Bill Hooper wrote:If you are looking for prominent producers from the early to middle twentieth century, I think that you probably know a lot of them already. Off the top of my head:
Basserman-Jordan, Bürklin-Wolf, Von Buhl, Schloß Johannisberg, Kloster Eberbach (State Domaine Hessen), Schloß Vollrads, Domdechant Werner, Langwerth von Simmern, Schloß Schönborn, Bürgerspital, Juliusspital, Vereingte Hospitien, Thanisch, Karthäuserhof, Grünhaus, von Kesselstatt, J.J. Prüm, Egon Müller…
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the list, though I'm still curious how many of these prominent producers made the drier styled wines I keep hearing about. I've had various aged examples from many of those estates in styles ranging from Cabinet/Spatlese Cabinet through to feinste Auslese, but every one of those wines I've had from the middle 20th C has been sweet - some modestly so (in styles comparable to modern Kabinett/Spatlese), others dessert-sweet. I'm not sure if, as David suggested, the drier wines were regarded as 'lesser' table wines and consumed young, or if there is some historical overstatement. Even with an estate like Karthauserhof that's been reputed for their trockens well before the GG trend, I haven't come across any older dry wines (though have had some magnificent Auslesen from the 1960s).
I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass here but am genuinely curious after hearing/reading a lot from various sources about how old Mosel/other German Riesling was significantly drier in style, and am interested in hunting down some old examples to see how some of them have aged... particularly as I have a handful of GGs and 'harmoniously dry' Rieslings from producers like Van Volxem and AJ Adam, and am curious about their longevity and track record for aging. It'll be nice to have some reassurance that I'm not being an idiot by stashing away my Rebholz bottles offsite for several years rather than drinking them young. (BTW, 09 Ganz Horn GG was quite wonderful a couple of weeks ago - really stellar stuff.)
PS: Wanna bet that once people start to get used to the new 2012 classification, the VDP'll find another way to change things up and annoy us further?