WTN: Vollenweider and Ogier

2006 Vollenweider Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Auslese Portz
You cannot ignore the big vanilla cream botrytis leaping out of this although there is some ‘fresh’ acid spritz on the finish that restrains it from being thick and unctuous. I am a sucker for thick rich BAs and TBAs but this doesn’t really have that full-on texture yet it also doesn’t have the refreshing characteristics of nice Auslese. And that’s one in-between combo that doesn’t thrill me right now. This may just be in a weird stage but I’m leaning towards it being a weird vintage.

2004 Vollenweider Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese Portz
This is much more my style at the moment. Intense fruit flavors and slightly rich yet with very fine mineral acidity and refreshing briskness. With air the flavors tilt towards sour cucumber and the structure tilts towards firm piercing acidity. Some might call this ‘shut down’ and I’m sure it will show more harmoniously in the future, but I would rather drink this right now than the 06 Auslese.

2007 Vollenweider Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese Portz
Of the three, this is the one to open right now because it is intense and rich yet young and showing its succulent pleasures. Such friendly red orange fruits but with fresh and precise mineral acidity. Maybe slightly largely-sized for a spätlese but very fun, confident, expressive, and exactly what I wanted in my glass at the time. Very fun.

1999 Ogier La Rosine VdPdCR
I should have decanted this because when I got to the bottom of the bottle there was a bunch of sediment. Plus it kept gaining weight as I worked my way down. Oh well. It was nice relaxed Northern Rhone syrah that was fairly well dominated by brett but not so much that I found it offensive (and I consider myself pretty brett-sensitive). So even if I couldn’t fight my way through to find the pork or the violets or the olives, there was still enough warm fruit to provide some interest besides the spicy brett. At least to me. YMMV. Plus I have a feeling we’re looking at noteworthy bottle variation on this one. Final verdict: fun enough with pizza but not really joyous.

[David M. Bueker]

That '06 Auslese is no Auslese. It's full botrytis BA in my book (even if it's not legally BA, which I bet it is).

The '04 Vollenweider wines may be my favorites of all his vintages.

You didn't notice any creaminess in the '07? That's a relief.

Thanks for the notes. It's been a while since I had the '99 La Rosine, but I remember liking it.

It's been a while since I had the '99 La Rosine, but I remember liking it.

There may be some bottle variation. I think Jonathan Loesberg had a bottle recently that he liked much more than I did. Although he probably also likes Rhone and brett more than I do.

That '06 Auslese is no Auslese. It's full botrytis BA in my book (even if it's not legally BA, which I bet it is).

I'm sure it may be close to legally BA, but as a BA it didn't wow me. At least not now. And as an Auslese it didn't please me much either. Hence my lukewarm response.

You didn't notice any creaminess in the '07? That's a relief.

The sucker was definitely ripe and big but there was acidity and relative freshness and it all went down nicely. I was happy with what I had .