WTN: 3x3

Dinner with Maureen and Bob
2002 Pieropan Soave Classico La Rocca
I don’t drink much Soave so this was fun. It was golden brown and tilting oxidative so our waiter felt the need to pronounce it too old and going downhill. To each his own palate. But for a while it gained vitality, definition, and bright fruit with air. Yet it was always wrapped in the cloak of a round golden frame. A fun easy drinking pleasure to guzzle with the fennel soup.

1995 Roumier Chambolle Musigny Les Cras
Our waiter felt the need to pronounce this too young but it was the most seductive wine on the table and I had plenty of fun. Very supple yet firm, rounded and ripe yet suave fruit that is just begging to grow further into its potential.

1995 Georges Mugneret Chambolle Musigny Les Feusselottes
This was a bit more difficult as it switched from fragrant fruit to “rustic” tannin and acid as the dominant themes. I liked the small-scale precisely-etched jewel nature of the fruit a lot, even if the structure was a bit too dominant.

Dinners with Rahsaan
2005 Karlsmühle Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Spätlese
Plenty of golden botrytis but also plenty of acid to frame the package. With air and into the second day the acid becomes brisker and brisker setting off the deep rich fruit in a lovely way. A touch finer than the 06 but both of them are lovely in their own way.

2006 Karlsmühle Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Spätlese
Looser bigger and bolder than the 05 but still has enough glistening acid to prevent it from getting silly. I wanted to like the 05 better but the succulent fruit is hard to resist here. It’s all very intense and I could see how some might not like to have these with food. But I can get behind the full throttle nature of these recent vintages. Especially when there is enough brisk Ruwer acid to balance the day!

2005 Clos Salomon Givry 1er Cru
Crisp fragrant perfumed and polished fruit. I know now is probably not ‘the’ time to be drinking these (here creeps the structure!) but the perfume is fun for a bit. I survived.

Wouldn't that be 3x2 or 2x3, Rahsaan?

Interesting notes on the Karlsmuhles. I tried a few of their recent vintages (incl. 06) at a retailer's tasting a while ago - wasn't that impressed by a couple of the Spatlesen, but I found the Kaseler Nies'chen Kabinetts (particularly the 06) really lovely, more balanced and elegant than their Spatlese counterparts.

wasn't that impressed by a couple of the Spatlesen..

The Nies'chen? What didn't you like about it? The 06 was a bit too rich for me at first but after the acids emerged I was a much happier person.

Not sure I would rush out to buy more given my 'limited' consumption and avoidance of 'extraneous' wines. But I would happily drink it again and again in restaurants, parties, etc.

Also interesting to hear that their 06 kabinett was more balanced and elegant. Bravo for them. Must not have been easy.

Wouldn't that be 3x2 or 2x3, Rahsaan?

Nice pedantry.

We need you on Disorder!

I tasted the wines at a retailer's so didn't really give them much time or air - but the 05 Spatlese felt just a little too sweet without the acidity you mentioned coming through. I may have had my perspective very skewed by the fact that it followed the Kabinett, which was just unbelievably elegant, delicate and one of the best 06 Kabinetts I've had (up there with Kerpen's Wehlener Sonnenuhr and if my memory's right, it's also under screwcap ). The 05 didn't impress me particularly - just felt like a nice straightforward Spatlese, but when I tasted it I didn't find the depth or complexity I had expected, after what I had heard about Karlsmuhle.

(And I do post (occasionally) on Disorder - although keep in mind that us students are trained by academia to be pedants. )

I didn't find the depth or complexity I had expected, after what I had heard about Karlsmuhle.

I'm no expert but from my limited experience Karlsmuhle wines tend to have less depth and less complexity than Grunhaus and Karthauserfof, my two Ruwer stars. But they can still be fun.

us students are trained by academia to be pedants.

What do you study?

I got my Ph.D. this past May in Political Science and am full of my own pedantry, academic and otherwise.

Economics (doing my Masters in Connecticut). Congratulations on your PhD, btw.

Dinner with Maureen and Bob
2005 Clos Salomon Givry 1er Cru
Crisp fragrant perfumed and polished fruit. I know now is probably not ‘the’ time to be drinking these (here creeps the structure!) but the perfume is fun for a bit. I survived.

The last bottle of Givry I had a month or so ago had shut down HARD. I can't remember the Chalonnaise wines closing up like this in any vintage in the past decade...

[David M. Bueker]

Making an elegant kabinett was nearly impossible in 2006. A few did it (e.g. Adam), but what they made was still nothing that really resembled kabinett. What they did was to make balanced spätlese with the barest hint of a whiff of a suggestion of botrytis, so that in comparison to the field the wines seemed like kabinett.

Dinner with Maureen and Bob
2002 Pieropan Soave Classico La Rocca
I don’t drink much Soave so this was fun. It was golden brown and tilting oxidative so our waiter felt the need to pronounce it too old and going downhill. ...

I'm very surprised this showed brown and oxidative. I finished my last stash of his 2002 normale's early last year and it was still fresh and lively, and probably could have kept well for another 2-3 years. Steve brought over a bottle of the La Rocca a couple of years ago and it was even racier than Pieropan's regular Soave. I love this wine! Good stuff.

I'm very surprised this showed brown and oxidative. I finished my last stash of his 2002 normale's early last year and it was still fresh and lively, and probably could have kept well for another 2-3 years..

Brown might be a stretch but to me it seemed to tilt golden brown. On Disorder Bob is saying that he didn't find it very oxidative and he should know better. It got livelier and fresher with air for that was worth although it remained golden.

I'm no expert but from my limited experience Karlsmuhle wines tend to have less depth and less complexity than Grunhaus and Karthauserfof, my two Ruwer stars. But they can still be fun.

This may be a case of damning with faint praise. I don't have much experience with Karthauserhof, but being 3rd best in the Ruwer would still be pretty good.
I'm a big fan of Karlsmuhle over the years, the Kaseler Nies’chen in particular, and they are "serious" wines in addition to being fun.
Charles

Steve brought over a bottle of the La Rocca a couple of years ago and it was even racier than Pieropan's regular Soave.

Mark,

Unless you're talking about another Steve, it was the 2002 Calvarino I opened. I've never had the La Rocca. I agree with your description, though - I rarely buy more than 3 of anything, but I bought half a case of that Calvarino. Finished the last of my bottles within the last year, and it was still doing well, though for my taste I wouldn't leave it for more than a year or two longer.

I can usually buy the basic Pieropan Soave in Pennsylvania. The Calvarino is more hit-or-miss, but I'm always happy to find it.

As for the 2005 Karlsmühle Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Spätlese, PA remaindered it for $9. Based on a couple of experiences with past vintages, I was happy to get the last 3 bottles available on-line. Rahsaan's note on the 2005 reinforces that (I haven't opened one yet).

As for the 2005 Karlsmühle Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Spätlese, PA remaindered it for $9. Based on a couple of experiences with past vintages, I was happy to get the last 3 bottles available on-line. Rahsaan's note on the 2005 reinforces that (I haven't opened one yet).

Nice buy. I too would have bought as much as possible at that price.

As for the 2005 Karlsmühle Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Spätlese, PA remaindered it for $9. Based on a couple of experiences with past vintages, I was happy to get the last 3 bottles available on-line. Rahsaan's note on the 2005 reinforces that (I haven't opened one yet).

Nice buy. I too would have bought as much as possible at that price.

I was pleased to buy the Kabinett for under $15!
Charles