monumental

Reichsrat von Buhl, Forster Pechstein, Riesling GG, 2008

torsten — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:55:31 +0000

Reichsrat von Buhl, Forster Pechstein, Riesling GG, 2008

Is it wrong to celebrate two Rieslings in a row? After Julian's ecstatic praise of an off-dry Saar Riesling I am now getting all excited about a dry specimen from the Pfalz. While I may ask for your forgiveness for presenting yet another German Riesling, the grand cru Reichsrat von Buhl needs no excuse - even if it was caught stealing from the cookie jar repeatedly. Yes, it is that good.

And it has a striking advantage over its friend from the Saar: you can get it outside of Germany too!

torsten Friday, 30/03/2012

Peter Jakob Kühn, Oestricher Doosberg, Riesling trocken, drei Trauben, 2007

torsten — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 22:44:38 +0000

Peter Jakob Kühn, Oestricher Doosberg, Riesling trocken, drei Trauben, 2007

It is moments like this when I feel a little embarrassed to write about a wine. I often wish we had more wines to complain about so that we can prove that we are wine bloggers of the really critical sort. However, this is a blog about the wines we drink for pleasure, not for profit, so we try as hard as possible to find wines that we think we might like. When I bought this Riesling from the Rheingau, I hoped it would be good, really good. I had no idea it would be so good that even after going to bed I could still be heard mumbling 'this is fantastic'. Before you read on be warned though: you may seriously hate this wine.

torsten Wednesday, 29/09/2010

Van Volxem, Goldberg, Riesling Erste Lage, 2008

torsten — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:06:18 +0000

Van Volxem, Goldberg, Riesling Erste Lage, 2008

Sometimes, sometimes I smell the cork of a freshly uncorked bottle of wine and I know great things are ahead. Sometimes, sometimes I do not even have to get my nose close to the wine glass to sing and jubilate. Sometimes, sometimes I set a wine glass down in utter awe, in quiet yet powerful excitement because I have found a wine that is pure awesome. And guess what, I just had one of these moments.

torsten Saturday, 20/03/2010

Heymann-Löwenstein, Winninger Röttgen, Riesling Erste Lage 2004

Julian — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:00:11 +0000

Heymann-Löwenstein, Winninger Röttgen, Riesling Erste Lage 2004

It's high time one of the legends of german wine made his first appearance here: Mosel winemaker Reinhard Löwenstein started using "slow" winemaking techniques like natural fermentation and prolonged skin contact when they were unheard of. He talked about terroir in the dark 1980s, when few within the German must-weight bureaucracy had heard of such a thing. A communist activist in his earlier days, and a natural-born rebel by temperament, Löwenstein has been mistrusted and reviled all along the conservative Mosel, but ridicule quickly turned into envy as his Rieslings won critical acclaim and commanded high prices from raptured customers.

Julian Saturday, 10/10/2009

Ökonomierat Rebholz, Weißburgunder Spätlese trocken "Im Sonnenschein", Großes Gewächs, 2002

Julian — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Ökonomierat Rebholz, Weißburgunder Spätlese trocken "Im Sonnenschein", Großes Gewächs, 2002

Very dark straw colour, a tinge of gold

Smells of peaches and pineapples pickled in petroleum (there's German white wine for you...), marzipan, dried herbs, and smoke. Reminded me somewhat of the more powerful Grüne Veltliners.

Great density and an oily, liqueurish mouth-feel, some maturity (camomile tea, bread), but most of all great smoky minerality. The finish of dried peaches, smoke and salted almonds is long and intense.

Julian Sunday, 24/05/2009