11%

Leitz, Rüdesheimer Riesling trocken, 2010

torsten — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:55:09 +0000

Leitz, Rüdesheimer Riesling trocken, 2010

When I woke up this morning to the news of Barack Obama being re-elected I immediately realised how I had to write tonight's Riesling review. It would have to be about expectation management. This is something the 44th President of the United States would have a lot to say about as the disappointment some Democrats seem to feel towards him originated from perhaps unrealistically high expectations in his first presidency. Expectation management goes beyond politics of course and I suspect all of us will have been disappointed in something or someone when actually their only "failure" was not to have fulfilled our expectations.

Film is an area where I suffer from this effect occasionally, despite struggling not to be infected by the most recent hype. It also happens with regards to wine, but to me as a Wine Rambler it poses a more serious issue. How can we ensure not to be negatively influenced by our expectations? And this is how the poor, innocent Rheingau Riesling gets dragged into this malarkey.

torsten Wednesday, 07/11/2012

Moselland, Riesling feinherb 'Goldschild', 2010

torsten — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:22:15 +0000

Moselland, Riesling feinherb 'Goldschild', 2010

"The law made me do it!" is probably one of the excuses judges don't hear very often. If it comes to German wine, however, it may be more common than you think. The infamous German Wine Law, in combination with the regional wine establishment, is a very odd beast, so much so that you will find top producers who deliberately rate some of their top wines in a fairly low category as they don't quite meet inspectors' expectations. There are all sorts of complaints about the wine law of 1971, but it is still enforced with German precision. So much so that when winemakers wanted to print a new word on labels, "feinherb", they had to go to court as you cannot possibly print something on a label that has not been regulated beforehand.

Well, they succeeded and now we have a new, completely unregulated term in the precisely structured German wine classification: feinherb.

torsten Monday, 13/08/2012

Weingut Merkle, Ochsenbacher Liebenberg, Gewürztraminer mit Riesling "Weinhähnchen", 2010

Julian — Sun, 20 May 2012 22:51:28 +0000

Weingut Merkle, Ochsenbacher Liebenberg, Gewürztraminer mit Riesling "Weinhähnchen", 2010

It's a sad thing indeed when a wine lover is failed by a wine, but can a wine also be failed by its tasters sometimes? We had such a case on our hands at a recent Wine Rambler full committee meeting: You judge for yourselves whether we are being too hard on ourselves. While the dry wines that go with dinners at Wine Rambler Munich HQ are usually settled on beforehand, the dessert offering is, for some reason, usually selected spontaneously during the course of the evening after lively, alcohol-fuelled debate. This has led to some very fortunate choices, inspired by the moment, but sometimes, some prior planning would have been preferable.

When the name Merkle came up on the most recent of these occasions, I thought of the 2009 Riesling-Gewürztraminer cuvée I had tasted at the winery last year. I remembered Gewürztraminer lushness, coupled with the Merkles' typical herbal spiciness, and I remembered above all sweetness. Just the thing, and a change from the more usual Mosel Spätlese or Auslese. I should have realised that the 2010 I had in my cellar was as different from the previous vintage as can be:

Julian Sunday, 20/05/2012

Weingut Steinmühle, Sylvaner trocken, 2010

torsten — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:56:08 +0000

Weingut Steinmühle, Sylvaner trocken, 2010

Arson, sieges, war - not really the first words that would come to mind when thinking about wine: or a mill. And yet such events feature prominently in the long history of the Steinmühle (stone mill) winery in Rheinhessen. Since the Middle Ages, the mill in Osthofen has been burnt down a few times, and yet there it still stands. And it is still in the hands of the same winemaking family, for eleven generations now.

I did not know that when I was handed a bottle of their 2010 Sylvaner (the date 1275 on the label could have been a hint) - but then wine should mostly be about the enjoyment and the history lesson just a good swashbuckling story to be told after the second or third glass.

torsten Saturday, 11/02/2012

Willi Schaefer, Graacher Riesling feinherb, 2009

torsten — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:39:07 +0000

Willi Schaefer is one of the stars of the Mosel, so much so it seems that he and his son Christoph even in 2011 think they don't need a website so that people can find out about them. Well, they are on our radar anyway, but I am sure others would appreciate the chance to learn more about this small, family-owned estate in Graach. The wine you see in front of you is one of the basic offerings, a "feinherb" or "off-dry" Riesling that comes with a screw cap.

When I recently had two wine loving friends visiting, I pitted the Schaeffer against an off-dry Australian Riesling in another epic Wine Rambler blind tasting battle.

Knipser, Gelber Orleans trocken, 2008

torsten — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:09:26 +0000

Knipser, Gelber Orleans trocken, 2008

Oh no, the Wine Rambler does yet-another-of-those-obscure-German-grape-varieties, I hear you say? And the answer is, you bet! This one is very obscure indeed - now that is. In the 19th century "Orleans" was reasonably popular in Germany (where its history goes back to the 12th century), but eventually this very late ripening variety was superseded by Riesling and pretty much forgotten. So much so, that it had to be recultivated in the 1980s and there are only a few producers who grow Orleans now, and in tiny quantities.

The leader of the pack appears to be the Knipser family from the Pfalz who produce both substantial Orleans in (dry) Auslese quality and lighter ones like this one. I opened the "trocken" (dry) Orleans for wine-loving English friends who had not even heard of Orleans before.

torsten Friday, 26/08/2011

Dönnhoff, Riesling, 2009

torsten — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:04:29 +0000

Dönnhoff, Riesling, 2009

After recently exploring his 09 Pinot Gris, it is now time to taste Helmut Dönnhoff's 2009 Riesling. Dönnhoff is the uncrowned winemaking king of the Nahe region and one of the (more or less crowned) archdukes of German Riesling, so I was very curious to see how his entry-level Riesling would do.

After it had been sitting in my famous wardrobe for a while, the Dönnhoff's time had come when I set out to visit one of London's secret supper clubs.

torsten Wednesday, 27/04/2011

Schnaitmann, Evoé!, Rosé trocken 2009

torsten — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:58:58 +0000

Schnaitmann, Evoé!, Rosé trocken 2009

A recent encounter with a Swabian Riesling from the Schnaitmann winery has done a lot to build up my pride in Swabian winemaking. The German wine growing region of Württemberg is mostly inhabited by members of the Swabian tribe, who outside of Germany are probably better known for their engineering than their winemaking skills.

They are also known as very tidy, law-abiding citizens, so it is somewhat unusual that a Swabian wine is called 'Evoé!' - this after all being the battle cry of the followers of the Greek god Dionysus. Are we looking at a totally un-Swabian, orgiastic rowdy wine?

torsten Friday, 14/01/2011

Van Volxem, Wiltinger Kupp, Riesling, 2003

Julian — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:32:27 +0000

Van Volxem, Wiltinger Kupp, Riesling, 2003

See short tasting note here.

Julian Wednesday, 03/11/2010

Salwey, Silvaner 2008 "unfiltriert"

torsten — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:01:27 +0000

Salwey, Silvaner 2008 "unfiltriert"

It is Silvaner time again at the Wine Rambler. We have been championing this underrated (or rather unknown) variety for a while now, and even though we have not exactly changed the wine world, we will not shut up either. If you have heard of Silvaner (also known as 'Grüner Silvaner' or 'Sylvaner'), they may have told you that it is a very food friendly wine and a little neutral. While we encountered many seriously food friendly Silvaners, we have yet to find a bland one. We did, however, find some that can party with some of the best white wines in the world, and others that effortlessly age 25 years. The Silvaner that graced the humble Wine Rambler's table the other day was neither old nor did it claim to be a world class wine. It was, however, unfiltered, and that alone seemed to make it worth an investigation.

torsten Tuesday, 31/08/2010