This wine is fully ready, but likey will keep many more years. The year
1976 was very warm and produced very ripe Rieslings both in Germany and
in France. I am guessing that this 1976 Riesling would have been made
into a somewhat sweet spatlese or even auslese if it were in Germany.
However this is a very French stype Riesling, and is quite dry. Of
course Alsace also sometimes produces Selection de Grains Nobles late
harvest wines that can be somewhat to quite sweet.

The wine is a medium yellow color now. It has plenty of acid as is usual
for this wine, but it is somewhat rounder than in a more classic year
such as 1971. There is quite high extract. There is considerable mineral
character, and a touch of Riesling petrol. There are hints of honey,
although the wine is quite dry. I am guessing that a few of the grapes
used were highly enriched by botrytis. This is a top dry Riesing, but
perhaps not as typical a Clos Ste. Hune as the 1971. Because of the
exceptional concentration, it can match bolder food better than a more
typical dry Riesling.

Reply to .

Just to nit-pick. I know several top German wine producers who hate the term
Petrol when referring to their. wines. This is normal for well aged fine
Rieslings and sometimes some younger ones. What you are really referring to
is really a mineral nose and taste and that is a term they prefer.

I have been lucky enough to have had many Clos Ste Hune and to this date
the best one I have tasted,in my opinion is the 1986.




"Cwdjrx _" > wrote in message
...
> This wine is fully ready, but likey will keep many more years. The year
> 1976 was very warm and produced very ripe Rieslings both in Germany and
> in France. I am guessing that this 1976 Riesling would have been made
> into a somewhat sweet spatlese or even auslese if it were in Germany.
> However this is a very French stype Riesling, and is quite dry. Of
> course Alsace also sometimes produces Selection de Grains Nobles late
> harvest wines that can be somewhat to quite sweet.
>
> The wine is a medium yellow color now. It has plenty of acid as is usual
> for this wine, but it is somewhat rounder than in a more classic year
> such as 1971. There is quite high extract. There is considerable mineral
> character, and a touch of Riesling petrol. There are hints of honey,
> although the wine is quite dry. I am guessing that a few of the grapes
> used were highly enriched by botrytis. This is a top dry Riesing, but
> perhaps not as typical a Clos Ste. Hune as the 1971. Because of the
> exceptional concentration, it can match bolder food better than a more
> typical dry Riesling.
>
> Reply to .
>

"Petrol" sounds objectionable, but can be a pleasant component. They
may object, but there is a definite petrol-like aroma to some
rieslings, at least to my nose.

Andy

I agree with you but the objection is the term petrol.


"AyTee" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> "Petrol" sounds objectionable, but can be a pleasant component. They
> may object, but there is a definite petrol-like aroma to some
> rieslings, at least to my nose.
>
> Andy
>

Sibeer wrote:
> I agree with you but the objection is the term petrol.

The problem is that "mineral" notes are quite distinct from what I, at
least, pick up in many aged Rieslings (and occasionally in the young
ones). If we accept that Chablis and Pouilly-Fumé are the most common
examples of wines that display some mineral character, then I have no
problem in saying that what I detect in Riesling is fundamentally
different in nature.

Mark Lipton

I believe petrol has long been used in connection with Riesling by major
critics and MWs in GB. In the US we might substitute gasoline, but that
term has never caught on. One problem is that some gasoline or petrol
has a very clean smell if it contains mainly aliphatic hydrocarbons and
does not contain some rather nasty sulfur compounds and such. Most of
the gasoline I have bought in the last few years is not very nice
smelling. This could be the source of the German objection. However if
you were more specific and compared the smell to pure hexane, for
example, not many people other than chemists would know what you were
talking about. Smell comparisons between wine and something else seldom
are exact and can only suggest the true smell of the wine. Perhaps
aged-Riesling smell might be a better term, although this means only
those who have had several older Rieslings will know what you are
talking about.

Reply to .

"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
news:Og0De.164224$x96.84126@attbi_s72...
> Sibeer wrote:
> > I agree with you but the objection is the term petrol.
>
> The problem is that "mineral" notes are quite distinct from what I, at
> least, pick up in many aged Rieslings (and occasionally in the young
> ones). If we accept that Chablis and Pouilly-Fumé are the most common
> examples of wines that display some mineral character, then I have no
> problem in saying that what I detect in Riesling is fundamentally
> different in nature.
>
> Mark Lipton

In my early wine days I purchased a German Riesling, detected the "petrol"
note and pitched the bottle, thinking it was contaminated. Age and
experience (both mine and others) have taught me better, but I wonder how
many people with my limited experience or less swore off Riesling as junk
because of this?

Dean

(Cwdjrx _) wrote:

> I believe petrol has long been used in connection with Riesling
> by major critics and MWs in GB.

Willi Schwengler, now retired director of Freie Weingärtner Wachau
cooperative, used "petrofossil" (in German). I liked the term, but
it really didn't catch on.

M.

"Michael Pronay" > skrev i melding
...
> (Cwdjrx _) wrote:
>
>> I believe petrol has long been used in connection with Riesling
>> by major critics and MWs in GB.
>
> Willi Schwengler, now retired director of Freie Weingärtner Wachau
> cooperative, used "petrofossil" (in German). I liked the term, but
> it really didn't catch on.
>
A fossil would hardly have any smell, I believe.
I'm in line with those speaking of gasoline and other oil compounds, but
that's only because no one has found a commonly understood alternative
description. There's a strengthening of the common mango together with some
volatility which leads my thought to gasoline or kerosene - but, only a
whiff or so, a small note from the flavour orchestra in a glass of old
Riesling!
Anders

"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote:

>> Willi Schwengler, now retired director of Freie Weingärtner
>> Wachau cooperative, used "petrofossil" (in German). I liked the
>> term, but it really didn't catch on.

> A fossil would hardly have any smell, I believe.

Nor does stone smell, normally. Petrol = petroleum = oil from
stone. So "petrofossil" is more or less exactly the same.

M.

Salut/Hi Sibeer,

le/on Tue, 19 Jul 2005 04:26:02 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

>
>I agree with you but the objection is the term petrol.
>
>
>"AyTee" > wrote in message
roups.com...
>> "Petrol" sounds objectionable, but can be a pleasant component. They
>> may object, but there is a definite petrol-like aroma to some
>> rieslings, at least to my nose.

To complicate matters further (gd&r) I think the word is "Pétrole" which is
french for what I would call (in the UK) paraffin. I think it's called
Kerosene in the ex-colonies. Although my petrol/gasoline sniffing is
distinctly limited, I've never found ANY old Riesling that even nearly
reminded me of what I spill over my feet when I am being careless at the
garage (filling station). However I HAVE noticed a smell that is faintly
reminiscent of paraffin.

I have to confess that I have no problems with using expressions like
"petrol", "sweaty saddle", "barnyard" and so on for aspects of wine that I
like. What's your problem about using them?
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

When I wrote my comment I did not realize what a small tempest in a teapot
it would cause. I personally do not have an objection to the term "petrol",
I in fact have used the term. I only tried to say what several of my German
producers friends have said. They say that many of the wine drinkers do not
understand the just what the nose really means.They feel that the petrol
nose indicates, to some people, a defective wine. I guess it is just a
matter of education..


"Ian Hoare" > wrote in message
...
> Salut/Hi Sibeer,
>
> le/on Tue, 19 Jul 2005 04:26:02 GMT, tu disais/you said:-
>
>>
>>I agree with you but the objection is the term petrol.
>>
>>
>>"AyTee" > wrote in message
groups.com...
>>> "Petrol" sounds objectionable, but can be a pleasant component. They
>>> may object, but there is a definite petrol-like aroma to some
>>> rieslings, at least to my nose.
>
> To complicate matters further (gd&r) I think the word is "Pétrole" which
> is
> french for what I would call (in the UK) paraffin. I think it's called
> Kerosene in the ex-colonies. Although my petrol/gasoline sniffing is
> distinctly limited, I've never found ANY old Riesling that even nearly
> reminded me of what I spill over my feet when I am being careless at the
> garage (filling station). However I HAVE noticed a smell that is faintly
> reminiscent of paraffin.
>
> I have to confess that I have no problems with using expressions like
> "petrol", "sweaty saddle", "barnyard" and so on for aspects of wine that I
> like. What's your problem about using them?
> --
> All the Best
> Ian Hoare
> http://www.souvigne.com
> mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

> What you are really referring to is really a mineral nose
> and taste and that is a term they prefer.

Yes, I have a friend who is an Alsacian producer. He told me that they
were intentionally trying to change the term to "mineral" from
petroleum, for marketing reasons. But a rose by any other name would
smell just as sweet--or as horrible if it smelled like gasoline. In
this case the wine smells of petroleum and changing the name won't
change the odor.