After a long wait and much anticipation, my motherload of German Grosses Gewachs Riesling arrived a few weeks back and I got to put on a tasting of 6 excellent examples from this world-class dry white wine category that I think has multiple applications and loads of upside. Thanks to about 100 years of tinkering the German VDP (A trade group of the best producers across German @195 members) has created a Burgundy styled model of Grosses Gewachs (Grand Cru), Erstes Gewachs (Premier Cru), Ortswein (Village Wine) and Gutswein (Regional wine) that went into effect in the 2012 vintage. This is literally the bleeding edge of German wine today and the wines represent phenomenal value given the amount of labor, the limited yields, the requirement for hand harvesting and the minute quantities made. Grosses Gewachs are named vineyards in the areas of certain villages that precede the name below. This stuff is plenty complicated but worth the effort. This tasting was kind of a Sommeliers Dream:) This was the lineup of wines we tasted and the order in which we tasted them,
1 – 2013 Spreitzer Oestricher Riesling Rosengarten GG, Rheingau
2 – 2012 Kunstler Rudesheimer Riesling Berg Rottland GG, Rheingau
3 – 2013 Donnhoff Felsenberg Riesling Felsenturmchen GG, Nahe
4 – 2013 Muller Catoir Haardter Riesling Breumel in den Mauern GG, Pfalz
5 – 2013 Von Winning Deidesheimer Riesling Kieselberg GG, Pfalz
6 – 2013 Von Winning Forster Riesling Pechstein GG, Pfalz
Full disclosure-I used to live in the far north of the Pfalz in an ancient town named Worms on the Rhine River and this area is warmer and more verdant than the much cooler Mosel and slighter cooler Rheingau. They make more opulent, ripe expressions of Riesling that are not as syrupy sweet or waspy. After tasting all of the wines a theme that frequented recurred was a crazy exotic Riesling nose with the palate coating and wonderfully expansive nature of the top flight Grand Cru Chablis. The minerality across the lineup was striking along with the levels of extract, precision, tension. I had to decant these beauties and let them unwind a bit. I can say with confidence that these would drink excellently for 25-50 years if stored in perfect conditions. We all grabbed a few bottles for our personal collections but we have about a case of each wine left for the taking that savvy white wine lovers should snatch up in an instant!
I popped the bottles at 11am for the 6pm tasting and that helped a lot. If I were to rate the wines from my most favorite to my least favorite the order would be as follows (All of the wines kicked ass and had personality so this is not meant to imply that any of the wines was not superb!):
1 – 2013 Von Winning Pechstein GG
Von Winning was the most eye opening winery of this entire tasting. I think the best analogy is that Von Winning is like the SQN of Riesling with Grand Cru vineyard sites that look like Grand Cru Burgundy vineyards with perfect aspects and soils. The Pechsetin was Riesling 2.0 aged in New French Barrique that was mind-splitting! Some people that are dogmatic Riesling traditionalists might despise such a wine, but I am all for making wines that taste good for the sake of tasting good-there are a lot of palates to keep happy in the world:) Big, big fan of this hedonistic Nectar of the gods that Zeus would be happy to ingest! We only have 2 of these left.
2 – 2013 Muller Catoir Breumel in den Mauern GG
This was a close call between numbers 2-4. Muller Catoir is a personal favorite and this wine was splendid. It was not as fat and rich as the Pechstein but it has more beauty with tantalizing aromatics, a pleasing herbal component and a myriad of stone fruits and exotic spices that was slurpable. Damn cheap for the unreal quality in the bottle at $65/btl. 12 Bottles left.
3 – 2013 Donnhoff Felsenturmchen GG
This could have been the crowd favorite but I that it needed several years in a cellar to be more approachable. People went nuts for this rockstar producer in the Nahe. The wine did ooze class in spades but was more crunchy than the other 2 before it. The wine was at once wonderfully complex, weighty but airy, seductive but generous. An enigma that will be fascinating to watch develop over years. Wow what quality! $69/btl – 11 Left.
4 – 2013 Von Winning Kieselberg GG
A touch below the Pechstein and less balanced the the MC and the Donnhoff, this Kieselberg was still pretty badass. This was more lime, lemon, white peach, briney salty and extra juicy. This represented more minerality as well as quince, saffron, ginger, sweet mushroom and yogurt. Honeysuckle, lime blossoms and vanilla added to the layers in this slightly over-the-top Riesling. $75/btl – 8 Left.
5 – 2012 Kunstler Berg Rottland GG
I think that tasting Rheingau GG next to Pfalz and Nahe GG might have had the effect of overshadowing the precision, complexity and depth of the Rheingau wines with the richness, ripeness and heavy-handed wine-making of the other wines. Kunstler is one of the finest wineries in the whole of Germany on this awesome vineyard site sits right on the Rhine River with perfect due South exposure. This ripe grapes from the warmer 2012 vintage showed power, grip and slightly smoky notes. It was delicate with peach, apricot, nectarine flavors and sweet lemon. It is creamy, supple, and palate staining with ample minerality. really delightful stuff! $75/btl – 12 Left
6 – 2013 Spreitzer Rosengarten GG
I know, I know-I am putting this as the worst wine of the tasting. BUT, it is also the least expensive one by far the wine GG wine that turned me and LA onto how great the whole GG style was going to be at a tasting 2 years ago. So far we have drank 3 bottles of it and have loved every last drop. I this tasting the quality was overshadowed by some of the best vineyards elsewhere but there was nothing wrong with the Rosengarten. I prefer it over almost any other $39 bottle of white wine in the world! 18 Left. It also got 94 Pts from Parker too:) That cannot hurt. He says it smells like Roses (why not?), is extremely pure, suble and elegant with perfectly ripe Riesling fruit. Intense, sappy and salty that is luscious and frisky. This is a no brainer for sure!
Another great tasting at Graileys! Fun times were had by all!