TN: Donnhoff, Muller-C, Lafarge, Contino, Quilceda, Ducru

Dinner at Peking Duck House with Dale and the Raos
7/1/2008 (NYC)


A really fun night with good friends. We ordered one dish at a time, served family style to match each set of wines. It worked out really well, I'm looking forward to doing it again. I think perhaps the middle two wines were somewhat hurt by the sweet hoisin sauce that was on the duck.

2004 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Nahe
Beautiful, complex, honeysuckle with orange peel. Dense but light on it's feet. Sensual.
A-

2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Herrenletten Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
Very nice. Clean clear and silky. Lively with wonderful acid and a touch of spritz.
B+



1993 Michel Lafarge Volnay - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay
Light, pretty, some tar.
B/B+

1996 Bodegas y Viñedos del Contino Rioja Vina del Olivo Reserva - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja
Broad with some sweetness. Resin. Herbal. Still needs time.
B/B+



1983 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Rich, smooth with very nice herbal note. Downright young for a 25 year old wine. Wonderful. A perfect bottle with an excellent fill.
A-

1997 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, Washington
Very nice. Fine tannins, drinking well but could use some more age.
B++

[David M. Bueker]

Yummy!

I asked Dale previously if the Donnhoff was an "official" gold capsule or just his standard Hermannshohle Auslese (which have gold caps anyway). He said you might know.

And it was the 2004? I thought Dale mentioned 2001. Just curious.

I wrote down 2001, but it was Matt's bottle so he should know! Oops. Will edit my post. It was still a great bottle of Auslese.

My take was similar to Matt's. though I liked Lafarge a bit more than he did, and liked the QC and Rioja a tad less (which I probably could have predicted beforehand!).

Thanks Matt for notes.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16629

The store said it was Gold Capsule, but I'm not sure how to check on that. I have 2 other bottles, I could look if you tell me what to look for. I was 2004.

Dale I didn't see your previous post. Sorry for the duplicate thread.

The store said it was Gold Capsule, but I'm not sure how to check on that. I have 2 other bottles, I could look if you tell me what to look for.

I think what David said was Donnhoff puts gold capsules on all of his Hermanhshohle and Brucke Auslesen. There are 2 bottlings of the Hermanhshohle. If you look on label, should be an AP number. The last 2 numbers are year number issued (probably 05?), the 2 digits before that would be lot number. Thanks for notes, and correcting me on vintage.

[David M. Bueker]

The store said it was Gold Capsule.

There's the rub on Donnhoff Auslesen. Both the Hermannshohle and Brucke (and now Dellchen and Felsenberg) alwasy have gold capsules.

I hate to admit it, but this is one time where AP numbers are essential.

AP 77530101705
So how do we know if lot #17 is "goldkap" of just has a gold cap?

[David M. Bueker]

AP 77530101705
So how do we know if lot #17 is "goldkap" of just has a gold cap?

I check my cellar. I have the regular.

Update this evening (or when I remember).

One otehr quick way - did it have the Terry Theise Selections notation on it? If so then it's clearly not a "goldkap" as Terry does not bring them in. If not then we're still left checking AP numbers.

Any more thoughts on this?