WTN: Puligny, Pomerol, Piesporter

Recovering from Thanksgiving:

Sea bass, leftover stuffing, spinach
2021 Joseph Colin La Garenne Puligny-Montrachet 1er .
Gave this a half hour in the decanter, shows very well, pear and hazelnut, touch of anise, good acids, long minerally finish. B+/A-

Flannery strip steaks, sweet potato, green beans, salad
2001 La Grave a Pomerol
Pleasant black plum fruit, some cedar and espresso, soft easy finish. Easy to like, not really memorable. B/B-

Hot honey chicken thighs with wilted collards, rice with furikake
2023 Steinmetz Piesporter Treppchen “GG” Riesling
I think GG is just name, not actually a Grosses Gewachs. Big style but balanced, lime and peach, long rocky finish. B+

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

2023 Steinmetz Piesporter Treppchen “GG” Riesling
I think GG is just name, not actually a Grosses Gewachs. Big style but balanced, lime and peach, long rocky finish. B+

So they put GG on the label as a name, but not a Grosses Gewachs? That sounds like too much of a loophole to be legal, but maybe he gets away with it because he's not a VDP member.

I have my first Steinmetz ready to open soon, the 2023 Wintricher Ohligsberg Rondel.

[David M. Bueker]

Big Steinmetz fan here. He has a varied list of designations for his dry and dry-ish wines. It’s not at all clear what they really mean if anything.

Big Steinmetz fan here. He has a varied list of designations for his dry and dry-ish wines. It’s not at all clear what they really mean if anything.

Surely GG is a reference to Grosses Gewachs?!

I was originally told this was his Grosses Gewachs style wine, but since he wasn't in association he couldn't use that and just said GG. But he has a lot of wines with nebulous designations- GB, GK, GD, GP- so who knows.

[David M. Bueker]

Big Steinmetz fan here. He has a varied list of designations for his dry and dry-ish wines. It’s not at all clear what they really mean if anything.

Surely GG is a reference to Grosses Gewachs?!

Reference to it yes, but given his other fanciful designations it all becomes sort of meaningless alphabet soup.

Big Steinmetz fan here. He has a varied list of designations for his dry and dry-ish wines. It’s not at all clear what they really mean if anything.

Tonight I opened the 2023 Steinmetz Wintricher Ohligsberg Riesling Rondel, and it fully delivered on the expectations. Good ripe firm layered fruit (for the Mosel), but also great cut, mineral floral delicacy, and a screaming value at $29. Although at least this bottling wasn't really in a "GG" style, seemed a bit looser and maybe had a touch more RS (although am fully prepared to be proven wrong by analytics on that). Regardless of the 'style', it was delicious!

[David M. Bueker]

Ohligsberg is a fabulous, somewhat overlooked site.

Ohligsberg is a fabulous, somewhat overlooked site.

Still overlooked? I remember 20 years ago, it was the lesser-known vineyard in the R Haart profile. But with the past few decades of global warming, I would have expected it to come into its own again. Regardless, delicious stuff.

[David M. Bueker]

Yeah, it still lags behind. I’m glad though, as it is not so hard to acquire!

I think I've had one Ohligsberg ever (Julien Haart). I should look around.