2001 Donnhoff Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Auslese 8.0%

Jeremiah at the Tabard Inn will be thrilled to see this - he bought that wine prearrival on my recommendation and at my insistence has kept it off the winelist and in the cellar (yes, the hotel has a temperature controlled long term storage space). I'll tell him he may add it to the list soon.
 
It's amazing how only the freshest bottles of Donnhoff come from your cellar, David. There are far too many people out there that have experienced Donnhoff bottles with some age on them that have not lived up to expectations and have posted about it. I still really like Donnhoff, but I now have too much personal experience from well stored and imported bottles suggesting they are much better in their youth.

But, to each his own.
 
Most of the mixed results I've seen, my own as well, have been at the Spatlese level. Brad, was that an Auslese you posted on?
 
originally posted by Cliff:
Most of the mixed results I've seen, my own as well, have been at the Spatlese level. Brad, was that an Auslese you posted on?
Click to expand...

Yes. From a half bottle, though. I've had more experience with the phenomenon in Spatlese, too, but that's probably because I've had a lot more Spatlese than Auslese.
 
I had a brilliant bottle of 1998 Brucke Spatlese from my cellar, on Tuesday. The wine is in an interesting place - neither young nor fully developed, and I can certainly see why a variety of opinions as to when it should be consumed will be (and has been) offered.

It's got a front cover of nicely developed warmer and darker fruits, but really brightens up in the finish with paler citric stony stuff. The tendency is for the qualities found in the finish to overtake the wine, but you can follow this process in the glass now, as long as you give the wine enough time. I still prefer to wait a bit.
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
But I now have too much personal experience from well stored and imported bottles suggesting they are much better in their youth.
Click to expand...

"als kaufte einer mehrere exemplare der heutigen morgenzeitung, um sich zu vergewissern, daß sie die wahrheit schreibt."

fb.
 
originally posted by Cliff:
Maybe we should stop drinking imported wine?
Click to expand...

Or consider that individual (or even small group) palate preferences for a particular style do not dictate quality.

Nah - that wouldn't be any fun at all.
 
1. Does Donnhoff age?

2. Are all wines so badly handled that we might as well move to Europe or give up?

Donnhoff is a great grower. At what point are the wines best? I'm still trying to figure that out, for my palate. For wine drinking and other reasons, I would love to move to Europe. But it isn't going to happen anytime soon.
 
Cliff-

Things can get even more complicated. I am not convinced that the ageing ability of some of the more recent off-dry wines hasn't been affected by an improvement in quality of the dry wines at the estate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top