WTN: 1999 Riesling - One Good, One Bad

We were in the mood for a Riesling with our barbequed pork chops last night and decided to dip into our 99ers.

1999 Zind-Humbrecht Herrenweg De Turckheim Riesling

I had very high hopes for this wine based on past experience. Z-H is one of our favorite Riesling and Gewurz producers, and we had tasted this wine a few years ago. Wethought it had a lot of potential to show itself with a bit more aging.

The first sign of trouble was when the cork broke in the bottle quite easily. I was able to extract the remainder, but on sniffing it I got the unmistakeable scent of moldy cardboard. Damn! In the glass the wine was a dark brown, much darker and more oxidized than it should have been. The nose was flat at first, with not much of anything to offer including cardboard, or wet dog. That didn't last long. After about 5 minutes here came the dog. Nasty, nasty, nasty! A quick taste and spit revealed massive TCA. Down the drain it went. What a huge disappointment. So I pulled out a 99er from a different producer.

1999 Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Auslese (375ml)

This wine I did not have lots of hope for at all. We have had very little experience with this producer, and the one tasting note I did find was from '02 and was quite critical. Cork came out with no problem (Yes!) and the wine was a translucent light yellow in the glass. The nose was striking; shoe polish, lighter fluid, violets, honey and lemon. Could have spent an hour just sniffing it. Super smooth viscous mouth feel. The taste was honey, and citrus, with what seemed to be a maple component hanging in the background. Very long finish of honey and lemon tart. Almost supernaturally good wine and an extremely pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, that is our only bottle and I rarely see Dr. Fischer around these parts. I could envision that wine living and improving for a very long time.

Sam-
Sorry about the Z-H.
Now I do have a question: Why the hell would you even consider putting something like that in your mouth?
'Winger

1999 Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Auslese (375ml)shoe polish, lighter fluid, violets, honey and lemon. Could have spent an hour just sniffing it....The taste was honey, and citrus, with what seemed to be a maple component hanging in the background. Very long finish of honey and lemon tart. Almost supernaturally good wine and an extremely pleasant surprise.

Interesting. Shoe polish, lighter fluid, honey, lemon, and maple does not necessarily sound like an attractive combination to me. For that amount of richness and sugar I would usually prefer the flavors to be past the yellow spectrum and more into the orange exotic spectrum. And of course the volatility of the shoe polish would put me off as well. But, glad you liked it. To each his own!

I'm so glad the Fischer was tasty; so few people know how good their wine, especially the O-B, can be.

[David M. Bueker]

I'm going to have to dissent on Fischer. They have occasional hits, but most producers are so far beyond them. St. Urbans-Hof makes superior Bockstein & it's also well priced.

I'm going to have to dissent on Fischer. They have occasional hits, but most producers are so far beyond them. St. Urbans-Hof makes superior Bockstein & it's also well priced.

David,

I defer to you on Fischer as a producer, but this one bottle produced by them was quite good. It did not resemble the bottle described in the one note that I was able to find in the slightest.

[David M. Bueker]

Fischer has some hits, but many more misses.

David,

I most certainly take your word on the overall quality of the Fischer wines. The tasting notes on Fischer wines confirm your statement. This '99 O-B Auslese was a very solid example of an Auslese. There was a good deal of complexity without any spoofulation in my opinion. I've had Auslese from well respected producers and this one ranks right up there with the better examples.

There was a good deal of complexity without any spoofulation in my opinion..

I don't think the problem with Fischer is 'spoofulation' but rather being too old-fashioned and making wines that are rustic, overcropped, underripe, even for the Saar!

Your note of yellow fruits on a 'rich' Auslese such as this is consistent with that style (as I mentioned earlier) but of course that doesn't mean the wines won't be delicious sometimes!

I don't think the problem with Fischer is 'spoofulation' but rather being too old-fashioned and making wines that are rustic, overcropped, underripe, even for the Saar!

Your note of yellow fruits on a 'rich' Auslese such as this is consistent with that style (as I mentioned earlier) but of course that doesn't mean the wines won't be delicious sometimes!

Rahsaan,

It's situations like this when I wish that a more experienced Riesling taster could have tasted this wine at the same time. Sometimes wines that I like are not necessarily good examples of a certain grape/region/style. It is good to be able to cross reference with others. The tasting note that I did find called this wine "reticent and under-ripe" which is in line with your comment. It didn't seem that way to me though. Perhaps I need to explore more under-ripe wines.

The tasting note that I did find called this wine "reticent and under-ripe" which is in line with your comment. It didn't seem that way to me though. Perhaps I need to explore more under-ripe wines.

Under-ripe is a loaded and relative term so it all depends on who is doing the tasting and who is writing the note.

For what it's worth, I tend to like racy acidic Saar wines that lovers of the Rheingau might consider underripe. But, my limited exposure to Dr. Fischer has been that the wines tend to lack the substance and depth that I want even if the acidity is brisk and fresh.

That said, as David mentioned, some of the wines can be hits and even when they might be 'misses' for some people, it's not like we're talking about garbage here and there is often plenty to enjoy in the right cirumstances.

INteresting opinions. I have one bottle of this in cellar, wll try and open soon. Thanks for notes.

David et al,

I agree than Urbans-Hof O-B is a likely more consistent and classically built wine recently, year-to-year, but I have no tasting experience with Urbans-Hof vintages prior to 2000. It was the less interesting of the two in only one year that I have tasted each house's O-B Spatlese and Auslese: 2004. The sweeter wines I don't buy from either house.

Unfortunately, I may never find sound U-H O-B 2007s locally; the cases I saw last week at Wine Exchange showed bottle damage (dang) and I won't knowingly buy badly leaking German wine again. It's been very hot here recently, intermittently and Gawd knows when these were shipped in. So sad, but I am thankful to have noticed the damage before purchasing.

As for older Fischer O-B wines, many were stunning, pretty much throughout their line. The house style has been deceivingly fat in youth and it would be easy to think that few would age well and drink well over a long haul. But several have. Older examples still drinking well today and in-cellar include these Fischer Spatlese and Auslese levels: '88, '90, '94. I have examples of these wines ready to enjoy.

I wish I had more Urbans-Hof too.