WTN: Dönnhof '06 + Leitz, Haag & Ratzenberger

Tonight we had a lovely tasting where I got my first bigger exposure to Dönnhof - and I was very impressed by how he handled a vintage that has often seemed rather heavy in style. Especially the Oberhäuser Brückes were in a style that I much appreciated.

We started with a few on the drier end of the spectrum:

• 2006 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Kaisersteinfels Riesling Feinherb Alte Reben - Germany, Rheingau (8/27/2008)
  11,5% abv. This was a more delicate wine than the Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Alte Reben: apricot, honey, minerals, ripe but a more restrained and pure style. Intense, good grip, citrussy and more elegant palate. Tastes quite dry to me despite being a feinherb. Very attractive.
• 2006 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling Trocken Alte Reben - Germany, Rheingau (8/27/2008)
  13,5% abv. The scent is ripe and has notes of apricot and much spice - it is obviously a very ripe wine. It gladly lacks the stern, un-pleasurable aspects that trockens too often have. Dry but with a good concentration of fruit, powerful but not overbearing. Balanced. Nice!
• 2005 Ratzenberger Bacharacher Wolfshöhle Riesling Großes Gewächs - Germany, Mittelrhein (8/27/2008)
  13& abv. Over-ripe, melony, tropical fruit; soft and over-ripe and therefore lacking in intensity. Frankly, not terribly interesting at all - which is strange for Ratzenberger, a producer I hadn't until now tasted anything uninteresting from.

Our main line-up:

• 2006 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe (8/27/2008)
  8,5% abv. This is a very ripe and fruity take on the grape: pineapple and tropical fruit - and that is about it, though it is obviously Riesling! Sweet and rather more weighty than the Oberhäuser Brücke Spätlese. Charming, but rather one-dimensional in being only about ripe fruit.
• 2006 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe (8/27/2008)
  8,5% abv. A pure, less overt expression of Riesling than the Hermannshöhle, this is elegant for such a weighty year as '06, and gladly shows some minerality. The aromas are more oriented toward the lime/lemon spectrum than the orange of Hermannshöhle or the Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg and therefore was more to my taste. Concentrated and weighty but gladly also with a crunchiness that was lacking in the other two Spätlesen tonight. Very nice.
• 2006 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe (8/27/2008)
  8,5% abv. This had a purity of Riesling fruit but was still a very tropical expression of it: pineapple, orange, exotic spiciness - quite red toned in fruit. Very ripe, sweet, weighty, but it also has good grip and moderate acidity. It is a big, big wine, but still everything seems just right with it!
• 2006 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (8/27/2008)
  8,5% abv. Though a very ripe expression of the grape (maybe even a touch over-ripe) it shows Saar's steeliness admirably. It is curious how the wine manifests both such steel and over-ripeness; but it is even more curious that such a package works. Much ripeness, decent acidity and plenty of grip - refreshing enough that despite its weight, I almost believe the label when it says this is a Spätlese!
• 2006 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (8/27/2008)
  Blind: a curious mix of slightly over-ripe fruit and almost Saar-like steel, but it is obviously German Riesling, probably '06. Intensely honeyed, tropical fruit; the sugar is rather overwhelming and the acid underwhelming just now. There is much to admire in this, but I do need to try it in a decade or so to see more clearly what is underneath all that fat. (I guessed this was a Ratzenberger, oops.)
• 2006 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese - Germany, Nahe (8/27/2008)
  8,5% abv. A very forward, expressive and ripe nose, very tropical (pineapple) and just like the Spätlese, this shows a more red toned fruit and spicier character - more extrovert, more obvious - than the Oberhäuser Brücke. Full bodied and would pass for a Beerenauslese, sweet, good phenolic grip but could do with brighter acidity IMO. But it is a nice wine.
• 2006 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese - Germany, Nahe (8/27/2008)
  8% abv. Whereas the Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle was full of orange and red aromas, this was a more restrained wine with scents more in the rock and lime spectrum. If my experience of '06s are anything to go by, this is actually a reserved wine for the year though it is a weighty one. But despite the size, it has lovely purity and even elegance and bright acidity. Lovely.

Some stickies at the end:

• 2006 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Beerenauslese - Germany, Nahe (8/27/2008)
  7,5% abv. Honeyed, slightly earthy scent, voluptuous, extrovert. It has orange peels/botrytis in charming rather than overbearing amounts, but it is still a rather obvious wine. Big, sweet, good acidity and grip, moderate intensity. Quite a lovely BA, even though I did prefer the greater elegance of the Oberhäuser Brücke BA.
• 2006 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Beerenauslese - Germany, Nahe (8/27/2008)
  7,5% abv. A pure, elegant and understated scent (and also rather closed), not at all as extrovert or voluptuous as the Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle BA. This also has more refreshing acidity and a brighter, more elegant palate. Quite lovely.
• 2006 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese - Germany, Rheingau (8/27/2008)
  7,5% abv. Massively botrytised - smells of orange peel and copper. Enormously sweet, tingly acidity - but even what seems to be huge amounts of acidity doesn't keep this from being cloying. Much too young, but I'm not sure this will turn out to something to my tastes either.
• 2006 Ratzenberger Bacharacher Posten Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese - Germany, Mittelrhein (8/27/2008)
  10% abv. Huge botrytis, but more purity and obvious Rieslingness than the Breuer TBA. Massively sweet, but with impeccable balance from the phenolic grip and acidity. Big, much too young, but could very well be something I would enjoy in a couple decades.

Posted from CellarTracker

[David M. Bueker]

I am green with envy!

Lovely tasting & great notes Otto. There's a reason I love Brucke so much (though I will defend Hermannshohle to the ends of hte earth - '06 is a wait for it vintage). The purity and raciness of Brucke just shines for me. I like Felsenberg, but it's never going to be my favorite because it will never surpass Brucke and Hermannshohle.

You mention red fruit in your post, and that's one of the hallmarks of Riesling from the Nahe region. I inevitable find it there, and it's not imagination. A few years back Pierre Rovani challenged me, saying that red fruit was just something that came from great ripeness in a Riesling (in speaking of a Prum that had no red fruit elements whatsoever). I asked him about Nahe Rieslings from lesser vintages that had the red fruit, relating it to the terroir, and he laughed it off as imagination.

Wonerful post Otto, thanks ever so much for the time and trouble.

H. Donnhoff, E. Muller and F. Haag are three great names I've had varying degrees of exposure to over two decades now - some truly awesome wines have come my way and most recently, a couple of Haag's 1983 Auslese's (standard and LGK) and a Donnhoff 1998 Hermannshohle Spatlese. The Haag's have been mostly otherworldly, luckily, with only marginal bottle variation.

Hey DLo, I also had the 98 Hermannsholle Spatlese two months ago. Brilliant wine!

AB

Sounds like fun. From what I can tell of your palate, you are a sucker for the brisk acidity of the Saar (much like I am) so you will probably never chase Dönnhoff as much as other folks seem to. That said, the wines are obviously great, so there is nothing wrong with drinking them

DavidB, I do find some red toned aromas in warm years in the Mosel as well (and even sometimes in cooler years in Ürziger Würzgarten). And I also noticed a lack of red aromas in the Oberhäuser Brücke - so it is a complex scent. But it can be nice.

DavidL, lucky you, getting such older stuff!

Rahsaan, I think the Saar might just be my favourite area in the Riesling growing world. But if the Oberhäuser Brückes are always as bright and charming as these '06s, I might have to find some!

-O

Rahsaan, I think the Saar might just be my favourite area in the Riesling growing world. But if the Oberhäuser Brückes are always as bright and charming as these '06s, I might have to find some!-O

Luckily, you're allowed both

Rahsaan, I think the Saar might just be my favourite area in the Riesling growing world. But if the Oberhäuser Brückes are always as bright and charming as these '06s, I might have to find some!-O

Luckily, you're allowed both

True for the civilized world. In Finland, however, we are denied both.