Bill S. wrote:

> 1976 Schloss Eltz Eltviller Sonnenberg Riesling Beerenauslese (full
> bottle) - I brought this and vetoed the plan to serve it with salmon.
> It had, as expected, lost some sweetness over the years and was now
> the colour of Madeira. The nose was fascinating with great depth ,
> featuring raisiny petrol and fresh prunes. Probably showed the RS of a
> recent vintage of Auslese but much more weight on palate, almost thick
> in body. It had just exactly enough acidity at the end to balance it
> and the most remarkable thing was the length of the finish, measured in
> minutes. You could still taste this 5 minutes after you had last sipped
> it. It had a relatively high alcohol at 12%, so you can imagine what
> the must weight at harvest must have been. No wonder this (with 1971)
> was the best vintage for late harvest wines of the decade. This has
> been in my cellar for over 20 years - and still bears the price tag
> of $6.99 from Safeway in Bellingham WA where they had mispriced it (my
> question "Do you happen to have any more?" was unfortunately met
> with a negative). The only food I could think of that might work would
> be a simply seared bit of foie gras, but I'm not sure - any
> suggestions? Probably best we had it alone and early so we could
> appreciate it.

I have not had this one, but I do have the Schloss Eltz Langenstuck
Beerenauslese 1971. It was still holding well a few years ago and full
golden in color, but I have not tasted it in several years. Having many
1971 and 1976 German wines of BA and TBA concentration, I believe that,
on the average, some 71s may be longer lived than the 76s. Of course at
this quality level, exceptions are nearly the rule! I find most of my
better auslesen and up 76s from the Rheingau still holding up well, and
most of them are still gold to old gold in color. The 71s often are
more classic and sometimes better balanced than the 76s. Of course all
of these wines have had near perfect storage since shortly after
release. Some of the 76 Rheingau and other auslese and above wines go
far beyond the usual peaches, apricots, etc and are tropical with much
pineapple, mango, and papaya along with loads of honey. If I had to
choose only one Rheingau vineyard, it would be Rauenthaler Baiken, but
climate must be ideal for this vineyard to reach the top, and of course
the wine maker must be good. I still have a single bottle of
Rauenthaler Baiken TBA 1949, state. It likely is still holding very
well.


> 1996 Vega Sicilia Valbuena 5 - this was the reserve wine, one step
> below the Unico and a step above the '3'. Great timing as I'd
> recently tasted the 1990 Unico. Sweet oak nose, tannins still firm,
> good fruit, a bit more acidity than the 1990, and good length. All in
> all a clone of the 1990 we'd tasted. Very good.

When I saw 1996 Vega Sicilia in the subject, I thought of Unico and
that someone needed to send a San Francisco whip mistress up to Canada
to teach someone not to open such a baby so soon. However, after
reading the discussion, I find it is the Valbueno, so perhaps this is
not such a great sin :-) .