Last night John Dawson arranged a great tasting of mature/maturing German wines. Tom Belives hosted, and a nice group gathered. A little wet to be on Tom's pretty terrace, but we had a good time in apartment. Betsy joined me, after putting together some lobster/mango summer rolls. A lot of people had similar ideas re matching, with quite a few seafood and Asian/fusion dishes. My personal favorite was a Thai chicken curry in papadum, but everything was good- a spicy shrimp dish on salad, shrimp with alfalfa sprouts in diakon, king crab stuffed mushrooms, crisp thin latkes with apple-braised pork with an apple shallot sauce, a braised pork with a curryish edge, as well as cheeses and fruit.
1999 Egon Muller Scharzhofberger Spatlese (Auction) -(Saar) The youngest wine of the night had a rather developed petrol note to it, but was youthful overall, with citrus and apple fruit, a red slate minerality, and good focus. Really pretty, and only the fact it was a tad soft in the acidity kept it from a solid A. B+/A-1998 J.J. Christoffel Erdener Treppchen Auslese** (Mosel) I have to say this was oddly mute on the nose. We were using smaller glasses, but I had no problems getting good aromatics from any other wine all evening. But it was perfectly expressive on the palate - spice and pears, good length, balanced acidity. But still not much of anything on the nose. B
1998 J.J. Christoffel Urziger Wurzgarten Auslese*** (Mosel) Sweet, but there's a good acidic backbone. Cherries and peaches, a little honied apricot, very long. B+/A-1997 J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese- (Mosel) This was to be the 1998, but the '98 was horribly corked. Lucky for us John brought the '97 as backup. Youthful, a hint of petrol, some green apple over mineral base. A little shorter and softer than most of the wines. Not my favorite of the night, but way better than my general (uninformed) impression of '97 MSR. B
1983 Von Hovel Oberemmeler Hutte Auslese (Saar) I asked John if Oberemmeler Hutte was a monopole,. as I don't think I've ever seen another producer, but he thought not. Anyway, this was actually quite lovely, with a honied texture to the citrus fruit. Clear, clean, with a nice long finish. A-1983 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Gold Kap Auslese (Saar) Holy Cow! This is unbelievably young for a 24 yr old Riesling. Bright citrus (lime and grapefruit) with just a hint of sweet strawberry, faintest hint of petrol, a deep deep streak of mineral through the core, lively, lively, lively. It evolves in the glass, with a saline/ seashell note and a hint of herb emerging. John points out it needs another 10 years, he's probably right, but damn it tastes good now. As good a Riesling as I have ever had, period. A
1983 Dr. Pauly Bergweiler Bernkastler Badstube Auslese (Mosel) There was a rather enjoyable bitter note to the citrus fruit, along with an apricot note that hints of botrytis, good balance. There is just a hint of oxidation, I'd drink this one up (happily). B/B+1983 Christoffel-Berres Erdener Pralat Gold Kap Auslese (Auction) (Mosel) This seemed to be a favorite for many people,but for me it was the one bottle that tasted just a bit past it. The oxidative notes were stronger than the Bernkastler Badstube, this was all about petrol, but I thought the finish clipped. Maybe a storage issue. Certainly enjoyable, but if this is a pristine bottle it would have been better for my tastes for say celebrating Y2K. B/B-
1983 Hubert Schmitz Wiltinger Braunfels Eiswein (Saar) I must say this was the bottle I was least looking forward to. A producer I don't know, a vineyard I've never heard of, and my prejudice has always been it's a bit of a waste aging Eiswein. Well, I'm an idiot. Sharp clean racy acids balance the vivid sweetness, there's a candied orange peel note dominating, but with a whole fruit basket underneath. I have mostly found aged Eisweins to be one-trick ponies, but this one had many tricks under the saddle. Very nice. A-/B- After the wines were all served, John put out the remainders for all to resample their favorites. I went back to the von Hovel and the Zilliken (well, truth be told, I went back to the Zilliken twice, what a wine). A fun and educational night of wines, with nice people.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency