Wednesday with rack of lamb with persillade, a 375 of the 1997 Ch. de Sales
(Pomerol). What a disappointment (even w/o high expectations!). Thin, sharp,
raspy berry fruit and a short finish. This is a Seagram Chateaux & Estates
import, a recent purchase (Stew Leonards in Yonkers) , my guess is the reports
of C&E dumping heat-damaged inventory in NE are accurate. C

Thursday we had pizza, and the 2002 Rocca del Macie "Campomaccione" Morellino
di Scansano. Looks like reports of 2002 vintage sucking in Piemonte have some
validity, too. Too much oak for the meager cherry fruit, thin on the finish and
lacking substance. A waste of $9. C/C+

What a week. But it can be salvaged- the 2002 Willi Schaefer Graacher
Himmelreich Riesling (MSR) does much better. Friday we have with an Indian
spiced fish recipe from Mark Bittman. This Qba is a light, easy, but sassy
wine with floral nose, citrus fruit with a touch of red fruits, good acidic
structure. Yippee, back on track. B/B+

Saturday night, rib steaks over a watercress/parsley/caper salad, with baked
potatoes. Recipe was supposedly intended for Petite Sirah, but I serve the 1999
Ch. Leoville Poyferre (St-Julien). As in the past, I really like this wine.
Good blackcurrant fruit, ripe but with enough acidity to not be flabby. Cedary
oak, violets, licorice all on the nose. Not a blockbuster, but a damn good
argument for what can be done in a "mediocre" vintage. B+/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

"Dale Williams" > skrev i melding
...
>
> What a week. But it can be salvaged- the 2002 Willi Schaefer Graacher
> Himmelreich Riesling (MSR) does much better. Friday we have with an Indian
> spiced fish recipe from Mark Bittman. This Qba is a light, easy, but
> sassy
> wine with floral nose, citrus fruit with a touch of red fruits, good
> acidic
> structure. Yippee, back on track. B/B+
>
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

"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote:

> 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!

Wein-plus scores are much lower than all others. Don't stick to the
numbers.

M.

"Michael Pronay" > skrev i melding
...
> "Anders Tørneskog" > wrote:
>
>> 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!
>
> Wein-plus scores are much lower than all others. Don't stick to the
> numbers.
>
Yes, I think it is true for Germany. They seem to give rather higher scores
in Austria, btw, but then the judge(s) is/are different.
Marcus Hofschuster, the judge in Germany, seems to be quite harsh at times -
when the wine is not quite to his liking, I think.
As to that wine in question the good Willy Schäfer possibly had a less
attractive lineup in 2002, but I've not tried these myself.
Anders

"Michael Pronay" > skrev i melding
...
> "Anders Tørneskog" > wrote:
>
>> 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!
>
> Wein-plus scores are much lower than all others. Don't stick to the
> numbers.
>
Yes, I think it is true for Germany. They seem to give rather higher scores
in Austria, btw, but then the judge(s) is/are different.
Marcus Hofschuster, the judge in Germany, seems to be quite harsh at times -
when the wine is not quite to his liking, I think.
As to that wine in question the good Willy Schäfer possibly had a less
attractive lineup in 2002, but I've not tried these myself.
Anders

>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, in addition to Michael's view of scoring, I have 2 thoughts:
1) we all know that tastes and preferences vary, only the most rabid of
Parker's sheep (not usually Parker himself) claim there's a definite
quantifiable hierarchy. Obviously my tastes differ from wein-plus. Beyond that
obvious difference there's the fact that the German wine press in general seems
(based on my light reading in translation) to have a definite preference for
German non-dessert wines to be fermented to dryness. I tend to like some RS in
my Germans (because almost every time I have a trocken MSR Riesling I think I'd
prefer an Alsace or Wachau Rieslings at same price point - I do like some dry
Franken Rieslings, but scarce here).
2) As noted, I make no claims of objectivity or consistency. In this case I was
looking for a light easy wine, and got one. A big Spätlese wouldn't have fit
in. If I was tasting through a big lineup of German wines, might not have done
as well. I'd be curious as to how wein-plus scored other similarly-priced Qbas.


I really wouldn't argue with their review (except for the tannic part- ??). I
didn't think the finish was short, but then I was expecting a long finish from
a Qba. If you have a chance to taste this, I'd be interested in your opinion.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

amnspam (Dale Williams) wrote:

> I tend to like some RS in my Germans (because almost every time
> I have a trocken MSR Riesling I think I'd prefer an Alsace or
> Wachau Rieslings at same price point - I do like some dry
> Franken Rieslings, but scarce here).

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.

"Michael Pronay" > skrev i melding
...
> amnspam (Dale Williams) wrote:
>
>
> 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.
>
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).

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase
from my email address. Then add . I do not
check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote:

> It is all about abv.

Of course.

> For 2003 I got some dry MSR QbA's at 13%, not half bad.

Good vintage to start with.

> Dry MSR wines at 11 are better forgotten, I think.

So do I.

M.

"Dale Williams" > skrev i melding
...
>
> What a week. But it can be salvaged- the 2002 Willi Schaefer Graacher
> Himmelreich Riesling (MSR) does much better. Friday we have with an Indian
> spiced fish recipe from Mark Bittman. This Qba is a light, easy, but
> sassy
> wine with floral nose, citrus fruit with a touch of red fruits, good
> acidic
> structure. Yippee, back on track. B/B+
>
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