TN: de Sales (fried?), good Qba, '99 Poyferre

"Dale Williams" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m03.aol.com...

Hi Dale I looked up the TN of wein-plus, translating like this Simple, slightly perfumey nose with notes of peaches. Pale fruit, lean and simple, with citrus acid, at palate some tannins, short.

9% abv, 5.30Euros. 74 points - "acceptable". Seems that you liked this one better than they did!

:-) Anders

When chosing dry German Rieslings, MSR wouldn't be my first choice, not even my second. Pfalz and parts of Rheinhessen (Rheinfront - Gunderloch!) are number one, and today also Rheingau is coming up. Otoh, there is nothing better than a sweet Auslese from MSR.

M.

It is all about abv. For 2003 I got some dry MSR QbA's at 13%, not half bad. Dry MSR wines at 11 are better forgotten, I think. The big sweet ones on the other hand are something else, I still remember an auction Auslese that I tasted at Willy Schaefer's 10 years ago - wow! Anders

My benchmark for a dry Riesling is Clos Ste. Hune. Unfortunately there is not nearly enough of it to meet the demand, and it has become rather expensive, especially in the best years. It does often need consderable age and can be aggressive when young.

I have tasted completely dry Rieslings from some of the warmer areas of Germany that are quite decent, but finding such wines at a reasonable price in the US can be difficult. Although it may be somewhat like comparing apples and oranges, I have not tasted a dry German Riesling that I consider as good as a Clos Ste. Hune from a good year with enough age. On the other hand most of the most outstanding Rieslings I have tasted (auslese and above) came from Germany. There are exceptions, and one can find several examples of top sweet Rieslings from Austria and even Alsace. For example, Trimbach's Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile, Selection de Grains Nobles 1989 is a very fine late harvest Riesling from Alsace. Also a few late harvest Rieslings from the US made in the

1970s were, and often still are, top quality includig Freemark Abbey Edelwein Gold 1976, Joseph Phelps Selected Late Harvest 1978(30% RS), and Ch. St. Jean Alexander Valley Individual Dried Bunch Selected Late Harvest Belle Terre Vineyards 1978(28% RS).

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How much is your benchmark? Ever tried top Austrian dry rieslings?

M.

I'm not cwdjrx, but my reply to this subthread was going to similar to his. Though I was going to say was that I've never had a dry German Riesling I thought the match of a Clos Ste. Hune or a Pichler "M". For that matter, don't think I've had one that matched up to a Trimbach CFE or Nigl "Privat", to get more in my budget. Of course, this might be more a statement re German wine distribution in US that actual quality levels. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Michael Pronay asks: "How much is your benchmark? Ever tried top Austrian dry rieslings?"

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The problem with Clos Ste. Hune in the US is finding it for the better years. My 1976 was bought many years ago at auction. It may have been about twice as expensive as other high quality Rieslings at that time. However the price seemed a bargin when compared to Le Montrachet, even long ago.

I have never had what I would consider a top Austrian dry Riesling, although I have read many good reports about some of them. In the old days few, except some of the sweeter Austrian wines, often rather commercial, were found in the US. Even today I would have to make a long trip to buy a top dry Austrian Riesling. I think you in Austria may be drinking many of the best examples of dry Riesling yourself rather than exporting them much!

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My question was serious. What would be the price of Clos Ste. Hune from the latest release?

Well-known problem ... ;-(

M.

Michael Pronay asks: "My question was serious. What would be the price of Clos Ste. Hune from the latest release?"

The latest release I could find was the 1999 which D. Sokolin in New York is selling for US$ 141.

I found 4 sources for the 1997. Wally's Wine & Spirits in Los Angeles sells it for $116.99 and the Wine Warehouse also in Los Angeles sells it for $117.99. D. Sokolin in New York charges 141.10. Park Avenue Liquor in New York charges $145.

You might have been able to have obtained these at a somewhat lower cost if you had been a good customer of one of the few wine shops who get this wine when it is first released. Otherwise, you are likely to find the better Clos Ste. Hune vintages only at a very few high-end wine shops and at auction. At one time I could have asked a regional importer what he had to pay for Clos Ste.Hune, but he no longer is in business and did not have Clos Ste. Hune very often after the 1970s.

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Thank you very much. That's about twice the price of FX Pichler's Riesling "M" and comparable to his "Unendlich" (USD 245 for a magnum in an Italian shop, the only place wine-searcher finds it).

M.

I think of Clos Ste Hune as selling for about $100. Like many small production prestrige wines, it sells out quickly (without extensive searching, my impression is recent vintages of Pichler "M" are about $75 in US). Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

You will find many more prices for Clos Ste. Hune Riesling in the US and UK at:

This is the professional version of wine-searcher that Google found. I was under the impression that you had to pay for the professional version, but Google must have found a back door to enter.

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How did you search?

M.

Michael Pronay asks: "How did you search?"

I selected the advanced search at Google. Then I entered Clos Sainte Hune in the exact phrase box and nothig else. When you search, a link called "Wines from Clos Sainte Hune" is found a few links down on the first page. This is the link for which I obtained the URL and posted.

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