Cellar Raid: Riesling

I just love Rieslings, and this was one of the most wide-ranging tastings I have ever had, making for a very good Saturday afternoon - especially since the temperature was a humid 35 degrees celsius outside. As always, all wines were blind. Sure, we were missing USA, Cananda, South America and New Zealand (quite a large chunk of the wine world), and maybe we could have done with an Alsace SGN or two. But in the end, I think we covered a good number of the major regions and styles, with one really unusual Spanish Riesling too. A really good comparative tasting, with good fun company.

• 2003 Schloss Reinhartshausen Erbacher Schlossberg Riesling Erstes Gewächs 90 Points

  Germany, Rheingau

  Pretty good, but this must be the most un-German dry Riesling I have ever tried. A lot of it must have been down to the vintage - I actually was quite sure it was a rich Alsace style. Golden yellow in colour. Nose showed mushrooms, beeswax and honeyed yellow fruit laced through with some chalk and floaty orange blossom flowers. Very weighty on the palate, with plenty of spice, a bready, yeasty undertone and more honey and yellow fruit coating the mouth. Thankfully, the waxy, almost oily texture was matched with fresh citrus acidity, presented with almost orange accents at points. Finish was just a little shortish, otherwise this was very decent. I thought it just struggled a little amongst some solid company on the day.

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• 2002 Paul Blanck Riesling Furstentum 92 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  Every bit as good as the last bottle, maybe even a bit better, given that this did not have the benefit of the food that brought the wine out so nicely the last time around. Golden yellow in colour. Really attractive nose, where kerosene droplets were mixed with orange peel scents, sweet flowers, nectarines, honey and a little vanilla note. Nice palate too, weighty, but with nice cut and focus, certainly more precision here than the equally big 2003 dry German. that preceded it. Here, bright acid framed lush flavours of candied orange and lemon, white flowers and a little exotic pineapple and passionfruit note. The oily-textured finish was mid-length, filling the mouth nicely with spice notes. A bit of residual sugar just rounded the wine off nicely with a fruity touch. Very good.

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• 2008 Castell d’Encús Costers del Segre Ekam 92 Points

  Spain, Catalunya, Costers del Segre

  What an incredible surprise. A Spanish Riesling, and a really good one at that! No surprises that no one guessed this one correct. Light green gold in colour. Almost intensely flowery on the nose, with lots of chamomile and jasmine smells wafting along on a backdrop of green pears and white melons. Lovely balance on the mid-weight palate, a little fizziness marked the edges, but this had almost filligreed finesse, with white flowers flavours hanging on a frame of sweet pears, melons and a little sprinkle of lemon zest at the impressively persistent finish. Bright acid played an excellent accompaniment throughout. Very nice.

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• 2001 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile 93 Points

  France, Alsace

  Excellent. Colour was still a youthful green-gold, but the nose was starting to show some lovely complexity. Lots of chalky mineral, earthy mushrooms, almost a little truffly here and there, plenty of deep honey scents, nectar and a healthy dose of petrol. Really attractive, but almost in a serious rather than playful way. Plenty of aged complexity was starting to show on the palate as. Just a little heat at the edges I thought, but this had lovely depth, fine balance and really nice flavours of kumquat, limes and some savoury earth tones, all underlined by a nice streak of stony mineral. This was dry all the way, a world of a difference from the other Alsace Riesling, which was a far fruitier Paul Blanck Furstentum. I think this wine just had that extra edge of precision and definition though. Some may find it a little austere, but it was just starting to integrate and open up nicely, and clearly has the good bones and well-knit flesh of a top vintage. While drinkable now, I would give it 3-4 more years in the bottle to make sure, and I think it will probably go on developing for a long time. Very nice, and would have been even better with a well-paired meal I think.

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• 2007 Prager Riesling Smaragd Steinriegl 94 Points

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

  This was the pick of the dry Rieslings. Truly excellent. The nose here was quite rich, with nectar, honey, beeswax, ripe yellow fruit and some lemon curd scents at the fore, along with floaty white flowers and some minerally notes on the upper register. Lovely aromatic complexity all round. Palate was absolutely dry, but had such nice lines, with superb balance and laser-like cut and precision married to lovely depth in its mouthfilling lime and pear flavours. It was structured, yet sumptious, almost creamy at the same time. Super long finish the capped the whole wine off, full of mineral, spice and flowers just pulling and pulling away. Obviously young, but really quite pitch perfect even now. Amazingly, it got even better on day two, when little herb notes starting peeking out from amongst the creamy fruit. A gorgeous wine.

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• 2005 Pikes Riesling Reserve The Merle 91 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  A good little bottle. Rubbery petroleum dominates on the nose, along with some limes and lemons. Palate had lots of spice, plenty of minerally lines, and a whoosh of lime. I thought it lacked some of the complexity and the gravitas of the best dry Rieslings we had alongside, but this nevertheless had nice depth, good zippy freshness and a pretty decent finish. Nice show of terroir too. Almost all of us thought it was Aussie, and quite a few narrowed it down to a Clare Valley Riesling.

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• 2008 Pikes Riesling Reserve The Merle 89 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  What a coincidence - two people bringing the same bottling, just different vintages! I thought the 2005 was rather better, but am not sure whether was due to the extra 3 years of bottle age, or whether it came on the strength of the respective vintages. The nose here showed a little touch of rubbery latex and petrol, along with some nondescript white fruit augmented with nice chalky, minerally scents. Palate had a little less acidity than the 2005 but still really crisp, with lots of limes and lemons, and a little fizzy lilt at the finish. Again, not the most complex of wines, but this was nicely shaped and well-made. Should be an excellent food wine as well.

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• 2001 C. H. Berres Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  First of the off-dry Rieslings, and this was certainly a pleasant start. The bottle showed far better than the one I tried slightly more than a year ago. Still a deceptively light colour, but there was a lovely mature German Riesling nose here, with caramel, honey, white flowers and nice yellowish fruits. Palate also showed quite a bit of age, with kumquats, dried muscat grapes, limes and lemons, all ran through with lovely acidity. Sweetness had gone down a bit, but there was still a nice fruitiness that reamined. It finished quite satisfyingly with a good dose of telltale Wurzgarten spice. Almost everyone thought it was a Mosel, I lucked out in guessing Wurzgarten, but actually thought it may be older given the how tight the last bottle was. This wine was not a blockbuster given the strength of the vintage and the great plot that the wine came from, but it was nevertheless a really nice, classic Mosel Spatlese.

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• 2007 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Spätlese 91 Points

  Germany, Rheinhessen

  I always thought Gunderloch excelled in his sweeter Pradikats, but this Spatlese was actually pretty good. Too young though, given how monolithic it was. Very reductive on the nose at first, with rubber bands and car tires galore. Underneath that, there was some jackfruit, durian and some creme fraiche scents bubbling along. With time, the more pungent smells tamed down, and very Rhinehessen scents of peach, apricot and tropical fruits showed up along with a touch of dried flowers. Palate was really quite sweet, with pear drops, nectar and grape sugars dominating at first. Nice depth, not the greatest acidity, but decently balanced, just that it was a bit unidimensional at the moment. Like the nose though, some nectarine and peach showed up with time, but one really got the impression of this wine was deep in youthful slumber. Finish had okay length, but was again dominated by grape sugars. I guessed it as a 2007 Rheinhessen Spatlese on the strength of its fruity sweetness that saw the wine straddle the middle-ground between Spat and Auslese levels. This certainly has flesh and power, it will be interesting to see what becomes of it in a decade or so.

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• 2008 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Auslese 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Very nice. This was another Riesling that could only have come from the Mosel. Some sulphur on the nose. It blew off a little with time to show flinty mineral lines and some nice earthiness riding alongside peachy fruit and some ice-cream soda scents. Palate had nice weight, showed lots of grape sugars, but was clean as a whistle, with lovely refreshing acidity keeping the wine lithe, elegant and deliciously fresh. Lots of mouthfilling tropical fruit notes on the mid-palate too, with pineapple gummy at the fore, more ice-cream soda, and some peach and nectarine, all underscored with an absolutely lovely line of stony minerality that carried the wine into a nice finish. Lovely integration, classic balance and not a hint of over-exaggerated sweetness - basically everything a good 2008 Mosel Auslese should be. The pieces are all in place, and I can only see this getting better with age.

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• 1997 Künstler Hochheimer Hölle Riesling Beerenauslese 95 Points

  Germany, Rheingau

  I thought this was superb. Quite the wine of the tasting for me. It had an intensely expressive nose. Caramel scents, tons of honey, orange blossoms, orange peel, luo han fruit, and lots of botrytis. What a knockout bouquet! Gorgeous, gorgeous palate too. Red dates, orange peel, more luo han fruit, dried orange peel and just a truck-full of crystaline candied fruit - pineapples, dried mangoes, reams of honey and a hint of kumquat. Super rich, really noble, one would have expected this to be over-sweet, but somehow, the balance was just perfect, with a river of fresh acidity flowing through the glorious fruit and keeping the wine on its toes. To round it off, the finish was just incredible as well. It just went on and on and on, with a touch of mineral lining the sweet fruit and liitle flowers floating right at the back of the palate. A beautiful wine.

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