Tuesday night Betsy was playing, I was tired, so David and I just had some
frozen gyoza and some veggies. With dinner I had leftover Marechal Savigny
(showing well). But decided maybe I'd open a 375, so did so with the 1999
Bitouzet-Prieur Volnay. Somewhat tight and surprisingly oaky at first (I
thought of Bitouzet-Prieur as a somewhat traditional producer), I just set
aside. A couple of hours later I returned for another glass, and found a
transformed wine. Nose of Volnay flowers, with some red fruit and
almost-Rhonish underbrush. Good dense red cherry fruit on palate, nice finish.
This needs time, but a nice wine. B+

Wednesday night I took the hound and a picnic to a riverside concert. I
actually found the music appalling this week (sort of Manhattan Transfer meets
the New Kids on the Block, with a touch of Bill Murray's lounge singer from
SNL- is there anything worse than bad scat?), yet managed to have a grand time.
I gave friends a taste of the Volnay, then we tried the 2003 Mas de
Gourgonnier Rosé (Baux de Provence). Ripe strawberry fruit, dry, good finish.
Better than some other 2003 southern French rosés I've tried, but uninspiring.
Could use a tad more acidity for my tastes. B.

Back at home there was the 2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz
Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau). Light, lithesome, and limey. Like a peach soda
with a big sprtiz of lime juice. I could drink a whole bottle of this solo, but
refrain (even with 8% alcohol, that would be pushing it). No worries re
acidity here. Beautful crisp Spätlese. A-

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.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

On 08 Jul 2004 20:07:21 GMT, amnspam (Dale Williams)
wrote:

Back at home there was the 2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz
Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau). Light, lithesome, and limey. Like a peach soda
with a big sprtiz of lime juice. I could drink a whole bottle of this solo, but
refrain (even with 8% alcohol, that would be pushing it). No worries re
acidity here. Beautful crisp Spätlese. A-

You've destroyed me. After the good fortune of several years in
Europe, either in a position to visit Germany and return with some
Rhines and Mosels, or resident in Germany (in the Rheinfalz region), I
always could depend upon Rheingau as having body, character, and
substance. No "light, lithesome (lissome?)" ...and definitely not
"limey." For light, I want Mosel. For limey, I think maybe Viognier or
Sauvignon Blanc. Now, you're telling me that there are bottles of my
precious Rheingau lurking out there with lime? What next, stoney and
flinty....

Ohhhh, the humanity.....



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

On 08 Jul 2004 20:07:21 GMT, amnspam (Dale Williams)
wrote:

Back at home there was the 2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz
Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau). Light, lithesome, and limey. Like a peach soda
with a big sprtiz of lime juice. I could drink a whole bottle of this solo, but
refrain (even with 8% alcohol, that would be pushing it). No worries re
acidity here. Beautful crisp Spätlese. A-

You've destroyed me. After the good fortune of several years in
Europe, either in a position to visit Germany and return with some
Rhines and Mosels, or resident in Germany (in the Rheinfalz region), I
always could depend upon Rheingau as having body, character, and
substance. No "light, lithesome (lissome?)" ...and definitely not
"limey." For light, I want Mosel. For limey, I think maybe Viognier or
Sauvignon Blanc. Now, you're telling me that there are bottles of my
precious Rheingau lurking out there with lime? What next, stoney and
flinty....

Ohhhh, the humanity.....



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

In article , Ed Rasimus
writes:

ou've destroyed me. After the good fortune of several years in
Europe, either in a position to visit Germany and return with some
Rhines and Mosels, or resident in Germany (in the Rheinfalz region), I
always could depend upon Rheingau as having body, character, and
substance. No "light, lithesome (lissome?)" ...and definitely not
"limey." For light, I want Mosel. For limey, I think maybe Viognier or
Sauvignon Blanc. Now, you're telling me that there are bottles of my
precious Rheingau lurking out there with lime? What next, stoney and
flinty....

Ed,
Without ever really thinking it through, I guess I think of German regions as
in this order of increasing weight:
MSR
Nahe
Rheingau
Pfalz
(I don't drink enough Rheinhessen, Franken, etc to have preconceptions)
But I've generally found the lower-pradikat (non-trocken) Leitz wines to be on
the lighter side of the Rheingau spectrum. Still, my impression of this wine
were more of lightness than light-bodied. Maybe my previous note on it
explains better:

2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spätlese. Lovely spät,
light on its feet yet packing a punch. Peaches, citrus, and a little apricot,
flowers, good finish. A-

As to lime, I personally am far more likely to find lime in German Riesling
than SB or Viognier.

Thanks for input!
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

In article , Ed Rasimus
writes:

ou've destroyed me. After the good fortune of several years in
Europe, either in a position to visit Germany and return with some
Rhines and Mosels, or resident in Germany (in the Rheinfalz region), I
always could depend upon Rheingau as having body, character, and
substance. No "light, lithesome (lissome?)" ...and definitely not
"limey." For light, I want Mosel. For limey, I think maybe Viognier or
Sauvignon Blanc. Now, you're telling me that there are bottles of my
precious Rheingau lurking out there with lime? What next, stoney and
flinty....

Ed,
Without ever really thinking it through, I guess I think of German regions as
in this order of increasing weight:
MSR
Nahe
Rheingau
Pfalz
(I don't drink enough Rheinhessen, Franken, etc to have preconceptions)
But I've generally found the lower-pradikat (non-trocken) Leitz wines to be on
the lighter side of the Rheingau spectrum. Still, my impression of this wine
were more of lightness than light-bodied. Maybe my previous note on it
explains better:

2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spätlese. Lovely spät,
light on its feet yet packing a punch. Peaches, citrus, and a little apricot,
flowers, good finish. A-

As to lime, I personally am far more likely to find lime in German Riesling
than SB or Viognier.

Thanks for input!
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

"Dale Williams" wrote in message
...
I actually found the music appalling this week (sort of Manhattan Transfer
meets
the New Kids on the Block, with a touch of Bill Murray's lounge singer
from
SNL- is there anything worse than bad scat?)

I think you may have misspelled "skat", Dale.

Sorry I couldn't resist commenting but the difference that consonant makes
struck me as amusing. ;^D

Tom S

Ed Rasimus wrote in message . ..
On 08 Jul 2004 20:07:21 GMT, amnspam (Dale Williams)
wrote:

Back at home there was the 2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz
Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau). Light, lithesome, and limey. Like a peach soda
with a big sprtiz of lime juice. I could drink a whole bottle of this solo, but
refrain (even with 8% alcohol, that would be pushing it). No worries re
acidity here. Beautful crisp Spätlese. A-

You've destroyed me. After the good fortune of several years in
Europe, either in a position to visit Germany and return with some
Rhines and Mosels, or resident in Germany (in the Rheinfalz region), I
always could depend upon Rheingau as having body, character, and
substance. No "light, lithesome (lissome?)" ...and definitely not
"limey." For light, I want Mosel. For limey, I think maybe Viognier or
Sauvignon Blanc. Now, you're telling me that there are bottles of my
precious Rheingau lurking out there with lime? What next, stoney and
flinty....

Hi Ed,
Last weekend I was in Hochheim am Main for their annual Weinfest and
indeed stumbled upon a "stoney and flinty" Rheingau Riesling. This was
the Weingut Künstler's 2003 Riesling QbA (can not locate the name of
the vineyard at the moment, but I kindda recall it being Reichesthal)
celebrating 1250th jubilee of the town Hochheim am Main.

Clear-to-brilliant green-tinged and slightly watery. Clean fruity
bouquet of limes, tomatoes and a touch of early-summer Heidelbeeren
(aren't they called blueberry in English?). Fairly dry but quite
balanced with appreciable fruit. Flinty finish, almost Nahe-like. A
fairly decent tipple but I doubt if one would want to do anything with
bottle of that in one sitting.


Ohhhh, the humanity.....


More things in heaven and earth, I suppose.
Cheers



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

Ed Rasimus wrote in message . ..
On 08 Jul 2004 20:07:21 GMT, amnspam (Dale Williams)
wrote:

Back at home there was the 2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz
Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau). Light, lithesome, and limey. Like a peach soda
with a big sprtiz of lime juice. I could drink a whole bottle of this solo, but
refrain (even with 8% alcohol, that would be pushing it). No worries re
acidity here. Beautful crisp Spätlese. A-

You've destroyed me. After the good fortune of several years in
Europe, either in a position to visit Germany and return with some
Rhines and Mosels, or resident in Germany (in the Rheinfalz region), I
always could depend upon Rheingau as having body, character, and
substance. No "light, lithesome (lissome?)" ...and definitely not
"limey." For light, I want Mosel. For limey, I think maybe Viognier or
Sauvignon Blanc. Now, you're telling me that there are bottles of my
precious Rheingau lurking out there with lime? What next, stoney and
flinty....

Hi Ed,
Last weekend I was in Hochheim am Main for their annual Weinfest and
indeed stumbled upon a "stoney and flinty" Rheingau Riesling. This was
the Weingut Künstler's 2003 Riesling QbA (can not locate the name of
the vineyard at the moment, but I kindda recall it being Reichesthal)
celebrating 1250th jubilee of the town Hochheim am Main.

Clear-to-brilliant green-tinged and slightly watery. Clean fruity
bouquet of limes, tomatoes and a touch of early-summer Heidelbeeren
(aren't they called blueberry in English?). Fairly dry but quite
balanced with appreciable fruit. Flinty finish, almost Nahe-like. A
fairly decent tipple but I doubt if one would want to do anything with
bottle of that in one sitting.


Ohhhh, the humanity.....


More things in heaven and earth, I suppose.
Cheers



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

I think you may have misspelled "skat", Dale.

Don't think so, Tom. Perhaps you're thinking of ska? But the preferred spelling
of the style of jazz used by Ella seems to be scat.

But when scat is bad, it's scat.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

I think you may have misspelled "skat", Dale.

Don't think so, Tom. Perhaps you're thinking of ska? But the preferred spelling
of the style of jazz used by Ella seems to be scat.

But when scat is bad, it's scat.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

On 9 Jul 2004 02:28:04 -0700, (TB) wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote in message . ..
On 08 Jul 2004 20:07:21 GMT, amnspam (Dale Williams)
wrote:

Back at home there was the 2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz
Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau). Light, lithesome, and limey. Like a peach soda
with a big sprtiz of lime juice. I could drink a whole bottle of this solo, but
refrain (even with 8% alcohol, that would be pushing it). No worries re
acidity here. Beautful crisp Spätlese. A-

You've destroyed me. After the good fortune of several years in
Europe, either in a position to visit Germany and return with some
Rhines and Mosels, or resident in Germany (in the Rheinfalz region), I
always could depend upon Rheingau as having body, character, and
substance. No "light, lithesome (lissome?)" ...and definitely not
"limey." For light, I want Mosel. For limey, I think maybe Viognier or
Sauvignon Blanc. Now, you're telling me that there are bottles of my
precious Rheingau lurking out there with lime? What next, stoney and
flinty....

Hi Ed,
Last weekend I was in Hochheim am Main for their annual Weinfest and
indeed stumbled upon a "stoney and flinty" Rheingau Riesling. This was
the Weingut Künstler's 2003 Riesling QbA (can not locate the name of
the vineyard at the moment, but I kindda recall it being Reichesthal)
celebrating 1250th jubilee of the town Hochheim am Main.

Had to slow down and reread. First iteration I read Hochenheim, which
created instant flashbacks to F-1 races I'd attended, pit row straight
grandstand seats with a picnic basket at my feet and one or two
bottles of spatlese from somewhere or other. Then I slowed down and
properly read Hochheim am Main and transposed myself further north.
Great country that.

Never got to that particular fest, but attended the overwhelming
bacchanal of Bad Durkheim several times (more focussed on Hessen and
Pfaltz than Gau--and more "bad" wine than good, but always a great
party.) Also have fond memories of a great picnic aboard one of the
Rhine cruisers during the "Rhine Aflame" evenings.

Clear-to-brilliant green-tinged and slightly watery. Clean fruity
bouquet of limes, tomatoes and a touch of early-summer Heidelbeeren
(aren't they called blueberry in English?). Fairly dry but quite
balanced with appreciable fruit. Flinty finish, almost Nahe-like. A
fairly decent tipple but I doubt if one would want to do anything with
bottle of that in one sitting.

Sounds like a clear exception to the Rheingau mold. I agree with your
characterization of traditional Nahe as "flinty". My expectation of
Rheingau is much more into the honey and apricots sort of thing but
lots of body. Definitely not in the light Mosel sort of
palate-cleansing summer refresher.

Damn, now all this talk of German wines is going to force me out of
the house this PM to the local emporium to gather some prime examples
of the genre.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

On 9 Jul 2004 02:28:04 -0700, (TB) wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote in message . ..
On 08 Jul 2004 20:07:21 GMT, amnspam (Dale Williams)
wrote:

Back at home there was the 2003 Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz
Riesling Spätlese (Rheingau). Light, lithesome, and limey. Like a peach soda
with a big sprtiz of lime juice. I could drink a whole bottle of this solo, but
refrain (even with 8% alcohol, that would be pushing it). No worries re
acidity here. Beautful crisp Spätlese. A-

You've destroyed me. After the good fortune of several years in
Europe, either in a position to visit Germany and return with some
Rhines and Mosels, or resident in Germany (in the Rheinfalz region), I
always could depend upon Rheingau as having body, character, and
substance. No "light, lithesome (lissome?)" ...and definitely not
"limey." For light, I want Mosel. For limey, I think maybe Viognier or
Sauvignon Blanc. Now, you're telling me that there are bottles of my
precious Rheingau lurking out there with lime? What next, stoney and
flinty....

Hi Ed,
Last weekend I was in Hochheim am Main for their annual Weinfest and
indeed stumbled upon a "stoney and flinty" Rheingau Riesling. This was
the Weingut Künstler's 2003 Riesling QbA (can not locate the name of
the vineyard at the moment, but I kindda recall it being Reichesthal)
celebrating 1250th jubilee of the town Hochheim am Main.

Had to slow down and reread. First iteration I read Hochenheim, which
created instant flashbacks to F-1 races I'd attended, pit row straight
grandstand seats with a picnic basket at my feet and one or two
bottles of spatlese from somewhere or other. Then I slowed down and
properly read Hochheim am Main and transposed myself further north.
Great country that.

Never got to that particular fest, but attended the overwhelming
bacchanal of Bad Durkheim several times (more focussed on Hessen and
Pfaltz than Gau--and more "bad" wine than good, but always a great
party.) Also have fond memories of a great picnic aboard one of the
Rhine cruisers during the "Rhine Aflame" evenings.

Clear-to-brilliant green-tinged and slightly watery. Clean fruity
bouquet of limes, tomatoes and a touch of early-summer Heidelbeeren
(aren't they called blueberry in English?). Fairly dry but quite
balanced with appreciable fruit. Flinty finish, almost Nahe-like. A
fairly decent tipple but I doubt if one would want to do anything with
bottle of that in one sitting.

Sounds like a clear exception to the Rheingau mold. I agree with your
characterization of traditional Nahe as "flinty". My expectation of
Rheingau is much more into the honey and apricots sort of thing but
lots of body. Definitely not in the light Mosel sort of
palate-cleansing summer refresher.

Damn, now all this talk of German wines is going to force me out of
the house this PM to the local emporium to gather some prime examples
of the genre.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

Damn, now all this talk of German wines is going to force me out of
the house this PM to the local emporium to gather some prime examples
of the genre.

Hey, Ed, what's your impression of the Rheingau 2000s? Seemed mostly a wash in
Mosel, but I quite liked some Nahes (Dönnhoff). Local store has some Schloss
Schonborn and others, was thinking of trying.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

Damn, now all this talk of German wines is going to force me out of
the house this PM to the local emporium to gather some prime examples
of the genre.

Hey, Ed, what's your impression of the Rheingau 2000s? Seemed mostly a wash in
Mosel, but I quite liked some Nahes (Dönnhoff). Local store has some Schloss
Schonborn and others, was thinking of trying.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

On 09 Jul 2004 17:52:47 GMT, amnspam (Dale Williams)
wrote:

Damn, now all this talk of German wines is going to force me out of
the house this PM to the local emporium to gather some prime examples
of the genre.

Hey, Ed, what's your impression of the Rheingau 2000s? Seemed mostly a wash in
Mosel, but I quite liked some Nahes (Dönnhoff). Local store has some Schloss
Schonborn and others, was thinking of trying.
Dale

Regret that I can't offer any input. I've been pretty much off of
German for a couple of years. Purchases have been limited to a couple
of bottles around Thanksgiving for the few Philistines that insist
that turkey does not go well with Pinot Noir.

SWMBO and I seem to opt for red with virtually any meal and it is only
with the greatest of reluctance that the cork comes out of a white.
Result is a cellar heavily slanted toward darker wines.

Even in the summer, it's more likely that a chilled Beaujolais will
grace the table than a white.

Still, this discussion has rekindled some memories and I'm going to
pick up a few German offerings. The real issue for me in Colorado is
that even the largest stores don't stock a lot of quality and what
they do have is over-priced and under-rotated. The focus is so slight
that there aren't even many "shelf-talkers" to help separate the wheat
from chaff.

So many wines, so little time....


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8