FoodBanter.com - German Riesling 2003

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Peter Muto

23-09-2004 10:14 PM

German Riesling 2003

I thought I would share my thoughts/overall impression of the overall
German Riesling vintage for 2003.
I don't know if anyone else has tasted many 2003's; I'd be interested
to compare notes.
A number of producers were in Toronto as part of a rolling tour of the
2003 vintage and overall the wines were quite impressive. To me, it
seems a more successful Kab/Spat/Auslese vintage than BA/TBA. I found
some of the BA's and most of the TBA's to be somewhat cloying. There
didn't seem quite enough acidity to balance the huge sugar. Very
little Botrytis.
I found many of the Kab's/Spatlese to be quite excellent, if still
very closed and really not developed being so young. (I haver very
little experience tasting such young Rieslings)
Overall, I think the vintage will provide extremely delicious wines to
drink over the near to mid term depending on producers, but don't seem
to have the acid and structure to really last as long as other
vintages.
Prices upon release should be resonable though.
I don't have the tasting booklet with me at work but there were about
20 producers.
My favourites included
Gunderloch (always outstanding and their Nackenheim Rothenberg BA and
TBA is amazing),
Johannishof (excellent wines from Kab to BA. Their TBA still had too
much sulphur to really judge)
Hans Lang had some 2001s which were beginning to show that beautiful
Riesling petrol note and their 2003's were solid as well.
Richter's was very fine, balanced wines.
Schloss Schonborn were good too.
St. Urbans-Hof was an odd one; I'm not familiar with their style but I
got so much of an earthy, profile, with so little fruit, (even from
the 2002 they offered) that I didn't know what to make of it. The
winemaker said they use indigenous yeasts which may have something to
do with but I don't know.
Studert Prum, not the famous JJ, but good stuff nonetheless
Dr. Pauly Bergweiler, top notch. beautiful, feminine, well-crafted.

Peter

Jaybert41

23-09-2004 10:30 PM

Simply put, it is curious to me how the same people that are toting the
Kabinetts and Spatleses as lacking acidity are also saying that the BA's and
TBA's are the real winners. If the vintage as a whole lacks acidity wouldn't
that apply to all levels of ripeness? One would think that lower sugar levels
(ie Kabinett) equals more acidity, and higher sugar levels equal lower acidity;
thus confusing the novice like myself.
Can anyone explain why the lesser QMP's would show lower acidiy levels and
therefore be out of balance than the much riper (and presumably sweeter)
Spatleses, Ausleses, BA's and TBA's?

Jaybert41

23-09-2004 10:30 PM

Vilco

24-09-2004 05:45 PM

Jaybert41 wrote:
> Simply put, it is curious to me how the same people that are
> toting the Kabinetts and Spatleses as lacking acidity are also
> saying that the BA's and TBA's are the real winners. If the
> vintage as a whole lacks acidity wouldn't that apply to all
> levels of ripeness? One would think that lower sugar levels (ie
> Kabinett) equals more acidity, and higher sugar levels equal
> lower acidity; thus confusing the novice like myself. Can
> anyone explain why the lesser QMP's would show lower acidiy
> levels and therefore be out of balance than the much riper (and
> presumably sweeter) Spatleses, Ausleses, BA's and TBA's?

Probably because different is also the expectation of acidity in a particular kind of wine?
I'm guessing, maybe someon can correct.

Vilco

Vilco

24-09-2004 05:45 PM

Markus

24-09-2004 06:26 PM

(Jaybert41) wrote in message >...
> Simply put, it is curious to me how the same people that are toting the
> Kabinetts and Spatleses as lacking acidity are also saying that the BA's and
> TBA's are the real winners. If the vintage as a whole lacks acidity wouldn't
> that apply to all levels of ripeness? One would think that lower sugar levels
> (ie Kabinett) equals more acidity, and higher sugar levels equal lower acidity;
> thus confusing the novice like myself.
> Can anyone explain why the lesser QMP's would show lower acidiy levels and
> therefore be out of balance than the much riper (and presumably sweeter)
> Spatleses, Ausleses, BA's and TBA's?

Jay,
I've wondered this myself. It seems a contradiction, as acidities
(to my mind) tend to be vintage distinctive, and a ripe year would
preclude having decent acidities. Perhaps as the response to your
Donnhoff question got translated, we need to 'consume (the 2003's) by
the caseload' to determine for ourselves ;)

Mark S

Markus

24-09-2004 06:26 PM

JEP	24-09-2004 08:23 PM

(Jaybert41) wrote in message >...
>
> Can anyone explain why the lesser QMP's would show lower acidiy levels and
> therefore be out of balance than the much riper (and presumably sweeter)
> Spatleses, Ausleses, BA's and TBA's?

One theory that could explain this is:

During times of high heat or extreme lack of water, the vine can start
to shut down and sugar production comes to a halt. Therefore no sugar
is being sent to the grapes, but the malate present in the grape itsef
is still respired, reducing it's content. So now the grapes could have
fairly low sugar content and low malic acid content and these end up
going into the Kabinetts and Spatlese.

The vines that did not suffer from the high heat and lack of water
continue to produce sugar at a high rate due to the above average
amount of sun light and are picked when the acid levels are right, but
with a much higher Brix. They may actually be picked before the
Kabinett/Spatlese grapes.
These go into the Auslese.

Some of these Auslese grapes are left on the vine and dehydration
starts, concentrating both the acids and the sugar. Even though some
of the malate is still being consumed in the grapes, the dehydration
of the grapes can keep the acid to water ratio the same while sugar to
water ratio increases. These go into the BA and TBAs.

Or the winemaker could have just added acid.

Andy

JEP	24-09-2004 08:23 PM

Peter Muto

25-09-2004 04:10 AM

(JEP) wrote in message . com>...
> (Jaybert41) wrote in message >...
> >
> > Can anyone explain why the lesser QMP's would show lower acidiy levels and
> > therefore be out of balance than the much riper (and presumably sweeter)
> > Spatleses, Ausleses, BA's and TBA's?
>
> One theory that could explain this is:
>
> During times of high heat or extreme lack of water, the vine can start
> to shut down and sugar production comes to a halt. Therefore no sugar
> is being sent to the grapes, but the malate present in the grape itsef
> is still respired, reducing it's content. So now the grapes could have
> fairly low sugar content and low malic acid content and these end up
> going into the Kabinetts and Spatlese.
>
> The vines that did not suffer from the high heat and lack of water
> continue to produce sugar at a high rate due to the above average
> amount of sun light and are picked when the acid levels are right, but
> with a much higher Brix. They may actually be picked before the
> Kabinett/Spatlese grapes.
> These go into the Auslese.
>
> Some of these Auslese grapes are left on the vine and dehydration
> starts, concentrating both the acids and the sugar. Even though some
> of the malate is still being consumed in the grapes, the dehydration
> of the grapes can keep the acid to water ratio the same while sugar to
> water ratio increases. These go into the BA and TBAs.
>
> Or the winemaker could have just added acid.
>
> Andy

In fact, Johannes Hasselbach (son of winemaker Fritz Hasselbach of
Gunderloch) said exactly that. The extreme heat shrivled the berries
thereby increasing the concentration of acidity which helped a great
deal.

The key thing is balance; I found in tasting that most of the Kab's
and Spatlese's still managed a good balance between sugar and acidity.
I did not find that the case as much the sweeter the wine got.
Plus, the BA/TBA's had very little botrytis which to me, really just
makes the wine very sweet and concentrated (and not as complex)

Peter

Ron Lel

25-09-2004 01:10 PM

"Peter Muto" > wrote in message
om...
>I thought I would share my thoughts/overall impression of the overall
> German Riesling vintage for 2003.
> I don't know if anyone else has tasted many 2003's; I'd be interested
> to compare notes.
> A number of producers were in Toronto as part of a rolling tour of the
> 2003 vintage and overall the wines were quite impressive. To me, it
> seems a more successful Kab/Spat/Auslese vintage than BA/TBA. I found
> some of the BA's and most of the TBA's to be somewhat cloying. There
> didn't seem quite enough acidity to balance the huge sugar. Very
> little Botrytis.
> I found many of the Kab's/Spatlese to be quite excellent, if still
> very closed and really not developed being so young. (I haver very
> little experience tasting such young Rieslings)
> Overall, I think the vintage will provide extremely delicious wines to
> drink over the near to mid term depending on producers, but don't seem
> to have the acid and structure to really last as long as other
> vintages.
> Prices upon release should be resonable though.
> I don't have the tasting booklet with me at work but there were about
> 20 producers.
> My favourites included
> Gunderloch (always outstanding and their Nackenheim Rothenberg BA and
> TBA is amazing),
> Johannishof (excellent wines from Kab to BA. Their TBA still had too
> much sulphur to really judge)
> Hans Lang had some 2001s which were beginning to show that beautiful
> Riesling petrol note and their 2003's were solid as well.
> Richter's was very fine, balanced wines.
> Schloss Schonborn were good too.
> St. Urbans-Hof was an odd one; I'm not familiar with their style but I
> got so much of an earthy, profile, with so little fruit, (even from
> the 2002 they offered) that I didn't know what to make of it. The
> winemaker said they use indigenous yeasts which may have something to
> do with but I don't know.
> Studert Prum, not the famous JJ, but good stuff nonetheless
> Dr. Pauly Bergweiler, top notch. beautiful, feminine, well-crafted.
>
> Peter

I managed to taste a lot of the '03s in tank and was not unduly worried
about lack of acidity. I remember I was most impressed with the Loosen
wines. Interestingly the Mosels displayed more acidity than the Rheingaus. I
would not be worried about the keeping qualities of either region.

Ron Lel

Ron Lel

25-09-2004 01:10 PM

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