and passionfruit). Medium weighted palate shows crisp acidity and just a very slight hint of sweetness.
87/100
After this new world wine, Ernst took us through a set of three wines from J.L Wolf (an estate that he took over in 1996) that he says were from the same region, picked at similar times, had similar vinification process (including the same strain of yeast) and should display the differences in these three “Grand Cru” vineyards for the 2004 vintage.
J. L. Wolf Forster Pechstein (Blackstone) Spatlese Trocken 2004 - (Pfalz):
Rather weird nose - some vegemite like yeast as well as minerals, candy and some soap characters. Palate seems to lack balance at the moment, with acid prominent especially on the front and back palate.
83/100
J. L. Wolf Forster Ungeheuer (Monster) Spatlese Trocken 2004 - (Pfalz):
Flinty, mineraly and some struck match sulphur characters on the nose. The palate is focused, rich and powerful. Shows excellent balance and structure as well as a good length to the finish.
89/100
J. L. Wolf Forster Jesuitengarten Spatlese Trocken 2004 - (Pfalz):
An elegant nose of peach, orange peel, honeydew melon, wet pebblecrete, minerals and a soft floral note. Palate exhibits freshness and vibrancy, with a core of minerally acid providing structure. Should age wonderfully well.
90/100
Then onto a flight of Dr Loosen estate wines which were all from the Mosel region and were again an example in the difference that can be granted from these three different (and again rated as “Grand Cru”) vineyard sites and soil types from 2004.
Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr (Sundial of Wehlen) Auslese 2004 - (Mosel):
From blue slate and very thin topsoil. Stone fruit, very peachy and apples. Some nice intense fruit flavour and beautifully balanced sweetness on the palate. A long, lingering finish and very enjoyable to drink.
90/100
Dr. Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten (Spicegarden of Urzig) Auslese 2004 - (Mosel):
From red volcanic sandstone soil. Violets, white peaches, apple, minerals and spice. Lovely fresh palate with excellent intensity and concentration, again superb balance. Very good length and structure. Delicious drinking now and will surely be better with time and added complexity. If it is any indication of how much I liked this, we were given the chance to take any of the wines from the first two master classes with us to lunch and this was the one that I picked.
92/100
Dr. Loosen Erdener Pralat (Bishop of Erden) Auslese 2004 - (Mosel):
From a red slate based site that is only 4 acres in size (1 acre of which is owned by Loosen). A complex nose bursting with aromas of peach, pineapple, guava, spice, flint and floral notes. The palate is rich, ripe and concentrated, but still pulls off excellent balance and shows all around class. The best depth of flavour and length of the wines in this flight.
93/100
Then back to the new world for a wine that is made in a Trockenbeerenauslese hand selected and hand sorted style. Ernst recounted the initial difficulty that he had getting the managers and accountants of Ste. Michelle to produce this wine, they cited the extremely high labour costs involved in manual berry selection, apparently after Ernst told them that they would be able to sell it for $200 - $250 USD the first question that the accountants asked excitedly was how many bottles they could make of it starting the next year. 145 cases of half bottles made in the third vintage that this wine has been produced.
Chateau Ste. Michelle “Single Berry Select” 2001 - (Columbia Valley, Washington, USA):
Dark golden colour. Exceptionally intense, explosive nose with strong botrytis influence, apricot, pear, honey and a bit of a spirity like note just throwing things off a touch. Incredibly viscous, concentrated palate coats the mouth with flavour. Sweetness is probably a bit over the top, with an acid structure that seems smothered a bit by the richness - very good length. An interesting experience and a pretty good attempt at a USA TBA wine, just lacking a bit of balance to get a full recommendation.
90/100
This was the first of three workshops that were held earlier this year at the 2006 Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting in Sydney. These notes were going to be posted on another website that I’ve been working on, but due to the dearth of posts here, they have found a new home!
These wines were selected by winemaker Philip Wittmann and Riesling fanatic and wine writer Stuart Pigott as examples of wines from Germany’s young and/or daring winemakers that are leading the way in the adoption of new vinification methods and technology and willing to experiment with defying tradition. In many cases these are third or fourth generation family winemakers who are looking to make their own mark on a one hundred or two hundred year old family label.
Some of these wines were pretty “out there” and it was certainly a confronting start to my morning (a 9.30am start after having tasted 57 Rieslings the afternoon before). To be fair, I think with food some of these would show better. If you like some funk and strange things happening in your Riesling, some of these could be for you. If nothing else it makes the notes a bit more interesting to write!
In the structured order of pouring;
St. Urbans-Hof Leiwener Laurentiuslay Spätlese trocken 2004 - (Mosel):
This was the first of the interesting noses - apricot, apples, pear, steel shavings and earth. On the palate it was like dry apple cider with just a touch of sweetness in the mid-palate. Good balance, with a medium length finish.
88/100
Clusserath-Weiler Trittenheimer Apotheke Auslese *** 2004 - (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer):
Nose is fairly intense and wild - funky, sweaty and cheesy as well as some minerals and ripe peaches. A full, rich, slightly broad mouth feel. Good length finish.
87/100
Josef Leitz “Magic Mountain” Rudesheimer Berg Schlossberg Spatlese trocken 2003 - (Rheingau):
Nose has some florality to it, but is also quite reductive with minerals and has strong glue aromas. Palate is light in body and goes up and down, dry at first then some mid-palate over sweetness and then back to dry for the finish.
83/100
Joachim Flick Wickerer Nonnberg QbA trocken 2004 - (Rheingau):
It had a strange pungent, earthy, herby nose. Palate is also confronting, intense and also herbaceous, yet with a core of acid based purity running through it to the finish.
87/100
Tesch Laubenheimer St Remigiusberg Spatlese trocken 2004 - (Nahe):
Dips back into the realm of Riesling normality. The nose is quite tight, some lemons and some floral perfume. The palate is dry with lots of acidity. Hard to rate this one at the moment but it seems like if the acidity comes back into balance and the nose opens up, it could be better than average.
87/100
Schafer-Frohlich Monzinger Halenberg Grosses Gewachs 2004 - (Nahe):
This was the palest of yellow in colour. The nose was comprised of smoky minerals, chalk and wet slate. This wine had amazing, striking, stunning purity on the palate - clean, balanced, excellent length and most importantly it wonderful to drink. I would love to try it with some added complexity from age.
92/100
Wagner-Stempel Siefersheim Heerkretz Spatlese 2004 - (Rheinhessen):
Pears, nectarine, peaches, floral notes and a touch of phenolic herb type characters on the nose. Palate is medium bodied and has good length. Acid is slightly out of kilter with the sweetness at the moment.
87/100
Frieder Dreissigacker Geyersberg Spatlese 2004 - (Rheinhessen):
We are back to the “far out” noses. Showing crushed violets, some beer like yeastiness, ripe tropical fruits and herbs with melted butter. An imposing, concentrated, rich palate that takes hold of your mouth and won’t let go.
88/100
Wittmann Westhofener Morstein Grosses Gewachs 2004 - (Rheinhessen):
Minerally, pure peach and apple fruit on the tight nose. The fresh, zingy palate exhibits very good focus and balance - a wine of restrained power that has precision but also intensity. Exhibits excellent length and is really a seductive wine.
91/100
Klaus Schneider Terrassen trocken 2004 - (Pfalz):
Has a tight nose, showing hints of peaches and smoke. The mouth feel is rounded with good length and balance, but it just seems a bit simple.
86/100
A. Christmann Konigsbacher “Idig” Grosses Gewachs 2004 - (Pfalz):
This wine had an intriguing, complex nose of peach, pear, lime, kiwifruit, passionfruit, spice, minerals, slate and hints of yeast. The palate has intense flavour and a beautiful line of acidity cuts through any hints of over-richness. Finish lingers for a long time.
91/100
Johann Ruck Iphofer Julius-Echter-Berg Spatlese trocken 2003 - (Franken):
Floral perfume notes along with spice and yeast. The palate is like lime cordial without the sweetness (ie that fake lime taste that is close but not quite right). A touch of spicy heat on the finish disrupts the line.
87/100
If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to have nightmares about having a job proof reading German wine labels (and spend more time on transcribing the names of the next lot of wines than I will on the actual tasting notes).