Kind of a bittersweet bottle opening for me. Germans were the wines that opened my eyes to what wines could be in my youth, after years of family plonk. In the 80's I stocked up on as many as wines from any other region, and loved them all.
And now I was, at long last, down to my last two bottles: a 1975 Merler Konigslay-Terrassen Auslese (M. Schneider), and that Bernkasteler.
I knew from the color in the bottles I probably shouldn't have waited this long for either. Of the two, I gave the '75 the least chance of still being viable. The '82 was "iffy". But they represented the last of an era in my life, so I still didn't want to open either. I guess I'm just a sentimental fool.
But...
I always said these wines would be perfect to drink with my wife on a cool summer day on our back porch overlooking the woods while playing a board game and eating appropriate foodstuffs.
Yesterday was a picture perfect cool summer day, my wife was home, I had appropriate foodstuffs in the fridge, and an old checkerboard in the basement. It was kismet. We set up the porch table, and I headed for the wine fridge.
First up: the '75.
Woof. Mud. The less said, the better. I gave it a proper burial, and my apologies.
As for the Doctor?
I tell ya, I was pleasantly surprised. I was a bit worried at the brownish hue evinced when looking through the green bottle. Out of the bottle, it was pure honey gold, like a middle-aged Sauternes. Just a thin smudge of sediment - not enough to decant, but I did pour it through a fine seive as the cork came out in two pieces and left some crumbly remnants. A small amount of cork mold, but nothing excessive.
I have to say, it's a good thing I didn't wait much longer to pour this pradikat. Although not bad, it was definitely on its last legs. The nose, while floral (with just a whiff of petrol), was very much muted. The palate was similar: floral, but muted. Much less intense than the color would lead one to expect. Very low acidity, too. But it was pleasant for all that, and complex enough that it kept my wife marveling (she of the "I only drink big reds" clan). I myself loved it despite its flaws, as it instantly transported me back 30 years into the past when these things were still new and exciting (and cheap).
As such, I'm not going to grade, rate, or otherwise assign any kind of objective value to this bottle. Other than the observations above, everything I could say about it would be subjective. It would be like grading one's child (I assume anyway, from what I've heard).
One last note: it didn't last much longer than an hour. We were sipping our last glass each, and almost literally between one sip and the next it disappeared.
BTW, it matched perfectly with Vietnamese summer rolls in rice paper, with shrimp and mint from our yard, and a variety of dipping sauces. We played checkers. She kicked my ass.
For some reason I can't ever seem to post pics here (I keep getting "unable to determine blah blah blah), so if you want to see the venerable bottle in all its label-mold glory, click here: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/89/2d/6b/892d6b933b210c1b9ea71f7c35a1a176.jpg
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