TN:11 sptburgunders from VdP Baden-Wrttemberg

A

Arnt Egil Nordlien

Arnt Egil Nordlien
From a tasting of aged sptburgunders in Stuttgart on September 13th-2010. The tasting was organized by Weingut Aldinger and displayed wines from both Wrttemberg and Baden from the 2007-vintage and back to 1990. The three wines from Wrttemburg seemed all harder, more oaky and less interesting than the sptburgunders from Baden. The latter showed more depth. Some were hard and oaky here also. Among the modern wines Bernhard Huber makes splendid seemsless sptburgunders. But the finest single wine was for me the more traditionally made 1990 sptburgunder from Blankenhornsberg.

Gundelsheimer Himmelreich sptburgunder grosses gewchs 2005, Staatsweingut Weinsberg
Deep red colour. Dark berries and toasted oak on the nose. Medium bodied sptburgunder in the mouth. Lightly sweetish entry and lots of toasty oak. Decent acidity and a hard oaky finish with hard tannins. Not a success. Poor style.

Untertrkheimer Herzogenberg sptburgunder R reserve 2003, Weingut Whrwag
Deep red colour. Sweetish ripe fruit-notes. Oaky notes. Powerful and ripe style in the mouth. One-dimensional wine. Ripe fruits. Dark berries. Some oak. Medium acidity and a lightly hard oaky finish. Shows more fruit, but still very simple wine with a balance I highly dislike.

Sptburgunder auslese trocken Jubileums-edition 5 jahre in holzfass 2003, Schlossgut Hohenbeilstein
Deep red colour. More intense nose. Red berries, also very ripe fruits. Medium to fullbodied in the mouth. Much ripe berries. Red berries. Some oak-notes, but more in the background here. Medium acidity. Slightly hard tannic finish, but showing more grape-tannin. Good, although not very exciting.

Durbacher Plauelrain sptburgunder sptlese trocken 2007, Andreas Laible
Red colour. Lightly burnt nose. Some red berries, compost. Medium bodied. Cleaner and more acidic taste. Slightly floral, anisy fruit. More interesting, but not too deep. Fine acidity. Acidity-driven sptburgunder. Medium tannins in the back. Nice and good.

Sptburgunder 2007, Reichsgraf zu Hoensbroech
Light red colour. Lots of liquorice on the nose. Some flowers and acidic berries. Little oak. Lighter style in the mouth. Even more acidity-driven sptburgunder.Bright fruit-notes. Nettle, citrus, flowers. Some anise. Quite nice, and differs from the other wines this evening. Fine acidity. Some tannins in the back. Good.

Burkheimer Feuerberg sptburgunder grosses gewchs 2004, Weingut Bercher
Red colour. Oak, floral notes and red berries on the nose. More noble style here. Still young and unintegrated. Fullbodied sptburgunder in the mouth. Concentrated, almost fat fruit. Yet quite silky style. Red berries and florality. Obvious oak-notes. Good acidity and fine tannins on the finish. Very good wine. Shows a little too much oak for my liking. Perhaps it will integrate better with more cellaring.

Sptburgunder auslese R 2003, Weingut Schlr
Deep red colour. Dark berries, oak on the nose. Shows some development. Hints of autumn-leafs. Powerful sptburgunder in the mouth. Lots of fruit. Quite heavy oak. Sweetish fruits. Liquorice and smokey notes. Lower acids, but fair balance. Nice and good.

Pinot noir R 2002, Weingut Schlumberger
Red colour. Liquorice and red berries on the nose. Good body. A little neutral style with some red berries and anise. Fine acidity and medium tannic finish. Not very pinot noir-like. Fair quality.

Sptburgunder R 2001, Bernhard Huber
Brick-red colour. Pretty nose. Compost, autumn-leafs. Oak-notes. Medium bodied sptburgunder in the mouth. Oaky, but well integrated. Seemless and greatly made wine. Lots of autumn-leafs, red berries, some oak-notes. Fine acidity. Refreshing wine. Fine tannins on the back. Good length. Very well-made modern wine. Very good.

Ihringer Winklerberg sptburgunder sptlese trocken 1999, Rudolf Stigler
Red colour. Fine nose. Anise, autumn-leafs, flowers. Also some odd notes of ash. Medium bodied sptburgunder in the mouth. Little oak. Fine style. Touch of sweetness in the fruit. A little ripe and more unfocused than the nose. Anise and ash. Some red berries. Medium acidity and light tannins in the back. Good and best on the nose.

Blankenhornsberger Doktorgarten sptburgunder sptlese trocken 1990, Staatsweingut Blankenhornsberg
Brown-red colour. Intense, complex and evolved nose. Lots of compost and anise. Transparent and great nose. Light sweetness in the mouth. Light and mature sptburgunder. Very nice fruit. Complex and fully evolved. Compost, anise, some red berries. Aged sweetness. Fine acidity. Tannins fully resolved. Long taste. Great wine on top now.
 
Thanks. Baden Wuerttemburg wines are rara avis here. I lived in Freiburg for a year long ago, and they amply fulfilled my simple needs at the time.
 
originally posted by Arnt Egil Nordlien:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Freiburg
Click to expand...

There will be several more notes from Kaiserstuhl coming, when I get the time to write. Some very good wines can be found. Especially from weissburgunder.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Also some great Grauburgunder and Gewuerztraminer. I was in the area last week and enjoyed as always, especially since I have learned a while ago to avoid the top bottles that are often plagued by still too much wood. Safes money and tastes better.
Very curious to hear what you liked best.
 
originally posted by georg lauer:

Very curious to hear what you liked best.
Click to expand...

Reinhold & Cornelia Schneider; weissburgunders and Sptburgunder Engelsberg.
Weingut Bercher; Much good things, but especially weissburgunders. The kabinetts are real steals. The Jechtinger Steingrube wb kabinett trocken 09 is a darn tremendous little wein for little money.
Salwey: Okay I have to admit: The sptburgunder Kirchberg is a very good sptburgunder. And we tasted a '01 grauburgunder that blew me away. What complexity and depth in a grauburgunder.
Schloss Neuweier: Okay not exactly Kaiserstuhl, but the Goldenes loch riesling is one really nice riesling. Definitely the fienst dry one from Baden I have tasted.

I probably should have visited more small producers, but I simply didn't know where to look.
 
I probably should have visited more small producers, but I simply didn't know where to look.
Click to expand...

I asked one of the best Sommeliers in Germany last week about Baden and he said there was not too much exciting new (compared to Rheinhessen, Pfalz and even Wuerttemberg), but rather the old guard seemingly getting another wind. He was raving for example about Heger, a producer that seemed a bit sleepy lately.

We had a very nice (unoaked) Weissburgunder from Franz Keller at their Restaurant. That was the only taste we got in the one half day we were around. But hope to be back soon. Spring in the area is so nice.
 
originally posted by georg lauer:


I asked one of the best Sommeliers in Germany last week about Baden and he said there was not too much exciting new (compared to Rheinhessen, Pfalz and even Wuerttemberg), but rather the old guard seemingly getting another wind. He was raving for example about Heger, a producer that seemed a bit sleepy lately.
Click to expand...
That's pretty much what I'm seeing, although I probably don't see wines from much more than a dozen Baden producers a year. Rheinhessen, though!!! And still surprises popping up in Pfalz. And then there's my Liebling, Franken.
 
Do I notice a correlation between praedikat status (spaetlese and auslese) and organoleptic satisfaction?

That rule worked for me when I lived there, a couple years after Ian. Also, "goldener preismuenze" seemed to be an assurance where relevant, such as in the grocery store.
 
originally posted by Putnam Weekley:
Do I notice a correlation between praedikat status (spaetlese and auslese) and organoleptic satisfaction?

That rule worked for me when I lived there, a couple years after Ian. Also, "goldener preismuenze" seemed to be an assurance where relevant, such as in the grocery store.
Click to expand...
Certainly, not here. Excess alcohol is a constant threat in Baden.
 
originally posted by georg lauer:
I probably should have visited more small producers, but I simply didn't know where to look.
Click to expand...

I asked one of the best Sommeliers in Germany last week about Baden and he said there was not too much exciting new (compared to Rheinhessen, Pfalz and even Wuerttemberg), but rather the old guard seemingly getting another wind. He was raving for example about Heger, a producer that seemed a bit sleepy lately.

We had a very nice (unoaked) Weissburgunder from Franz Keller at their Restaurant. That was the only taste we got in the one half day we were around. But hope to be back soon. Spring in the area is so nice.
Click to expand...

I visited both Heger and Franz Keller. I am a huge fan of old Franz Keller-wines in the days when Franz Keller made them. His son had a hard job following in his shoes and to be very honest I feel the quality is lower today.

I had a very nice visit at Dr.Heger spending more than 4 hours of visiting vineyards, cellars and tasting. On to the wines I think I seemed to like the whites more than the reds. The sptburgunders from Achkarrer Schlossberg and Ihringer Winklerberg really made their points about the differences in terroir, but they are a little too hard and oaky made for me. I did buy some Achkarrer Schlossberg, so I will see how they develop. Whites on the other hand is very pure and fine. Even their chardonnay from Winklerberg is very interesting.

Full reports to come.
 
originally posted by Putnam Weekley:
Do I notice a correlation between praedikat status (spaetlese and auslese) and organoleptic satisfaction?

That rule worked for me when I lived there, a couple years after Ian. Also, "goldener preismuenze" seemed to be an assurance where relevant, such as in the grocery store.
Click to expand...

Not sure about that. Especially in recent years the lower Praedikat was often better/fresher. And since the strength in Baden is dry whites one rarely sees Auslese (at least as written on the label). When all goes well the Spaetlese level is the sweet spot and the Kabinetts are lots of fun for little money.

The Preismuenzen are definitely irrelevant these days since most of the serious producers stopped submitting their stuff long ago. Or if they do, they won't tell. Very different 20 years ago when they plastered their bottles with those medals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top