Scharzhofberger

When I worked in summer 1998 at a vineyard in Alsace, I remember there being a bottle of German Riesling in the kitchen fridge at the winery that lay untouched for weeks. On asking about it, the reply was, "Les rieslings allemands sont trop doux" ("German Rieslings are too sweet"). Certain stereotypes are hard to shake off, I guess – not least in a country resolutely convinced of its superiority in all things wine-related. The irony that Alsace wines are often anything but dry was not lost on me even back then. The bottle in that fridge was a Riesling Kabinett from the following winery. Sixteen years on, I wonder what Family Ginglinger would make of this:

Weingut Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett feinherb 2013, Mosel
With 9.5 percent alcohol. Straw-yellow with a greenish hue. Reticent at first but then gradually opening up to show lovely clean fruit (mostly Granny Smith with peachy suggestions) and hard, cold slate. More slightly tart apple on the palate, followed by yellower stone fruit as well as darker hints generating a certain sense of sweetness. This is held in check by pointed acidity, which in turn is moderated by a pleasant silkiness lending elegance and complexity. The finish is dry and absolutely refreshing.

This wine's constituents are in great balance. Its energetic core of acidity lends a mouthwatering quality and makes me forget that this wine isn't analytically "trocken" (i.e. under 9 grams per litre of residual sweetness) by a long, long way.

And there we have it: my first ever Scharzhofberger! Egon Müller-Scharzhof is slightly beyond my modest means ...

Bits and bobs

Detail on Heyl zu Herrnsheim label

Some telegram-style notes on recent wines which would be too short on their own to warrant a single blog post:

Weingut Heyl zu Heynsheim, Riesling 2010, Rheinhessen
Vivid yellow. An unusual and quite brutal herbal smell. Very ripe. Herbal notes on the palate. Very dry but with plenty of inner substance. Zingy, stimulating and very interesting. More of a guilty pleasure than an easy drinker.

Weingut Knab, Endinger Engelsberg Weissburgunder Spätlese trocken 2012, Baden
Straw-yellow. Distinct whiff of freshly sliced melon on the nose. Melons aplenty on the palate too. Fresh, fruity, intense and long. "E gaanz hervorragendi Wiissburgunder", as they would say down in these parts (in Basel dialect, replace the two i's to spell "Wyssburgunder").

Weingut Eugen-Müller, Forster Pechstein Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken 2012, Pfalz
Pale straw-yellow. Mint, lime and dark stone on the nose. Limeade and mint on the palate. Dry, refreshing finish. Very addictive. Perfect for quaffing.

Prima

Edouard Graf is a one-time customer of mine who runs a gourmet restaurant on the shores of Lake Zurich and has also launched his own range of wine glasses under the pseudonym "Edi the Nose". In the past, he has also collaborated with winemakers to produce his own wines that are now served at his restaurant or available via his online shop. This is one such specimen:

"PrimaNose" DOC 2006, Edi the Nose, Azienda Agricola La Fusina, Langhe Rosso, Piedmont
This is a blend of 40% Pinot Noir, 30% Nebbiolo, 25% Barbera and 5% Dogliani. Almost opaque, dark garnet in appearance. Black olives, sultanas and black forest fruit with a hint of red berries. Over the course of three evenings, an iron, blood-like note also emerges.

Not surprisingly, given the presence of Nebbiolo and Barbera, this wine has plenty of acidity on the palate. This and the tannins generate quite a "bite" that is a tad astringent a first but then becomes pleasantly mouthwatering as the hours (and days) go by. A slight sensation of sweetness and a certain mellowness in the mouth help accentuate this. Full bodied and powerful, but elegant. The 14 percent alcohol is well masked by the overall freshness. The finish is long. After eight years, this wine is still a relative spring chicken, but is now beginning to shed some of its initial sharpness. Great stuff.

Falkenlay

As I translated the tasting note for the following wine in volume 1 of Vinipazzi at the beginning of this year, it would have been tempting to leaf through the book in question and simply copy what I wrote back then. But that would have been cheating. I recently bought a single bottle myself, so I thought it would be interesting to write my own notes and – only afterwards – see if they tallied in any way with author Thom Held's far more detailed impressions.

Weingut Clemens Busch, Riesling Marienburg 1. Lage* Falkenlay 2009, Mosel, Germany
* Referred to as a GG ("Grosses Gewächs" or grand cru) from 2011 onwards.

The Falkenlay plot within the Marienburg grand cru consists of grey slate. "Lay" (pronounced by English speakers in the same way as "lie") comes from the celtic "ley", meaning crag or cliff.

Golden yellow in appearance. Honey on the nose – and distinctly so. The scent is already very mature after five years: quite waxy – a note that the author generally refers to in his book as "Silberschleier", or a sort of "silvery veil". At the risk of sounding a little very extremely pretentious, it feels to me like a viscous film covering the rest of the wine's inner components.

Again, honey on the palate. Ripe and powerful with a firm, long (and minerally?) finish. There might not be as much zing as I'm used to, but drinking a wine such as this (that is already showing signs of maturing) is all part of the learning process. And besides, the wine's firm base consisting of what might best be described as "extract" – that indefinable "stuffing" or substance that tastes dry – helps offset any honeyed tail there may be.

Great stuff, but is this, my rather second-rate, badly structured, amateurish, ad hoc description, consistent with the book? Not really. I'd prefer not write out the whole tasting note ad verbatim, but my translation contains snippets such as "heady on the nose with notes of white peach", "emotional energy", "olfactory odyssey", "dense and immaculately round", and "bright pineapple notes".

My notes also lack the visuals of Vinicolori – the author's way of depicting wines through the medium of colours and collages. That, however, is something best experienced by purchasing the book itself – a piece of work of which, on the other hand, I'm more than a teeny weeny bit proud.