WTN: Duck and lots of Riesling at PDH

A big group of us got together at Peking Duck House in midtown Manhattan for lots of Riesling and some Gruner Veltliner/Scheurebe also showing up. Lots of fun with great food and wine and a chance to catch up with some old friends as well as meet new ones.
A few highlights from the evening:
- Jay Miller brought a bottle of the '98 Catoir Mandelring Scheurebe Auslese that was one of the most awesome wines I've had; there are other wines that may be more complex or structured or better built for the long haul - but I've come across very few that were as fun to just sit down and drink with a grin (the only other in its league was the '01 Catoir Mandelring Scheurebe Spatlese - those wines are such pleasures).
- Corked/cooked eiswein SUCKS.
- 04 Auslesen are drinking shockingly well for a vintage that I imagined was closed up. I'd had a really enjoyable 04 Schonleber Auslese a few weeks ago and wanted to check in on a couple of other bottles - the Prum and Donnhoff Hermannshohle were both absolutely stunning with really gorgeous, clear fruit and tons of acidity and precision beneath.
- Keller rocks (and I'm becoming more and more of a believer with each bottle) - the von der Fels hit way above its price point and IMO was on par with a lot of very, very good Grosses Gewachs (incl. Keller's Hubacker IMO). A really stunning, dynamic wine with amazing depth.

THIRD WEDNESDAY TASTING - RIESLINGS - Peking Duck House (8/19/2009)

• 2008 Weingut Keller Riesling trocken - von der Fels - Germany, Rheinhessen
  Great stuff; light, precise and incredibly refreshing with cool herb-tinged flavours of green apple, pear, cucumber and citrus fruits and a bed of rocks underneath. Over a couple of hours this gains weight and depth as the minerality and fruit elements expand and pick up in intensity, but retains amazing focus and a sense of refreshment throughout. Awesome.
• 2002 Weingut Knoll Riesling Smaragd Loibenberg - Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
  Quiet on the nose at first but it quickly picks up with air to show great aromatics of rocks, metallic elements, citrus and white fruits with hints of developed honeyed notes. Spectacular in the mouth with an incredible brightness to the fruit flavours and the acidity and minerality making it feel almost crystalline in texture while incredibly light.
• N.V. Schloss Gobelsburg Brut Réserve - Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal, Langenlois
  Really tasty and refreshing with good acidity and fine bubbles, showing bright spicy notes and white fruits over yeasty flavours and hints of lentils and beans. Very nice.
• 1993 Hans Wirsching Iphöfer Kronsberg Scheurebe Spätlese trocken - Germany, Franken
  Really nice aromatics with orange, citrus and pear flavours over herbal and grassy elements - but on the palate this is dead; tired and oxidative with the only pleasure coming from the nose.
• 2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Hommage a Jeanne - France, Alsace, Alsace AOC
  Somehow manages to combine tremendous richness and depth with amazing precision and elegance (but it is a Trimbach, so not that surprising). Great aromatics with white fruits, melon, honey, flowers and some vaseline-like notes. Very rich on the palate but with very little sweetness, packed with more white fruits, orange and floral elements with an intense stony mineral character underneath and really good acidity keeping it in perfect balance. Finishes with great length - stunning.
• 2007 Carl Schmitt-Wagner Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
  Lots of SO2 on the nose obscuring anything else. Nice apple and lime flavours in the mouth with some salty notes underneath, but again there's a strong sulfur component obscuring the fruit and other flavours and giving it an awkward, muddled feel - almost like drinking through a veil. Disappointing, considering how good this has been in other years.
• 2008 Grapes of Roth Riesling Split Rock Vineyards - USA, New York, Long Island, North Fork
  Citrus fruits and flowers on the nose, but it's spoiled by some strong vinyl notes. Awkward and sour on the palate with tart citrus fruit flavours and the phenolic roughness making it very unpleasant to drink. Only thing redeeming it at all was the entertainment value of Jay's face when he tasted this.
• 1971 Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Bohlig Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Pfalz
  Bright golden colour, still drinking very well with bright lemon candy, honey, baked apple and pear and faint caramel flavours with good acidity underneath. With more air this gains in richness as the honeyed element intensifies and softer tropical fruit notes also emerge. Really lovely wine to sit down with and follow over a couple of hours.
• 2002 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Nahe
  Really beautiful with amazing clarity and polish to the fruit flavours, which range from white cherries and peaches to tarter limes and grapefruit. This feels incredibly light on its feet with a glossy, almost floating mouthfeel and a slightly saline, rainwater like sensation at the back end with the flavours just staying with you. Gorgeous wine; I'd have loved to sit down and explore this with more time.
• 2003 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
  Quite one-dimensional and disappointing showing soft pineapple and melon flavours; this is all flabby tropical fruit with not much depth or cut. Boring.
• 1994 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
  Quite disappointing compared to another bottle (same late release, AP #01-06) that I had a year ago - this had a horrific amount of sulfur/Prum stink to it obscuring the fruit. Rich apple and white fruited flavours underneath - but just hard to enjoy this with all the sulfur.
• 2004 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
  This on the other hand was phenomenal. Opened a couple of hours before serving with most of the sulfur blowing off quickly, leaving only faint hints on the nose underneath bright aromatics of flowers, apples, melon and white fruits with touches of honey and slate. In the mouth there's tremendous acidity giving the fruit a sense of juicy freshness and brightness and keeping it very light on its feet despite the sweetness here. Lovely wine that I reckon will only get better with time.
• 2004 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese - Germany, Nahe
  Thrilling stuff, packed with fresh tropical fruits, cherries, peaches and honey with really bright acidity and salty mineral flavours underneath. A powerhouse but perfectly balanced and refined - the depth, complexity and length here is amazing.
• 2001 Reinhold Haart Piesporter Domherr Riesling Auslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
  More opulent and sweet than the Dönnhoff or Prüm Auslesen with very ripe, rich flavours of tropical fruits, peaches and berries mingled with minerals and flowers. Powerful and firm in the mouth with good acidity balancing the sugar and a long finish.
• 1998 Müller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Auslese - Germany, Pfalz
  Freaking insane. Just explodes with all sorts of tropical fruits; mango, passionfruit, pink grapefruit and pineapple with elements of honey, apricot, sage and herbs beneath. Extremely sweet and rich, but at the same time very well balanced with incredible length. Such an amazing wine, right from the intoxicating aromatics to the long mango and grapefruit-laden finish that keeps going and going. This is the sort of wine I could have been smelling and drinking happily since the moment it was opened until the end of the night - wait, I did just that. Thanks Jay!
• 1998 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Eiswein #23 - Germany, Nahe
  Very deep gold in colour - something was quite off here, with dominant caramelized flavours, softer stewed pineapple notes and very little fruit. A few of us thought this was corked, a few said cooked - either way a real shame.

Salil - I'm glad we finally got a chance to meet. Your notes are beautifully written and incredibly detailed, and I thought the wines we tasted were phenomenal, although I see I missed out on a few....some by choice, i.e. both Grapes of Roth.

I was interested in following the 2002 Donnhoff Felsenberg since I brought it and I have another bottle at home. It was as lovely as you described, although, at first, I thought it may benefit by another couple of years. By the end of the evening, it had lost all of its charm, and I was struck by a strange sweetness on the attack, and then nothing. I'm perplexed as to whether or not it shut down with a couple of hours of air, or did we see all it has to show.

The other Donnhoff I tasted was the 1/2 bottle of the 2004 Auslese, and it was gorgeous. I didn't see the bottle until after I had the 1998 Muller-Catoir Scheurebe Auslese, so I could only imagine how much better it would have been prior to the M-C, which was also fantastic. Another favorite of the evening was the 2004 J.J. Prum Auslese, although I seemed to enjoy the 1994 more than you, and that is probably because I didn't have a previous bottle with which to compare.

Thanks for these notes, so I am able to reflect back on a wonderful night of wines.

some Gruner Veltliner/Scheurebe also showing up.

Where was the gruner? The Gobelsburg sparkling wine?

2003 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese
Quite one-dimensional and disappointing showing soft pineapple and melon flavours; this is all flabby tropical fruit with not much depth or cut. Boring.

Seems like this had a lot of tough competition from a bunch of other really nice wines. Did anyone come back to it later in the evening and find that it had improved?

Matthew, who sat next to me, poured himself a little more of the 2003 Zilliken at the end of the evening, and kept shaking his head in disappointment.

[David M. Bueker]

Diane,

Did the wines get too warm over the course of the evening?

The Gobelsburg was 70% Gruner, 15% Pinot Noir and 15% Riesling.

I didn't revisit the Zilliken - as it was there was an excess of wine, with another vintage of the North Fork Riesling, a Boxler Sommerberg and a Fritz Haag BJS Auslese I didn't get around to trying. Plus later in the evening most of my attention was taken by the Catoir Scheurebe and the Prum/Donnhoff Auslesen which were really phenomenal. Did return to the Keller and Knoll later and both were knockouts.

Diane,

Did the wines get too warm over the course of the evening?

Many of the bottles were in and out of ice buckets, but I don't think the 2002 Donnhoff was in ice when I returned to it. I didn't consider temperature as a culprit, but it is possible.

Fritz Haag BJS Auslese I didn't get around to trying.

What vintage? I have an 06 that I'm afraid to open right now.

Did return to the Keller and Knoll later and both were knockouts.

Sounds like it. And interesting about the Knoll. I had an 02 Alzinger Loibenberg Smaragd earlier this summer that was nice with air but seemed a bit too brawny and big shouldered for me right now. I decided to leave my other bottle alone for a while.

The Haag was an 02. Hands off the 06 - just had the BJS Spatlese a few months, and it was a bit awkward with massive botrytis.

Haven't had that much experience with 02 Austrians, but the FX Pichler Steinertal was absolutely insane (in a great way) a few months back. We'll open some of that once I get my hands on it in fall...

[David M. Bueker]

Just now having a chance to look at your notes in some more depth over lunch (making me thirsty).

The '98 Catoir Scheurebe Auslese is a fabulous wine. For the first 10 years I preferred the '98 Spatlese, but now with time the auslese has the edge as it should.

No shock at all on the Trimbach. I had a generous pour of that wine in June, and damn the cost it was worth buying. I will consume my bottles in the near term though, as I find it too delicious to pass up now. There's plenty of other stuff that demands more time in the cellar.

I don't generally find that most of the current crop of Auslesen ever really close up. They are so big (most are BA-TBA must weight) that their sheer size and sugar can keep them from going into a mute phase. That said I would much prefer to drink 10 year old Auslese with more nuance and complexity, yet I would be unlikely to pass on a younger wine.

As for Keller, I suppose that sooner or later I will have to try a large cross section of the wines again (last time was 2002 for me and I wasn't thrilled).

I like the Schloss Gobelsburg sparklers, but they don't hold a candle to the Brundlmayer Sekt in my opinion.

The Schmitt-Wagner needs time to shed its sulfur aromas. I had the same wine several weeks ago, and it needed vigorous swirling/shaking to clear off the stink. Don't worry, it will come around. Of course there's always the 2001s to drink.

The different perceptions of the Donnhoff at different times puzzle me a little, but a lot can happen with a bottle of wine over a few hours. Clearly some experimentation is called for.

The Zilliken surprises me, and not in a good way.

Corked eiswein again Salil? Are you cursed?

Thanks for notes, Salil, and welcome back! And Diane thanks for your comments, too.

I like PDH, usually have done Burg, which works well with the duck, but Riesling would allow more exploration of the menu

Funny someone (Jay?) brought the 98 MC Scheurebe Auslese, since I brought the Spatlese to Dylan Prime night before.

Too bad about ZIlliken, but those things happened in 03. Though some 03s are very good, lots of dull wines even from good producers.

So it sounds like the 00 Trimbach HaJ is drinking well? Will put in queue

The Haag was an 02. Hands off the 06 - just had the BJS Spatlese a few months, and it was a bit awkward with massive botrytis.

Good to know. I also have the 06 BJS Spatlese and have been afraid of that one as well.

Haven't had that much experience with 02 Austrians, but the FX Pichler Steinertal was absolutely insane (in a great way) a few months back. We'll open some of that once I get my hands on it in fall...

I guess it might also depend on style. And grape. A few months ago I had an 02 Alzinger Gruner Veltliner that was much richer and easier to drink. Absolutely delicious.