WTN: 02 Pfalz GG-Tasting

David S. opened his treasure chamber and presented chez my buddy Jürgen K. ”Große Gewächse”/Grand Cru Rieslings from the region Pfalz.

As expected the estate Koehler-Ruprecht was top-notch. The well-known estates Rebholz and A. Christmann were disappointing despite a brilliant “Idig”. The great discovery was the estate G. Mosbacher. In addition several wines were surprisingly quite young&fresh and have a great future. BTW, the wines were served blind.


02 Pfeffingen “Weilberg” GG
Great start! A straightforward Riesling.......
The bouquet shows a lovely minerality mixed with a light bottle age notes (Firne). In general a very elegant perfume. On the palate a crystal-clear, firm structure and perfect interwoven with fruit and minerality. Impressive length! This Riesling (13%) presents elegance, finesse and clarity. Has reached the climax. BRAVO
91pts.


01 Pfeffingen “Weilberg” GG
Fat nose........pineapple and again these bottle age notes (Firne). Very disharmonious and showed a hole on the mid-palate. Short length. In general quite wan this Riesling and clearly already had his best time.
83pts.


02 G. Mosbacher “Ungeheuer” GG
Mamma mia, this Riesling was good! The discovery of the tasting and everybody was excited about this wine. I confess that I didn´t show enough attention to the Rieslings of the estate Georg Mosbacher in the past. Yes, they were well-made, but such terrific, this wine teached me a lesson.Very cautious at the beginning, but after a few minutes this wine showed its quality. Powerful Riesling (13%) and very focused. Citrus fruits, smoky minerality and with a fascinating complexity&length. The minerality had such a depth that it was wise to give this wine 10min. time to breath in the glass. Of course, very young and has a great future.
92-93pts.

http://www.snakvin.com/foto/albums/user ... MG8146.JPG



02 Rebholz “Im Sonnenschein” GG
Very disappointing performance! Botritis bouquet and shockingly flat and watery on the palate. Maybe faulty bottle?!
75pts.



02 A. Christmann “Reiterspfad” GG
The bouquet almost jumped into your face, toffee with no end. Short length and in a certain way trivial this wine. Within seconds you have forgotten this wine.......
86pts.



02 A. Christmann “Hohenmorgen” GG
Also this Riesling from the estate A. Christmann didn´t impress me. No perfume, nada, rien, nothing.........Fat Riesling with a lot of pineapple flavors. Any sign of finesse?No! Really not my cup of tea.
84pts.



02 A. Christmann “Mandelberg” GG
Broad and opulent. Hay and camomile. Much better than the predecessors, but not a convincing performance from the estate A. Christmann so far.
89pts.



02 Siegrist “Sonnenberg” GG
Refreshing like a mountain-river. Pure with with a firm minerality and a basket of Granny Smith. This is Riesling! Very recreative this stilistic in comparison to the opulent Rieslings from A. Christmann. Great future for this wine, as he was very young.
90+pts.



02 A. Christmann “Idig” GG
Impressive! Terrific minerality, power with no end and a gorgeous structure&length. Showed very young. No doubt, Idig is one of the TOP dry Riesling from Germany.
93-94pts.

http://www.snakvin.com/foto/albums/user ... MG8153.JPG



01 Koehler-Ruprecht “Saumagen” R Spätlese tr.
As expected the Saumagen is top-notch. Like all wines in this outstanding category, you will find a monumental balance&structure&depth. Also an unique flavor profile of minerality, smoke and acacia. No hurry to drink this wine. Simply to die for.......
94-95pts.

http://www.snakvin.com/foto/albums/user ... MG8154.JPG

I haven't tasted the 02 Sonnenschein, but that does sound a little surprising. Isn't 2002 in general consideres to be a year without very much botrytis, even in the sweet wines? (Not too sure about Pfalz, though.)

Jan-Tore, the Rebholz-bottle was really mysterious, as normally the Rebholz Rieslings are famous for their long-aging potential Maybe off-bottle?!

[David M. Bueker]

Those Koehler-Ruprecht wines are some of my favorite dry Rieslings in the whole world. Too bad they are so hard to get.

David,

the problem with the Koehler-Ruprecht Rieslings are that the winemaker B. Philippi release the wines first after a couple of years.

In my view the "Saumagen" R is considered to be one of the Best White Wine in the World.

Cheers,
Martin

That's because we're getting everything over here.

Yes, Yes, Yes, Heinrich Breuer and Philipp Wittmann told me that a huge amount of Riesling goes to Norway. Norway is the biggest Riesling buyer in scandinavia or maybe outside of Germany. BTW, a german winemaker spend holidays in Norway a couple of weeks ago and I was totally suprised when he told me what he could buy for great Rieslings in Norway.

Chapeau, Norway..........

Apparently, we're the world's number four importer of German wines (mainly Riesling, including a lot of dry ones), in spite of being such a small country. It's been quite a revolution, as the selection in the mid nineties was dire. We used to be a nation of Liebfraumilch drinkers plus drinkers of stuff like Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen, Niersteiner Gutes Domtal, Schwarze Katz and Kröver Nacktarsch. I guess some people still drink it.

Kallstadter

Saumagen

Just one thing about Großlagen and Einzellagen:

I don`t want to disappoint some people, but Kallstadter Saumagen (first documentally mentioned around 1810) is a "Großlage" (about 50 hectares) consisting of the Einzellagen Horn (10 ha), Kirchenstück (20 ha) and Nill (20ha).

Just wanted to point it out cause some might think wine from Einzellagen is generally better than those from Großlagen. I insist upon that this is not the case.

Just one thing about Großlagen and Einzellagen:

I don`t want to disappoint some people, but Kallstadter Saumagen (first documentally mentioned around 1810) is a "Großlage" (about 50 hectares) consisting of the Einzellagen Horn (10 ha), Kirchenstück (20 ha) and Nill (20ha).

Just wanted to point it out cause some might think wine from Einzellagen is generally better than those from Großlagen. I insist upon that this is not the case.

Richard,
Your statement puzzled me since I was pretty sure that Saumagen is an Einzellage. I have in fact visited the famous site together with Bernd Philippi. So, first I looked in my Deutscher Weinatlas from 1990 and it stated clearly that Saumagen is an Einzellage, belonging to the Grosslage Kobnert. However, when I also searched the internet I found different information, but most of it claimed that Saumagen is indeed a Grosslage with the Einzellagen you mentioned. In one list both this fact as well as the Saumagen as an Einzellage was listed. So, I wonder if you could cast light on this matter? Has the Saumagen been split into three Einzellagen after 1990?
Even if the Saumagen is now a Grosslage, I think it is a pretty exceptional example, that could not really be used to claim that Grosslagen are as good as Einzlellagen, since it (probably) used to be an Einzellage and has been recognized as a superiour site since long. that does not mean that I don't agree that there are some good Grosslage wines around.
Cheers, Anders

Just one thing about Großlagen and Einzellagen:

I don`t want to disappoint some people, but Kallstadter Saumagen (first documentally mentioned around 1810) is a "Großlage" (about 50 hectares) consisting of the Einzellagen Horn (10 ha), Kirchenstück (20 ha) and Nill (20ha).

Just wanted to point it out cause some might think wine from Einzellagen is generally better than those from Großlagen. I insist upon that this is not the case.

Richard,
Your statement puzzled me since I was pretty sure that Saumagen is an Einzellage. I have in fact visited the famous site together with Bernd Philippi. So, first I looked in my Deutscher Weinatlas from 1990 and it stated clearly that Saumagen is an Einzellage, belonging to the Grosslage Kobnert. However, when I also searched the internet I found different information, but most of it claimed that Saumagen is indeed a Grosslage with the Einzellagen you mentioned. In one list both this fact as well as the Saumagen as an Einzellage was listed. So, I wonder if you could cast light on this matter? Has the Saumagen been split into three Einzellagen after 1990?
Even if the Saumagen is now a Grosslage, I think it is a pretty exceptional example, that could not really be used to claim that Grosslagen are as good as Einzlellagen, since it (probably) used to be an Einzellage and has been recognized as a superiour site since long. that does not mean that I don't agree that there are some good Grosslage wines around.
Cheers, Anders

I'm puzzled too.

I'm not Richard, but I'm quite certain that Saumagen is an Einzellage (and one that is classified as Großes Gewächs by the VDP) which is encompassed by the Großlage Kallstadter Kobnert. It seems most likely that Horn, Kirchenstück and Nill were absorbed into Saumagen (probably) by the 1971 reforms. I've seen Kallstadter Saumagen, Nill, and Horn all mentioned seperately in older texts. Not to confuse the issue (no help needed there!), but there is still a Herxheim am Berg Kirchenstück within the Kallstadter Kobnert Großlage.

Kallstadter Saumagen might indeed be a LARGE Einzellage at just over 40 ha, but there are many more famous vineyards that are bigger still: Graacher Himmelreich, Ürziger Würzgarten, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Ockfener Böckstein, Oestricher Lenchen, Niersteiner Ölberg, Birkweiler Kastanienbusch and many others.

Anders, I'm curious as to where you've found modern mention of Nill, Horn and (Kallstadter) Kirchenstück on the internet.

Prost!
Bill

Anders, I'm curious as to where you've found modern mention of Nill, Horn and (Kallstadter) Kirchenstück on the internet.

Bill

Bill, here is one link that mentions Saumagen both as an Einzellage and a Grosslage, with the three vineyards you mention as Einlellagen in the Saumagen Grosslage:
http://www.pfaelzischer-landbote.de/pageID_2021173.html
The German Wikipedia, FWIW, describes the three as Einzellagen and Saumagen as a Grosslage:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Weinlagen_der_Pfalz#Kallstadt
There are more examples of both. Perhaps the way to resolve the problem is that one of our German friends would call Bernd Philippi and ask him about this.

Cheers, Anders

I got a fast reply from "Pfalzwein (http://www.pfalzwein.de/ after sending them a question yesterday evening:

Dear Mr Källberg,

many thanks for your mail and the interest in our wine region.

I talked to different people from the region around Kallstadt an now, I can tell you, for sure, that the Saumagen was and is still a Einzellage. There has been no changes.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours faithfully

Christine Niederauer

If this is reliable, and I see no reason why it should not be, it is clear that Saumagen is indeed an Einzellage. Maybe the contradictory information one can find on the internet in this matter is just a good example of how anything once stated on the web can get its own life, survive and even proliferate, however faulty it may be.
Cheers,
Anders

Suppose this was in Chablis. Would you consider Fourchaume a single vineyard? You probably would. And yet you find bottles labelled L'Homme Mort, Vaulorent, etc., as well as wines claiming to be from the original Fourchaume vineyard, long since expanded to include these other lieux-dits. Isn't this the same phenomenon?

Suppose this was in Chablis. Would you consider Fourchaume a single vineyard? You probably would. And yet you find bottles labeled L'Homme Mort, Vaulorent, etc., as well as wines claiming to be from the original Fourchaume vineyard, long since expanded to include these other lieux-dits. Isn't this the same phenomenon?

Jan-Tore,
No, it is not the same thing, since this is Germany where "Ordnung muss sein". The German wine law explicitly forbids anything to be written on the label that is not permitted by the law. I doubt the French wine law is that strict, and I think lieu-dits are allowed to be used on the labels. So, I'd say that the German wine law cannot contain this kind of ambiguity. Then, if some wine growers still like to call the different parts of a Lage according to how it used to be divided before 1971 is another thing, as long as they don't write it on their labels.
Cheers,
Anders

Martin wrote....I confess that I didn´t show enough attention to the Rieslings of the estate Georg Mosbacher in the past.

Good news from Alberta, found some Mosbacher amongst some new German arrivals downtown!!

I got a fast reply from "Pfalzwein (http://www.pfalzwein.de/ after sending them a question yesterday evening:

Dear Mr Källberg,

many thanks for your mail and the interest in our wine region.

I talked to different people from the region around Kallstadt an now, I can tell you, for sure, that the Saumagen was and is still a Einzellage. There has been no changes.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours faithfully

Christine Niederauer

If this is reliable, and I see no reason why it should not be, it is clear that Saumagen is indeed an Einzellage. Maybe the contradictory information one can find on the internet in this matter is just a good example of how anything once stated on the web can get its own life, survive and even proliferate, however faulty it may be.
Cheers,
Anders

Maybe as an additional help to clarify the situation, I understand that in the original version of the law of 1971, the Saumagen was indeed a Grosslage with three einzellagen. This was later changed and Saumagen became an Einzellage.

The above phenomenon is not unique. Some vineyards were given Einzellage status after 71 and this was adapted afterwards. For instance, the Karthäuserhofberger Sang, Kronenberg, Burgberg, etc. were Einzellage in the Law of 71 not the Karthäuserhofberg as such. This was consolidated in the 80s and now Karthäuserhofberg is a Einzellage (and the Sang, etc. only parcel denominations which can in principle no longer appear on the label of the bottle)

I talked to different people from the region around Kallstadt an now, I can tell you, for sure, that the Saumagen was and is still a Einzellage. There has been no changes.

Kallstadter Saumagen is a Grosslage and consists of Kallstadter Nill, Kallstadter Kirchenstück and Kallstadter Horn. This vintner should know what he is talking from and I take him for a more reliable source than anybody from pfalzwein.de, who just seem to have no clue about anything at all. If you want somebody who knows about wine you have to ask some people from the state department for viniculture....ask pfalzwein.de/ pfalz.de for pedicure or pizza taxi, chinese imbiss `n stuff

Kallstadter Kirchenstueck is the area around the church of Kallstadt, the church is at the western end of Kallstadt and the Lage Saumagen is west of Kallstadt. Maybe it made more sense to name these 3 Einzellagen before the land consolidation in the 80`s (microclimate etc.) so they where more frequent before this time.

I did not want to discredit Saumagen or Grosslagen anyway, all I wanted to say is that it just does not mean - in general - Grosslagen are bad and Einzellagen are good.


Edit:
According to a list from the state department for viniculture from 08. october 2007 Kallstadter Saumagen (today) is a Einzellage (Nr. 820713) inside the Grosslage Kobnert... ....