Tasting Notes 1998

Rating System

For interpretation of the scores I used to give below, use the following rough guide: below 10 I regard as undrinkable, 10-11 quite bad, 12-13 acceptable, 14-15 good, 16-17 excellent (some may prefer to think of 16 as 90 points), 18-19 sublime.

My wines of the year 21/12/1998

As I said below, these are he two greatest wines I have ever come across, and I had them within the space of half an hour! I cannot imagine wine getting any better than this. (Interesting: I had these two selected for dessert wines in 97 too...)

To this list I may add a few older wines and/or non-german ones which sent me to wine heaven, reflecting three wonderful trips during 1998, one to the Ürzig at the Mosel, one to Austria, and one to Burgundy:

  • Mönchhof (Mosel): Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese 1975
  • J.J. Prüm (Mosel): Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling feinste Auslese 1959
  • E Knoll (Austria): Grüner Veltliner Auslese 1983
  • Mantlerhof (Austria): the Riesling and the Grüner Veltliner, both from 1961
  • H. Ponsot (Burgundy): Clos de la Roche v.v. 1985

    Three wines I tasted recently 14/12/1998

    Koehler-Ruprecht (Pfalz) 97s 29/10/1998

    Brief notes from memory. No scores.

    An evening in Ürzig 2/10/1998

    Here's a brief report on a long planned trip to the Mosel, with the specific aim to taste older vintages (70s and and older) of Mosel Riesling at the restaurant Moselschild.

    We arrived in bad weather as expected, as rain and cold have been a constant feature for far too long now (sinece August, interrupted by just one week of sunshine) to have any hope for a continuation of the streak of excellent vintages we have witnessed in Germany recently. Let's hope it won't come to a complete disaster. We met at Robert Eymael's Mönchhof estate, and tasted some of his wines. Robert reports that the oechsle are around 80 deg, in his vineyards, but acidity is dropping, and the grapes have a lot of water. Still, the Saar's problems are much more serious at this stage. We tried some 97s, and all agreed on the superiority of the Erdener Treppchen wines over the corresponding Ürziger Würzgarten versions for this vintage. The latter have more up-fron fruit, but less power and length, and less structure. I found the Erdener Treppchen Spaetlese 97 to offer particularly good QPR among his wines (DM 13.80). We compared Auslesen from the Erdener Prälat from 96 and 97, and while they are both rather fine, I lean towards the firmer 96, which seems to be closing down a bit. Finally, we tasted the lovely Ürziger Würzgarten Spätlese 1975. The wine is in superb shape, and led to a discussion of what makes certain wines keep so well. Robert claimed that the great vintages all had low acidity, including 75, and that it is the sugar that keeps the wines fresh. I don't think this is the whole story. It is interesting though that the acidity levels in 75 are according to him much lower than those in most recent years.

    On to Moselschild for dinner, where we started proceeding back to earth with a rather strange bottle of J. Christoffel Jr. Ürziger Würzgarten Kabinett 1980. A truely bad year, and though not dead, the wine did not make many friends. One taster claimed it showed the effects of a fungicide that was (too) much in use at the time. The excellent quail made up for it. Next was a roulade of trout and lobster, and we ordered a Mönchhof Ürziger Würzgarten Auslese 1975. Wonderful! Another step up from the Spaetlese, this wine is a sheer delight, so fresh and lively, full of subtleties, and available at a ridiculously low price. Unfortunately the remaining bottles can be counted on one hand, and Robert Eymael has non left in his own cellar. The combination with the food was superb too. For the lamb course we selected a J.J. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 1964. We had planned back in May to crack one ot those 64s open at our return, so this was the moment of truth. The wine did not dissapoint as such, but after the previous one it was a step back. The wine tasted practically dry, and sligthy sharp in the finish, which was probably a good thing as it did assert itself against the lamb meat. In other contexts one would have praised it for its longevity, but in this context it suffered from the competion, especially in the light of what was to follow: J.J. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr feinste Auslese 1959. What a miraculous bottle of wine! This liquid is beyond earthly distincions of old/young, or dry/sweet. Sheer harmony and finesse! No rough edges, nothing "boasts" or "asserts". Every sip is an adventure, a revelation, and an utter pleasure. My words cannot do justice to this materpiece from one of the earths greatest vineyards, Germanies most legendary vintages and best wine makers. And finally with dessert, a J. Christoffel Jr. Ürziger Würzgarten BA 1975. Of course, it could not maintain the level of the previous wine (and what can?), it was nevertheless a goreous wine, with lovely notes of apricot and spice, and beautifully integrated sweetness. A BA at its peak.

    FUB Auction Pre-Tasting 30/08/1998

    A selection of brief notes from an amazing tasting of wines to be auctioned in September at the annual VdP and Bernkasteler Ring auctions in Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, and the VdP auctions for the Nahe, and Rheingau. Please beware that my notes and scores are based on taking just one (max 2) sips in the context of 74 wines tasted over 5 hours in a fairly random mix of different predicates. I cannot give more than crude impressions of a minority of the wines here. I try to include all those that are genuinely exciting, given the pre-selction by FUB, the Cologne/Siegburg wine merchant with well established connections to the best German producers, some of which were present at the event. This includes the makers of the two superstars of the tasting: Egon Müller and Helmut Dönnhoff. Their 1990 Scharzhofberger TBA and 1995 Oberhäuser Brücke Eiswein respectively are without any doubt the two greates wines I have ever tasted. They stand apart, even in this exquisit company, as vinous monuments of the very highest order imaginable.

    All wines are Rieslings from 1997 unless stated otherwise.

    Post Scriptum 25/9/98 The prices of some of these wines have reached record levels on the respective auctions. Loosen's LGKA reached 650DM per bottle, which must make it the most expensive young Auslese ever. Dönnhoff's Eiswein went for 750DM. Egon Müller finally rewrote the record books with 4700DM per bottle of '90 TBA (that's in the region of $2700), and I believe these are prices before tax. That would make a sip worth $50, I guess.

    Mostly German wines (plus Alsace and Canada) 21/08/1998

    Some brief notes 22/07/1998

    Some Karthäuserhofbergers 15/07/1998

    VdP Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 97 presentation, Trier 22/06/1998

    1997 is a very good MSR vintage, as confirmed by this tasting. The wines show very ripe fruit due to the long hot spell in August and September, and a soft but generally high enough acidity to avoid the danger of loose or flabby wines. In the middle Mosel yields were pretty healthy. A lot of these wines are very approachable now, and I am a bit uncertain how well some of them will age. Better drink them short to medium term. An interesting contrast was provided by Manfred Prüm as usual who showed wines from the previous vintage, 96 in this case, instead of the most recent one. The 96es from J.J. Prüm have the classical, elegant structure, and should prove superior to many more opulent 97s in the long run. (Rumor has it that the J.J. Prüm 97s are uncharacteristically open at this stage too, which may have to do not only with the vintage but also possible changes in the wine making.) I was happy with many wines coming out of Ürzig, from Robert Eymael, and in particular J.J. Christoffel (very fine Wzg Auslese*** and Eiswein) as well as Ernie Loosen (excellent Wzg GKA sold out already). The most exciting wines for this part of the Mosel though came imho from Willy Schaefer. The wines have the racy acidity that I seek as a counterpoint to the ripe fruit, and gives the wines their elegance and longevity. His Graacher Domprobst wines from Kabinett to BA are at the top of the region. The Auslese (no GK) is 120 oechsle almost BA, combining honeyed richness with nervy live wire acidity, together with cassis and slate notes. Brilliant. The GKA auction wine is even denser...
    While the Mosel has plenty going for it, the true glory of 97 lies elsewhere in my view: at the Saar and Ruwer. First the bad news: Egon Müller showed only QbA and Kabinett wines of good but by no means exceptional quality, which was not exactly an act of generosity from their side. No doubt, their 97 Auslesen will belong into different speheres altogether, in quality as well as price. What makes the 97 wines from Saar and Ruwer so superior is their much firmer acidity and better structure, together with an enormous concentration due to much lower yields in those areas (which were hit by frost in contrast to the middle Mosel). There are some thrilling Rieslings to be had from the likes of Dr. Wagner (superb GKAs with lots of potential), Schloss Saarstein (very concentrated, almost burningly intense GKA), and Zilliken (classic, racy, slatey SBer Rausch Kabinett and Sätese. No GK for tasting). The wines that created the most excitement though came from the Kathäuserhof of Christoff Tyrell. He describes his 97s as the best vintage he has seen at his estate to date (and a small one at 30hl/ha average yield), and the wines suggest it by themselves anyway. Even the humble Kabinett trocken, a style of wine that rarely works in MSR, is very well balanced and concentrated with fruit and terroir notes. At 83 oechsle it is of course anything but a true Kabinett, bordering to Auslese ripeness. Nothing less was to be harvested in 1997... The dry Spät- and Auslese wines are more that worthy examples as well, but the sensation of the day for me was the dry Auslese trocken 'Selektion'. This wine takes dry MSR Rieslings to a new level of density and power. Easily one of the greates dry German Rieslings I have seen (and one may well widen the context a bit here;). An awesomely concentrated juice brimming with cassis and yellow fruit as well as slatey terroir notes, building up to waves of flavor that linger on and on. Wow! A benchmark wine, for a benchmark price of no more than fair DM40. Not to forget the sweeter style Rieslings, of which the Spätlese I found most memorable. Such was its concentration that even after drinking several GKA and some BA it still asserted itself on the palate with lovely cassis and slate notes. Superb. If more Ruwer wines are like these in 1997, I suggest to stock up on them now!
    Finally, from the lower Mosel, I tasted my first samples from Heymann Löwenstein, who showed a very good "Schieferterrassen" QbA trocken, and two juicy Auslesen that I found a bit heavy handed. The Winniger Röttgen BA on the other hand was first rate, with rich notes of honey and poached peaches, and a lovely acidity for backbone.
    All in all, it was an excellent tasting with lots of superb wines, even though not as many BA/TBA/Eisweins as on some previous occasions, and it confirmed my views of the 97 vintage as very good for MSR, with the greatest potential for classic wines from the Saar and Ruwer.

    Some Müller-Catoirs 12/06/1998

    Miscellaneous 01/06/1998

    Some notes from memory.

    Wine Travels, May 1998

    Robin Garr, the author of the highly recommended Wine Lovers' Page, came to visit Europe with his wife Mary. This inspired a sucession of meeting with internet wine friends in Britain, Germany, Austria, and Spain. The complete trip is documented in his page. I was very fortunate to take part in the German part that covered the Saar and Mosel as well as the Austrian stage at Vienna and the Wachau. The whole experience was great fun, and proved that internet acquaintances can grow into something far more valuable than one might expect from just surfing on this shallow sea. My sincerest gratitude goes to everyone involved to make this happen.

    Here, I just like to say how deeply impressed I was with what I got to taste in Austria, under the guidance of Michl, Bernie and Christine, with friendly support from Thomas Klinger from the Austrian Wine Marketing Service. The Wachau is such a small vine growing area that its Riesling acerage (120ha) is no more than two times the size of the single vineyard of the Piesporter Goldtröpfchen. And yet the number of outstanding wines we tasted from there, and the quality of the finest examples, was absolutely breathtaking (and we didn't even taste any wines from F.X. Pichler or Franz Hirzberger). If the German wine industry could manage to learn a thing or two from the Austrian one (not only w.r.t. marketing of fine wines), the perspectives for lovers of German wine would be even more exciting than they are today. How much more is an interesting topic for speculation. For now, all I'd like to say is that probably the finest dry Riesling I have come across to date was tasted on this Wachau trip. I do not think that this is how things have to remain though, given the potential of our own terroirs. The even greater revelation for me was to taste some of the finest Grüner Veltliners. The very best, like Knolls Auslese 1983 or Bründelmayrs Spätlese 83 invite comparison with the greatest Burgundies. The whole visit can only be described as "Austrian magic".

    On the way back I stopped at Müller-Catoir in the Pfalz to snatch up some remaining 96es. The Rieslaner and Riesling Spätlesen are superb (at least 16 points), with the dry Riesling Spätlese showing some severe acidity at the stage, but lots of potential. Stocks of M.E. Rielsaner Auselse (not tasted) are running out. Of the 97s I was impressed with the Riesling QbA that has great ripeness and good structure, representing superb QPR at DM10 per liter. I also like the Muskateller Kabinett trocken. Finally, MC have also an impressive 96 Spätburgunder (70% barrique aged) in their range. A big wine of 13.5% vol, that should be left alone for maybe 2-3 years. Surely a wine to challenge the established red wine leaders in the Pfalz and Baden. Thanks to Hans for pointing me to some of these wines.

    Aspargus dinner 10/05/1998

    Two "trockens" 4/05/1998

    Different occaisons. Notes from memory.

    VdP Gutswein 20/04/1998

    I attended the VdP "Gutswein" presentation of the new vintage with leading growers from the major regions. From this event I think one can conclude a bit more about the caractersitic of the German 1997 vintage: it is not a great vintage for Germany, but there is plenty to be happy about, and there may be some areas where it might still rank as classic (I'm thinking of Saar and Ruwer in particular, which were not represented at the event.) The wines are generally forward and very fruity with softish acidity. Everyone I spoke to agreed that they will mostly make excellent early drinking but won't last on the whole. Of course this varies from region to region. Yields were not uniformly as much affected by frost as I thought. Some specific comments:

    Mosel-Saar-Ruwer: I only tasted some wines from Dr. Loosen. They looked very good. Acidity seemed good. Herr Schug (Kellermeister) was very happy with the vintage. Saar and Ruwer were not represented, but I expect them to be even more exciting than Mosel. They never have a problem with acidity for starters..., and very low yields in 97.
    Mittelrhein: I tried some very fruity, open, tasty wines. These are superb wines for all lovers of fruity young Riesling (vg: Lanuis-Knab)
    Nahe: I tasted some very nice wines from Schönleber, Diel and Kruger-Rumpf.
    Rheingau: I didn't taste much. Weil's Gräfenberg Spätlese was delicious, but relativley soft. Acidity could be too low in some cases. 96 is probably the greater year.
    Pfalz: a problematic vintage. Acidity can be seriously low, making wines that taste too alcoholic if dry or too cloying if sweet. Select with care, and buy all the great 96es you can still find.
    Franken: I spoke to J. Ruck who told the familiar story of forward, fruity, softer wines, confirmed by my tasting. I liked them.
    Red wines: Ahr looks really good. A barrel sample from Deutzerhof was imho the best red around (DM 65 unfortunately). Baden is also promising, though Salwey and Heger didn't agree on whether 97 or 96 was best.

    The tasting was finished with some sips of dessert wines selsected by "Alles über Wein". I couldn't cope with more than a handful, two of which were stunning Rheingauers from 96: F. Künstlers delicious Hochheimer Hölle BA, and R. Weil hauntingly perfect Gräfenberg BA goldcapsule (a TBA in realty, of course). Rheingau at its (rare) magical best.

    Wine evening in Lebach 14/04/1998

    A highly entertaining and educational evening with red wines from around the world, and two German whites, one of which I have not yet described here.

    Four superb dry '93 Rieslings 09/04/1998

    I dug deep to pull out my best dry 93's from the cellar. The wines were superb. Smiles around the table from start to finish for this friendly competition between MSR, Pfalz, Alsace (France), and Wachau (Austria). The DM40 spent on the ZH and the Prager were well spent. Even more amazing it is therfore to note that the Loosen is under DM30 and the KR around DM20 (or was it even less?)! Amazing value for money! To finish it, a lovely Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Auslese '96 from Theo Haart, reviewed elsewhere. A great tasting.

    Brief update 01/04/1998

    I have not tasted many German wines recently that have not been reviewed here before. The Wolf Jesuitengarten (my dry white wine of the year) has shown more alcohol recently than when I first tried it. A sign of it closing down a bit? It's time to start looking for 97s now...

    Pfalz '96 whow! 05/03/1998

    !G. Mosbacher (Pfalz): Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spätlese trocken 1996 ("first growth") Wet stones and hard (for me) to pin down fruit notes (something exotic there, starfruit maybe?). Full bodied and powerful, a vertiable "Ungeheuer" (monster) of 13% vol. yet not at all clumsy, with gripping acidity, and great depth and length. Few dry white wines play in this league. Should age very well. 16.5 (+?)

    Dinner 27/02/1998

    Notes from memory, 2 days later.

    Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Alaaf! 23/02/1998

    Cup semi-final 17/02/1998

    Dissapointing game, dissapointing wines (more or less).

    Progress Report 09/02/1998

    Two wines I have praised as models for dry MSR Rieslings were showing not too well this time 'round. Dr. Loosen's Ürziger Würzgarten Spätlese trocken 1996 started very closed, but did improve as it warmed up, hinting at it's underlying qualities that had impressed me so much some months ago. I think that I was slightly over enthusiastic though. The other wine, Jordan & Jordan's Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese trocken 1995 ("zero") I expected to be not at its best at this stage, and so it was, but neither was it as dumb as it is often the case with Rieslings of similar age. The nose was still very slatey, and more open than the Loosen's, which has perhaps the more complex mix of mineral notes. Both wines show a serious amount of acidity, which was masked at earlier stages by the young fruit. The Jordan is perhaps the more powerful wine, but the Loosen might turn out the more complex one. Both I suggest need some time now, and I remain optimistic about their prospects, but I would not try to convince sceptics of dry MSR Riesling by popuring them these bottles at this stage of their development. Both 16+

    Food orgie 10/01/1998

    Younger than ever... 04/01/1998

    News: 1997 International Red wine success 02/01/1998

    A German red wine has scored a major international success in 1997. Another sign that even when you take away the hype that German reds are receiving back home there still are exciting developments to be observed by international standards. The success was the 10th place of Bernhard Hubers Spätburgunder 'Reserve' in the international Pinot Noir challenge of the Grand Jury Europeen. While Burgundy dominated the competition with top scoring wines from Confuron (winner with Romanee St. Vivant), Mortet, Meo-Camuzet, Rousseau, and Romanee-Conti, Hubers Spätburgunder reached the best score of any non-Burgundian Pinot Noir in the three-vintage average score ahead of various Burgundies and all New World wines. His 93 vintage was ranked 7th, leaving behind Bruno Clair's Clos de Beze grand cru (8th), Armand Rousseau's Chambertin grand cru (9th), and Mondavi Reserve (10th). To my knowledge this is the first time a German red has found international acclaim on this level of excellence, and a few other wines I have tasted recently suggest that it won't be the last. Unfortunately, red wines of this sort of quality will remain very rare in Germany for some time though, and prices are already caught by the hype. In any case, it's good to know that there is more to the German red wine wonder than just hot air.