Salil Benegal
Salil Benegal
Jon Schwartz got a bunch of us together at Bamboo Pavilion in Brooklyn for Rieslings and crosses with Szechuan food. Fantastic evening with great company and delicious food and wine (both in outrageously large quantities). Highlights for me were the nuclear hot crispy chicken, pork belly and the lamb, and there was a lot to enjoy among the wines.
2008 Weingut Willi Brndlmayer Gelber Muskateller Dezemberlese
Really stunning aromatics combining orange blossom, ripe citrus fruits, herbal and faintly spicy notes into one amazing scent; very light and polished in the mouth with bright Muscat florality and gentle citrus/grapey fruit underneath. Barely dry with really nice acids keeping it very fresh and precise, and finishing long with just a hint of sweetness. Perhaps the best Muscat I've had (though I don't have a particularly large number of reference points), I'm definitely going to have to look for this!
2006 Egon Mller Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett (AP #02-07)
Quite ripe (unsurprising, given the vintage), closer to Sptlese in its richness but really delicious with a seamless combination of ripe apple and pear fruit and subtle mineral, herbal and floral notes. The balance here is impeccable with bright acids and a sense of elegance and polish throughout that makes it so easy to drink.
2001 Selbach-Oster Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Sptlese (24-02)
Drinking absolutely beautifully right now. Can't ask for much more in a Mosel Riesling; this has layers of ripe Mosel fruit and slate overlain with developing smoky and petrol flavours with a sense of purity and clarity to the flavours and a lightness of touch. Wonderful wine.
2008 Mller-Catoir Haardter Herzog Rieslaner Sptlese (20-09)
Wild stuff once again, a blast of tropical fruit, lemongrass and berries straight away with all sorts of other herbal and spicy elements developing with time; intense and very sweet and ripe but with rapier-like acidity keeping it in balance. Power with precision, and serious length. Fantastic wine that's really built for this sort of cuisine.
2005 Schlossgut Diel Scheurebe Sptlese
Rather disappointing. Certainly nowhere close to the hype I've read for this wine; it's very rich with bright white fruits and pineapple flavours, nicely balanced but there's nothing at all distinctive about it and no real Scheurebe character - it's a friendly, sweet wine that tempers some of the heat from the food, but not much more than that.
2006 Schlossgut Diel Scheurebe Sptlese
Funny, Jon was telling me how he found the '06 Scheu far more enjoyable than the '05 as we were pouring the '05 around - then Joel walks into the room with a bottle of the '06 in hand. Did this really come from the same grape and winemaker one year later? This brings the Scheurebe insanity I was hoping for; spicy, herbal notes over wild tropical fruits with plenty of richness counterbalanced by its acidity, delicious stuff that disappears very quickly.
2008 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Les Galichets
Brought to match with the shredded beef with green pepper (the first dish with green pepper I've really enjoyed) - worked very nicely, with bright cassis and dark berried fruit accented by herbal and some light green pepper notes on a silken, medium weight frame. There's a lovely sense of freshness to this with bright acidity, and it's a great food wine.
2003 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben rziger Wrzgarten Riesling Auslese 3-star
Very pretty aromatics; strawberry, cherries, spice and slate, full of bright primary fruit up front with touches of honey - if there's botrytis in this, it's really subtle and nicely integrated. In the middle it's a little awkward and hollow (something I've noticed with a few other 03s recently), quite tasty though the taste doesn't live up to the lovely aromatics.
2003 Hexamer Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Auslese 1-star
Starts out with ripe peach, apple and red fruited flavours accented by bright floral notes, gains power and depth with time as an intense minerally character emerges underneath, to the point it almost feels solid in the mouth. Very rich and sweet, but there's again barely a hint of botrytis here and there's a sense of real precision and freshness to the fruit.
2007 Michel Gahier Arbois Trousseau Grands Vergers
Very pretty floral aromatics leading into cherry and pomegranate flavours in the mouth, silken textured with a lightness of touch; flavour without weight.
2005 Clemens Busch Pundericher Marienburg Fahrlay Riesling Sptlese
Jon said this had been fermenting about 28 months, and like a couple of other Clemens Busch wines I've had, it's more interesting than good. A little oxidative in character, the flavours lack freshness with the apple/pear fruit having a slightly baked quality to them and a yeasty, beer-like overlay. Some honey and dried spice notes in the aromatics and the back end hint at some botrytis, though this tastes almost completely dry. Certainly not boring, but not a wine I wanted to drink much of.
2006 Mller-Catoir Haardter Herzog Rieslaner Beerenauslese
A powerhouse of roasted pineapple, apricot and ripe tropical fruits drenched in caramel and spices. Intensely sweet and rich but really well balanced. Awesome stuff, only topped by the
1998 Mller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Schlssel Rieslaner Trockenbeerenauslese
Dear god... this is insane. Explosive in its intensity with a riot of tropical fruits, apricots and pineapple combined with all sorts of other honeyed, smoky and spicy flavour elements. Such complexity and depth here, with fiery acidity underneath cutting through the sweetness and keeping this from ever feeling too heavy or sweet, and an insanely long finish. Wow!
2008 Weingut Willi Brndlmayer Gelber Muskateller Dezemberlese
Really stunning aromatics combining orange blossom, ripe citrus fruits, herbal and faintly spicy notes into one amazing scent; very light and polished in the mouth with bright Muscat florality and gentle citrus/grapey fruit underneath. Barely dry with really nice acids keeping it very fresh and precise, and finishing long with just a hint of sweetness. Perhaps the best Muscat I've had (though I don't have a particularly large number of reference points), I'm definitely going to have to look for this!
2006 Egon Mller Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett (AP #02-07)
Quite ripe (unsurprising, given the vintage), closer to Sptlese in its richness but really delicious with a seamless combination of ripe apple and pear fruit and subtle mineral, herbal and floral notes. The balance here is impeccable with bright acids and a sense of elegance and polish throughout that makes it so easy to drink.
2001 Selbach-Oster Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Sptlese (24-02)
Drinking absolutely beautifully right now. Can't ask for much more in a Mosel Riesling; this has layers of ripe Mosel fruit and slate overlain with developing smoky and petrol flavours with a sense of purity and clarity to the flavours and a lightness of touch. Wonderful wine.
2008 Mller-Catoir Haardter Herzog Rieslaner Sptlese (20-09)
Wild stuff once again, a blast of tropical fruit, lemongrass and berries straight away with all sorts of other herbal and spicy elements developing with time; intense and very sweet and ripe but with rapier-like acidity keeping it in balance. Power with precision, and serious length. Fantastic wine that's really built for this sort of cuisine.
2005 Schlossgut Diel Scheurebe Sptlese
Rather disappointing. Certainly nowhere close to the hype I've read for this wine; it's very rich with bright white fruits and pineapple flavours, nicely balanced but there's nothing at all distinctive about it and no real Scheurebe character - it's a friendly, sweet wine that tempers some of the heat from the food, but not much more than that.
2006 Schlossgut Diel Scheurebe Sptlese
Funny, Jon was telling me how he found the '06 Scheu far more enjoyable than the '05 as we were pouring the '05 around - then Joel walks into the room with a bottle of the '06 in hand. Did this really come from the same grape and winemaker one year later? This brings the Scheurebe insanity I was hoping for; spicy, herbal notes over wild tropical fruits with plenty of richness counterbalanced by its acidity, delicious stuff that disappears very quickly.
2008 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Les Galichets
Brought to match with the shredded beef with green pepper (the first dish with green pepper I've really enjoyed) - worked very nicely, with bright cassis and dark berried fruit accented by herbal and some light green pepper notes on a silken, medium weight frame. There's a lovely sense of freshness to this with bright acidity, and it's a great food wine.
2003 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben rziger Wrzgarten Riesling Auslese 3-star
Very pretty aromatics; strawberry, cherries, spice and slate, full of bright primary fruit up front with touches of honey - if there's botrytis in this, it's really subtle and nicely integrated. In the middle it's a little awkward and hollow (something I've noticed with a few other 03s recently), quite tasty though the taste doesn't live up to the lovely aromatics.
2003 Hexamer Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Auslese 1-star
Starts out with ripe peach, apple and red fruited flavours accented by bright floral notes, gains power and depth with time as an intense minerally character emerges underneath, to the point it almost feels solid in the mouth. Very rich and sweet, but there's again barely a hint of botrytis here and there's a sense of real precision and freshness to the fruit.
2007 Michel Gahier Arbois Trousseau Grands Vergers
Very pretty floral aromatics leading into cherry and pomegranate flavours in the mouth, silken textured with a lightness of touch; flavour without weight.
2005 Clemens Busch Pundericher Marienburg Fahrlay Riesling Sptlese
Jon said this had been fermenting about 28 months, and like a couple of other Clemens Busch wines I've had, it's more interesting than good. A little oxidative in character, the flavours lack freshness with the apple/pear fruit having a slightly baked quality to them and a yeasty, beer-like overlay. Some honey and dried spice notes in the aromatics and the back end hint at some botrytis, though this tastes almost completely dry. Certainly not boring, but not a wine I wanted to drink much of.
2006 Mller-Catoir Haardter Herzog Rieslaner Beerenauslese
A powerhouse of roasted pineapple, apricot and ripe tropical fruits drenched in caramel and spices. Intensely sweet and rich but really well balanced. Awesome stuff, only topped by the
1998 Mller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Schlssel Rieslaner Trockenbeerenauslese
Dear god... this is insane. Explosive in its intensity with a riot of tropical fruits, apricots and pineapple combined with all sorts of other honeyed, smoky and spicy flavour elements. Such complexity and depth here, with fiery acidity underneath cutting through the sweetness and keeping this from ever feeling too heavy or sweet, and an insanely long finish. Wow!
