WTN: Long German name that won't fit here, but it rocked

2005 Karthäuserhof Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Riesling Auslese trocken
Under cork, AP# 06-06, 12.5% alcohol. Fantastic aromatics; lots of bright lime and lemon zest at first over steel and minerals, and with time smoke and spicy floral notes emerge on the nose as well. In the mouth this just keeps developing and getting better with air - slightly austere at first, but it picks up weight and richness over a couple of hours with ripe citrus fruits, white cherries and faint nutty and oily elements underneath. This has razor sharp acidity, amazing precision and clarity and an incredibly long, lime-filled finish - my only complaint would be a slight warmth at the back end where the alcohol is noticeable. Still a fantastic wine though (although I'd have liked it even more without that tinge of alcohol at the back).

[David M. Bueker]

Well perhaps we should try the 2005 spatlese trocken from my cellar. That little bit less sugar ripness might translate to lower alcohol.

I'm also planning to break into the 06 Spatlese trocken some time soon - we got a couple of bottles of that from one of the few retailers in Singapore with really good provenance.

(On that note about provenance - had a moment of agony today. Was in a mall this afternoon with a friend and dropped into a relatively new wine store - I was shocked to see that they had 07 Catoir Burgergarten Riesling Spatlese and Mandelring Scheurebe Spatlese, both around the equivalent of USD 50 which isn't unreasonable especially given the duty on wine in Singapore. Grabbed the super-sized bottle of the Burgergarten from the rack to take a look - it was leaking to the point that the back of the bottle was sticky thanks to all the seepage, and a fill over an inch from the cork. The Scheurebe was equally bad - and of course everything from Bordeaux, Burgundy or Italy was locked in a temperature controlled back room while the Aussie, NZ and few German wines were left outside to be cooked. Ugh.)

[David M. Bueker]

Remind me to tell you about the wine shops I went to in Turin, Italy when we get together again.

of course everything from Bordeaux, Burgundy or Italy was locked in a temperature controlled back room while the Aussie, NZ and few German wines were left outside to be cooked. Ugh.)

So rieslings that actually go with the local food were treated like crap in comparison to the wines that should be reserved for temperate climes (or, apparently, reserved for non-stop air conditioning)...

Helps that Bordeaux is *HUGE* in Asia. A lot of people here who have the money immediately jump after the top right bankers or classified growths with the Parker points - and as alternatives jump after equally ostentatious Burgundy or big Italian wines, and there are quite a few retail places that cater to them - most of the bigger wine shops in SG tend to have Bordeaux as 25-50+% of their inventory, and usually almost no selection when it comes to Germany or Alsace.

I have always loved the fact that this (delicious) Moselwein, with one of the longest names of any German wine, has a label up on the neck which is about the size of a commemorative postage stamp. I think it is some kind of German humor...

Well perhaps we should try the 2005 spatlese trocken from my cellar. That little bit less sugar ripness might translate to lower alcohol.

There was a bit left in the bottle last night - returned to it this evening, and the alcohol seemed to have integrated quite nicely and wasn't apparent (even when the glass was at a slightly warmer temperature). The aromatics had also evolved a great deal - the smokiness was much more dominant and I liked it even better than I did yesterday.