I haven't tried this particular wine from other vintages, nor can I claim to have anything approaching the tasting experience needed to judge quality and consistency over a strech of many vintages. And yet, there is no doubt in my mind that we've seen nothing yet when it comes to german red wines, and that Syrahs and Bordeaux blends are not only there to stay, but will steadily improve. There are four reasons for that:
We don't do scores at the Wine Rambler, for good reason, but we do follow scores. And since I've started following them four or five years ago, ratings given by the reliable german wine guides, journalists and knowledgeable bloggers (reliable meaning those not caught in some commercial loop and not tempted to score "patriotically") have gone up consistently, both for reds in general, and for warm-climate reds.
The second is alcohol levels. In the last few vintages (from 03 on), the better german reds, especially the Spätburgunders, have had high alcohol (over 13.5 %, up to 15%) pretty much across the board. That doesn't automatically make them better wines. On the contrary, it is a troublesome issue. It does mean, though, that ripeness-problems, at least where adequate vineyard sites and competent growers are concerned, are a thing of the past.
Not to forget, number three, that climate change is not only the future, it has been happening for some time. It has, in fact, already changed the scales of what a "hot year" and a "cool" or "classic" year means: Until the the 1980s - as I'm sure you know, being a Mosel afficionado - 2 or 3 vintages per decade were really non-vintages on the Mosel, i.e. it was all but impossible to get grapes to ripen sufficiently to produce, not great wine, but any drinkable wine at all. In the 1990s, this was no longer the case, and in the 2000s, freakishly hot has almost become the new "classic".
Last, but not least, as Torsten pointed out, it's only since a few short years ago that Cab, Merlot or Syrah can be legally grown in germany. Anything that has been achieved so far has therefore been done with very young vines. Go figure...
In reply to How about in less hot vintages? by David Strange
Hot vintages
David, now you've brought a ramble on yourself:
I haven't tried this particular wine from other vintages, nor can I claim to have anything approaching the tasting experience needed to judge quality and consistency over a strech of many vintages. And yet, there is no doubt in my mind that we've seen nothing yet when it comes to german red wines, and that Syrahs and Bordeaux blends are not only there to stay, but will steadily improve. There are four reasons for that:
We don't do scores at the Wine Rambler, for good reason, but we do follow scores. And since I've started following them four or five years ago, ratings given by the reliable german wine guides, journalists and knowledgeable bloggers (reliable meaning those not caught in some commercial loop and not tempted to score "patriotically") have gone up consistently, both for reds in general, and for warm-climate reds.
The second is alcohol levels. In the last few vintages (from 03 on), the better german reds, especially the Spätburgunders, have had high alcohol (over 13.5 %, up to 15%) pretty much across the board. That doesn't automatically make them better wines. On the contrary, it is a troublesome issue. It does mean, though, that ripeness-problems, at least where adequate vineyard sites and competent growers are concerned, are a thing of the past.
Not to forget, number three, that climate change is not only the future, it has been happening for some time. It has, in fact, already changed the scales of what a "hot year" and a "cool" or "classic" year means: Until the the 1980s - as I'm sure you know, being a Mosel afficionado - 2 or 3 vintages per decade were really non-vintages on the Mosel, i.e. it was all but impossible to get grapes to ripen sufficiently to produce, not great wine, but any drinkable wine at all. In the 1990s, this was no longer the case, and in the 2000s, freakishly hot has almost become the new "classic".
Last, but not least, as Torsten pointed out, it's only since a few short years ago that Cab, Merlot or Syrah can be legally grown in germany. Anything that has been achieved so far has therefore been done with very young vines. Go figure...
Very best,
Julian