Germany 2013 sez TT

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Germany 2013 sez TTclick
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a lot of this echoes my impressions while in Germany last month (particularly the bit about bayern vs. leverkusen game), but some of it does not

this in particular - "Oddly enough, the wines that show a little botrytis are more likely to be awkward and unbalanced than those that show a lot of botrytis, which are at least balanced in their particular context" - points towards a very strong possibility that, with the obvious exception of Willi Schaefer, we had tasted at different addresses
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Germany 2013 sez TTclick
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it's ok:

"Denis Dubourdieu, a wine consultant and professor at Bordeaux’s institute of oenology, the ISVV, said producers who chaptalise should try to limit the increase in alcohol to 1% abv, to avoid unbalancing other flavours. In theory, that means adding no more than 17g of sugar per litre, he said."

europeans everywhere are rejoicing.

fb.
 
originally posted by Salil Benegal:
Not a lot of excitement there. But eh, plenty of amazing 2012s are still on the market for now.
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Yes, indeedy. My wine budget has felt the impact of '12.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by Salil Benegal:
Not a lot of excitement there. But eh, plenty of amazing 2012s are still on the market for now.
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Yes, indeedy. My wine budget has felt the impact of '12.

Mark Lipton
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That could have happened based on Clos des Briords alone, dude.

But, Salil, don't jump to conclusions. Several things to be excited about. Check out Gilman's upcoming report.
 
originally posted by .sasha:

But, Salil, don't jump to conclusions. Several things to be excited about. Check out Gilman's upcoming report.
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I am awaiting your upcoming report! I leave Saturday for the Mosel. Give us a few tidbits!
 
originally posted by Robert Dentice:
originally posted by .sasha:

But, Salil, don't jump to conclusions. Several things to be excited about. Check out Gilman's upcoming report.
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I am awaiting your upcoming report! I leave Saturday for the Mosel. Give us a few tidbits!
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but, Robert, I don't know how to compute points!
 
originally posted by .sasha:
originally posted by Robert Dentice:


I am awaiting your upcoming report! I leave Saturday for the Mosel. Give us a few tidbits!
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but, Robert, I don't know how to compute points!
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Give it to us in prongs.

Personally I've been stocking up on 2012 WS #14. Another 5 halves just shipped yesterday.
 
originally posted by .sasha:

Yes, indeedy. My wine budget has felt the impact of '12.

Mark Lipton
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That could have happened based on Clos des Briords alone, dude.
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Damn tootin'. Throw in the Pepiere normale and you're talking about half of my January salary. The rest went into a mixed case of Poulsard from Jamie and David that just arrived chez nous today. Gotta keep the little lady well supplied with her glou-glou beverages.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
originally posted by .sasha:
originally posted by Robert Dentice:


I am awaiting your upcoming report! I leave Saturday for the Mosel. Give us a few tidbits!
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but, Robert, I don't know how to compute points!
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Give it to us in prongs.

Personally I've been stocking up on 2012 WS #14. Another 5 halves just shipped yesterday.[/quote

Stop it! I am trying not to buy more riesling so i own very few 2012s altho i have loved the ones i have drunk.

What is that song you like to sing, Jay? La La La La la...
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originally posted by Robert Dentice:
originally posted by .sasha:

But, Salil, don't jump to conclusions. Several things to be excited about. Check out Gilman's upcoming report.
Click to expand...

I am awaiting your upcoming report! I leave Saturday for the Mosel. Give us a few tidbits!
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Robert asks, I answer.

All true in the article about high levels of acidity and dry extract, the latter being of greater importance to me, as far as shaping the vintage. What may not come across as clearly, if at all, is that there was a real struggle for ripeness, not just in terms of ultimate maturity levels but also within the process itself - long, gradual, occasionally painful. This we've not seen in a long time; younger folks had to rely on their fathers and grandfathers for advice on how things were done in the good old days. Some of the older guard were all excited about this.

So it will be nice to have the Pradikats in the intended Oechsle range, for once.

Plenty of good grapes for fine dry wines in the 12% range, both QbA and GG. This is where matters of taste enter: if you have ever been on the fence about dry German Riesling due to its severity, consider what this unusually high dry extract with its herbaceous/leafy/floral flavour base may do, should your unruly palate interpret it so; provide a bridge between whichever dichotomy offends you the most, be it fruit vs. acidity, or "insufficient" residual sugar vs. bare slate, or else. This is kind of counter-intuitive in the same way that one requires acidity rather than ripeness in order to handle oak, but it works. And the dryer they are, the better, as in some seriously cool hipster shit at 1 gram RS.

But I am equally excited about the fruity stuff. As you will undoubtedly note in John's upcoming report, one could argue that even some of the folks who have been using their best resources for the GGs in recent times have made remarkable off dry Rieslings despite themselves. This is where I differ somewhat with the article - not in a sense that anything in it isn't correct or properly observed on the topic of handling low level botrytis, but more due to dumb luck in that I happened to be tasting several wines in which it was done very well. When I described my impressions to David S (who hasn't tasted the 13s yet) - lower must weights, high dry extract, low level clean botrytis - he told me it sounded like '75 or '66. The level at which this combination strikes gold for this sworn champion of Kabinetts and Spaetlesen is actually at an entry Auslese level, where the wines aren't just clean (as in many 2012s or 2008s or 1998s for example) but also less exotic and far more phenolic in favour and texture. Once again, not only does dry extract mitigate high acidity, it also adds a whole new flavour expression.

So if you wanted to taste something different, you got it.
 
originally posted by maureen:
originally posted by Jay Miller:


Give it to us in prongs.

Personally I've been stocking up on 2012 WS #14. Another 5 halves just shipped yesterday.
Click to expand...

Stop it! I am trying not to buy more riesling so i own very few 2012s altho i have loved the ones i have drunk.

What is that song you like to sing, Jay? La La La La la...
Click to expand...

It can't hurt to buy just one...
 
originally posted by Robert Dentice:


Thanks very much Sasha, I will report back on my impressions. I hope some of the producers open some 12s for comparison.
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Any idea where you'll be visiting?

We went to Emrich-Schoenleber, Donnhoff, Egon Muller, Willi Schaefer, Reinhold Haart, Thanisch, Schloss Lieser, Zilliken, Lauer, Hofgut Falkenstein, Keller, and a combined tasting of Weiser-Kunstler, Vollenweider and Immich-Batterieberg, conducted in Gernot Kollmann's absence. We had a bunch of 12s mixed in with 13s at this combined tasting, as well as at Lauer. Other than that, just one '12 GG at Thanisch, and a couple at Schoeleber as a warm-up. But the vintages are so different, I couldn't even begin to compare.

Unfortunately, I missed our schaefer-froehlich appointment; heard the wines were great. And no 12s there, because apparently Tim broke into a major '11 horizontal following the 13s :-)
 
originally posted by .sasha:
originally posted by Robert Dentice:


Thanks very much Sasha, I will report back on my impressions. I hope some of the producers open some 12s for comparison.
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Any idea where you'll be visiting?
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Looks like, as usual, I will be following in your footsteps.

Going to see the following:

Emrich-Schonleber
Keller
Donnhoff
Schafer-Frohlich
Julian Haart
JJ Prum
Stein
Vollenweider/Weiser-Kunstler
Schloss Leiser
Lauer
Karthausehof
Von Schubert
Egon Muller
Falkenstein
Hild
J.B. Becker
Leitz

A couple of others might get added and some omissions are due to vacations.
 
You can read Stephen Bitterolf's thoughts on the vintage here:

Vom Boden

You can see some additional commentary from Lars Carlberg (I highly recommend subscribing to his site) on the free portion of his site:

Lars Carlberg

My personal thoughts on the vintage - I LOVE it! High acid, lively, energetic wines with tightrope walking tension. I will be buying, especially Kabinetts.

I don't do tasting notes well. If you are bored you can see my photos of the trip here:

Germany 2013

Some other random comments:

Watch out for the J.B. Becker wines when they hit NYC. Amazing wines that have only once before been imported and they have lots of older stock.

The Schäfer Fröhlich wines blew me away and Lauer, Weiser-Künstler, Julian Haart were not far beyond.

The Vom Boden portfolio is simply amazing from top to bottom for both quality and value. Stephen is highly regarded in Germany and it is clear the winemakers recognize all he has done for German wine. Nice to see he is carrying the torch forward in his own unique way from Terry and Rudy who are at the end of their careers.

Uli Stein is my fucking hero! He did much of the early work on Resveratrol while at Geisenheim and had many offers to teach at top U.S. universities before deciding to be a winemaker. His 1900 vineyard is one of the five oldest vineyards in Germany and one of the most magical vineyards I have ever experienced. His no SO2 wines are incredible and I hope they make it to the U.S. They were so good we tagged them with Vom Boden! I need to drink more of his wines.
 
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