Tasting Notes 2001
Dönnhoff once again (04.06.2001)
Helmut Dönnhoff must have forgotten how to make mediocre wines. When other growers struggle to make a descent drop under the unfavorable conditions of 2000 he turns out a collection that does not seem to be even touched by the troubles. Or I may have lost my critical abilities towards to wines I love more than any others. Dönnhoffs 2000s taste like wines from an excellent vintage, from dry QbA and delicate Kabinett, to luscious Auslese and brilliant Eiswein. A great wine grower at the top of his game once again.
- H. Dönnhoff: Riesling QbA trocken 2000Unmistakable Nahe Riesling, with that spicy7minerally fruit and delicate balance. Better than in 99 this is exemplary dry Riesling.
The halbtrocken is also rather successfull, in a somewhat richer style.
- H. Dönnhoff: Weissburgunder QbA trocken 2000Sleeker and less fruity than in 99, but very food friendly and well balanced.
- H. Dönnhoff: Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Kabinett trocken 2000Mineral and gooseberriesh fruit, sleek and somewhat dominated by the acidity in the finish, it needs a bit more time to show its potential.
- H. Dönnhoff: Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett trocken 2000 Riper, some peach fruit, lots of stuffing for the predicate.
- H. Dönnhoff: Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken 2000 Superbly balanced, like on a knifes edge, with just a touch of sugar to bring the fruit to life, but still appearing like a dry wine of wonderful delicacy. Pure Nahe.
- H. Dönnhoff: Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett 2000 Very juicy, with rich fruit, perhaps less minerally and complete than in 99. Very good nevertheless.
- H. Dönnhoff: Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spätlese trocken 2000Very fine white peach on the nose, racy, minerally acidity, impressively long aftertaste.
- H. Dönnhoff: Niederhauser Herrmannshöhle Riesling Spätlese trocken 2000Noble mixture of mineral and fruits, delicate and juicy at the same time. Harmony and length. Extremely fine if deceptively light for a great dry Riesling. Some may think that such a wine will get "blown away" by this monster soandso or that massive suchandsuch. Let them buy other wines then, if that makes them happy.
- H. Dönnhoff: Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese 2000 Piquant, delightful, irresistable Kirschheck. Brilliant wine.
- H. Dönnhoff: Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube Riesling Spätlese 2000 Completely differently structured, yellow, honeyed fruit aromas that seem to take hold of the palate from the word go, and refuse to die down. It does perhaps not have the same lightness of touch as the more slatey vinyards are capable of.
- H. Dönnhoff: Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese 2000 a bowl of ripe fruits such (such as pears) but more piquancy than in 99. It opens up slower on the palate than the Kupfergrube, but hints at more depth and complextiy to come. Great Spätlese.
- H. Dönnhoff: Niederhauser Herrmannshöhle Riesling Spätlese 2000 Cooler, more reserved and stonier aromas which are still undeveloped and locked away at this stage. H. Dönnhoff regards it as a great HH, and I'm not going to argue with him. Everything is in place for the magic to happen.
- H. Dönnhoff: Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese (AP1901) 2000 Who made an Auslese of such clearity, depth, and brilliant balance in 2000?
- H. Dönnhoff: Niederhauser Herrmannshöhle Riesling Auslese 2000 Cristal clear, playfully elegant, it shows its concentration in the superb finish. I'm beginning to think 2000 was a great vintage...
- H. Dönnhoff: Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling auction-Auslese (AP??01) 2000Flowers, delicately exotic, honeyed, nobel and endlessly fascinating. BA level must weight. A supreme bortytis wine.
- H. Dönnhoff: Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Eiswein "Samstag" (AP2101) 2000 An almost predictably glorious Eiswein, and yet a genuine miracle of balance and harmony, purity and depth. A definitive Eiswein.
- H. Dönnhoff: Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Eiswein "Sonntag" (AP2201) 2000 Hyperconcentrated, hole-in-tongue-burning intensity, it still manages to convince the taster of its exquisit harmony to come. More closed and unsetteld than the Samstag, it lookes destined to become another legend for the long term. Our grand chlidren may get to see the full truth about this one, when the open it for a little vertical of 95/96/98/00 Dönnhof auction ice wines. I wish I could be there.
Hans Leo Christoffels farewell vintage (01.05.2001)
2000 is the final vintage at Joh. Jos. Christoffel with Hans Leo Christoffel in charge of the wine making. From 2001, Robert Eymael from the Mönchhof will be running the operation. The estate will continue to exists and it is to be hoped that Hans Leo Christoffel will continue to play an influential part in its operation. Still, this is a great loss to German wine, as Hans Leo Christoffel has consistently turned out an astonishing number a beautiful Rieslings from a meager 2,5ha of vineyard land in the Ürziger Würzgarten and the Erdener Treppchen. No other current grower in Ürzig can match his achievement, and few wines made in Germany reach the delicacy, finesse, and brilliance of a Riesling from Hans Leo Christoffel. In the difficult vintage of 2000, he has once again produced a string of delightful wines.
- Guts-Riesling trocken 2000
Primary, ananas fruit. Nice clearity, refreshing acidity. Very drinkable.
- Guts-Riesling halbtrocken 2000
More closed on the nose, relitively dry but with more fruit. Good one.
- Guts-Riesling 2000
Fine peach and ananas, and some terroir notes. Excellent fruit, elegant acidity, purity, absolutely lovely. The word bargain does not come close to describing how good a wine one gets for as little as euro 5,15.
- Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett trocken 2000
Fine nose with lime and stones, pure and minerally, well balanced.
- Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2000
Very fine and fresh, slight spritz, zitruss and mineral notes, racy, harmonius and minerally finish. Delightful.
- Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett 2000
More reserved, some peachy fruit on the nose, fuller than the Treppchen, juicy, good stuffing, needs a bit more time but equally fine.
- Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese trocken 2000
Some ananas and mineral notes, good fruit, needs a bit more time to reach its harmony.
Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese trocken 1998. Tasted for comparison: More complex nose, stony as well as exotic and green fruits, fresh and grippy with a long minerally finish. More power than 2000.
- Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spätlese 2000
Fresh, limey nose. Relatively sweet entry, then fresh fruit and lively acidity. Nice.
- Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese 2000
Very fine fruit, not fully open yet, juicy and with very focussed power that makes it so elegant even though it has some stuffing. Long, elegant finish. For me, the wine of the vintage at Christoffel. Exemplary stuff.
- Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese * 2000
There is nice fruit, with some stewed, ice-winy elements, but lacks some focus and brilliance. Not a good vintage for Auslesen in Ürzig, appearently.
P.S. Retasted 01.07.01 (small sample) the wine showed better, with nice citrus, and more brilliance.
- Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese *** 2000
Only available in halves, as Christoffel made very little Auslese in 2000. Clearly superior to the *, with more complexity and depth, more concentrated, there is also ice wine in here, a bit of "after burner" towards the finish from the ice wine, and fruit and minerals in the aftertase. But the wine seems to lack the transparency and brilliance of the best Christoffel Auslesen from better years (and the Spätlese from this vintage). The material may have not been quite what is needed in terms of the quality of the botrytis.
Hope for 2000 (22.04.2001)
I have tasted a few wines from the 2000 vintage and found signs of hope. The vintage has been the most troublesome in over a decade. My expectations were accordingly low to find anything worthwhile at all. And true: a lot of wines that hit the market show the problems of the vintage. There are unclean flavors from rotten grapes in the less carefully made examples, or wines that have been heavily treated and thus stripped of caracter to varying degrees in order to make them "clean". But I have also tasted some wine from the most problematic regions, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (e.g. St. Urbanshof, Immich-Batterieberg, van Volxem) and Pfalz (Müller-Catoir), that show that 2000s can be delightful wines if great care has been taken with obtaining healthy grapes into the fermenting vats.
Most recently, I visited Müller-Catoir to taste the dry 2000s, and was very much taken by the quality I found there. The wines (4 Riesling Kabinett trocken, Weissburgunder Spl trocken, Muskateller QbA trocken) showed vivid and pure fruit, lovely mouthwaterig acids, and nice balance. I liked them better then comparable 99s. I look forward to try the sweet ones.
Jordan & Jordan becomes van Volxem again (12.04.2001)
With the 2000 vintage the estate of Jordan & Jordan will carry its former historic name of "van Volxem" again, under new ownership. The full name will be "van Volxem Roman Niewodniczanski". Roman and his partner Gernot Kollmann took over from Peter & Brigitte Jordan with this vintage. They have set high aims for themselves, working with extermely low yields, and trying to produce high quality dry wines mainly. I had the pleasure to taste some samples from barrel and found them highly promising. The remains an estate to watch , and hopefully their wines will find their way to export markets as well.
Egon Müller III has died (04.02.2001)
The great old man of German Riesling, Egon Müller III, has died last week. Any list of the great wines of the century that does not include his finest bottles from vintages like 1959, 1971 or 1990 will have to be considered seriously deficient. His wines have regularly set world records at VdP auctions as the most expensive young wines there are. Anyone who had the pleasure to taste some of these master pieces will agree that this is not another case of silly hype and marketing running amok, but reflects the unique standing of the great Scharzhofbergers among the finest wines on earth. His son, who has been running the estate since 1991, is set to continue this great tradition on his own now.