David and Laura Bueker came down to Storrs for dinner yesterday and the three of us drank through some fabulous German Rieslings and Scheurebes. We began with some Indian vegetarian starters - a stir fry of ivy gourds with cashewnuts and mustard seeds, and a paneer makhani - and a dry wine, the
2007 Van Volxem Wawerner Goldberg Riesling Erste Lage. This was light yellow in colour with a great nose showing pears, flowers, stones and steely minerals over softer smoky and herbal aromas. Rich on the palate with bright pear and apricot flavours over notes of beeswax, herbs and stones with a stony mineral character underneath and a long finish. Despite the low residual sugar in this, I found a faint glycerin sweetness in the back of the mouth. A fascinating wine to sit down with over a few hours.
I then served blind a
2007 Jakoby-Mathy Kinheimer Hubertuslay Riesling Spätlese Goldkapsel that David immediately pegged as an 07 Middle-Mosel. I had heard a lot of praise for Jakoby-Mathy's 07s, and this was really sensational - a brilliant wine combining incredibly bright, clear apple, peach and other orchard fruit flavours with layers of slate and saline minerals. Rich yet light on its feet with bright acidity and great balance, finishing long leaving streaks of slate in the mouth.
We moved on to a main course of Chinese fried rice with Guilin chillies, chicken, peanuts and mixed vegetables, accompanied by a trio of Muller-Catoirs.
To start - a
2001 Müller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Schlössel Rieslaner Spätlese. Hideously corked. Bah!
David then opened the
1998 and 2001 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese, both absolutely sensational (and my favourite wines of the night).
The '98 was incredibly aromatic with a fantastic nose of grapefruit, mango, sage, spices and some faintly grassy/herbaceous notes underneath. A really dynamic wine that's great to sit down with and explore, with the flavours constantly changing and developing with air - one moment it's all grapefruit and grass, the next it's like the essence of mango. Incredibly refreshing with bright acidity, and a tremendous pairing with the food.
The '01 for me was even better; coming across as riper and more flamboyant and tropical than the '98, loaded with mango, flowers, pepper, pineapples, pink grapefruit and a ton of other tropical fruits and spices. There's an amazing brightness and clarity to the flavours here, refreshing acidity underneath - a really thrilling, delicious wine that I couldn't stop coming back to even with the other great wines on the table.
We finished with a half bottle of
1999 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese. AP #14-00, imported by 'Adventures in Wine, CA' - I'm not sure whether this is the regular or second Auslese bottling from this year (hopefully David will chime in with the AP number clarification). Much more botrytis than I've noticed in Donnhoff's other Auslese with a dominant butterscotch flavour over honey, peach, flowers, red fruits and faint oily notes. Rich, full bodied and silky in the mouth with moderate acidity, finishing long and creamy. Delicious.
Great way to spend a Saturday night!