Last night I was very happy to host a fellow wine blogger (Torsten from Winerambler) and my old chum ‘The Kid’ Peter for a Riesling and Pinot Noir-themed tasting. We drank copiously and terribly well. The wines were served blind which heightened our critical faculties. Even the English wine was good (immensely unbelievable as that sounds).

Classic Cuvee 2003, Nyetimber
Wow, this smells like proper fizz and it is English, I’m staggered. It has pronounced mushroomy and toasty characters. Wow, its not immediately horrible and vapid. There is plenty of ripe fruit on the nose, which edges toward being very slightly over-mature, but that is 2003 for you, even in Blighty it seems. There is a reasonable degree of class to this; it may not be the most riotously complex of sparkling wine noses but there is more than enough to keep the fizz-lover interested. And it is an English wine that doesn’t smell thin and insipid, my mind is spinning! The mousse seems reasonably refined and there is some tasty fruit on the palate. I like its acidity, pretty well balanced and certainly keeping this fresh. The finish is remarkably long, with a pleasing array of vibrant fruit characters persisting. This is properly good sparkler. Hell’s bells, I just said the extraordinarily improbable statement that an English wine is properly good; are there no certainties left in the world?

Riesling Spatlese Piesporter Goldtropfchen 2003, Reinhold Haart
A tits-out nose of gloriously sun-ripened fruit; this is distinctly exotic but still unmistakably Mosel Riesling. Its pineapple/grapefruit characters could suggest this is a Scheurebe, but it seems more like very ripe Riesling. Not over-ripe, but attractively voluptuous. The palate is a little short on acidity, but it has completely lovely fruit and an appealing sweetness. There is some prominent minerality showing here as well, and it is quite stylish, this was grown in a top vineyard. This is one of the best examples of 2003 German Riesling I’ve had, it is pretty balanced, has well-defined fruit and a quite grown-up vineyard character. Good stuff, thanks Torsten.

Riesling Grand Cru Sommerberg ‘D’ Vendanges Tardives 2005, Albert Boxler
This nose has real VT character, candied fruit and manifest power. It is also incredibly mineral but this character shows itself with a lot of finesse. It is almost surprising that a wine this big can display such elegant and beautiful minerality. It is a wonderful nose that would tweak the lewd bits of any lover of fine things. The palate also has late harvest power, but as it commits frankly debauched acts in your mouth the balance is never less than faultless. Its acidity is searing and stomach slashing (ouch, ouch, ooooowwww… I’ll need the Gaviscon soon enough), there are dumper-truck loads of candied citrus fruit and the minerality is spell-binding. It is not the scale or power that make me love this wine, and I love it oh so much, it is the harmony and panache which so many Alsace VTs just don’t seem to manage. My last bottle of this tremendously fine wine, alas.

Auxey-Duresses Premier Cru 2006, Comte Armand
Now this smells like proper Burgundy, it has inviting dark fruit and a powerful earthiness. There is some power to this nose, but it is not in any way overblown or overly focussed on muscle. This is the nose of Pinot from the correct place, alright; there is charm, class and complexity on show. The palate also has power and a rather rigorous tannic structure, it is a tad on the tough side but has more than enough dark, ripe fruit to keep the balance satisfactory. This makes me think that the clout this wine has is quite finely honed and I think it would be a good wine to age. When trying this blind I thought this was a good Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, which shows it has some pretentions to style and quality. I should have got this right. I love Comte Armand wines and have tried far too many so I feel I could recognise the winemakers finger-prints all over it. It is a sad day when I cannot spot Comte Armand wines, when the label was revealed I felt a smidgen of exasperation at my failure.

Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru les Suchots 2006, Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot
This smells breathtakingly beautiful. Its pure expression of complex, exotic fruit really warps my mind to its way of thinking, and this nose thinks it wants to mesmerise and captivate. Sure there is a good mineral character, but that enthralling fruit is what does it for me, an enchanting expression of Vosne. Oh bums, after that nose I feel a tad disappointed by the palate. The tannins have more than a suggestion of being significantly daunting and together with its far from reserved acidity they make the palate seem somewhat stiff and demanding. There is a lot of fruit there as well, and it is charm-tastic, lovely-licious fruit, but it is not quite in balance with the brutalist tannic structure. Its powerful earthiness is very convincing and really persists on what is a very long and multifaceted finish. There are many things to like about this wine, but ultimately it just falls a bit short of the mark.

Pinot Noir ‘Sangreal’ 2006, By Farr
There is more than a suggestion of stemminess on this nose, along with serious earthy power and plenty of really scrumptious fruit. Authentic complexity is present and I am rather compelled; if this was not one of my offerings I’d say after smelling this it was a genuinely good offering from the Cote de Nuits. The palate bursts with lots more of that scrumptious fruit which sits in appetizing harmony with a finely-wrought tannic structure and succulent acidity. That stemmy character is also present on the palate and I feel this, along with its intense earthiness, really add to the complexity. This is the best Australian Pinot Noir I’ve had since the brilliant and refined Mac Forbes wines. Top stuff, Mr Farr.

Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr 1997, Fritz Haag
By all that is evil and malevolent this nose is stunning. It has definite traces of maturity, but the fruit is pulsing with excitement and vivacity. Super citrus action which you know is going to taste luminously lively. The powerful slate character is also persuades me that this is a wine of stylish class and refined sophistication. Yeah, this is a penetratingly compelling nose and no messing around. It tastes staggeringly acidic, but lovely, animated, energetic acidity which just makes makes my drool flow and draws me in to drink more and more. The slate minerality shows multifarious levels of captivating character which meld intricately with the acidity and enchanting, exquisite fruit to produce an utterly brilliant, breathtaking buccal experience. The enthralling harmony of this salaciously complex and indecently elegant wine blows my mind in an outlandish maelstrom of aesthetic ecstasy. We are lucky when we get to drink wines this good; I feel lucky. But then I also feel absolutely deserving and unreservedly worthy of such delights. Hooray for Riesling, Pinot Noir and all who love them!

I was not going to bother writing up this utterly delicious wine, but Peter ‘The Kid’ Palmer tells me I must. “People need to know”, he says.

Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 1996, J J Prum
A linear, direct nose of ripe citrus fruit. The fruit is stellar in its intensity, but the minerality on the nose beats this into submission as far as shining beams of memory burning laser light goes. It is complex, harmonious and refined. And direct. It is beautiful. The palate has quite a lot of sweetness, but it seems secondary, even this beautiful, ripe fruit and body, compared to the stunning purity of the minerality and acidity. This wine screams into the pantheon of brilliant experiences and leaves a smoking trail through the hall of good times.

After me bad-mouthing this producer (possibly un-necessarily, we’ll see if/when the wines come good) my chum Jeremy gave us this to try.

Riesling Kabinett Trabener Gaispfad 2007, Weiser-Kunstler
This positively reeks of lemon sherbet. I like lemon lemon sherbet very much. It has puppy fat and charm, a really attractive nose that just promises pleasure when you get around to drinking it. The palate is clearly quite ripe, and the fruit as a consequence it is at the exotic end of the kind of flavours you’d expect in a kabinett. It has a good degree of concentration and I like the acidity no end. My stomach doesn’t like it, but I’m lapping this up. Not, if we are brutal in our honesty, the most electrifying wine of utter gorgeousness in the world, but it is not short on charm. As far as drinking wines go you couldn’t get much better.

Sometimes Dr Loosen wines just seem a bit simple, sometimes they seem like they will not age, but when you buy the right stuff in the right vintages by merkin can they be fantastic.

Riesling Auslese GoldKap Erdener Pralat 1997, Dr Loosen
Bit orange, which I suppose shouldn't worry me as it is so old and so ripe. Still gives me a moment of doubt when I pour wines of this colour. The nose has ultra-pure lemon fruit and an incredible mineral character which just burns its stylish personality across your mind. It is very fruity. It is just so charming but also rigorous in its lively style. The palate also has a screaming acidity and bonkers minerality which add to its memory forming character. The lemon rich fruit is better than real lemons actually are. If you could imagine the worlds most finely balanced and refreshing, rather than heroic, margarita, with an incredible complexity and a real level of life then it wouldn't be as good as this.

Weingut Fritz Haag make extremely distinctive wines, which I hope I do a good job of blind tasting. They have a brilliant purity of expression which, whilst you can sometimes confuse with Prum or Thanisch wines, you’d hope to get right. This is because there is a very strong vineyard character which is recognisable vintage after vintage.

Riesling Auslese Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr 2007, Fritz Haag
An intense, pure nose of lime fruit and slate minerality. This is very focussed and direct. Very beautiful, too, in a linear sort of way. Just smell this and you’ll love it. I love it. The palate is certainly sweet, but it fizzes with fresh acidity and an incredible minerality. There is a real streak of complexity and an wonderfully long finish. The focus is arresting and enlivening. This is a finely sculpted entity of stunning brilliance and as such, this is the kind of thing we really seek out when it comes to German wine. Thrilling.

And this is a goodie, alright.

Riesling Spatlese Kiedrich Grafenberg 2007, Weingut Robert Weil
A wonderful, precisely-defined nose of citrus fruit and minerality. This smells charged with life, a really exciting array of aromas. It has the ripeness of 2007, alright, this is one ripe-bitch-mother of a Spatlese. The palate has spell-binding acidity and is bursting with fruit. Lots of minerality here as well. The flavours on the palate are also precisely defined and this gives the impression of a very stylish, classy wine. There is a lot here to enjoy and I am pleasuring myself immensely with this glass.

That acidity may hurt, but it shows that you are alive. Alive and enlightened if you are drinking this. When I was a beginner in the field of German wine, a long time ago, it was generally considered that Himmelreich was the best vineyard in Graach, thanks to Schaefer that view has now changed.

Riesling Kabinett Graacher Domprobst 2007, Willi Schaefer
The nose has stunning clarity of expression. It is ripe and concentrated but very pure with pronounced lime fruit and a great slatey mineral character. This is special in the best way possible. The palate has tooth-achingly strong acidity, but it is in great harmony with the fruit and slight residual sugar. It is long with a good mineral complexity on the finish. This is a very wonderful, intense, livid and exciting bottle of Kabinett.

The question is, which ones? As my long-term readers know I have almost no cash; I cannot afford much. I am torn between getting 6 bottles of good quality kabinett/spatlese type wines or 3 flashier bottles of top Auslesen. I need guidance. This calls for another fantastic Elitist Review poll!

Free Web Poll

As usual, followers of the RSS feed will have to come to the site to vote.

This wine is from Roman Niewodniczanski*, the Saar’s arch-master of these weirdy almost-dry German Rieslings. His wines really impressed me when I first tried them, but I’ve had one or two since which have been a bit too weird. This seems nice enough, but rather forward.

Riesling ‘Goldberg’ 2007, Van Volxem
Quite a dark yellow colour, not the limpid green I’d normally expect from young Riesling. It has a powerful nose: baked apples, citrus and petrol. The nose really does seem quite forward. It is very attractive, don’t get me wrong, but just more mature than I’d expect. There is some nice slate minerality to it. The palate also seems rather forward, with the fruit moving more toward petrol than fresh limes. Real minerality and super acidity keep this zippy. This is pretty much dry, but with just a shade of residual sugar to balance the acidity. The harmony is pleasing. Good, long finish. This seems really quite enjoyable, but as it is already so forward I wonder how it will age.

*This is the most difficult word I know how to spell.

Some 2007s have closed up, this isn’t one of them.

Riesling Kabinett Graacher Domprobst 2007, Willi Schaefer
This is burning with limey life on the nose with a fantastically focussed slatey minerality. This smells totally thrilling and completely delicious. There is a satisfying purity to the nose as well. Oh I like this, it speaks to me. The palate is totally refined and pure, amazing fruit, great, exciting minerality, and quite stomach-scorchingly wonderful acidity. The complexity is certainly there. For a humble kabinett this burns across my senses with style, grace and class. This is what I like.

OK, based on my last taste of the 97 this won’t be necrophilia, but what more can you ask from the title of a post than a suggestion of horrible sexual perversion?

Riesling Auslese Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Fuder 6 1997, Fritz Haag
A really strong nose of that complex citrus character we like to call ‘petrolly’. It is quite amazingly mineral as well. This is properly mature and really quite classy on the nose. Very attractive, but smells like it is reaching time to drink. The palate doesn’t seem that sweet, but it is. Top acidity there, pleasingly painful in my stomach; yeah! Very long, rather complex and once again properly mature on the palate. This is quite, quite lovely. I would suggest up for drinking in the next few years but over that period it will provide top bunny pleasure.

Riesling Auslese Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr 2007, Fritz Haag
Oh lovely, charming, beautiful, ripe peachy aromas of Muscat-like fruit. Yummy, yummy, yummy. This is highly attractive, anyone could smell this and instantly fall in love with it. There is more to it than that, though, it has lots of the same kind of slatey, subtly creamy minerality that the 1997 also has in spades. Super complex class on the nose. Mmmm… the palate is totally delicious. Lovely sweetness, great acidity and incredible minerality. The harmony is simply superb. Clearly a top vintage with a wonderfully happiness-inducing future in front of it. When I tried the 1997 on release many years ago I recall it having the fruit of this, but not quite the ripeness and acidity, but my memory could easily be misleading me. We have to say that this is a truly marvellous bottle of wine, though.

The answer is ‘None, none more intense’.

Riesling Auslese Kiedrich Grafenberg 2005, Weingut Robet Weil
The nose of this is utterly refined and pure. Sure, it is really minerally and vineyardy, but it just reeks of super-focussed citrus fruit. Amazing, stunning and intense. And yet, it is really buxom, ripe and fruity enough to charm absolutely everyone. A lovely, lovely nose. The palate is really rather sweet, but there is stunning acidity here. The citrus fruit character is amazing. It is super-mineral action on the finish. Incroyable, as my French chums would have us say. The stunning, stunning balance and complexity are truly mind-bendingly wonderful. Super lovely. A long, hilarious life in front of it. I want… no, need a half bottle of this every week for the next 15 years of my life.

And this wine isn’t short on it.

Riesling Auslese Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg 2007, Karthauserhof
A lovely, lovely nose of ultra-ripe limes, with a hint of charming peachiness. There is a great, smoky stoniness to it as well, which really tickles my fancy. This smells quite delicious, you’ve got to love such an expressive, pleasing nose. It is quite sweet, with incredible, but totally harmonious, acidity. I am enlivened! This is one of those utterly ravishing, mouth-watering palates that only the very best German sweeties have. It is totally tasty, even though I suspect it is beginning to close up a bit. Yes, I am drinking this now with a nip-load of pleasure, but we should really be saving our other bottles for at least another five years. This will have a long and glorious life of making all who drink it very happy. Yummy yummy, in my tummy.

We are told that this is a wine of auslese ripeness, selected from the best parts of the vineyard, fermented until it is off-dry. It is quite a nice drink, but I am not entirely convinced.

Riesling Maximin Grunhauser Abtsberg Qba 'Superior' 2007, von Schubert
This has a lovely, detailed nose of peachy fruit and a fantastic stoniness. It is one of the most mineral wines I have smelled in a while. We like this. It is bursting with life and smells like it is going to taste quite delicious. There is certainly nice fruit on the palate, really good acidity and a great mineral tang, but somehow I feel the harmony is not quite there. It has some sweetness, but not quite enough. I also think it lacks a bit of body and weight, which I would expect from an auslese fermented this dry. Moreover, it is a bit short. You can drink it with pleasure, but it just misses a few marks to be the kind of thing you'd want to drink regularly. They are odd things, these German dry-ish wines; sometimes they work really well, but really I prefer the sweeties.

The partner thinks I am being unduly picky about this wine, obviously I disagree. I think he is saying that because he purchased half a case. It'll be really interesting to see how these style wines age.

This was recommended to me as a serious wine at a bargain price. It is a nice drink certainly, but is not going to set the world on fire with its complexity.

Riesling Spatlese Enkircher Ellergrub 2007, Weiser-Kunstler
A nice, fruity nose, with that pleasing baby fat character of Riesling. This is in the full flush of attractive youth. It doesn't have much in the way of complexity, alas. The palate is pretty similar: nice fruit, soft and charming, but nothing to really excite. I like it very much for a tenner a bottle, but let us be honest in that this is a quaffing wine in comparison to the loveliness of producers like Prum, Haag, Schaefer, Thanisch and so on. Sorry, Jeremy, whilst I am pleased to own several bottles of this (I'll drink it when I bloody need a drink in the summer) this is not the thrilling entity of intensity which you had promised. Would I recommend this? Probably to a person of limited means who likes Kraut wine, but even though I am of hilarious limited means I'd rather drink something nicer and more expensive.

I've never really thought that Leitz wine age so well, but this is reasonably attractive. Better when it was just released, though.

Riesling Spatlese Rudesheimer Magdalenenkreuz 2002, Weingut Leitz
The nose is a tad dirty, but there is a reasonable amount of grapefruit fruit present. It smells nice enough, but is lacking dimension. Nice fruit on the palate, but again it is quite one dimensional. It is just about interesting enough to be above sub-interest, but ageing it was a waste of time. Drink them young, boys and girls.

Roman Niewodnicszanski often makes top Riesing, this is no disappointment.

Riesling Scharzhofberger "Pergentsknopp" 2005, Van Volxem
A lovely nose of sweet citrus fruit with a lovely savoury character.There is a hint of celery to it which is oddly appealing. It doesn't smell particularly botrytised, but there is plenty of ripe fruit there. The alcohol seems in perfect harmony on the nose (claimed 12%). The palate has truly lovely bastard-loads of fruit, with great minerality and a thrilling edge of acidity. It is not overly sweet, and the fruit and minerality make this thrilling. This has an obvious high degree of complexity, but is going through a bit of a closed patch. I would wager this would be a lot better in five or more years time, but it has a thrilling, nervous, edgy life to it now. Lovely stuff, and it is a relative bargain.

We tried this at the London Wine Trade Fair last week and our case was delivered this morning. It is bursting with youthful charm.

Riesling Spatlese Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck "Old Vines" 2007, Leitz
This has a completely lovely nose of grapefruit and creamy minerality. There are hints of cucumber and mint there as well, which smell a lot more attractive than they sound. The nose is very complex and pleasing, with that wonderful 'puppy fat' character that young German Riesling often displays. The palate has lots of delicious citrus fruit and perfectly balanced acidity which makes this burst with youthful exuberance. The sweetness is very harmonious with the fruit and acid; this is a proper Spatlese not a de-classified Auslese as many of these wines tend to be from really top vintages. It is very long, with real old vines concentration of flavours and wonderful, wonderful complexity. OK, the Prum Spatlese from a few days ago may be a slightly more refined, elegant drink, but this is a superb example of Rheingau Riesling at a deeply reasonable price. It is not short on style or class, indeed it is quite delicious. Marks and Spencer tell us this wine should be drank within the next two years, and I think that is probably correct. Leitz wines are lovely when young but I have not had an older example that I think provides as much pleasure.

OK, I know one should really age these things, but when they are young, bursting with fruit and that lovely young 'puppy fat' charm it is hard to refuse. 2006 was yet another great vintage in Germany and shouting Manfred Prum is a freaking genius.

Riesling Spatlese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2006, Joh Jos Prum
This smells beguilingly beautiful. Lovely citrus fruit, great slaty minerality and nowhere near as much sulphur as I would have expected. The aromas are subtle and refined with great complexity that is terribly pleasing. Now if the nose is beautiful then the palate is nec ultra plus. The fruit is ripe and flavoursome, it has truly great acidity which sits in perfect harmony with the fruit and sweetness, and the minerality charms the socks off you.  This is an ultimately beautiful palate which is utterly harmonious and balanced. The sweetness, acidity and minerality make my mouth water with each sip I take, but such are the concentration of flavours  even my drooling does not dilute the experience. The finish is superb: long, elegant and tasty. There is so much to love about this wine and, even though there doesn't seem to be that much sulphur, I feel this will be providing obscene amounts of pleasure for a couple of decades. If you want to try it at this charming level of youthful style pop a bottle within the six to eight months; this will close up for its middle-aged period reasonably soon. Shouting Manfred has delivered the goods once again. With its obvious class and with such a long and pleasing future ahead of it twenty-one fun tokens* is a real bargain.

*That is £21, for those unaware of the usage of the term 'fun tokens'.

I tried this chez Haag with my great chum Gernot Schleiss when we visited in 1998. I knew they were pretty freaking triple-A then, and now I get to enjoy them when they are showing off with a bit of age. Hooray!

Riesling Auslese Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr Fuder 6 1997, Fritz Haag
A proper nose of mature Riesling: citrus fruit and petrol. It has a truly inspiring minerality to it, really slaty. The thing you have to love about 1997 German wine, though, is the fruit, and this has it in spades. This is seriously complex on the nose and has bags of style. The palate has plenty of sweetness and a lot of fruit, but great acidity and real vivacity. It bursts with energy and life which is great for an eleven year old wine. It is very long, and really oozes class and complexity. This is a really ubermensch-level wine. Fruit, minerality, life, what more could one ask for? Probably time to drink now and over the next five years, though.

How can I possibly describe a wine this good? For the record this cost me twelve quid on release.

Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 1996, Joh. Jos Prum
An intense nose of gravel and thick grease. It is intensely limey and petrolly and positively bursting with stoney life. This is the ballerina's bits. Rude bits, at that. The complexity and god-damned style on the nose are simply awe-inspiring. The palate is light, beautifully elegant and refined, fizzing with limey, stomach-scalding acid. The sweetness is truly delicious and together with the acid and minerality this makes for an incredibly mouth-watering, moreish drink. I mean, I've had some seriously nips wine in my life and this is a memorably ranking bottle. Up for drinking now but will provide pleasure for decades if you treat it with the loving attention it deserves. I've got a bottle left; sometimes life is pretty good.

Heavy petrol action here.

Riesling Spatlese Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr 1999, Fritz Haag
Lots of petrol on the nose, also one hell of a lot of lemon/citrus fruit. This is lovely, but the addition of the slatey minerality makes this wine very satisfying on the nose. Cripes the palate is delicious. The intellectual tension between the acidity, fruity sweetness and minerality is freaking thrilling, man. Seriously complex, incredibly long, oozing charm and personality, this is a top bunny wine double-plus.

Apricots*. And that is what this wines smells like.

Riesling Spatlese Graacher Domprobst 2006, Willi Schaefer
A very floral, fruity nose, lots of apricots, with peach and lime hints. It is also very slatey and smokey, extremely mineral. This smells rather complex and highly attractive. The palate is really light and elegant, with extreme refinement and is suitcase-full of style. It has good sweetness, but is not overly so. The acidity is just beautiful, very present and refreshing, but not painful. It has good length, too, and is prickling with slatey minerality. This is a highly enjoyable wine that is in the full-flow of youthful exuberance. It is quite, quite beautiful. Really good stuff, to drink over the next six months or in six years time, but whenever you drink it, you'll smile.

*My American reader may not understand this joke. A cot is what Americans refer to as a crib. And there was me thinking a crib was what a rap star calls his/her (rarely her, let us be honest) abode.

Obviously nowhere near as good as the last one, but things that good cannot be drank all of the time.

Riesling Spatlese Graacher Domprobst 2006, Willi Schaefer
A lovely, zesty nose of lime, grapefruit and slate. This smells bursting with life and vivacity. The palate fizzes with acidity and bursts with life. It is quite ripe and very complex. This is a really serious wine, but it slips down a treat, too. I am really enjoying it, it will go very well with the gnocchi I am cooking in mushroom sauce.

Oh I am sorry for that terrible pun. The wine is not as worrying as the winemaker's name suggests. This comes from the Franken region so is bottled in a novelty bottle.

Silvaner Spatlese Trocken Escherndorfer Lump 2005, Horst Sauer
A weighty, ripe nose of white fruit and creamy minerality. This smells vaguely of Chardonnay, which is a bit odd. It does have a reasonable amount of fruit, though, which is good for Silvaner. The palate has plenty of acidity, but also weight and ripeness. There is both minerality and length there, but I would not call this a terribly complex wine. It is reasonably dense and fruity, but that is about it. It is very good for a trocken wine, and very good for Silvaner, but just a bit lacking in excitement and style. I suppose it is a good novelty. Don't even begin to think about ageing this, it'll fall apart within a few years.

Wilhelm Haag is a wonderful winemaker, and he makes great wine too. You cannot go wrong with his Kabinett and Spatlese wines, they are normally very ripe, delicious, will age a treat and are complete bargains.

Riesling Spatlese Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr 2006, Fritz Haag
Cripes, this smells ripe. Lots of wonderful peachy fruit and great minerality. It is not as sulphury as I would have expected. This has layer after layer of rich ripe fruit on the nose, completely delicious. The palate is very ripe, too, obvious Auslese-level sweetness to it, but with great fizzing acidity and a thrilling slaty-ness. It oozes charm and plenty of complexity is there to delight. This is a really top-bunny wine, I love it, and it was less than fiften quid, too. Cannot go wrong with this wine, now or in seven to fifteen years time.

I used to love von Kesselstatt wines when I was at university, but I have learnt to my cost that they just do not age. I felt reasonably safe buying a two year old wine from a vintage as great as 2005, though.

Riesling Spatlese Josephshofer 2005, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt
The nose is quite peachy and limey, with a reasonable degree of slatey minerality. There is really quite a lot of botrytis there, too. There is a warmth and richness to the fruit that suggests this is going to be a really rather ripe wine. Indeed it is, I've had Auslesen drier and less botrytic than this. Bonkers vintage, man. The acidity is quite good, but it lacks a bit of minerality on the palate; it doesn't quite have enough zip. That being said, this is not a bad bottle for an Ayrton, it is not going to set the world on fire but I am happy enough to drink it. 

I purchased some of this at an Oxford college tasting where the lovely Katarina Prum was present. I had to go up to her and compliment her on the frightening vivacity of the wines I'd tried.

Riesling Auslese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 1996, J. J. Prum
This has a very steely, slatey nose. There is a lot of petrol there, it is quite mature, but also a smokiness. It smells in perfectly good nick, though, with reasonable amounts of fruit as well as the minerality. By arse the palate is still frighteningly acidic! But quite tasty. Nice mature fruit, good minerality and a reasonable length. It is clearly from a lighter vintage, but is refreshing for that. It is by no means the best Prum wine I've had, but I am enjoying it quite a lot. A perfectly enjoyable wine for a summer's afternoon, and to think it is eleven years old and lasted so well.

I've had a few German wines over the last period of time, the quality levels of which have been very good. This is the first long gold capsule Auslese I've had in a while, though. I'd like some more. The wines of Schloss Lieser are made by the son of Wilhelm Haag, so there is clearly some genetic component to making top-flight wine. I suppose having access to a top vineyard in a great vintage helps a bit as well.

Riesling Auslese Lange Goldkapsel Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr 2005, Schloss Lieser
The nose is rich, dense and concentrated, bursting with ripe fruit and an incredible minerality. The ripeness is such that there are hints of lemon grass and Thai basil on the nose, but this is not a bad thing. This smells extremely stylish and highly attractive. It is not terribly botrytic, though. Never mind, I could smell this all night. I'm buggered if I am going to, though, I am going to drink it. Wow, what a mouthful! It may have real sweetness, density and power, but it sings an elegant song of complete charm and delight as it dances across my palate. The acid is just great for a wine this ripe and the finish is extraordinarily long. Its melange of complex flavours has slapped a huge grin across my face. This is a great wine by any definition of the word, and merits an f'ing triple-A rating for its obvious class and utter loveliness.

Cripes!

Riesling Auslese Berncasteler Doctor 2001, Dr Thanisch (Erban-Thanisch)
I have to summon my very darkest powers in order to fight the vivacity of this wine that is trying to drive me from my normal Eeyore-ish mode of operation. I have rarely had wines that burst with this level of precision, focus and intensity. And yet, for all of those qualities it just slips down a treat. The nose bursts with ripe grapefruit aromas and an incredible degree of slatey minerality. It explodes with concentration of aromas. So giving and so thrilling, and yet so obviously young. The palate is a truly mind-bending roller coaster ride through a panoply of experiences. There is incredible fruit, wild minerality, stunning concentration, charming hints of botrytis and quite buttock-clenching amounts of style. The acidity hurts, but in a way that you want to feel again and again. It is vastly young, but this is a wine of such quality it goes beyond slightly lewd to rather dirty.

Thanks Peter!

1996 seemed to produce high-acid wines all over Europe. I've had worries about a lot of my wines from that vintage. These two are certainly not short of tooth-fizzing action, but are really pretty good. The Nuits needed a lot of air before it blossomed.

Riesling Spätlese Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr 1996, Fritz Haag
A mature, petrolly nose, but it retains a citrus fruit zip and is incredibly mineral. On the nose it is very impressive and promises loveliness, plenty of style and complexity here. Hell's bells, that palate is acidic! There is some good fruit there, and reasonable weight and richness, but the initial impression of this is that it is concentrated lime juice acidity designed to make those with stomach ulcers howl with pain. I had a stomach ulcer fixed a few years ago so this doesn't bother me so much. I like the combination of ripe fruit, acidity and minerality very much. Even our guests (who are less completely obsessed about wine than me) were impressed with its slatey character. OK, this is for the brave, but it is certainly a goodie.

Nuits-St.-Georges Premier Cru Perrières 1996, Robert Chevillon
After leaving this to sit in a decanter for a while it shows a lovely, earthy nose of undergrowth and softy ripe fruit. It is certainly very complex and like a classic (high-quality) Nuits on the nose. The palate starts off being a tough, but with further swirling in the glass it seems a lot less butch. Not that I am denying this has a serious tannic structure, but it just seems in balance with the fruit and fine core of acidity. The acidity is definitely present, but not out of harmony. It has a lot of complexity; earth, minerals and fruit. It is pretty long, too. Certainly a good, interesting wine. I must remember that any 96 red Burgundy I open over the next few years need the aid of a decanter to blossom.

After the severe disappointment of the Van Volxem I am pleased have a wine that is really terribly good. Quite reasonably priced at eighteen notes a bottle from the wine soc. This is the kind of thing we like!

Riesling Spätlese Graacher Domprobst 2005, Willi Shaeffer
A wonderful, rich nose of luxuriously ripe fruit; peach, grapefruit and even mango. This smells like a very ripe spätlese. Even though this is very fruity it is not short on mineral complexity. This a really charming, harmonious nose. The palate is really beautiful, very ripe, but beautiful. There is a lot of peachy fruit, a great mineral character and really fine acidity. It is extremely well balanced and very long. This has the harmony and balance to age for a very long time. This is a top bunny wine. The only fly in the ointment as far as me enjoying this so very much now is that it means I only have one bottle left. Curses!

A few days ago I tried a bottle of Van Volxem Riesling Scharzhofberger 2005 with a friend; I was terribly disappointed by it. The winemaker, Roman Niewodniczanski, has made some great wines in the past, real models of harmony and elegance, but he just seemed to fail with this wine in this vintage. Normally he picks grapes at Auslese ripeness levels and ferments them to about 11.5% alcohol, which means they are off-dry. This wine was 12.5% and pretty god-damned dry. Like a lot of German trocken wines from the more Northerly wine regions, this resulted it it being extremely taut and linear, with nothing to balance the searing acidity. Indeed, it was actively unpleasant and we couldn't bring ourselves to finish the bottle. I had really hoped for great things, 2005 is such a good vintage in Germany after all, but with this I felt so let down I couldn't bring myself to write a note about it immediately.

After the disappointment of the Schloss Arsebiter 2005s it is a distinct pleasure to try something as utterly wonderful as this.

Riesling Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Spätlese 2005, Fritz Haag
Wow, this smells like young Riesling alright, almost Muscatty so primary is the fruit. There is real ripeness on the nose, it smells like a warm vintage Auslese. A distinct stony tang makes the nose a complete experience, complex, intellectual and charming. If the nose was good the palate is really something special. So much fruit, so ripe and yet with great acidity and focus. This is vigorously young, but such a wonderful drink. The finish is extremely long and complex. This will age and improve for decades. What a brilliant wine!

The first of ten non-school nights. We start slowly with this delicate little number.

Riesling Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Spätlese 1996, Karthäuserhof
The nose shows some good maturity along with fresher fruits; it is petrolly but there is still a lot of citrus fruit there. It is very pure and very mineral. The palate has a light body, with not too much acidity and plenty of fruit. It is very elegant and refined. It tastes quite dry at this stage of maturity. I like the purity of the acidity and minerality a lot. This is perfectly mature and ready to enjoy now, but there is no rush.

I am back drinking again! Hooray! A modest little number to get me warmed up. Very good things have been said about the 2005 vintage in Germany. This was bottled with a screw cap which might explain its very fresh condition.

Riesling Spätlese Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz 2005, J. Leitz
The nose is really quite yeasty, but there is some aristocratic citrus fruit behind that. It is very ripe on the nose. The minerality on the nose is a touch metallic, which gives the nose a slight hint of tinned peas. This is not unattractive, though. Mmmmm... what a tasty wine. Lovely fruit on the entry followed up by good minerality and acidity. It is very focused despite its ripeness. The acidity leaves the finish to be very refreshing. Perhaps not the most complex of wines, but it is a charming little number.

This was eight quid from Waitrose; what a lovely wine for the price.

Riesling Rudensheimer Rosengarten Kabinett 2005. J. Leitz
A very peachy nose, it smells floral and slightly spicy too. The fruit is very fresh and really quite lovely. This is really ripe for a Kabinett, surprisingly sweet too. There is a really good line of acidity running through it, though, so it retains balance. It is quite long, too with a good mineral character on the finish. Delicious.

At the quite brilliant two-star Mugaritz we had three nice things, all much better than the dross Albarino we were generally obliged to order.

Savennières Trie Speciale 2000, Domaine Baumard
A rich, powerful nose of apple fruit and minerality. This is very concentrated and powerful. It also smells quite clean for a Savennières. The palate is very powerful with clean apple fruit and a great mineral tang. It is very long and really quite stylish. It could age happy for a long time, but was perfectly up for drinking at six years of age.

Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles Vignes les Crays 2003, Daniel Barraud
A weighty nose of honey, nuts and toast. There is very ripe lemon fruit there too. This smells like really rather ripe Chardonnay. The palate is obviously very ripe and weighty, but there is enough acidity there for it not to become overly heavy. This is a really good 2003, especially considering the Maconnais is a warmer region, I am impressed.

Riesling Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese #10 2003, Fritz Haag
The nose smells very strongly of botrytis and ripe fruit. This is very charming. The palate is really quite sweet, but there is a surprising amount of acidity for a 2003. This is much better than most German 03s I've had, quite delicious.

Most of the wine we drank in the Basque country was so deeply sub-interesting I couldn't be bothered to write them up. We did have a few things worthy of note, and this bottle opened on our first night before dinner was one of them.

Riesling Rauenthaler Baiken Auslese 1990, Kloster Eberbach
Petrolly nose with apricot and apple fruit, it seemed perfectly mature. The nose had a Rheingau 'aristocratic' character. The palate had some serious acidity and real focus, but nice fruit too. It was not that sweet. Really pretty good.

One of the best tastings I have ever attended was at Thanisch; great wines were shown by the charming owner. There are two Thanischs is Bernkastel, this is the best one.

Riesling Spatlese Berncasteler Doctor 1998, Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch (Erben Thanisch)
This has a very pure, focused nose of lime and minerals; linear and direct is a classic Berncasteler Doctor aroma. The palate is most delicious, some sweetness with great citrus fruit and a pronounced stony character. The acidity is really lively. Real balance, elegance and finesse here. The finish is very long, with great complexity and style. This may be a lesser vintage, but the wine is simply superb and it is up from drinking now.

The Bandol wasn't good enough, time for something that is definitely good!

Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Oberhäuser Brücke 2004, Helmut Dönnhoff
This smells really bright, fresh and fruity. Not much botrytis, but it does smell ripe. There is beautiful citric fruit and nutty minerality. The palate has good sweetness, balanced with fine acidity. It is really complex and long. The fruit is quite lovely. What a good bottle of wine!

I am ashamed to admit this is the first 2005 German wine I have tried. I'd heard it was a good vintage, and this wine seems to bear that out. It was nine pounds from Sainsbury's supermarket; a bargain! The winemaker is another lovely chap, and quite dissolute too.

Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett 2005. Dr. Loosen
This smells very ripe and peachy. There is also some slatey minerality on the nose. This really smells quite big for a Kabinett. The palate is surprisingly sweet and dense, but it is not heavy. The acidity is really very good and lively. It has a good long finish of slate and peachy fruit. This is a perfectly balanced Kabinett from what is obviously a ripe, and seemingly good, vintage. Yummy.

Purchased for a laugh, to remind ageing memories of what wine used to be like. All I can say is: By arse, this is disgusting.

Blue Nun Original 2005, H. Sichel Sohne
Has some odd, confected, artificial fruit on the nose. It also reeks of wet animal hair. In the name of all that is evil, this tastes disgusting. It is like sucking on an incontinent, diabetic rat. I can manage two tastes of this for the purpose of writing this note, no more will pass my lips.

More evidence of the super-ripeness of 2003 grapes. This doesn't really make for a refreshing drink on a hot afternoon.

Riesling Kanzemer Altenberg Alte Reben 2003, van Volxem
A very dense nose of ripe fruit, it smells quite Muscatty so overt is it. There is a bit of citric fruit as well, but it could hardly be described as a fine, elegant nose. The palate is pretty dense and concentrated as well. It is really quite rich. It has a bit of acid, but not very much. There is a touch of minerality on the finish, but I think all of the fine Riesling and terroir flavours have been baked out of this. Ultimately this is a bit heavy and ponderous, lacking the exciting, vivacious characteristics one hopes for in Saar Riesling. Sadly, I don't really like it.

Roman Niewodniczanski of Van Volxem makes some novel wines. Rather than the traditional practise of labelling the wines according to ripeness of the grapes, and thereby making several wines from one vineyard, Van Volxem wines are all just labelled with a vineyard name, no ripeness. Moreover, the wine is fermented drier, to a higher alcohol level, than most German wines. Niewodniczanski claims his wines are traditional, but doesn't everyone who is doing something novel?

Scharzhofberger 2003, Van Volxem
The nose is very ripe and oily. It is only vaguely citric, but smells more like a very ripe Sauvignon Blanc. The finer characteristics of Riesling have been baked out of this. The palate is full-bodied, with ripe fruit and a reasonable amount of sugar. What it lacks is a decent whack of acidity. This wine is highly atypical. It is not bad, though, and was nice with German sausages for lunch.

After a terribly dull Korean meal I fancied something nice to drink.

Riesling Auslese Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg 1999, Karthäuserhof
Light green/yellow colour. There are bubbles collecting around the base of the glass so I expect a bit of fizzy spritz. The nose smells very strongly of ripe limes, flint and there is a hint of botrytis as well. The nose is very light and elegant. On the palate there is the merest hint of fizziness, lots of ripe, lime fruit and a reasonable amount of sweetness. This is balanced by adequate acidity levels; it would be better with a bit more acidity. The finish is reasonably long with sweetness and minerality showing on the finish. This is a perfectly drinkable wine, but it is not really much more than that. It does make for a refreshing glass and slips down easily enough after a long day drinking beer and watching rugby.

I enjoyed that Madeira so much I wanted something else nice to drink. Luckily, I've got plenty of nice things available.

Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 1997, Dr Loosen
This is as fruity as I remember it being when I purchased it on release. It bursts with fresh, citric fruit and a slate-y minerality. Quite lovely on the nose because of this. The palate is fine, elegant and balanced. Lots of fruit, plenty of sweetness and enough acidity. The acidity seems slightly fizzy, but I don't think there is any residual CO₂ in this. The length is pretty good, too. It is a beautiful little Auslese, I haven't had better in... oh... a period of time.

I just felt in need of beauty tonight.

Riesling Brauneberger-Juffer Sonnenuhr Auslese Goldkapsel Fuder 9 1994, Fritz Haag
A beautiful nose of botrytis, slate and petrol. The nose is quite developed. The palate has really quite a lot of acidity, but is balanced by plenty of ripeness and fruit. It is very long and speaks of where it was grown. A seriously lovely wine.

Riesling Cuvée Frédéric-Emile 1990, Trimbach
This started off being surprisingly closed. However, it opened up to reveal plenty of limy fruit on the nose along with a creamy minerality. The palate was very long and complex, with austere lime fruit, earthy richness and an almost toasty finish. Very good, once it had opened up.

Riesling Scharzhofberger Kabinett 1999 from Egon Muller

This is a serious wine. The nose is packed with ripe citrus fruit and a severe minerality that makes it burst with life. The palate is frighteningly acidic, but the wine is ripe and fruity enough for this to be a balanced and invigorating drink. The finish is pleasingly bright and mineral, and it is really long. I suspect this is riper than a normal Kabinett, given the year, sweetness and the weight of the wine, but the acidity and minerality keep it lively, fresh and bright. One on of the last sunny days of the year I could ask for little more. Well done Yoda (aka Egon Muller).