WTN: Dee Vine 2005 Germans

DEE VINE 2005 GERMANS - SF, CA (11/5/2006)

As usual, Dee Vine's monthly tasting was worth the trip, offering a chance to try newly released 2005s, which mostly were OK, but also a fascinating sparkler.

• 2005 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken - Germany, Rheingau
  $20, 11.5%. Small lemon nose, grapefruit palate, simple. Good.
• 2005 Schloss Vollrads Riesling QbA - Germany, Rheingau
  $16. Sweet-Tart, again with the simple. Medium length finish redeems it somewhat. Good+.
• 2005 Von Hovel Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Saar
  $15.50. Rich, broad, needs a bit of acid but this one is at least interesting. Those who don't like acid would enjoy it even more than I did. Good+.
• 2005 Grans-Fassian Riesling Estate QbA - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Mosel
  $14. Nearly dry. Like the Vollrads, rather monochromatic grapefruit, no pizzaz. Absolutely no faults in these wines. Good.
• 2005 Grans-Fassian Piesporter Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Mosel
  $16.50. Melon, open and friendly, Good+.
• 2005 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Rheingau
  $18.50. Spritzig. Floral nose, crystalline, pretty, good acid. Finally, something that's my style. However the value is not as good as I would like. Very Good.
• 2005 Schloss Schönborn Hattenheimer Nußbrunnen Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Rheingau
  $15. Whoosh! One of the first wines I've had that's all middle, no entry or finish. It's literally not there, suddenly present for a moment, then gone. Weird. Good.
• 2005 Schloss Schönborn Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Rheingau
  $15. Sulphurous. Rich for a Kabinett, but marred by an alcoholic burn. Good+.
• 2005 Schloss Schönborn Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Rheingau
  $17.50. Straightforward pollen and melon, medium finish. Good+.
• 2005 Von Hovel Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Mosel
  $19.50. Sweet, light on its feet, melony, good grip. Very Good.
• 2005 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Rheingau
  $26.50. Sweet. Sweet-tarty, grapefruit. The additional sugar helps. Good+.
• 2005 Weingut Robert Weil Kiedricher Gräfenberg Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Rheingau
  $57. There is some greatness here, with a longer finish it would be excellent. Rarely does a wine soar from sweet to tart and back, practically telling a story. Of course, for sixty bucks, it should tuck you in at night. Very Good+.
• 2005 Von Hovel Kanzemer Horecker Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Saar
  $71. Apple cider, sweet and fun, finishes short for an Auslese. Just Good+.
• 2003 Solter Spätburgunder Brut - Germany, Rheingau
  12.5%, $16. L-NO. 04/1. 100% spätburgunder/pinot noir from Solter's estate holdings. (I think Dade said he has 2 hectares?). While Herr Solter makes Sekt on contract for numerous growers in the Rheingau, this is his from grape to bottle. Nearly orange in color. Lovely, potpourri aromas, vinous, with tiny bubbles. A hint of dirty barrel (another taster said it was "dirty"), but this sparkler tastes like a real wine and has great structure to boot. A terrific value! Very Good+.
  
  
• 1993 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Saar
  9.5%. A bonus bottle with a less than intact cork and/or fill level, shows all kinds of tertiary aromas, completely mature. Very Good+.

Posted from CellarTracker.

Walt

Thanks for the notes! I'm still a bit iffy on the 2005s. I bought a sample case+ of them to try and at first I was very impressed. But then I began to find over-ripe notes in all of them or notes bordering on over-ripe. I really want to try more of them before committing myself.

I hadn't realised Robert Weil is that expensive over there. I'm lucky to get the Spätlese for about 30€ - and I thought that was a bit steep compared to other Germans.

-O-

Interesting as always. As one can see in my notes, or in our discussions on Saturday, I have different tastes, not finding nearly as much redeeming value in that Solter.

But I also found it interesting that you found the Kanzemer Horecker to finish short. To me it had the most sublime combination of ethereal presence. The Weils were exciting I agree, but for me they were still all bunched up and dense, while the Kanzemer Horecker was soaring already..

Regardless, I thought it was a good tasting, shame they will be switching to weekdays.

Apologies for my slow reply, I've been out of town the last three days. Otto, I'm surprised the price differential is that high, but Dee Vine takes a pretty healthy profit margin, especially because they tend to import a lot of wines in small quantities.

Rahsaan, say it's not true that they'll be tasting on weekdays! If they doubled the price, I'd still come, but there's no way I'm doing a two-hour roundtrip on a weeknight.

Walt