dry

Bernhard Huber, Spätburgunder Alte Reben, 2010

torsten — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 21:20:12 +0000

I haven't had much luck with my wine recently. For various reasons I haven't enjoyed much wine at home the past few years, so some bottles that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half years, some wines passed out of all knowledge. Or at least that's how Galadriel would have put it. Anyway, some wines spent probably a little too much time in London's tastiest wardrobe. The last few weeks I made it my mission to go through the aged wines in my possession and drink them. Sadly, I haven't had much success - until I opened this Pinot Noir from Baden that is.

Gerhard Klein, Grüner Veltliner, Junge Reben, 2013

torsten — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 13:58:45 +0000

It's been a busy few months for me. Almost all of June I spent on the road, or at events in London. So to ease myself back into blogging I thought I write about a nice little wine, nothing extraordinarily expensive or with a long and complicated backstory. There is, after all, a place for those wines that are there just to be enjoyed. When I unscrewed Gerhard Klein's Grüner Veltliner I hoped it would be one of those quiet, enjoyable companions. And it was. With a little twist...

Schnaitmann, Fellbacher Lämmler, Lemberger GG, 2009

torsten — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 12:34:21 +0000

Schnaitmann, Fellbacher Lämmler, Lemberger GG, 2009

Württemberg is not one of the wine regions the average wine drinker will know much about; most likely they will not even have heard about it. Now, I could tell you a that it is a rather interesting area - a red wine making region dominated by a plethora of growers associations and rivers - but the main reason I like to drink wines made by the local tribe of the Swabians is that I was born there. In fact, as a child I played not far from Rainer Schnaitmann's Lämmler vineyard.

So every now and then I need to go back, to check what my homies are up to.

torsten Tuesday, 31/03/2015

Bodegas Mauro, Vendimia Seleccionada 2003

torsten — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 13:12:18 +0000

A busy year is coming to an end. I could write about how busy it was, but the very slow trickle of posts on the Wine Rambler makes that obvious enough. Instead I feel like leaning back, pouring myself a comforting wine and relax. A wine with substance and soothing qualities, something with a personal connection but less intellectual challenge than the Rieslings I love so much. It is time to open a special red wine that had been sitting in my cellar waiting for a moment like this. Or maybe his is just a pretentious way of saying: after maybe five years stored in a wardrobe I feared the Mauro really needed drinking.

Bernhard Huber, Müller-Thurgau Trocken, 2011

torsten — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 14:55:25 +0000

Bernhard Huber, Müller-Thurgau Trocken, 2011

Earlier this month, Bernhard Huber died. As the last few weeks have been very busy with work I am only now catching up with news from the wine world - and with news like this I almost wish I hadn't. While I have never met him in person I have appreciated his outstanding wines on more than one occasion, and I am only too aware of what he has done for the reputation of German wine, Pinot Noir in particular. Looking through my cellar, the only Huber wine left is a Müller-Thurgau, not quite the obvious choice, but it has to do for a toast to one of the greats of wine making.

torsten Saturday, 28/06/2014

Domaine Huet, Vouvray Clos du Bourg, Sec 2011

torsten — Mon, 26 May 2014 08:44:28 +0000

Domaine Huet, Vouvray Clos du Bourg, Sec 2011

As this week will have a French wine theme - Wednesday I am invited to a French rosé and food event - I figured I should kick it off with a wine from one of my favourite French regions: the Loire. Admittedly, its more famous cousins Burgundy, Champagne or Bordeaux would usually be mentioned first, but I love both the freshness and the quirkiness of the Loire wine. In many ways it is the French region that suits my style most.

It is also the French wine region that got me hooked on Chenin Blanc, partly due to the exciting wines coming from Domaine Huet.

torsten Monday, 26/05/2014

Müller-Catoir, Riesling Großes Gewächs, Breumel in den Mauern, 2009

torsten — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 12:38:32 +0000

Müller-Catoir, Riesling Großes Gewächs, Breumel in den Mauern, 2009

Not everyone may agree with the National Health Service's classification of nosebleeds as potentially 'frightening', but even tougher characters don't seem to consider them fun. Looking back at one or two childhood nosebleed experiences I am inclined to take sides with the NHS here - and yet a Riesling tasting like a nosebleed was probably the most interesting wine I encountered this year. Enter Müller-Catoir's 2009 Grand Cru Riesling "Breumel in den Mauern".

As you can see from the photo above there is a prominent "1" on the bottle, indicating that this wine comes from one of the most highly rated vineyards in Germany (at least according to the winemakers association VDP). Together with the designation as "Großes Gewächs" (great growth or grand cru) this is designed to inspire some awe - which is, one would hope, at least subtly different from nosebleed fright.

torsten Sunday, 27/04/2014

Peter Jakob Kühn, Pur Pur, 2005

torsten — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 21:02:25 +0000

Peter Jakob Kühn, Pur Pur, 2005

Ever heard of Dunkelfelder? If not don't be alarmed - if I wasn't such a German wine nerd I probably had not heard of it either. It is a rare grape variety that doesn't have the best reputation, but it does have one of the coolest alternative names in wine classification: "Froelich V 4-4". Well, if you like to name your grapes after super weapons perhaps. Leaving unusual names aside, Dunkelfelder is one of the varieties that went into the 2005 vintage of "Pur Pur", and so eventually into my wine glass.

Is the Dunkelfelder wine a secret weapon or yet another of these German oddities we sometimes write about?

torsten Sunday, 13/04/2014

Bernhard Huber, Chardonnay R, 2009

torsten — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 23:51:59 +0000

Bernhard Huber, Chardonnay R, 2009

What you are looking at is nothing less than the best Chardonnay ever made in Germany. Well, sort of. First of all the photo below only shows Chardonnay grapes and not the bottled "R" as, despite following best practice in digital preservation, our shots of the "R" had an unfortunate encounter with oblivion. Secondly, I have no idea whether Bernhard Huber's 2009 Chardonnay really is the best German Chardonnay ever bottled - but when we heard that the respectable wine guide Wein Plus had made that claim it was time to investigate.

Chardonnay Grapes at Working Dog Winery, by slgckgc, licensed CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/slgc/9582907983/

So, ladies and gentlemen, come join us for another mission in our never-ending quest to do our journalistic duty.

torsten Sunday, 16/03/2014

Kellerei Kurtatsch/Cortaggio, Weißburgunder Hofstatt, 2012

Julian — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 22:33:02 +0000

Kellerei Kurtatsch/Cortaggio, Weißburgunder Hofstatt, 2012

Is it too early to say that Italy, once haughtily ignored, is making a comeback on the Wine Rambler? In November, Torsten has had his eyes opened by a white from Trentino, and I, for my part, am more and more impressed with its northern neighbour, Alto Adige.

Now that everybody seems to concur that 2012 was over the roof on the banks of the Adige and the Isarco rivers, I have looked closer on reports of the last few vintages, and would you believe it, this has been going on for some time: Excellent on international varietals like Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc, excellent on local growths like the reds Lagrein and Vernatsch.

So I've woken up to it: The Alto Adige has been stealthily creeping up on us. We can't have that, of course. So at the risk of blurring our core germanic focus, I will from time to time over the coming year report on what I have stocked up on.

Julian Sunday, 23/02/2014