WTN 6/6/09 MSR & Nahe

I had a few friends over to introduce them to German wine. Most were inexperienced with German Riesling, but were "red wine drinkers". Their experience with German wine & Riesling were Liebfraumilch and a scattering of NW Rieslings from our area. I put out a tray of light cheeses, cured meats and fruit, nothing heavy. I gave them a short primer on German wine (the best to my knowledge). Described the ripeness levels and what kind of flavors to look for, (thanks to all of you, I borrowed descriptions and nuances that you used from your WTNS, (it was of great help).
#1 2007 St. Urbans-hof Ockfener Bockstein Spatlese. Very pale gold, light nose, rice citrus fruits, lemons, orange zest & pineapple. Refreshing and clean finish. Just what I had expected.
#2 2006 Schafer-Frolich Bockenaur Felseneck Spatlese. Brilliant deep gold and intense melon fruit explosion, hanging on the glass. Scents of white flowers, melons and stone fruits. Melts in your mouth and the finish....so much depth....my favorite of the night.
#3 2007 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Kabinett. Bright gold, huge nose of juicy fruit, lemons, oranges, pineapple. Crisp and alive on the palate. This wine went down so easy the bottle was gone in no time. Very Good.
#4 2003 Selbach-Oster Graacher Domprobst Auslese. Brilliant greenish gold, completely different nose than the Schaefer, more refined and elegant. A more austere Auslese, even the Nahe was richer in flavor. Slight diesel nose with subtle mineral tones. A very rich and citrus backbone with some fruit flavors I had a hard time picking out...peaches, white flower and a clove like character. Fantastic.
The groups favorite was the Willi Schaefer, everyone wanted another bottle. My favorite was the Bockenaur Felseneck. Then I dropped the bomb and told them how much I spent....they were kind of shocked, my retort was..."You only live once."
Wonderful evening

Michael

[David M. Bueker]

They were shocked at the cost? I presume these folks spend very little on a bottle of wine?

Very nice lineup Michael. All really fine producers and IMO among the best to turn to at their price points for really consistent, interesting wines.

That Schafer-Frohlich sounds outstanding. I've started enjoying their wines more and more recently; their 07 Bockenauer Felseneck and Monzinger Halenberg Spatlesen were both very impressive at a couple of Riesling dinners recently and they're a producer I'm keen on buying a lot more of.

David,
Funny you say that, this was a group of people who have no problem with buying Grey Goose, Makers Mark and Petron....their idea of wine shopping was limited to Trader Joes!!!. The one thing that really stood out though is that no said the wines were too sweet? I felt I had done my job....

Michael

David,
Funny you say that, this was a group of people who have no problem with buying Grey Goose, Makers Mark and Petron....their idea of wine shopping was limited to Trader Joes!!!

But the first two of those are quite moderately priced, and could be considered Trader Joes type products (with Patron it depends on the bottling). Ok, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but they're not exactly the spirits equivalents of Willi Schaefer or Schafer-Frohlich. Plus, people get a lot more alcohol for their $25 bottle of Makers than they do for a $25 German spatlese!