Just some odds and sods this week. All three of these wines were deliberately chosen as a study of sorts with the style of the Auburn Rieslings in mind. So heres what I’ve been drinking and why:
09 Forrest Estate The Doctors Riesling: Interesting wine this. Lime juice initially. And with air, distinctly lime peel. The nose also has an odd wet wool trace to it. Palate wise its spicy and interesting - orange, peach, and tropical in its tilt, and delightfully spicy too with a lift on the mid and back palate which makes this slip down too easily. Lovely length and persistence on this. 8.5% and I reckon about 40g/l. I chose this wine as its similarities to the 09 Auburn Rieslings have been pointed out. I can see them - this is slightly richer and less mandarin/orange in its flavours.
07 Maximin Grunhaus Herrenberg Kabinett: I never quite know how to label this wine in notes - whether to include the Carl von Schubert reference as well. but nonetheless what an interesting wine - some mouthfuls feel too rich for Kabinett, others are restrained and elegant. Limes, lemons, granny smith apple and tangy passionfruit. Perhaps some yellow citrus, and a bit of sulphur and minerally coolness to underwrite some bright fresh lemony acidity. Very enjoyable, and refreshing despite living at the richer flavour end of Kabinett street. although I also suspect the sugars are lower than many. This wine tried as it is reputed to be one of the more elegant Kabinetts, which interest me right now. I’m not sure it is though…
06 Muddy Water Unplugges Riesling: 13%, 56g/l. botrytis. Smells of burnt orange marmalade and apricots. The palate is unusually textural - rich and viscous, very much an Alsatian VT style. It tastes of dried apricots and ginger- the botrytis is very apparent. The alcohol pokes out a bit and the wine is quite volatile, a bit varnishy. The acids are just right though, making this a real food wine. Its rich, its spicy, its full of flavour. I just wish it was 11% alcohol. I tried this wine to benchmark what happens when alcohol in riesling gets quite high. I tihnk I prefer them lower than this. The Muddy Water website says this was picked at a mighty 31.5 brix. Thats seriously ripe!
Until next time
Andrew
There’s a lot said about how wines have changed over the last 20 years. In Australia, Cabernets aren’t being made at 11.5% or 12% alcohol anymore, even in regions like Coonawarra. 14% seems to be some sort of new norm. More ripeness and more efficient yeasts is the politically correct reason - although there are doubters who say the world has been Parkerised and everything has been fattened up to respond to the fashion whim that goes with Mr Parker’s ratings and style preferences.
So now I’ve had my little rant, what does that have to do with Riesling from the Saar? Well, the same thing seems to have happened. here we have a 1993 Spätlese. 7.5% alcohol, this cant be more than 60g/l of residual sugar, and the acids are decidedly greener than current vintage wines. Once again we seem to have a case of ever increasing ripeness, even within unchanging pradikat levels in the German system. This isnt the first wine of that generation I’ve tried which is noticeably drier and more elegant than its current counterpart - A Selbach Oster that Max has shown me was the same.
Better? No. Worse? No not that either. Different? Yes.
The wine wows with its youthful flush despite being 17 years old now. Its still glowing in the glass, and even has its green tinges about it. A first sip belies its age, and this is a drier wine than many a modern kabinett. But its weight and texture gives its pradikat away. The slightly petroleum like bottle age element leads, and is pierced first by sharp lemon juice and slightly unripe passionfruts and pineapples, before the RS assures this is drinkable. The acid is still mighty in its proportion although softening, and a vanilla and a lime element rides through to the finish which appears quite dry. Classic aperitif - mouthwatering profile and some lovely flavours.
This bottle was a leaker, so who knows, perhaps others will be more youthful than this?
A fascinating look into the past, and also a demonstration of how well a beautifully structured wine like this can age.
And the most important thing of all? I’m really happy to have a few more in the cellar.
This wasn’t meant to be a further exploration of 2004 Burgundy, more a case of “I want a red for dinner and its coming from that box there”. and that box there was full of 04 Red Burgundies…I do like my Fourrier, which seems to be one of the better value Burgundies (if there is such a thing as good value burgundy). So an 04 Champeaux it is.
The colour is starting to turn slightly brick like and fade a little, showing its 6 years more than I expected. It’s still bright and fresh to smell though - violets, sap, glace cherries and a dutch licorice element that belies the green reputation of the vintage. The palate is rich and silky, even a touch warm. Bottle age shows more here than on the nose in the form of a dash of soy sauce - along with plums, black cherries and the cedar that shows the oak treatment that a 1er gets. With air some more red fruit tones show through, and a slight twang of sawn pine greenness also floats upward, and on some mouthfuls the acid juts out just a little.
Overall this is dense and mouthcoating and quite tasty right now, even though it hints that it is still to uncurl a little more.
Drink now if you like, or try this again in two years.