Weingut Huber Spatburgunder with Joel Payne + Surprise Dinner
Taberna
Tasted Thursday, April 21, 2011 by ikileo with 1,101 views
Introduction
I attended this guided tasting of German Pinot Noirs at Taberna hosted by the proprietor Ying Hsien and our guest, Head Writer for Gault Millau Guide to German Wines, Joel Payne. His extensive knowledge and experience brought much added value to this tasting. The owner of the importers of Weingut Huber in Singapore, Boon, from Wein & Vin was there as well.
Following the tasting Boon had invited me to join them for a casual dinner at Taberna itself. Other than Joel, Boon and Ying Hsien, there were 3 other guests that joined us for dinner: 2 people from another local wine importer and Andrea Sottimano from Azienda Agricola Sottimano, one of the top Barbaresco producers. He had lots of knowledge to share as well from his extensive wine experiences from around the world and not just Piedmonte.
During the dinner Ying had served us 4 wines blind: a sparkler and 3 reds. Confusion and surprises ensued.
Flight 1 - Tutored Tasting of Weingut Spatburgunder with Gault Millau head writer Joel Payne (6 Notes)
I had had Huber's wine back in 2008 while living in Germany. I didn't know then about the caliber of his wines but I thorough enjoyed his wines then and now. The soils in the Großes Gewächs have the same limestone quality in Burgundy and the Schlossberg plot apparently overlooks across the river to where Timbach grows their grapes for their Cuvee Frederich Emile. Quality soil indeed.
Flight 2 - Pre-Dinner Tipple (2 Notes)
Ordered a glass of the Vouvray as I love sparkling Vouvray from Domaine Huet. Spoke to a couple about traveling in Tuscany as I will be there next week and they have a vineyard and are neighbours with Fontodi in Chianti. They offered me a glass of a mature Rioja they had just ordered, what a treat!
Flight 3 - Blind Dinner (4 Notes)
This was the big surprise of the night. Boon had invited me to join them for dinner at Taberna. With a delicious spread of local Cze Char (mixed Chinese dishes) we were graced by Joel as well as Andrea Sottimano. All served blind and was interesting to see how such experienced wine lovers tried to place each wine. The double whammy of Coteaux Champenois pinot noir was too much for our brains to guess and to handle. Wonderful stuff.
Closing
An amazing evening that I would never have expected. Joining the table and sharing in their knowledge was incredible. Though I was clearly the youngest and least experienced by a mile, they were warm and readily shared their experience and joy of wine. The wines served during the tasting and subsequent dinner were a real treat as well.
2008 Bernhard Huber Spätburgunder Junge Reben
Germany, Baden
Had been opened for over an hour before tasting
Nose: Light cranberry nose with a dash of dark cocoa. A bit of brown butter and ginseng notes
Taste: High acid, spicy mid-palate with red fruit all over. Quite clean tasting but could have been a little tart for me.
Overall this was ok for me but I wasn't crazy about it, primarily due to the tartness of the wine.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2008 Bernhard Huber Malterdinger Spätburgunder
Germany, Baden
Opened for at least an hour before tasting
Nose: Compared to the Junge Reben of the same vintage this had a touch more vanilla notes along with a hint of ribena and earth notes.
Taste: A little riper and weightier than the Junge Reben but still balanced out by high acid.
Overall tasted a little better than the Junge Reben but these two wines are very close in terms of taste profile.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2004 Bernhard Huber Spätburgunder Alte Reben
Germany, Baden
Opened for 1+ hour
Nose: This one was nice. More animal, blue cheese and Chinese medical hall notes. Nice and mature.
Taste: Classy and elegant. Smokey with lovely weight and balance. Some chalky elements and bright cherry fruit intermingled with the mature notes. Long finish.
Overall: This one tastes good. Says a lot about German pinot when done right. Nuff said.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2007 Bernhard Huber Malterdinger Bienenberg Spätburgunder Großes Gewächs
Germany, Baden
Nose: More meaty notes with riper fruits than than the previous 3 in the flight. Notes of olives also appeared on the nose.
Taste: The quality and purity of the fruit is starting to stand out here. Ripe mid-palate, sweet and savoury notes at the side of my tongue. A lovely fruit and floral aspect on the palate as well.
Overall, as we are starting to hit the Großes Gewächs level, the quality of fruit and balance really stands out.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2007 Bernhard Huber Hecklinger Schlossberg Spätburgunder Großes Gewächs
Germany, Baden
Nose: Interesting notes of anchovies, red bell peppers and light hints of coffee. They played a background role supporting the lovely pinot red fruit nose.
Taste: Still relatively primary but showing great finesse and cool climate fruit. Clean, balanced between the fruit and acid. A touch cooler compared to the '05 Schlossberg
Not showing too much just a high quality of fruit and level of winemaking. Really shows the quality of the Schlossberg.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2005 Bernhard Huber Hecklinger Schlossberg Spätburgunder Großes Gewächs
Germany, Baden
Nose: Loved the hay, mushrooms and minerals along with the amazing fruit in this wine.
Taste: The ripest of the flight but not over the top. Very masculine but clean cut and very balanced. Supple and powerful for old world Pinot standards.
Easily the crowd favourite and many have commented this as a dead ringer for one of the better grand cru burgs regions (of which I am not familiar with).
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue