WTN: Rheingau, Mosel and Saar Rieslings

2001 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Klosterlay Riesling
Staggeringly good. Fresh peaches and pears, vivid stoniness, floral elements and the start of developing creamy elements combining into a package that's incredibly refreshing and vibrant with that electric '01 acidity, understated sweetness and fantastic balance. This still has plenty of fruit and structure, and I don't see this declining for quite some time. Just wish I had more.

2004 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken
This is the type of wine I'd been hoping for when I opened that Lieser trocken recently. Conveys classical Mosel fruit and slate flavours with lightness and freshness but on a frame that tastes dry rather than sweet. Bracing acids buffer whatever residual sugar there is, and this is beautifully balanced, refreshing Riesling.

2008 Weingut von Othegraven Kanzemer Altenberg Riesling Kabinett Erste Lage
Closed and unyielding. Damnit. This was so awesome on release; it shows its mineral and acid spine for a few minutes initially, and then just goes to sleep. Hide this one in the back of the cellar for some time.

Hi Salil -

Thank you for the notes. I also liked the 2008 von Othegraven - too bad it was so closed. Both of the other two wines sound very nice, though.

[David M. Bueker]

Glad those Leitz/Selbach bottles showed well. The 2001 Leitz QbAs are so much better than anything else of their type I honestly cannot calculate the gap.