WTN: A complete, romantic bottle of Merkelbach

Opened my lone bottle of 2001 Alfred Merkelbach Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese (AP #5) for what I thought would be a nice way to start off an early/long weekend.

No fruit. Lots of acid in the mouth, a very faint touch of sweetness, and an overriding flavour of musty newspapers and cardboard.

ARGH.

[David M. Bueker]

See what you would have missed with a screwcap.

Sorry to hear that... Perhaps it never promised you a wurzgarden.

See what you would have missed with a screwcap.

Indeed, fruit and the basic drinkability of the wine aren't that important. But it's traditionally closed, and those gentle cardboard and newspaper flavours went very well with my dinner! 2nd bottle of corked '01 Riesling in the last 2 weeks (after the Schaefer Himmelreich a couple of weekends ago).

I at least found a worthy backup (if a very strange alternative) to enjoy with my pork and rice stir-fry - a 15% alcohol (which I only can tell by looking at the label) bottle of Parker Terra Rossa Cabernet from Coonawarra that I'll add to the QPR discussion in wine focus soon, and is under screwcap.

Guess what - there's fruit here! Flavour! Things other than TCA to taste! And I didn't even have to reach for a corkscrew to open it.

I was talking with an Alsatian producer this evening. About 40% of their wines are under screwcaps, the ones not expected to age for more than a couple of years. I asked him why not more of them and he said his brother is on the board of the winery and sells corks.