WTN: Little Stairs
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 10:23 amI opened the 1998 J. J. Christoffel Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett last night. At 8 years old this wine is fully at peak.
Smoke, pear, lemon and wet stones combine on the nose, while the palate sweetness has backed off just a touch from its youth, leaving a wine that tastes halbtrocken (half-dry for non German speakers) and is both sippable as a solo act and lovely with dry curried rice noodles. The underlay of rocks in the wine gives it the kind of backbone that makes it more than an apperitif, and will (for my remaining bottles) make it a dinner wine, fully capable of being a main dish accompaniment. The best part is that I bought this for $13.99 back in the day.
Smoke, pear, lemon and wet stones combine on the nose, while the palate sweetness has backed off just a touch from its youth, leaving a wine that tastes halbtrocken (half-dry for non German speakers) and is both sippable as a solo act and lovely with dry curried rice noodles. The underlay of rocks in the wine gives it the kind of backbone that makes it more than an apperitif, and will (for my remaining bottles) make it a dinner wine, fully capable of being a main dish accompaniment. The best part is that I bought this for $13.99 back in the day.