As I do on an on and off basis, here some notes on older MSR Riesling tasted over the last months …
53er Staatsdomäne Mainz Bodenheimer Hoch Riesling Beerenauslese: This is a mythical Estate back then and I was really looking forward to this treat. I was not to be disappointed. The wine showed a gorgeous dark golden bronze colour and a nose that burst with candied fruit and the odd note of toffee. It was still remarkably thick and sweet with superb acidity and nearly too much presence in the finish. What a pleasure to drink this! The empty bottle kept the fresh flavours for weeks and I was regularly drawn back to it, just to smell once more this incredible flavours.
59er Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Auslese: Tasted at the Estate, this had a great colour of yellow gold which promised already quite some pleasure. And I was not to be disappointed. The wine was stunning with superb flavours of candied peaches, citrus and an incredible creaminess. I have never tasted a 1959 that was so youthful. The wine was incredibly well balanced and retained the right amount of sweetness in the finish to make it sappy and balanced. This is just great.
64er Huesgen-Böcking Geierslayer Ohligsberg feinste Auslese: I was looking forward to this bottle as it comes from one of the historically great Estates in the region. This had a great yellow colour but was unfortunately already quite advanced in age. The wine retained the typical flavours of fruit and herbs with still nice sweetness on the palate. This is nice and not too acidic but did not really shine (probably because of less than optimal conservation).
64er Karthäuserhof Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Kronenberg Auslese Nr. 35: This is an old friend by now and I have never been disappointed. Also this bottle showed great flavours of orange peel and some decent apricot flavours. The wine is well balanced with low acidity and an off-dry finish. But the overall impression of balance and easiness is really what makes me like this wine: it makes winemaking look so easy and obvious.
64er Max Keller Ockfener Bockstein feinste Auslese: This bottle from a former VDP Estate (64 was its last vintage) was quite a treat. It had a superb colour, with good smoky flavours playing with citrus peel on the nose. The wine was very intense, balanced and perfectly integrated on the palate. It was remarkably fresh and easy to drink.
64er Joh. Jos. Prüm Bernkasteler Badstube Auslese: This was quite muted at first but then opened up with the telltale flavours of Bernkastel: ripe yellow peaches, some delicate spices and a touch of earth. The marzipan note receded to give way to good freshness and excellent length. This was well balanced on the palate and very long. The wine was still remarkably fresh for a 64.
69er Bischöfliches Priesterseminar Dhroner Hofberg Auslese: This was nice but also somewhat more tired than I would have expected (probably storage had not been optimal). The wine showed some hints of spices with minerals and a touch of citrusy fruit on the nose. It is a good drink but more one to enjoy as an aperitif than with a meal: for that, it lacks sweetness and silkiness.
69er Bischöfliches Priesterseminar Trittenheimer Apotheke Spätlese: This was still quite nice with good flavours of marzipan and just a hint of toffee (a sign of aging). While being nearly fully dry, it retained good balance on the palate with the tell-tale freshness of the better 1969s.
71er Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Beerenauslese: This was quite marked by botrytis but still incredibly fresh and elegant with good zesty flavours of honey, smoke and candied fruit. The wine is quite powerful and still remarkably sweet for such an old Beerenauslese. This is nearly too easy to drink.
71er Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Auslese Nr. 49: From a bottle with a rather low fill, this was already quite evolved and probably not showing its best. The wine had already some notes of toffee on the nose but was still remarkably intense and sweet on the palate. The flavours refreshed somewhat with airing but the wine could never really show more than its powerful uncompromising side.
71er von Kesselstatt Kaseler Nies’chen Spätlese: This was delicious with great flavours of candied fruit and sappy caramel. The wine was on the edge of becoming dry but offered just stunning length and balance. This confirms just how good the Estate was back then.
71er von Hövel Oberemmeler Hütte Auslese: This was a great show! The wine had a brilliant dark yellow colour and offered all the great flavours of aged Saar wines on the nose: lime, citrus, apricot, candied fruit, a touch of marzipan and good smoky flavours. The wine was nicely balanced with great length and an off-dry rather than fully sweet finish. This is beautiful to drink now.
71er Jos. Christoffel jr. Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Auslese: This was very nice with a rather bright golden-red colour. It offered of flavours of dried apricot, candied orange zest and smoke on the nose. The wine is balanced on the palate with sappy and zesty acidity. The finish is now nearly dry so that this wine is probably best enjoyed with a hearty sweetish game dish. It was nevertheless also enjoyable on its own.
73er Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett: Tasted at the Estate, this was nice and great with good fruity flavours and nice length. The wine is well balanced with nice flavours of marzipan. The wine was gone in no time.
75er Jos. Christoffel jr. Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese: This was a perfectly stored bottle and it helped: the wine had a bright golden colour and offered great flavours of slightly candied fruit, good length and excellent sappy acidity. This is incredibly easy to knock down and a great treat: how did he manage to produce such light wines with such intensity?
75er Dr. F. Weins-Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese (Auction): This was incredibly fresh with great flavours of fresh fruit and excellent length. The wine was balanced and offers sappy acidity. Given this freshness and liveliness, it behaved more like a good Saar or Ruwer Riesling than a Middle Moselle one. This was great stuff and a pleasure to drink.
75er Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Herrenberg Riesling Auslese: This was again a great wine with nice integrated notes of candied fruit and good length. The wine was extremely nice and easy to knock down.
75er Vereinigte Hospitien Serriger Schloss Saarfels Schlossberg Auslese: This bottle came directly from the cellars of the Estate and it showed. The wine had a nice fresh colour and offered good flavours of fruit and marzipan. It was a touch muted and showed more commonality with some 1976 bottlings than the zest of the 75s. Still this was easy to knock down and it was gone in no time.
75er St-Nikolaus Hospital Bernkasteler Doctor Riesling Auslese: This was a perfectly stored bottle and a very nice experience! The nose was incredibly fascinating with fresh apricot playing with candied orange and lemon peel. It’s obviously a thick Auslese bottling as the fruit came over with powerful notes of botrytis. Nevertheless, it was nicely balanced with still enough residual sugar to balance the sappy acidity. It was a joy to drink and was finished in no time.
76er Bischöfliches Priesterseminar Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Auslese: This bottle came from an outstanding cellar and it showed on the wine. The wine was powerful and showed great flavours of candied citrus, some marzipan and nice flavours of dried apricots. The balance was impeccable with good play between the acidity and the residual sugar. It is a textbook aged Riesling.
76er Vereinigte Hospitien Wiltinger braune Kupp Auslese: This was very good with nice flavours of fruit and good zesty acidity. The wine is maybe a touch too dry for greatness but it remains a very nice wine to drink on its own.
76er Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Auslese Nr. 58: What a glorious bottle of wine! This bottling is obviously made from heavily botrytized fruit and offers some great flavours of apricots, marzipan, candied oranges with just a hint of lemon and smoke. The wine is still comparably sweet on the palate and offers great length. It is stunning in its style.
). I have just acquired a small stash of mixed '71, '76 and '83 auslese and beerenauslese from F. Haag, S.A. Prum, Zilliken and Furst Metternich (most gold capsule) from a very good source. Here's hoping that some of them might just go a similar distance. The '83 Haag's (especially the '83 LGK Auslese) look like they have the potential, although everything opened to date has been ohso easy to drink (a comment I see over and over in your notes).