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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.2 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 20 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by acyso on 2/15/2024 & rated 95 points: #19-99, 8.5% abv. From half-bottle. A fair bit different from the 1999 last night; this is far more opulent with a much larger expression of ripe fruit and overt sweetness. It's still balanced, but the sugar here gives this more weight and thickness on the palate, and the acidity, while present, doesn't have quite the same effect as in the 1999. Nonetheless, there is nothing cloying about this -- not for a moment -- but it is a far fuller-bodied, intense expression of the same wine. (548 views) | | | Tasted by Ben Christiansen on 11/11/2022: Lighter and fresher, bright and focused, even if open for days. (873 views) | | | Tasted by ovenmitt on 4/23/2019 & rated 95 points: No formal notes.... in a word “stunning “. Perfect balance.... still much life ahead but drinks wonderfully now. (1219 views) | | | Tasted by Aravind Asok on 8/25/2018: Side by side with the 2015 and Dessert. Almost completely unevolved. Juicy peach and a touch of petrol...great density and texture...liquid gold. Just a little less intense than the 2015. (1375 views) | | | Tasted by acyso on 4/25/2018 flawed bottle: August Kesseler at MingHin (Chicago, IL): #19-99, 8.5% abv. From half-bottle. Not sound, nor worth drinking. A victim of poor storage. (2402 views) | | | Tasted by acyso on 4/7/2018 & rated 93 points: Salil does Chicago 4; 4/6/2018-4/7/2018 (Chicago, IL): #19-99, 8.5% abv. From half-bottle. I was certainly far more bullish on this bottle than Salil, who thought that this showed poorly for what it could have been. He's right, in the sense that this is really nowhere close to the brilliance of the Spätlese, and that the midpalate of this half-bottle was a little hollowed out. In comparison, I'm inclined to agree with that, but at the same time, I still found lots to enjoy here, with its intense concentration and purity all the same. (1942 views) | | | Tasted by salil on 4/7/2018: Better than Adrian's previous bottle, but still feels somewhat hollow and thin on the middle/back end, without the complexity or piercing intensity that I expect a sweeter Riesling from '98 to have. I don't think this bottle was sound either. (1880 views) | | | Tasted by acyso on 4/6/2018 flawed bottle: Salil does Chicago 4; 4/6/2018-4/7/2018 (Chicago, IL): #19-99, 8.5% abv. From half-bottle. Not sound. Seems heat-damaged. (1489 views) | | | Tasted by salil on 4/6/2018 flawed bottle: Hollow and flat on the palate, with a burnished, overly mature quality to the fruit. Seems heat damaged. (1183 views) | | | Tasted by NickBurwood on 11/26/2017 & rated 93 points: Family Sunday dinner.
No botrytis, no diesel, just pure minerally nectarine and crystalline pineapple in incredibly focussed concentration. Refreshing acidity, elegant and racy with extreme length (hour+).
Could have been bottled yesterday, but is so good now I don't regret that this is my last (.375) bottle. Any further aging will eventually evolve this wine - but I doubt could improve it. (520 views) | | | Tasted by acyso on 10/1/2017 & rated 95 points: #19-99, 8.5% abv. From half-bottle. I've been powering through these a little bit after some worries about the provenance of this lot, but I've now got more hits than misses on this wine. It's phenomenal. That's really all there is to it. This is an outstanding example of the NH Auslese, that veers towards a more intense style. Like my last bottle, this has a bit of an Eiswein-like zest to it. It's super sweet, but there's this crystalline quality to the acidity that makes you come back for more. (1269 views) | | | Tasted by acyso on 9/15/2017 & rated 95 points: HDH auction tasting at Tru; 9/14/2017-9/16/2017 (Chicago, IL): #19-99, 8.5% abv. From half-bottle. This is absolutely phenomenal Auslese, which makes me even sadder for the dead bottle I opened a few weeks ago. The nose shows a bit of a crispness that you find in the ice wines. Tons of sweet stone fruit on the nose, and you can almost smell the acidic drive as well. The palate is of a baby Eiswein. Knee-buckling acidity that is balanced against incredible sweetness and fruit. So thick and ripe, but remarkably precise at the same time. (1849 views) | | | Tasted by acyso on 8/11/2017 flawed bottle: #19-99, 8.5% abv. From half-bottle. I'm not convinced this is an entirely sound bottle. The nose shows a very distinct dried pineapple smell that is a little indicative of heat damage. The palate isn't as dense and potent as I'd expect this to be either; there's a rather sharp vein of acidity here that isn't really balanced by anything else and has a taste a little like apple cider. I'm chalking this up to an off bottle. (1309 views) | | | Tasted by drwine2001 on 8/29/2016: Half bottle. Full yellow. Decadent, exotic nose of honey and tropical fruit. Beautiful citrus and apricot with terrific acidity. At full maturity from this small format. (1375 views) | | | Tasted by NickBurwood on 7/5/2014 & rated 93 points: Glyndebourne picnic - Eugene Onegin.
My note of July 2013 still applies to the letter. Superb, and equally liked by my 11 fellow (mostly German and S African) opera lovers. 3 half bottles consumed!! (1827 views) | | | Tasted by NickBurwood on 7/11/2013 & rated 93 points: With strawberries etc at Glyndebourne (Ariadne auf Naxos).
PnP. Clean nectarine nose, flavour a blend of the same and fresh pineapple with great minerality, ripe (rather than excessively sweet) concentration and race. Not a hint of botrytis. A fine and elegant Riesling. The star wine of the night.
At peak now and 3+ years. (1823 views) | | | Tasted by chbeaumont on 1/14/2007: Lovely wine, needs time. (2825 views) | | | Tasted by chbeaumont on 1/16/2006 & rated 91 points: Lovely wine, needs time. (2764 views) | | | Tasted by IanL on 12/14/2005 & rated 89 points: Quite pale in colour. Nice structured nose, with hints of apple, citrus and some underlying minerality. A good balance between sweetness and acidity, but quite muted palate generally. Possible the wine is going through a closed period and the acidity is outweighing the body and sweetness currently, time will tell. Revisit in several years... (3685 views) |
| By David Schildknecht
Vinous, January/February 2000, IWC Issue #88
(Hermann Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Auslese) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
| Dönnhoff Producer website
U.S. Importer (add'l info)
As a help to those who purchase and cellar these wines, let it be noted that the 'Goldkapsule' does not ofen designate a higher quality bottling from the producer Dönnhoff. Herr Dönnhoff uses gold capsules on about 99 percent of the l bottlings of certain richer wines from the vineyards Oberhauser Brücke and Niederhauser Hermannshöhle and perhaps some others. Therefore it is usually unneccessary and misleading to use the term 'Goldkapsule' with Dönnhoff wines, currently. Although, just to be confusing, David Bueker mentions that there may be one or two exceptions, especially in 2001 and 2003 vintages, where Donnhoff produced "white capsule" auslesen from the Leistenberg and Dellchen vineyards (later Dellchen auslesen have gone to the gold capsules - e.g. 2006). To have to list my notes on a Cellartracker page that has a non-necessary and meaningless 'gold capsule' designation is highly irritating for me, as I feel that if I list it correctly it won't even be picked up by a search.
Another example of the confusion above is with the frequent multiple bottlings of Eisweine from the Brücke vineyard. There were at least three bottlings in 1998 and three in 2002. They occur when prolonged cold snaps allow harvesting on successive days. Usually one of these is designated the 'regular' Eiswein and the best one is sent to the Auction. Each typically has a different style. They are informally referred to by the day of the week on which they were harvested. Thus in 1998 there was a 'Samstag' Eiswein, and one for 'Sonntag' and also 'Montag'. The last named is extremely powerful, and extremely expensive; it is the Auction lot.
It is STRONGLY URGED then that when referring to Dönnhoff wines one refers to the AP number If this terminology is not used, identity can be impossible to determine. JHTRiesling Varietal character (Appellation America) | A short history of Riesling (Uncork) | Riesling (wikipedia)Auslese Goldkapsel"Goldkapsel" is a gold cap. It is SOMETIMES used as an unofficial, internal quality level mainly for Auslese. There are many exceptions to this rule, and if you want to look foolish exclaim 'ah, a goldkap' wine for an example for which such makes absolutely no difference, as all Ausleses from that estate and vineyard have gold tops. A good example is Dönnhoff.
Auslese Goldkapsel for an estate using this designation is usually richer, sweeter, and more expensive than the ordinary version. Often it is more botrytis-affected too. The term is never mentioned on the label, but the Goldkapsule bottlings are identified by the gold cap only.
Some producers use the gold capsule as a signal of a bottle of superior quality, some not. A gold cap can mean a sweeter or a botrytis affected 'dessert' style wine here, without any claim of superior quality. Good example is Molitor (Mosel), although with recent developments there this may no longer be true.
As a refinement on the above, for some estates there are more than one gold capsule wine in a category, such as Auslese or Eiswein or even Spätlese. When this occurs the only sure means of identification is the AP number appearing on each bottle of quality wine (Qualitätswein) since 1971. Sometimes there are long gold capsule wines (LGK for short), too, which may be difficult to distinguish except if one happens to have a sample of each type of bottle to do a direct comparison. Here too the AP number can help if you have a list of what was put out under what number.
All this happens frequently enough to make it desirable to have a list of every AP number used by every bottler in every vintage year, but as far as I know this is not available, nor is it likely to be anytime soon. Sometimes the producer website can help, and another help is often David Schildknecht when he was reviewing for the Wine Advocate, who tried to list all AP numbers where there is likely to be a need for them. I see that he has continued that policy at Vinous. jhtNiederhäuser HermannshöhleDie Lage Hermannshöhle gilt heute als die höchstbewertete der ganzen Nahe und kann sich mit ihren Erzeugnissen mit allen Spitzenerzeugnissen anderer Weinbaugebiete messen. Die Lava-Basalt-Böden ergeben Weine mit viel Nachhall, die außerdem sehr haltbar sind.
In dieser Weinbergslage haben schon die Römer vor 2000 Jahren Weinbau betrieben. Sie benannten die Lage nach dem griechischen Götterboten Hermes. Man hat später geglaubt, den Namen "Hermes-Höhle" eindeutschen zu müssen und so ist der Name "Hermannshöhle" entstanden.
Geo-Data:http://www.weinlagen-info.de/?lage_id=705Germany Wines of Germany | The Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates (VDP) | How to read a German wine label | Geographical Information Down to Single Vineyards
#2014 Vintage Notes:
2014 Vintage Report by Terry Theise
2014 Vintage Report by Wine Spectator
"My gut still tells me the Saar (and to some extent) the Ruwer are better overall in 2014 than the more storied areas of the Mosel proper, but those that spent the requisite time living in their middle-Mosel vineyards made some of the most electric and "feathery" Riesling in a long time (maybe the finest in 20 years - yes, it's true!)" - Jon Rimmerman (Of course only a very short historical memory would call the Saar and Ruwer less 'storied' than the middle Mosel - jht)NaheAn der Nahe erwarten den Besucher sanftes Grün, romantische Flusstäler und dramatische Felsformationen. Dazu gastfreundliche Winzer und ihre vielfältigen Weine.
2.000 Jahre Weinbautradition hat das Anbaugebiet an der Nahe und den Nebenflüssen Glan und Alsenz. Vor kalten Winden durch den hohen Hunsrück geschützt, schaffen milde Temperaturen und viel Sonnenschein ein hervorragendes Klima für den Weinbau in dem regenarmen und sonnigen Tal. Hier wachsen auf rund 4.000 Hektar Rebsorten wie Riesling, Rivaner, und Silvaner. Auch die Spielarten des Burgunders sowie Kerner, Scheurebe, Portugieser und Dornfelder sind hier zu Hause. Lieblingskind der Winzer ist der an Finessen reiche Riesling, ein Viertel der Rebfläche ist damit bestockt.
Eine bewegte Erdgeschichte hat der Nahe-Region eine große Bodenvielfalt beschert. Die Reben wachsen auf Schiefergestein, vulkanischen Porphyr- oder Löss- und Lehmböden. Das ermöglicht eine Vielfalt an Rebsorten und Weinstilen.
Interactive map on weinlagen.info |
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