by Peter Ruhrberg » Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:19 am
A recent tasting of Silvaner from Franken showed once again that it is hard to find Silvaners that will benefit from age beyond 10 years or so. I wonder if people know of some clear conterexamples to this rule.
We had the top dry wines from Ruck (Julius Echetr Berg), Egon Schäffer (Lump), Fürst Löwnestein (Kallmuth), Störrlein (Sonnenstuhl), from 2006, 2004, 2003 (with omissions). They showed mostly well, with little danger of falling apart except for two of the three 03s. Ruck's 03 showed very well though with its sofly caramelized style. Störrlein Sonnsnstuhl 2005 was the only 05, and my favorite of this group of wines (followed by Schäffer 06 and Löwenstein 04).
From 2003 and beyond, the success rate dropped. Sauer's Eschendorfer Lump Auslese trocken 2002 is on the way to nowhere. The winner of the night was Fürst Castell Schlossber 2000. That wine seems to have some more years in it, and may be a genuine exeption to the rule. Ruck 98 showed well, but I would not bet on it for much longer. Schäffer 93 and 90 were both dead.
Peter