2003 beaujolais and germans

John,

These things are always a matter of taste.

I'm a bit wary of the 2003 Beaujolais, because I LIKE Beaujolais. Those that are rapturous over the gobby '03s are mostly those who don't generally like Beaujolais. Similar situation with '03 Southern France rosés - Parker declared their greatness, and some Sheeple who never buy rosés rushed to buy. But to me the majority taste flabby w/o the crisp tautness I love in a good vintage (by my standards). I'll wait to buy aftr tasting.

As to Germany, I'm not sure who declared it best since 1540. Again, early/high ripening isn't always all that is needed. I think some German regions even authorized artificial acidification. I've had some very good '03s (Leitz Spätlese),but some disappointments too. To me a great German vintage is one with high sugars and high acids (like 2001, where many growers declassified grapes down at least one pradikat level- otherwise there would be no kabinett).I know there are comparisons to 1976. While I've had a couple good '76s, I also know that some of them faded faster than expected (although Cwdjrx seems to have a stash of the good ones), compared to say '71s. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

This is interesting. I visited Germany early in June this year, spending a two or three nights in Trittenheim on the Mosel, at a B&B provided by a local wine producer.

On my first day there I took a trip to the Rhine, visiting Weingut Robert Weil. I bought six bottles of their 2003 Trocken and Halbtrocken Spätlese each. I fit the cases in the panniers of my motorbike and headed back to my accommodation.

(They might have been a bit amazed at the posh tasting room of Robert Weil when in comes a profusely sweating motorcyclist and starts to discuss in fluent, if terribly accented, German about the relative merits of their 2001 and 2002 Erstes gewächs. The attendant there was definitely surprised as I indicated her I knew where I could pick up the wines I bought.)

Getting there, I told the landlord of my purchase and he was - naturally

- immediately interested. So, he gave me one bottle of his own wine and I gave him one bottle of the Halbtrocken.

Having had something to eat I met the landlord and his family in their garden and the landlord told me his verdict about the Rheingau wine: Citric acid added. I asked whether it's allowed; he replied, yes, since last year, i.e. 2003. I tasted the wine as well and as I knew what to expect, I *could* discern an acidic taste unlike that of other Robert Weil Spätleses I've tasted.

Next day, the landlord took the bottle to the local Prüfungstelle, where they said such a swill would not have been granted an AP number there. I found that amusing, more as sign of rivalry between the areas as anything else.

I still do not know for sure, whether acid has been added in the wine, but it did taste like that. The 2003 Mosel wines I tried while there did definitely not have such a taste. In fact, they corresponded more to my idea of acid levels given the hot weather in 2003.

Cheers,

-Topi Kuusinen, Finland