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German Wines
 I travel to Germany nearly every year. With dear friends in Frankfurt
(the famous Norbert & Gabriella Auth, Anette & Claus Bonifer, Josef & Uli
Bauer, Juergen Block and Matthias Wooge), I've been fortunate to visit many of the top
German wine estates, as well as some up and coming properties which are known, probably,
only to wine aficionados in Deutschland.
SPECIAL ORDERS
While the selection in the shop is modest, we do have access to many more wines.
If you're buying case lots, let me know what I can find for you and we'll
order them from the importer if possible.
WINE CRITICS
It's interesting to read the latest wine journals and their various opinions
of German wine (or any wine, for that matter!).
American wine critics had fallen head over heels for the 2001 vintage from
Germany. The Wine Spectator publication gave the vintage some ridiculously
high numerical "score" as a vintage for all of Germany.
Interestingly, however, is they do give different scores to wine regions in
France such as Burgundy and Bordeaux. But for Germany, the entire country,
with its various wine regions, was lumped together as though the climate was
virtually the same everywhere!
The "technical" term for these people is "dummkopf."
Interestingly, many German producers speak just as highly of their 2002s as they
do their 2001s. Then you might wonder about the extraordinary wines from
2003, a vintage which is quite different from its two predecessors. One
delightful aspect of wines from anywhere is that they are "vintage
variable." I might suggest that one vintner's wines from these three
years might all be good, but they are unique and different according to the
particular growing season. If you've poked around this web site, you might
know my disdain for vintage charts, since you'd miss grand wine from so-called
"lesser" years and you'll be saddled with not-so-great wines from the
much ballyhooed "top" vintages.
We don't buy wines by their "vintage." We are open-minded wine
lovers and if we taste a great wine from a supposedly poor vintage, we are
delighted. Similarly, when we taste something of modest quality from a
so-called "great" vintage, we are disappointed. We tend to focus
upon what's in the glass rather than what's on the label.
When some German wines are in their youth, they can be most disagreeable.
I have tasted some really awful samples of various famous wines and have seen
how these change, evolve and blossom into something amazingly wonderful.
It is easy to understand, if you have an opportunity to taste some really young,
backwards Rieslings how you could be skeptical as to their quality.
We often have "older" bottles of German wines in the shop...it's
really remarkable to taste an 8 or 10 year old bottle of German Riesling and
find the wine to still be youthful and even "fresh." Few
California Chardonnays will develop or even last for 5 years.
A recent edition of a famed U.S. publication blasted some poor vintner's wines
as being painful to taste and he lambasted the winemaker. Amazingly, the
wines averaged about 90 point scores in this journal, which makes one wonder
what would these have been scored had he actually liked the wines!
Another curiosity with respect to "ratings" of German
wines: Sweet wines almost always garner higher scores than drier
wines. In virtually any critical publication of German wines, you'll
notice the highest scores are almost always awarded to the most sweet and
unctuous wines. It's a shame that really grand, less-sweet wines are
judged by the standards one has for really sweet, late-picked wines. (I
have the same criticism of the 100 point scoring system for wines such as
Beaujolais: their scores are reduced for being drinkable in their youth, which
is one delightful feature of Beaujolais. Yet they are judged on a scale
more appropriate for Cabernet Sauvignon wines!)
Well, we don't buy wines by their scores. I have not found that
to be a reliable strategy, so I prefer to taste and select according to my
palate preferences. Of course, every individual has particular taste
preferences and yours may not be the same as mine.
But I know I can show you good wines.
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Here are some wines currently in stock:
- J. J. PRÜM
 One of the world's finest wine producers, this property covers some 14
hectares in prime sites in the Mosel. They grow only Riesling and make extraordinary
wines.
Best known are those bearing the Wehlener Sonnenuhr (the sundial)
appellation.  They also make good wines of Graacher Himmelreich and Zeltinger
Sonnenuhr.
I have tasted wines of this estate in their youth and found them to be
really strange and not at all attractive. Yet, somehow, almost miraculously, with
time in the bottle they blossom into real beauties. They go, it seems, from sort of
yeasty notes to displaying minerally, floral qualities. If you
ever have the chance to taste their wines at a very young stage, you
must! The wines will befuddle you and you will wonder how wines can be
so backwards and rather unpleasant and then blossom into the most amazingly
fine bottles!
The 2002's are both magnificent, but young. Each has tremendous
balance and finesse. I'd expect them to live for another 15-20 years,
well-stored.
The 2003 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese is a powerful, big, deep
Riesling. It is just losing the weird, funky character that Prüm's wines display when they are first bottled and a bit backwards.
It is delicious now, however, and I suspect it may go for another 10-15+
years. The combination of peach-like Riesling with some minerally,
stony notes, is really fascinating.
The 2005 Auslese is excellent and young...it's still in a phase of
development and needs a bit more time to blossom, but it's a good candidate
for cellaring. Not that you can't enjoy it now...
- Currently in stock:
2002 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese $35.99
2003 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese $39.99
2004 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese $39.99
2002 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese $41.99
2005 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 375ml bottles $26.99
1995 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese List $52 SALE $44.99
- ROBERT WEIL
 At this point in time, Weil is, unquestionably,
a top estate in
the Rheingau.
I recall visiting this place in the 1980s and we found a rather modest
facility, not much more sophisticated than your basic
"garage"-type, home-winemaking facility. The place is
entirely different today!
With 51 hectares, Weil makes some astonishingly powerful Rieslings. Part of the "secret" is they "cheat." They have
a higher standard for ripeness here, so a Kabinett wine is really Spätlese quality, a
Spätlese is actually of Auslese sweetness, and so on.
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The Weil family sold the
winery, some years ago, to a Japanese concern and these guys must really have a yen for
quality. I remember visiting a poor little cellar with decent wines back in the
early 1980s.
Today, it's very modern, painted in an interesting shade of blue
(matching their label) with extraordinary wines at every level. These are
exceptional! We currently have a lovely, rather dry Riesling from 2005.
This is "merely" a Qba, but is on par with a good
quality Kabinett wine. Floral, fruity and close to bone dry.
Balanced for immediate drinking.
The 2003 Spätlese is a lovely example of Rheingau Riesling. We have
this in half bottle format...a wonderfully fruity and floral white
wine. It has enough sweetness to be a wine to pair with Foie Gras and
can also be matched with fresh fruit desserts.
The photo, by the way, is entitled "Two Fans of Robert Weil."
I can say, though, I am not a fan of their pricing policies and the wines
are simply out of reach on the top end and the "normal" bottlings,
these days, are priced significantly higher than similar quality wines of
neighboring estates.
- Currently available:
2005 Riesling Qba "Trocken" Sold Out
2003 Riesling Spätlese Sold Out
 The Weil
estate...main house.
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 A work in
progress.
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 All sorts
of different sized tanks.
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 Wonder
what these are for?
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- FRITZ HAAG
 With some
7.5 hectares, this small domain
makes up in quality what it lacks for quantity. They're located in Brauneberg and
are, with von Schubert and J.J. Prüm, the top wines of the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer.
Wilhelm Haag is very proud of their rise to stardom; I remember visiting some years
ago when my friends had some old German guide book which rated Haag as only a modest
quality estate. Herr Wilhelm saw this book and insisted upon giving them a newer
version, one which placed his estate at the top of the Mosel quality chart!
Wilhelm says he's been making wine since about 1957 and the 2000 vintage was
"...the most difficult I've ever encountered...the wines are very good,
however." Indeed! I was at a tasting of his 2000 vintage
and they were uniformly impressive. Haag's wines are usually rather
low in alcohol and very elegant. Quite. This shows what a master
this guy is.
The 2005s, of which we purchased the "simple" Brauneberger Juffer,
are quite fine. They are delightful now, but I suspect we'll see these
blossom a bit with additional bottle aging.
Currently available:
2005 Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett $24.99
2005 Brauneberger Juffer Spätlese $28.99
Wilhelm Haag in July of 2005
Tasting the current line-up at Fritz Haag.
The new wines are quite good!
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- REICHSRAT VON BUHL
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- I stopped by this place one day, in between scheduled appointments
to see if I could taste their current line-up. I interrupted the lunch of Nicole
Rebehn and she, very kindly, allowed me to taste their wines. I was very impressed
and she explained they had hired a new winemaker and were certain this would put the
winery back on track as a leading Rheinpfalz estate. Upon my return I called German
Wein-Meister Rudi Wiest and he was luke-warm in his opinions of these wines. Nicole
persisted and sent a sample or two and Rudi's tasting experience was as exciting as was
mine! He now imports and features the Von Buhl wines. They
are always amongst his most popular Rieslings.
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The property covers
vineyards in their home town of Deidesheim, as well as sites in nearby Forst.
We
have a dynamite dry Riesling from these folks. It's called
"Estate Riesling" and is a Spätlese-level wine. And it's very Trocken. I'm delighted to report that many of the customers
who've bought this have returned for more! The 2005 vintage is a
fresh, floral example of Von Buhl's wines. There's a chalky, minerally note
to this wine, too. It's been bottled with a screw-cap, so no
risk of "corked" (musty-smelling) bottles. We applaud the
notion of screw cap bottles, by the way, especially for youthful, bright,
drink-me-soon wines. The 2005 can be paired with all sorts
of foods. You can easily match this with a baked ham, smoked pork,
roasted chicken, white fish, Asian-styled foods, etc. Pretty
versatile.
We tasted a delicious line-up of wines on our visit in April of 2006.
The estate is even making Sauvignon Blanc, just to test this variety.
We were especially impressed with a sweet version of Scheurebe and this wine
is amazingly good. Apparently there was planetary alignment during the
harvest and the fruit in this wine is extraordinary. It's finally
arrived and the wine is superb! Fabulously fruity on the nose, with
tropical and floral tones. Sweet, round and delicious! What a
wonderful bottle.
- Currently available: 2005 Riesling Spätlese Trocken Sold
Out
- RIESLING SEKT (Sparkling Riesling...dry!) $24.99
2005 SCHEUREBE Auslese "Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad" $29.99
Von Buhl is working on its Pinot Noir...and making good strides, in fact.
"ESTATE RIESLING" is a term you'll frequently see on
recent vintages as German wineries try to please consumers with non-vineyard specific
wines.
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PFEFFINGEN-(FUHRMANN-EYMAEL)
 Easier to
remember the Pfeffingen name at this estate, a 12 hectare property in Bad
Durkheim in the Rheinpfalz. The property is run by Karl and Helene
Fuhrmann's daughter Doris Eymael (whose son is now enrolled in a wine
school). The vineyards were, for the most part, re-planted in the
late 1980's.
Though Riesling accounts for more than half of the production here,
Pfeffingen makes quite an assortment of wines. You'll find Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir here, along with Dornfelder, Silvaner, Pinot Blanc and Gewürztraminer.
They grow a significant amount of Scheurebe, a variety of which we are big
fans.
The 2007 vintage Gewürztraminer is marvelous! The aromas are amazingly
intense, very fruity and floral. I like the spice notes and rose
petal aromas & flavors. Doris explained they are increasing
their production of Gewürztraminer as this wine is finding many fans here
in the United States market. The wine is moderately sweet, but
finely balanced thanks to its bright acidity.
The other wines we tasted from the 2007 vintage from this estate are really good
and the property seems to have become a very reliable source of fruity and
aromatic wines. The 2008s are better than most, for that
matter...
Doris Eymael shows off her cellar...stainless steel on one side and
traditional wooden casks on the other.
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Currently in stock: 2007 GEWÜRZTRAMINER
Spätlese $27.99
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BOLLIG-LEHNERT
 Stefan
Bollig has been at the helm of this Mosel property since 1987. We
wonder how we could have missed his wines all these years, since we tasted a dynamite Piesporter
Goldtröpfchen that's a Spätlese level from the 2003 vintage. His
wines have attracted our attention ever since...
We're usually allergic to paying a premium price for Piesporter
wines. These tend to be popular in the U.S. because American
customers are too lazy (or shy, or both) to learn to pronounce the names
of German wine villages. As a result, easy-to-say places such as
Piesport are popular here and producers can command a higher price than
their neighbors who might make something called "Klüsserather
Bruderschaft" which will injure any American attempting to say those
words.
But Bollig did a fine job with this wine and we're delighted to have it in
the shop. The wine displays really ripe tropical fruit notes and has
ample acidity to balance its modest level of sweetness. Very
charming!
His Piesporter from 2006, a Spätlese level wine, is also outstanding.
It's amazingly fruity, floral and complete. Not too sweet...just
right. Beautiful tropical fruit notes on this wine, too.
A 1993 Auslese Riesling from the Trittenheimer Apotheke is a recent
arrival, a wine that's recently been shipped directly from the
estate. I can't imagine tasting a much fresher wine and yet this has
been in the bottle for more than a decade!!! It's very reasonably
priced, too. Don't miss it.
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Currently in stock: 2006 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling
Spätlese $19.99
1993 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Auslese $23.99
Stefan shows off a steep parcel of his vineyard along the Mosel.
Prime vines make prime wines.
Stefan maintains a nice cellar of old bottles.
We found a lovely set of wines on our July 2005 visit.
Tasting the new vintage before bottling.
The cellar has some old, neutral casks which are perfect for maturing the
Riesling. It's a cool and moderately humid cellar and the wines seem to
age very handsomely here.
We appreciate cellars full of shiny stainless steel tanks, but also appreciate
more traditionally-made wines as well.
This fellow makes some terrific wines...very showy!
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