Thoughts On Aging Donnhoff

Hi,

I've noticed some quite obvious cracks here about Donnhoff's alleged lack of aging potential.

Without taking a side here, as I have only been drinking German Riesling for four years (although it seems like a lifetime of joy), could you guys possible humor me and summarize the pros and cons of the debate, from your own personal experience?

Thanks in advance.

could you guys possible humor me and summarize the pros and cons of the debate

Pros - the wines age well.

Cons - the wines don't age well.

What more did you want to know?

Obviously some people have evidence on both sides of the debate, but it is difficult to sort out how much is due to storage conditions as opposed to the inherant qualities of the wines. And at least in the States, these wines really took off in the past 10 years so there is not a lot of broad experience/stock of aged wines from previous decades. Therefore, individuals' anecdotes reign supreme.

Most of the cracks regarding Donnhoff's "inability" to age (at least at my end) are mainly tongue in cheek. It's been a bit of a talking point among some people as to whether Donnhoff's wines actually improve with time, just hold without really developing or fall apart, and there've been some pretty vocal critics who argue that Donnhoff's wines should be opened young and that older vintages (from earlier in the 2000s and older) are on the downslope.

As far as the debate goes - the issue is that a lot of older Donnhoff bottlings have come either from gray market sources and/or pretty iffy provenance. I attended a dinner in NY a couple of years ago where we did a vertical of Niederhauser Hermannshohle (that was almost entirely Donnhoff), and the group sourced a bunch of older vintages from Dee Vine in California. All the old wines (from '98 through '83) showed horribly that evening and only the younger wines (02 onwards) provided real enjoyment that evening. I've had a few other older bottles at some of these dinners (almost all sourced from DVW or places like Winebid or Flickinger) and very few were really impressive - some just came across awkward and tired, others showed signs I took to be heat damage.

OTOH - older Donnhoff from better sources (David Bueker's been buying and cellaring them for quite a while, and he's been generous enough to open a number with me) have generally been fantastic. Have had some stunning older bottles of Spatlese and Auslese (as well as a '99 Dellchen Kabinett a couple of years ago) that were simply exceptional wines, and given the balance and structure the young Donnhoffs have, I have no concerns about them not aging.

Thank you.

The young ones I've tasted were so delicious I was half hoping someone would give me the go ahead sign to drink them up already.

[David M. Bueker]

Most of the "Donnhoff doesn't age" crowd is over on Sergezerkers, and Salil has expressed the viewpoint, and the attendant issues quite well.

I rarely, if ever buy wine from secondary or gray market sources, so I can be fairly certain of provenance, and as such have had very few problems, and very many supernal successes with aged Donnhoff wines. I did buy a number of '96s from secondary sources, and they have been almost uniformly bad (while my '94s and '95s from better sources have been fantastic).

When you ask about aging, how long are you thinking about? It makes a difference, as I personally feel that Donnhoff wines hit areal sweet spot from about 8-15 years of age, where Prum wines (to give an obvious example) take longer to reach peak.

Oh, I like knowing the wine is in its window and I'm not going to miss anything if I drink it now - and ideally don't have to rush. Donnhoff is not cheap in Israel, so I have to pick the wines I open carefully.

8-15 years is usually what I look for, unless and until my wife allows me to buy a third fridge.