spatlese

From two recent dinners

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

1995 Christoffel-berres Erdener Pralat Spatlese Riesling 8%
Mosel, germany

A glowing deep yellow with some amber, indicating age (early 2000s). Cumquat, honey, petroleum, camphor, smoke, high residual sugar, low alcohol. German for sure, Spatlese at least, perhaps Auslese? Palate is luxurious, and beautifully balanced. Revealed as older than my guess. It’s a magic site, and the label is charming.

Drink to 2030, 94 points

2021 Ch Suduiraut 14%
Sauterne, France

Vanilla, vitality, rich and pure botrytis. Apricot, citrus, quince, with some very attractive green notes in the mix. Palate is opulent, viscous – all quality here and sublime length. But young – 2017? Unveiled, it turns out even younger, already approachable without guilt, but a long life beckons. Very little was made due to a combination of frost and mildew – but this is brilliantly assembled. 100% semillon, 138 g/l rs.

Drink to 2045, 94 points

2004 Stanton and Killeen fortified 18.5%
Rutherglen, Victoria, 8 gold medals and 4 silvers
30% shiraz, 21% touriga, 19% Durif, 10 tinta cao, 10%tinta roriz, 10%tinta barocca

It seems I reviewed this wine in 2018. Tonight, the cork has done its duty;  the wine is densely coloured with just some trivial ruby bricking on the meniscus; it’s thriving with dark cherry, raspberry, blueberry and sweet spices; it’s soft, civilized, and balanced with a mix of sweet and savoury; talcy tannins, fine spirit and fruitcake spices now with plum and blackberry joining in – combining very satisfactorily. And there’s no rush.

Drink to 2034; 93 points

a 2007 pair from Willi

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

I hav long enjoyed the wines of Willi Schaefer, and have visited for an exceptional tasting once. The difference in the two wines below is the AP number, in small print on the label. In this instance the wines are from slightly different plots within the same vineyard. The Schaefer Graacher Domprobst wines tend to be more earthy/minerally than those from their Graacher Himmelreich plots.

2007 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese AP#12 8%
Mosel

Gold colour, red apple, spices, honey, citrus, whispers of tropical fruits. Deliciously swete, and fresh, and textured, The palate is creamy textured, with some stonefruit character and just so damn refreshing. Fresh fruit beckons.

Drink to 2032, 92 points

2007 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese AP#5 8%
Mosel

A mirror of the above, with slightly more of everything; weight, texture, fruit depth, spices and some attractive green herbs. Gorgeous,

Drink to 2035, 93 points

Catch-up on recent drinks

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2007 knebel spatlese

2007 Knebel winninger Rottgen Riesling Spatlese 11%
Mosel; 47 g/l residual sugar; gold colour honey.

Wax, apple and the surprising blackcurrant. Palate is still lively with sweetness ameliorated by acidy; palate is all about mixed apple and stonefruit (yellow peach and apricot); chewy, varietal and authentic.

Has seen better days however; drink up 90 points

2015 sauternes pair

2015 Ch Doisy-vedrines 13%
Sauternes 80% semillon, 15% sav blanc, 5% muscadelle

Light bright colour, light-weight aromatics of slightly green pineapple, vanilla bean icing sugar and preserved lemon. Palate shows almond meal, citrus nectarine. Ligher style than the next wine, but balanced and authentic. Ready for business, and will be consumed with great pleasure.

Drink to 2030, 92 points

2015 Ch Suduiraut 14%
Sauternes; 94% semillon, 6% sav blanc; 18 months in oak (50% new, 50% one year old) 138 g/l residual.

Served masked- I last tasted this wine around a year ago, and my notes are thankfully similar. Sauternes with a deeper colour than the wine above; crème brulee, quality oak, ginger spices, botrytis dustiness, light floor-polish VA present but under control; great density and integration. Cumquat and vanilla, liveliness, texture and persistence. Very decadent and pleasurable. Around ten years old?

Drink to 2037, 95 points

2007 croft vp

2007 Crofts Vintage Port 20%
Portugal

Served masked – Deep red colour with camphor, cherry and blackberry plus floral headsy spirit. Dense, with dark fruits, small berries and cocoa. Portuguese varieties for sure; and the spirit leans me to Portugal, BUT there;s not the drive, complexity or tannin for its suspected age (my guess was early 2000s). So, Australian. When revealed, this was quite a disappointing result for a  respectable VP vintage (and the other bottle I tried was similar).

Drink to 2030, 89 points

NV Morris Old premium “rare” Muscat 17%
Rutherglen.

Served masked. Luminnous dark, and very dense colour. Raisin, orange peel, roses, toffee, bitter chocolate. High-quality neutral spirit, It’s a meal in a half a glass if you are greedy. Concentrated raisins, and dried fruits with spices. It sits on the palate and the flavours dwell for ages. Not just about using old material, as the style needs the masterful touch of freshness too. Around 350 g/l residual sugar, but the acidity absolutely obliterates any cloying.

This wine is world class, and continues to be a bargain (a meagre $120 for a 500ml bottle, that will last for weeks if – unlike me – you have the will power to resist).

Drink now, 96 points

One terrific recent dinner

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2011 jj prum ws spatlese

2011 JJ Prum Wehelener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese 8.5%
Mosel, AP#28

Unmistakably German. Some reduction, but still shimmering with stonefruit, tropical notes, nettles, lime and flint with residual sugar seamlessly folded into a lightweight and delicious frame, that enfolds the palate. Great maker, and a great site, displayed to advantage.

Drink to 2030, 93 points

1994 Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz 13.5%
Great Western, Victoria. St Peters vineyard, (late) disgorged in October 2008, 28g/l residual sugar. Crown seal, and all the better! Notes below are not from tasting “blind’.

Mature but respectable colour, plenty of bubbles; mulberry, blackcurrant, dark cherry earthiness, light mushroom, and brimming with vitality. Its hard to believe there are better examples of this indestructible style around. As a bonus, my notes and score were consistent with my 2019 tasting note.

Drink to 2035, 95 points

2004 dow bomfim

2004 Dows Quinta do Bonfim (VP) 20%
Portugal – and technically a “single quinta”.

Usually, but not always from non-declared years (a decision of the producer- with Quinta do Noval an iconoclast now declaring every year).  Some single quintas are absolutely top wines, such as Grahams Stone Terraces. Usually, the single quinta makes up a large proportion of the declared vintages.

Decent colour for its assumed 20ish-year age; with blueberry, redcurrant, red liquorice, plentiful fruit here, and plentiful chalky tannin. The alcohol and spirit suggest Portugal, but the accessibility of the fruit suggests Oz origins (and I wrongly selected this option). In any event, the single quintas represent compelling VFM with monster enjoyment at an earlier age than the declared VPs can deliver. If only these single quinta were easier to find in Australia!

Drink to 2034, and 92 points

Two continents, two styles

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2007 haart gt spatlese

2007 Reinhold Haart Goldtropfchen Riesling Spatlese AP#15 8%
Piesport, Mosel 85 g/l rs.

Bright gold colour, this wine struts out with red apple, nectarine, a melange of mixed tropical fruits and the distinctive regional tell-tale petroleum, smoke and mineral signs.

The rich and viscous palate reflects the fruits above; everything is poised to demand more sampling; it’s a beauty – the apparent sweetness hints that it’s drying out, but in reality it’s just seamlessly and gracefully melded into the acidity. Delicious and so easy to indulge. I have not tried a Haart wine since early 2017, so this is immensely encouraging about quality and cellaring longevity!

Drink to 2030, 93 points

1990 morris vp

1990 Morris Vintage Port 19.2%
Rutherglen, Victoria

73% Shiraz, 37% Bastardo (Google suggests Trousseau, but more likely Touriga).
A recent auction purchase, the cork has done its job- just – so there will be better bottles held by enthusiasts. Deep dense ruby with some bricking but no browning; Lots of mocha, crema, marzipan, dark fruits; the palate is sweet, still with significant tannic grip, amiable high quality spirit, with cleansing acidity, this is very good drinking. But it just doesn’t provide enough real thrills or highlights to take it to the next level. Mind, its 33 years old, and in really good shape for an Oz fortified of that age.

Drink to 2028, 88 points

Another batch of rushed (mostly blind) impressions

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2007 jjchristoffel uw spatlese

2007 JJ Christoffel Erben Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling spatlese Ap#5 7.5%
Mosel.

Deep gold colour- wax, lime, lanolin, assorted sweet spices. Texture. A dash more acidity would have been welcome, but no mistaking its origin or variety, and merrily consumed over several days. But drink up!
90 points, drink to 2025

2011 Zilliken Saarburger Rieling Kabinett 8% AP#6
Mosel, from two half-bottles, one better than the other, but not by much.

59.9 g/l residual sugar (no wonder I assumed spatlese). Great colour for age; minerals, limes, texture and rampant tropical fruits.

91 points, drink to 2027

1995 Ch Coutet
Barsac. Deep gold colour; orange blossom, dusty botrytis notes, icing sugar and patisserie. Apricot and cumquat flavours. Altogether lovely, and absolutely ready to drink

93 points, drink to 2027

NV Campbells Merchant Prince Muscat
Rutherglen. An old bottling, suspected late 1970s.

Deep dense khaki colour with an olive rim. Rum ‘n raisins and the pungency of age. Very viscous, very ripe, and very sweet. Muscat certainly, Rutherglen probably. Maker??? There is no doubt the material was old, but I kept thinking that a tweak of freshening would have raised enjoyment to another level. But that’s what happens when the wine has been busy resting in bottle for forty years,

Drink now, 92 points

2004 grahams malvedos vp

2004 Graham’s quinta dos malvedos 20%
Cork very hard to extract (I broke it) – and plentiful sediment – decanting recommended. Malvedos provides the core when Graham’s declares a vintage port, so hopes were high. This wine has a ridiculously youthful dense crimson/black colour; blueberry, blackberry, minerals, spices and pepper. Palate is dark cherry and other dark fruits; good intensity but ultimately less complex than the initial promise. But a good advertisement for the quality of single quinta styles,

92 points; wait three years, then drink to 2030

1951 hardy's show port

1951 Hardy’s reserve bin show port bin M127
McLaren Vale, Shiraz.

Rancio, vanilla, superior brandy spirit. Tawny style, no doubt. 20yo? Mellow, lingering, satisfying. Label states aged in oak for over twenty years. Curiously bottled under screwcap, likely in the mid-late 1970s, so this is another curio that has been resting in bottle for nearly fifty years.

Drink now, 92 points.

Two 2007 spatlese from Schloss Lieser

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2007 schloss lieser spatlese pair

Schloss Lieser is one of my favourite Mosel producers, with a track record of providing excellence at a modest price. I have fond memories and notes from a dinner when winemaker Thomas Haag visited Australia in March 2010 – (with a mere 15! wines presented). Neville Yates‘ Eurocentric store has many Schloss Lieser wines available).

Neiderberg Helden wines are typically on the more earthy, minerally end than Brauneberg. These sweet wines of Schloss Lieser were fermented in stainless steel with wild yeasts.

2007 Schloss Lieser Neiderberg Helden Riesling Spatlese AP#7 8.5%
Mosel, 78 g/l residual sugar.

The first bottle was oxidised; so another was located and opened. Pale gold colour, Light spices, fresh red apple and some herbs. User-friendly now, with its lemon/citrus fruited sweetness melded with acidity and good concentration. But there’s no real upside in waiting.

Drink to 2027, 90 points

2007 Schloss Lieser Braunberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese AP#8 8%
Mosel, and a high-for-style 94g/l residual sugar.

Lemon colour, exuberantly bursts out with sweet cinnamon, spices, ripe apple and honey, a dash of lime and brown sugar. Balanced, fresh, and so easy to revel in. The palate is creamy, with white peach notes, oranges and underlying flintiness.

Crisp and persistent. Precise.  Sweet and cuddly, but that natural acidity cleans up beautifully. Ripping quality and value.

Drink to 2032, 93 points

2006 Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese AP#41 7.5%

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

From the Mosel, and a famous site. Adequate cork, and the wine is a bright deep lemon colour.

2006 loosen spatlese

There are delightful wafts of honey, spices, tropical fruits – particularly passionfruit- citrus and apple and raisin. The palate, as expected is sweet, clean and there is the magic interplay between acidity, alcohol, and sweetness. However, there is more grippiness than desirable- possibly some slight oxidation?

There may be better bottles, so…
Drink to 2023 and 90 points

2008 Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Spatlese AP#12, 8%

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2008 haart spatlese

Mosel. Bright deep lemon colour; spices and exotic tropical notes, particularly guava, plus red apples and citrus – oranges and lemon, some petroleum too. The palate is rich and at the sweeter end for a spatlese; honeyed, spice-filled, with the red apple dominant, and supported by racy acidity and stoniness. Its drinking vibrantly, but I feel it won’t improve further.

Drink to 2025, and 91 points

Spatlese – one Mosel, one Nahe

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2005 MF Richer Brauneberger Juffer-Sonneuhr Riesling Spatlese AP#22 8.5
Regarded as an excellent “all-round” vintage, this is a super-ripe spatlese (106 g/l residual sugar). Cork was quite wet.

Golden in colour, there’s a cascade of ripe pear, yellow peach, cumquat, and spicy dried fruits, with a suggestion of leafiness. The palate is rich, honeyed, spiced but beginning to show some drying characters.

Drink soon, and 91 points, although other bottles may be better given the state of the cork.

2007 Schafer-frohlich Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese AP#26 7.5%
From the Nahe – a small area to the south of Mosel, but very similar in style, albeit Riesling is a smaller part of production and there is more focus on drier styles. Donnhoff and Emrich-schonleber are also quality winemakers.

Light straw colour, there’s some flytox, which dissipates, and then there are tropicals – pineapple, nettle, and abundant spices. Palate is red apple and cream, drizzled with honey; lingering, great depth. Hugely enjoyable

Drink to 2025, and 93 points