WTN: 2x2

2006 Kruger-Rumpf Münsterer Dautenpflänzer Riesling Spätlese
Lots of pale spritzy C02 at first but after an hour or two of air the personality emerges and the creamy sherbet frosting texture becomes very appealing. With even more air and on the second day the firm earthy base notes emerge and the whole package becomes even more appealing, especially considering the $25 price tag. I would definitely seek this out again if well-priced on a restaurant list but given my love of greater tension in German Riesling this doesn’t inspire me to purchase more for the house. You may feel differently.

2005 Kruger-Rumpf Münsterer Dautenpflänzer Riesling Spätlese
This starts out even weirder than the 06 with funky glossy confected notes. However, with an hour or two of air the personality emerges, which in this case is rich thick golden botrytis. With more air it eventually becomes just as compelling as the 06 with nice firm earthy base notes, although always with its thicker more golden tone. Again this is great QPR at $20 although not necessarily my favorite style.

As a side note, I found it interesting that the 05 from the same site showed more botrytis given the vintage reputation for more rot in 06. Does anyone know if this is one of those issues of heterogeneous weather patterns beneath the vintage generalizations? Or did they make different types of picking selections in the two years?


1998 Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges Les Chênes Carteaux
This goes through a lot of changes over several hours but for the most part is a relatively accessible wine, at least to my tastes. Sure there is some tannin evident and I would feel free to hold it longer. But I had fun now watching it evolve and take on greater depth and length. It showed several different faces with small-scaled muscles, slightly sweaty spicy fruit, and enough character to keep me entertained. Nice.

1998 Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges Clos des Porrets St. Georges
This is painfully tannic at first but also shows great potential with gorgeous deep fruit. After a bit of air the fruit emerges to buffer the tannin and what lovely dark black deep mentholated firm ripe and rippling muscular sinewy fruit it is. Wow. This was great fun and quite the bargain at $40 so I went right out to purchase some more for future drinking.

[David M. Bueker]

I would suspect that there was a picking made for botrytis in 2006, in order to capture the wealth of auslese+ material that was out there. That would leave "cleaner" fruit for the spatlese.

In 2005 there was not enough botrytis to go selecting for it, thus pick, ferment & bottle some thing as spatlese that is at least only auslese and not BA (in that year of rampant ripeness).

I would suspect that there was a picking made for botrytis in 2006, in order to capture the wealth of auslese+ material that was out there. That would leave "cleaner" fruit for the spatlese.

In 2005 there was not enough botrytis to go selecting for it, thus pick, ferment & bottle some thing as spatlese that is at least only auslese and not BA (in that year of rampant ripeness).

Ok, makes sense, thanks.

Interesting how the vintage character plays out in such complicated ways with these pradikat labels. I can see how the casual wine drinker might be confused by this system but for those of us who like details it is fascinating indeed!

[David M. Bueker]

Interesting how the vintage character plays out in such complicated ways with these pradikat labels. I can see how the casual wine drinker might be confused by this system but for those of us who like details it is fascinating indeed!

Although it is equally maddening despite the immense fun.

1998 Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges Clos des Porrets St. Georges
This is painfully tannic at first but also shows great potential with gorgeous deep fruit. After a bit of air the fruit emerges to buffer the tannin and what lovely dark black deep mentholated firm ripe and rippling muscular sinewy fruit it is. Wow. This was great fun and quite the bargain at $40 so I went right out to purchase some more for future drinking.

Sounds to me like the 98's are still in slumber mode...

My experiences with Kruger-Rumpf have been one of utter neutrality, meaning, they have been nice enough drinks but without anything there to make me seek out in a lineup. Of course, I must like them enough to repeat the procedure about every 5 years or so...

Sounds to me like the 98's are still in slumber mode......

The Porrets was in slumber but not necessarily the Carteaux. Depends on your taste preferences.

A bit of debate in the same Disorder thread with Claude and VLM advocating drinking some of the bottlings now.

I have less comprehensive experience.