Tuesday, March 31, 2015

2013 KELLER Riesling Grosse Gewächse

Klaus-Peter Keller is, for justifiable reasons, one of the most sought-after producers in all of Germany, if not the world. The two Westhofeners here show why, and the Niersteiner, despite its relatively low score, is a standout in the area from which it came, where the wines were much less successful. (Continue reading here.)

Monday, March 30, 2015

2013 WAGNER-STEMPEL Riesling Grosse Gewächse (Rheinhessen)


The curiosity about Wagner-Stempel’s wines is that although they are in the Rheinhessen boundary, they really resemble Nahe (which can be seen from some of the vineyards) more than other parts of Rheinhessen in their focus, purity, and elegance. (Continue reading here.)

2013 KNIPSER and Philipp KUHN Riesling Grosse Gewächse (Pfalz)

Both theses producers tend to be somewhat modern in style, but in the best sense of modern. (Continue reading here.)

Sunday, March 29, 2015

2013 Johan GEIL Erben (Rheinhessen)

Geil is one of a clutch of young producers in Bechtheim who are beginning to make a name for the wines of this particular Rheinhessen village. Johannes Geil-Bierschenk said that production was off 20% and that it was not an easy vintage. (Continue reading here.)

Friday, March 27, 2015

2013 Clemens BUSCH Grosse Gewächse (Mosel)

Busch is one of my favorite producers anywhere. No one that I know of works harder on his wines or achieves more soul in his or her wine. I unfortunately was not able to visit last year to taste the wines in Pünderich and discuss them with Clemens, but I did have the opportunity to taste these GG’s. Unsurprisingly, they are excellent. (Continue reading here.)

Thursday, March 26, 2015

2013 A. J. ADAM (Mosel)

News here is that for next year, Andreas Adam will have a new property – Drohn Hässchen, with vines planted in 1930, and also a new winemaking facility. These are successful wines in a challenging vintage. (Continue reading here.)

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

2013 Prinz SALM (Rheinhessen)

Formerly known as Villa Sachsen, it made sense to combine this with the Prinz Salm estate in the Nahe as both are under the same ownership and these vines are from the border of Rheinhessen and Nahe, and basically Nahe wines in all but political boundary. (The 2013 Nahe wines from Salm are reviewed here.)

(Continue reading here.) 



Tuesday, March 24, 2015

2013 MEULENHOF/Erben JUSTEN EHLEN (Mosel)

Guidon Justen said that production in 2013 is only 40% of normal – two days of rain in the harvest led to rapid degradation, ending any reason to let the grapes continue on the vines. This small crop would be misfortune enough, but his vineyards were also hit by hail in 2011 and the effect of the hail carried over to 2012. Quality for these selections is good, though. (Continue reading.)

Monday, March 23, 2015

Marcus MOLITOR: Miscellaneous Recent Releases (Mosel)

Molitor has built up a large estate in relatively short time. He is a contrarian, with an emphasis on dry wines (they are not labelled trocken; moreover, even some of the fruity-style wines are on the dryish side), and some of the best Pinot Noirs in all of Germany. There is a saltiness that I adore that is a constant theme in the wines. I highly recommend your making an effort to try some and decide for yourself whether his style is for you – you may wind up being a big fan, as I am. (Continue reading here.)

Sunday, March 22, 2015

2013 PFLÜGER (Pfalz)

I confess that I previously had not known this biodynamic estate located in Bad Dürkheim, and one of the German estates that was early in the game to adopt organic farming – back in the early 1990s. As you’ll notice, there is some overlap of vineyards (Michelsberg, Herrenberg) with those of Karl Schaefer, whose wines I just reviewed. (Continue reading here.)

Friday, March 20, 2015

2013 Karl SCHAEFER (Pfalz)

For some years, the wines I’ve come across from this estate at the northern end of the Pfalz have failed to excite me. But something else appears to be going on with these wines, made in an elegant style but with substance and very good representation of their terroirs. (Continue reading here.)

Sunday, March 15, 2015

2013 Josef SPREITZER (Rheingau)

Andreas Spreitzer characterized the vintage as small in size, but not really small because there was little botrytis to concentrate the crop. These wines are good as a whole, but generally not up to the best that Spreitzer can do, as is so common in many cellars in this vintage. (Continue reading here.)

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

2013 Egon MÜLLER (Mosel)

As in the two prior vintages, yields here are extremely low – 10-11 hl/ha. As a result, prices are very high for these wines – yet, considering the quality, the prices are not out of line with great wines from other parts of the world. (Continue reading here.)

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

2013 JOHANNISHOF/Johannes ESER (Rheingau)

This estate is one of the most reliable and underrated in the Rheingau. Even in the difficult 2013 vintage, the wines are worthy of interest, especially the two superb Grosse Gewächse. (Continue reading here.)

Monday, March 9, 2015

2013 SELBACH-OSTER (Mosel)

Johannes Selbach said that he has only a third of a normal crop in 2013! Under difficult conditions, it’s not surprising that as a group, these wines don’t match up to the outstanding 2012s here, but they are more than just honorable, and there is plenty to appreciate here. (Continue reading here.)

Saturday, March 7, 2015

2013 VOLS (Mosel)

Helmut Plunien was born in Wiltingen, but before returning to the Saar, he made wine at Bürgerspital in Franken. This year he has beautiful new labels for the American market, taken from one of his predecessor estates, Altenhofer in Ayl. He now has 7 hectares in his estate. In 2013, the estate overall made 35 hl/ha, which sounds good by Burgundian standards, but in Germany, yields are higher, and that figure represents a small crop, although not as limited as those of many other producers. I continue to be highly impressed by the wines here. (Continue reading here.)

Monday, March 2, 2015

2013 SCHLOSS SAARSTEIN (Mosel)

This Saar estate has succeeded very well in the challenging 2013 vintage. (Continue reading here.)