Max Gerstl’s tasting in Zurich on Friday, May 16th. Must admit I am so slow, or meticulous, or both, I hardly managed to taste half of the wines that day. Missed several producers’ portfolios entirely (in particular also those by Schlossgut Diel, Grans Fassian, Jakob Jung, Keller, Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhof and Wittmann).
My impression of the vintage so far is that the wines should theoretically be to my taste, as we are talking about wines from a prolonged vegetation cycle, but my hopes for finesseful wines of purity, complexity and depth appear partly belied by sometimes average-at-best concentration and/or dry extract (one wine merchant asked me if I thought it possible that the climate change in general leads to higher sugar and alcohol levels on the one hand, but lower dry extracts on the other hand – anyone know an answer to that one?). That the wines, for the most part, are high-acid, may displease some, though not me. The best wines, but then the same can be said in virtually every vintage, are certainly worth owning.
A possible side effect, although not one that stuck out like a sore thumb to me, is that some, like my friend Remo, may quibble with the (in most wines per se low, as usual in German Riesling) alcohol integration.
All in all, I have spoken to a number of Riesling fans since the tasting, but interestingly with no one who would defend the vintage, that is, despite my reservations, I have yet to meet anyone who likes it better than me. Have our expectations of the quality of German Riesling gone sky-high?
Joh. Jos. Christoffel Riesling Kabinett Erdener Treppchen 2007
I momentarily hoped the winemaker was joking when he claimed this to be “the greatest Kabinett north of the Alps” – he was not... Pleasing if simple and light, some spring flowers. Rating: 84
Joh. Jos. Christoffel Riesling Spätlese Ürziger Würzgarten 2007
Spicier, more CO2, a bit riper and richer, some stone dust, ultimately rather light also. Rating: 84(+?)
Joh. Jos. Christoffel Riesling Auslese* Ürziger Würzgarten 2007
Again light, some ÜWG expression, longer perhaps, a bit sweeter than the Spätlese of course. Rating: 84+/85
Joh. Jos. Christoffel Riesling Auslese** Ürziger Würzgarten 2007
More density and richness, vanilla botrytis, more serious wine, although still fairly light. Rating: ~86
Joh. Jos. Christoffel Riesling Auslese*** Ürziger Würzgarten 2007
Again comparatively light, some ÜWG spice and flowers, nicely clean. Rating: 86+?
Joh. Jos. Christoffel Riesling Auslese*** Ürziger Würzgarten 2006
Much more botrytised, clean white glue botrytis, vanilla apple, more depth and expression, and much, much more important concentration. Longer, too. Evolved just as anticipated since last year. One wonders if was a good idea to show this (and thus make it crystal-clear even to the most inexperienced prospective customer that the 2007s here are – have I mentioned this yet? – light!). Rating: 88
Hermann Dönnhoff Riesling QbA 2007
Noble minerality and fruit, forward, a little dark slate and apple, nice body and length, nice QbA, if best on the nose. Rating: 87-
Hermann Dönnhoff Riesling Kabinett Oberhäuser Leistenberg 2007
Off-dry, faintly dusty-tannic, soft blackcurrant, faint cherry, sound acidity. Will need a little patience. Rating: 87+
Hermann Dönnhoff Riesling Spätlese Norheimer Kirschheck 2007
Sweet, fairly rich, more cherry, nice balance, ripe wine. Rating: 88+?
Hermann Dönnhoff Riesling Spätlese Oberhäuser Brücke 2007
More herbs and apple intensity and depth, serious wine, structured, good slate dust, has body, longer. Rating: ~90?
Hermann Dönnhoff Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle 2007
A bit darker minerality than the Brücke, longer, showing good depth and finesse, good stone dust subtlety, a touch of tobacco if not banana leaf. Rating: 92+?
Hermann Dönnhoff Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule Oberhäuser Brücke 2007
Minor gluey botrytis touch, faint vanilla, finesseful, quite high-acid. A dense and quite oily wine without excess weight, ripe, quite long. Faint blossoms and some clean sultana. Rating: 91+/92(+?)
Fritz Haag Riesling Kabinett Brauneberger Juffer 2007
Faintly rubbery, nice balance and complexity and depth, good length. Rating: 87
Fritz Haag Riesling Spätlese Brauneberger Juffer 2007
Sweet yet quite firm, balanced and quite long, just a fraction loose. Nice medium body, spring herbs. Rating: 88+?
Fritz Haag Riesling Spätlese Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007
Greater subtlety of spring flowers and herbs and slate, faintly tannic, some CO2 noticeable, nicely firm Spätlese, and longer than the Juffer. Rating: 89(+?)
Fritz Haag Riesling Auslese Brauneberger Juffer 2007
Some darkness to the fruit, round if high-acid. Rating: 88+?
Fritz Haag Riesling Auslese Nr. 10 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007
Richer, more complex and deep, more body and length, just slightly loose structure and herbs expression, but simply has more structure, as well as minerality. Rating: ~90?
Fritz Haag Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule Brauneberger Juffer 2007
Always a touch blander in terms of expression, but citrusy and firm, long, quite fresh. Rating: 89+/90?
Fritz Haag Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule Nr. 12 Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007
Rounder, riper, more old-viney perhaps (that is, at least subjectively), longer. A bit more concentrated. Rating: 90(+?)
Fritz Haag Riesling Beerenauslese Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007
Picked at 157° Oechsle. Clean spring flowers and white glue botrytis, herbs, soft dough spice, longer, denser than the GKA, quite smooth. Attractive yeast subtlety here. Not weighty at all. Rating: 91+/92?
Fritz Haag Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Brauneberger Juffer 2007
Picked at 170° to 175° Oechsle. Oilier, riper, longer, still shows fresh herbs and spring flowers, light on its for a TBA, no heavyweight. Maybe the Sonnenuhr TBA adds some more expressiveness? Rating: ~92
Willi Haag Riesling QbA 2007
Smoky minerality and yeast, firm acidity, impressive QbA as well as QPR buy. Rating: ~87
Willi Haag Riesling Kabinett #14 Brauneberger Juffer 2007
Clean herbs, nice medium body and intensity, has cut and some length. Rating: 86+/87?
Willi Haag Riesling Spätlese Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007
Riper, high-acid but flavourful, zingy, quite long, nobler minerality, soft tobacco note to the fruit. Rating: 88+
Peter-Jakob Kühn Riesling Kabinett Oestrich Lehnchen 2007
Bit rubbery, attractive herbs, basil mostly, quite complex, a fraction loosely structured, nice body and length, not too sweet. Rating: 88
Peter-Jakob Kühn Riesling Spätlese Oestrich Lehnchen 2007
Riper, lovely little bitter note, fresher, livelier, well-balanced, higher-acid, good complexity. Rating: 89+?
Peter-Jakob Kühn Riesling Auslese Oestrich Lehnchen 2007
More golden-rubbery and cidery fruit, a bit weird right now, but has body and dark slate notes. 40% botrytis here, some berries air-dried/shrivelled on the vine. Rating: 89+?
Peter-Jakob Kühn Riesling Beerenauslese Oestrich Lehnchen 2007
240 g/l residual sugar. More integrated rubber, honey, almost some mulled wine spice (as one usually gets it in red wine rather) to some aged apple, lovely little bitter note. Longer, more harmonious, rather viscous. Rating: 90+/91
Peter-Jakob Kühn Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Oestrich Lehnchen 2007
290 g/l residual sugar. Paradoxically dried-fruitier as well as more citrusy-fresh and lively. Some green banana, quite viscous, solid mouthfeel, quite long. Rating: 92(+?)
Schloss Lieser Riesling Kabinett Brauneberger Juffer 2007
Darkly slatey-minerally, some medicinality, bit difficult to assess, but intense aged apple and basil. Rating: 87
Schloss Lieser Riesling Spätlese Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007
Yet darker minerality, the sweeter of the two Spätlesen. A bit less dense and serious perhaps? Fair enough length. Rating: 87+/88(+?)
Schloss Lieser Riesling Spätlese Niederberg Helden 2007
Less sweet but more complex, some flinty vanilla slate, as is typical of the site. Quite high-acid. Rating: 88(+?)
Schloss Lieser Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule Niederberg Helden 2007
Quite smooth, lightly golden apple that is partly aged. Soft vanilla flintiness to the slate. Integrated herbs. Good depth, quite long finish. Rating: 89+/90?
Schloss Lieser Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007
More even minerality, sweeter though no more concentrated. Nice acidity peak, but really not too high-acid. Rating: 89+
Schloss Lieser Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule Niederberg Helden 2007
More concentrated, more ripeness and intensity, more golden apple and sultana, smoother, sweeter, soft vanilla from both the minerality and botrytis. Rating: 91+
Dr. Loosen Riesling Kabinett Bernkasteler Lay 2007
Nice herbs, some spring flowers, stone dusty apple, touch tannic, some CO2. A classic Kabinett. Rating: 87+/88?
Dr. Loosen Riesling Spätlese Erdener Treppchen 2007
Barrel sample. Quite sweet, round herbs, faint volcanic earth touch to the as if (!) blue slate, more like an elegant Ürziger Würzgarten wine. Rating: 88
Dr. Loosen Riesling Auslese Erdener Treppchen 2007
Barrel sample. More open, sweeter and longer, faint blackcurrant cough drop superripeness, integrated earthiness, more similar to than dissimilar from the Spätlese. Rating: 88+
Dr. Loosen Riesling Auslese Erdener Prälat 2007
Barrel sample. Filtered only once so far (visibly so), bit yeastier, thus much looser (here for once in the additional sense of difficult to assess), but greater spring flower complexity, and an attractive tobacco leaf note to the minerality. Rating: 89+/90?
Dr. Loosen Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule Erdener Prälat 2007
Barrel sample. Also filtered once only, but less yeasty, thus much easier to assess. Sweeter, denser, some golden apple and spring flowers. Spoke to quite a few people who did not like this at all, though, perhaps a sign that it is too yeasty to assess as well. Rating: 91+/92
Maximin Grünhaus Riesling Auslese Grünhäuser Abtsberg 2007
Nice herbs,
AP-#23. Came to this booth too late to taste any other wines than the standard Auslese. Medium weight, nice herbs, quite firm acidity, has cut, barely medium length. Rating: 87+?
Egon Müller Riesling QbA Scharzhofberger 2007
Grassier and more tannic apple than most, lots of CO2. Stone dust. High-acid, herbaceous but balanced. Rating: 87+88
Egon Müller Riesling Kabinett Scharzhofberger 2007
Firm, rubbery-intense slate and blackcurrant, basil and other herbs, high-acid, has cut, bite actually. Food wine. Rating: 89+/~90
Egon Müller Riesling Spätlese Scharzhofberger 2007
Sweeter, some CO2, stone dust, apple, subtler herbs, darker blackcurrant. A firm wine with body and length. Expensive. Rating: 91
Willi Schaefer Riesling Kabinett Nr. 16 Graacher Domprobst 2007
Bitter note, slate that comes across as slightly darker than usual, quite high-acid and intense, good length. Rating: 87
Willi Schaefer Riesling Spätlese Nr. 5 Graacher Domprobst 2007
Yeastier since bottled only three weeks earlier, balanced and quite long, finesseful and more opulent than the Kabinett at the same time, some stone dust. Rating: 89+?
Willi Schaefer Riesling Auslese Nr. 17 Graacher Domprobst 2007
Sweeter than the Spätlese (as it should be), less yeasty, fairly long on the finish. Rating: 88+
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Kabinett #1 Wolfer Goldgrube 2007
Food-friendly Kabinett, fresh, firm macerated apple, tannic, some CO2, nicely minerally, nicely high-acid. Rating: ~89
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Spätlese #14 Wolfer Goldgrube 2007
Tannic blackcurrant and cherry cough drop, lively ripe and flavourful acidity, apple and apple blossom, smoky minerals, nice body and length. Rating: 89+/90+?
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Spätlese Gold Capsule #7 Wolfer Goldgrube 2007
Quite sweet and rich, a bit looser perhaps, but riper and darkly slatey. More old-viney, (much?) more concentrated, longer. Shows good potential roundness for a 2007. Probably just a bit deceptive. Really one of my favourite wines of the tasting. Rating: 90+
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Auslese Long Gold Capsule #8 Wolfer Goldgrube 2007
Vanilla botrytis, clean, barely gluey, rich and fresh blossom and apple concentrate, sweet blackcurrant top note. Quite closed but lovely. Worth owning but expensive. Rating: 93+?
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Beerenauslese #9 Wolfer Goldgrube 2007
Rubbery-clean honey, oily-viscous, sultanas, white chocolate, faint currants and coffee, tiny vanilla note to most impressive underlying minerality. Very long on the finish. Some people I talked to preferred this to the TBA. Rating: 94+?
Daniel Vollenweider Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese #10 Wolfer Goldgrube 2007
Picked at 240° Oechsle, resulting in an approximate 400 g/l residual sugar (a hundred less than the 2003, Daniel said almost apologetically, who also informed me the 2005 will be the best ever, but that he will not be able to market it as TBA since it only holds 4.5% alcohol). Extremely viscous coffee and brown bread, soft orange to dried apple, almost solid a solid in the mouth. Quite long and bready on the finish. Rating: 94+/95+?
Robert Weil Riesling Trocken 2007
More tannic than stone-dusty, some CO2, firm and quite high-acid. Fair enough length. The 11.5% alcohol is high enough here for my taste. Rating: 85+/86
Robert Weil Riesling Kabinett Trocken Kiedrich Gräfenberg 2007
Greater soil expression (and/or superior terroir), greater minerality and depth than the standard Trocken, better-balanced and fuller-bodied at also 11.5% alcohol. Rating: 87
Robert Weil Riesling Trocken Kiedrich Turmberg 2007
13% alcohol. Fatter, more body. Tobacco minerality, a bit smoky and very stony and firm, but per se less expressive otherwise and/or attractive terroir (Turmberg = ex-Wasseros, by the way) here. Rating: 87+?
Robert Weil Riesling Erstes Gewächs Kiedrich Gräfenberg 2007
13.5% alcohol. Complex minerality, a bit flinty, more acidity and intensity, some herbs, longer, more complex. A bit tough. Rating: 89+/90
Robert Weil Riesling Tradition 2007
A bit light, off-dry only, QbA type wine, just some, but attractive fruit, medium length. Rating: 85+?
Robert Weil Riesling Spätlese 2007
Good sweetness, faint vanilla, a little cherry, blackcurrant and blueberry, a bit richer, a bit loose, though. Rating: 87+
Robert Weil Riesling Spätlese Kiedrich Turmberg 2007
Sweeter, more expressive and concentrated, nobler. Faint CO2, cherry and blackcurrant, and apple blossom, fair complexity. Quite high acid peaks through the surface here. Again, while the terroir expression is less floral and memorable than in the Gräfenberg, there is undeniable nobility to the Turmberg, too. Rating: 89+/90
Robert Weil Riesling Spätlese Kiedrich Gräfenberg 2007
106 g/l residual sugar. Sweeter, much more complex and expressive, longer. The kind of rich, sweet and dry wine balance with real depth I like. Sound, flavourful and powerful acidity. Fine slate dust, blackcurrant and melon. One of my favourite wines in almost every vintage, because of its combination of terroir expression and balance without excess weight or sugar – as far as I am concerned, great Riesling need not be sweeter (nor does that make it likely to be more expressive). Rating: 93+
Robert Weil Riesling Auslese Kiedrich Gräfenberg 2007
Some bread dough, softest possible vanilla top note, good BA-like sweetness uplifted by cassis. Not longer, just more opulent. Well-concentrated of course. Strong acidity. Rating: ~92(+?)
Robert Weil Riesling Beerenauslese Kiedrich Gräfenberg 2007
Picked at 180° Oechsle. Clean white glue, oily sultana, complex melon. Concentrated, very long. Light TBA-like dried fruit. Flavourful integrated acidity. The greater relative success in this vintage than the Auslese (exceptionally, as some people remarked). Rating: 94+?
Robert Weil Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Kiedrich Gräfenberg 2007
223° Oechsle. More botrytis, soft bread, honey. Solid dried fruit, breadier and as if more old-styled (indeed, this smells like a traditional Fuder-aged TBA in this vintage, although not oxidative). Apple with touches of apricot and banana. Probably more complete and ageworthy than the BA, but not “better” now. Rating: 94+
Weiser-Künstler Riesling Kabinett Trabener Gaispfad 2007
Real cassis top note, nicely ripe, thick glycerin for a Kabinett, dark minerality, fair enough length. Rating: 88+?
Weiser-Künstler Riesling Spätlese Enkirchner Ellergrub 2007
Firm, quite rich, a bit honeyed golden sultanas, complex, blackcurrant, viscous, soft bitter note, flavourful acidity, bit tannic. A QPR standout of the tasting. Rating: 89+/~90
Weiser-Künstler Riesling Auslese Enkirchner Zeppwingert 2007
Rubbery botrytis with a faint breadiness, but sweet, clean and oily viscous for a standard Auslese (almost a bit BA-like, in fact), good body, minimally loosely structured. Rating: 88+
Zilliken Forstmeister Geltz Riesling Kabinett Saarburger Rausch 2007
Intense fresh herbs, faintly tannic, firm acidity, refreshing finish. Rating: 87+/88
Zilliken Forstmeister Geltz Riesling Spätlese Saarburger Rausch 2007
Sweet, some appley herbs, soft stone dust, a bit loose but backed by firm acidity. Rating: 87+/88
Zilliken Forstmeister Geltz Riesling Auslese Saarburger Rausch 2007
A nervy Saar classic, stone dust and apple, grapefruit, a bit tannic, firm finish. Rating: 89+
Zilliken Forstmeister Geltz Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule Saarburger Rausch 2007
Passion fruit and pink grapefruit indeed, faintly bready botrytis (80% of the fruit, rest shrivelled on the vines), longer, a bit oilier, more complex and fatter, but really just a little “better”. Several people I asked thought this (among) their favourite(s) of the tasting. Rating: 89+/90
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
) devises a guage for measuring joy! 