Keith Levenberg
Keith Levenberg
Schlossgut-Diel 2005 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Spatlese
My fifth bottle out of a case in a vintage where I did a lot of point (or plus-sign) chasing in the Terry Theise catalog, and this one has never disappointed. 12 years later it's still so vibrant it tastes like it was vinified from the stuff used to make glow-sticks, and while the bottle age has softened its cut somewhat, it still retains plenty of Gatorade-dunk refreshment value. It's also gotten slightly deeper in tone but only in a relative sense as this remains one of the freshest and brightest of the '05s I have.
Rene Engel 1998 Clos Vougeot
In the zone and just about fully mature. No-doubter aromatics right from the pop of the cork with a big smack of earth and saddle leather-type scents that still manage to stay on the clean side of funky. On the palate this has mellowed out quite a bit from my last bottle just a few years ago, which was still densely packed and holding on to some primary fruit - now the tannin feels mostly resolved into a silky, loose-knit package, an almost jarringly elegant take on Clos Vougeot that shows a bit more solidity in the stony backdraft on the finish.
Ch. Leoville Las Cases 1990
Has to be one of the greatest non-first growths of its generation. Classic scents of pencil lead and gravel that follow through on the palate along with a walnut thing giving this a Latour-like personality. But it's in the texture department where it really astonishes. I don't think there is a word in wine-tasting lingo for the pure textural bliss of sinking into this thing so I'm just gonna go with, um, "feminine" in a more carnal sense than the term is typically used.
My fifth bottle out of a case in a vintage where I did a lot of point (or plus-sign) chasing in the Terry Theise catalog, and this one has never disappointed. 12 years later it's still so vibrant it tastes like it was vinified from the stuff used to make glow-sticks, and while the bottle age has softened its cut somewhat, it still retains plenty of Gatorade-dunk refreshment value. It's also gotten slightly deeper in tone but only in a relative sense as this remains one of the freshest and brightest of the '05s I have.
Rene Engel 1998 Clos Vougeot
In the zone and just about fully mature. No-doubter aromatics right from the pop of the cork with a big smack of earth and saddle leather-type scents that still manage to stay on the clean side of funky. On the palate this has mellowed out quite a bit from my last bottle just a few years ago, which was still densely packed and holding on to some primary fruit - now the tannin feels mostly resolved into a silky, loose-knit package, an almost jarringly elegant take on Clos Vougeot that shows a bit more solidity in the stony backdraft on the finish.
Ch. Leoville Las Cases 1990
Has to be one of the greatest non-first growths of its generation. Classic scents of pencil lead and gravel that follow through on the palate along with a walnut thing giving this a Latour-like personality. But it's in the texture department where it really astonishes. I don't think there is a word in wine-tasting lingo for the pure textural bliss of sinking into this thing so I'm just gonna go with, um, "feminine" in a more carnal sense than the term is typically used.
