The German Riesling Parade lost a few winemakers as it made its way from NYC to SF, but those who arrived were treated to a lovely space for pouring their wines, looking out onto the Bay and the Golden Gate through a giant window that displayed all the scenic glory of the Presidio and the Region. Plus they could chat with myself, Larry Stein, Claude Kolm, and a few other unmentionables who made it out for the event.
Sounds like a winner huh?
Anyway, the 05 JJ Prum wines were lovely, such depth, clarity and lightness. I know this does not come as a surprise (Larry kept saying “Yes, but it’s JJ Prum”) but they were still pretty damned enjoyable regardless of expectations. The Graacher Himmelreich spatlese and auslese were more approachable at first, but then as I returned to taste again and chat up Katharina, the Wehlener Sonnenuhr spatlese and auslese were also beauties… So, you can’t go wrong…
Raimund Prum was quite gregarious while pouring for SA Prum, which probably helped as the wines were a bit ho-hummy on their own. Still, the negociant 05 Essence and the 05 Blue Slate were both sluggable in a pinch, and the rest of the lineup showed nice fresh juiciness. Yes, plenty of freshness here folks, although don’t look for much more.
Max Ferd. Richter however had freshness and elegance throughout the lineup, and there was quite the buzz for these wines around the room. Lovely clear and elegant gems, not to be missed for fans of the MSR dance.
Robert Eymael and the Monchof wines strode in with a different girth, and I liked the 05 Estate Riesling (all from UW) at $12-14 and the 05 Mosel Slate Spatlese (all from ET) for their fun juicy un-profound selves, whereas the 05 Urziger Wurzgarten Auslese was a bit dull, at least at the moment. The 03 Erdener Pralat TBA was thick creamy fun that shot to the bottom of the spit bucket in a solid mass. But it was fun.
Gunderloch also showed well on the low end, with the 05 Estate trocken showing lovely juicy minerals and tactile bite, and the 05 Jean Baptiste kabinett being a bit more expressive but also quite fun. The 05 Nackemheim Rothenberg Auslese was surprisingly loose and boring for the vintage and the region, and they tried to save it with the 04 TBA, but, hard to really swoon over such small pours..
Schloss Johannisberg was very impressive, and I understand the buzz is mounting for these people, although of course I have no real information as to how their winemaking has changed in recent years. Still, the 05 Spatlese trocken was a winner, so ripe, juicy, tactile, and shimmering with minerals to the core. The kabinett was another nicely etched mineral standout for me, and while the spatlese and the auslese were served a bit warm, they seemed quite in balance and very long. The BA was not as exciting to me as folks on other boards have touted, but, hey, this was not Scientific…
It was my first taste of Weingut Johannishof and I was very impressed with their interpretation of MSR-like Rheingau wines. I’m sure they harvest in June or do something similarly bizarre and unacceptable to achieve this (could it possibly be the terroir?) but nonetheless I enjoyed the low level wines for their slinky crisp fun, while the style seemed to work less well for me at Spatlese and above.
August Kesseler was interesting as ever, not in the least for the prices. $70 and $90 retail prices for pinot noirs that were dark bitter and relatively undistinguished? No thank you. (For those who are curious it was the 03 “Cuvee Max” QbA trocken, the 03 Assmannshauser Hollenberg QbA trocken and the 04 Rudesheimer Berg Schlossberg QbA trocken). However, riesling-wise, the 05 Rudesheimer Berg Schlossberg Spatlese Goldkapsel was a winner for me, ripe and broad but with crisp crystalline and elegant edges, a very seductive wine. And the 05 Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Auslese Goldkapsel was “impressive” in a textured layered and chewy way, although obviously needs more time.
A different side of a Rheingau to be seen at Schloss Schonborn as the crisp earthy minerals were lovely throughout the Marcobrunn range, and relatively true to pradikat. Perhaps not wines that inspired me to run out and purchase them, but I’d still be happy to drink them. I was not won over by the Pfaffenberg wines although people tell me it’s a very old vineyard with a long track record and plenty of history behind the label. Still, there was something funky vegetal and odd with the wines in my glass.
Again, as with Prum, obviously the wines at Robert Weil were delicious and delightful, although, even at the lower levels they were showing tighter and were more about potential then some of the other wines above. Still, I was a sucker for all versions of the Kiedrich Grafenberg, especially the QbA trocken for its spicy rich clean fun self, although again, obviously the spatlese and auslese were lovely, and I’ll leave it to others to hash out the details of expectations/past performance/etc…
So, after re-tasting my favorites I didn’t have too much time for the “new” stuff, but, was urged to try the silvaners at Weingut Juliusspital, and indeed they were tasty steely firm drinkable wines. Claude may have been rating on abstract qualities, and as such was impressed by the 05 Wurzburger Stein Erstes Gewachs Silvaner Trocken, which I also found to have a lovely pile of guts and an interesting fresh twist, but at $45 retail there was no way in hell I was going near this wine in a shop, as it gets trounced head-on by the better Muscadet, let alone at 4x the price. But that’s just my price-sensitive side speaking…
Anyway, fun stuff, lovely day.
but to me it seems like an interesting twist on the Alsace/Austria style of Riesling and that far south the trocken does seem to work on occasion.