1983 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese: This wine had a beautiful, shimmering balance with everything seamlessly blended and tucked into its proper place. Mellow, understated, but still fresh and barely tertiary, with mouthwatering acidity and the sweetness receded just so. Very clean with almost no botrytis. Really great stuff. Prum just always hits right.
2016 Julian Haart Piesporter Schubertslay Riesling Kabinett: Wow, this is extremely racy and energetic, with a powerful lemon-lime nose, and a palate that is lean, saline, and mineral-forward, streaked with citrus and herbs. The sweetness is felt more than tasted, perfectly balanced with the taut acidity. Really great stuff.
2023 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett #2: This is drinking really well. Beautifully expressive nose of lemon peel, florals, and apple. The palate is incredibly finessed and the acidity chiseled and precise. Very understated, but intense wine that is crisp, filigreed, mineral, and a touch spicy. Elegant weight and lacy texture.
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #5: Intense flavors of lemon, white fruit, ginger, and spices that persists through the midpalate to the finish, though, in terms of its weight, it is graced with lightness and finesse. The acidity is sufficient to balance the sugar and prevent the richness from being cloying, but a little more zap to provide some additional lift on the finish would have been nice. Still, a very good wine that still seems surprisingly rather open for business.
2001 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #3: Very honeyed and rich, but balanced with that classic Schaefer filigreed acidity and lacy finesse. This bottle does seem rather tertiary already and is darker in color than what I would expect for a wine this age. Still delicious and the tertiary notes are still at a point where they add rather than detract, but makes me wonder...
2001 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Brand: Quite mineral and sharp on the palate with dense white and yellow fruit. Quite dry with a pleasantly bitter, herbal finish. There's a hint of petrol on the nose. This is quite good; in your face, but balanced with acidity and energy. Pleasantly severe.
2019 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett feinherb #15: I wish this wine had a little more cut and energy. It felt a little too wan and slim; there's some herbal complexity and a hint of white fruit, but it does not have a lot of stuffing. There's acidity, but perhaps not enough to give it more pop and presence. Perhaps this is shut down. And perhaps a little too delicate to have with Sichuan food.
2019 Weingut Clemens Busch Pündericher Marienburg Riesling Spätlese: No formal note, but I did remember this having perceptible sweetness that was balanced with racy acidity. Rich, but not cloying. I wish I had more time to focus on this, but too much wine at this dinner.
1983 Navarro Vineyard White Riesling Cluster Select Late Harvest: Kind of reminded me of a TBA that is somehow also refreshing and relatively light on its feet. Sure, a very sweet sticky, but not ponderous or saccharine at all. A real pleasure to drink.
2016 Julian Haart Piesporter Schubertslay Riesling Kabinett: Wow, this is extremely racy and energetic, with a powerful lemon-lime nose, and a palate that is lean, saline, and mineral-forward, streaked with citrus and herbs. The sweetness is felt more than tasted, perfectly balanced with the taut acidity. Really great stuff.
2023 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett #2: This is drinking really well. Beautifully expressive nose of lemon peel, florals, and apple. The palate is incredibly finessed and the acidity chiseled and precise. Very understated, but intense wine that is crisp, filigreed, mineral, and a touch spicy. Elegant weight and lacy texture.
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #5: Intense flavors of lemon, white fruit, ginger, and spices that persists through the midpalate to the finish, though, in terms of its weight, it is graced with lightness and finesse. The acidity is sufficient to balance the sugar and prevent the richness from being cloying, but a little more zap to provide some additional lift on the finish would have been nice. Still, a very good wine that still seems surprisingly rather open for business.
2001 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #3: Very honeyed and rich, but balanced with that classic Schaefer filigreed acidity and lacy finesse. This bottle does seem rather tertiary already and is darker in color than what I would expect for a wine this age. Still delicious and the tertiary notes are still at a point where they add rather than detract, but makes me wonder...
2001 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Brand: Quite mineral and sharp on the palate with dense white and yellow fruit. Quite dry with a pleasantly bitter, herbal finish. There's a hint of petrol on the nose. This is quite good; in your face, but balanced with acidity and energy. Pleasantly severe.
2019 Hofgut Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett feinherb #15: I wish this wine had a little more cut and energy. It felt a little too wan and slim; there's some herbal complexity and a hint of white fruit, but it does not have a lot of stuffing. There's acidity, but perhaps not enough to give it more pop and presence. Perhaps this is shut down. And perhaps a little too delicate to have with Sichuan food.
2019 Weingut Clemens Busch Pündericher Marienburg Riesling Spätlese: No formal note, but I did remember this having perceptible sweetness that was balanced with racy acidity. Rich, but not cloying. I wish I had more time to focus on this, but too much wine at this dinner.
1983 Navarro Vineyard White Riesling Cluster Select Late Harvest: Kind of reminded me of a TBA that is somehow also refreshing and relatively light on its feet. Sure, a very sweet sticky, but not ponderous or saccharine at all. A real pleasure to drink.
