Dinner with Egon Müller IV at Daniel

New York, NY
Tasted Saturday, February 22, 2014 by Michael Cohen with 631 views

Flight 1 (1 Note)

  • 1971 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 92 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Ex-Muller Cellar. The color is bright oat-straw and this wine has a fully mature nose offering up dried aster and golden flax. On the pallet the wine has an initial taste of dry chamomile, and transitions with the extraction of sunflower. The acid structure is broad and the length is ample.

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Flight 2 (2 Notes)

  • 1994 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 88 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    The color is pale green-gold. On the nose the wine is reserved and hard to identify, maybe some clover and a bit of that classic Saar herbal greenness. Get ready... the acidity here is bracing, even shocking like citrus War Head sour candy. The texture was all about cutting acidity right up the middle of the pallet, with all the acidity there was still some fruit and airy texture that provides some degree of balance. This was a unique and interesting wine, not very complex, and not of typical Müller style.

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  • 1983 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 94 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    The color is bright greenish-gold. The nose offers sunflower seed and jasmine, while on the pallet herbal qualities morph into jasmine harmonizing with sweet seaweed. This sweetness is only illusory and does not penetrate the tongue. I liken the textural experience to static electricity in the mouth, though not nearly as charged as the 1990.

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Flight 3 (1 Note)

  • 1990 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 96 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Everything about this wine was super fresh. The color is bright-golden and brilliant. On the nose and pallet the wine offers so much. Jotting flavors down as they flew into my mind: gooseberry glycerin, seaweed candy, coral tide, crustacean carapace minerality. Drinking this wine is like inhaling the aromas at the waters edge on a coral atoll, the aromatic expression lifts the wine as is traverses the pallet with static electricity and weightless mouth-filling finesse. As the wine glides over the tongue is adds sweet mint and citrus mist to the harmonic marine mix. The length of this wine is impressive and I can easily say this is the best Kabinett I have ever come across.

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Flight 4 (2 Notes)

  • 1989 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese 97 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Tasted this along side the 1990. Egon says there was physically more botrytis in '89 than '90 but as the wines stood there was very little botrytis evident in the 89. The wine was greenish-gold and bright. The nose offered a cool herbal note that reminded me of my aloe and lanolin shave cream, this later morphed into more classic scharzhofberger greenness that was also dominant on the pallet -- a note that I personally liken to snow pea. This snow pea note was also present on the pallet and harmonized with a cool menthol-spearmint that was actually reminiscent of E. Vatan's Clos La Neore, and yes minerality to match! This wine is in a great place and is a cooler styled spat, much like the '83 of the same wine that I enjoyed the previous evening. Everything is in balance and the wine posses a consonant 30+ second finish.

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  • 1990 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese 93 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    So among many other things, I learned that the deer in the Saar don't like botrytized grapes.

    The wine is a bright gold with visual depth. The botrytis here is evident both on the nose and pallet, it is balanced by sharp acidity and medium body. The fruit is honeyed and dominates the minerality in this viscous elixir, but herbal elements emerge on the finish. The wine has an impressive hang-time -- 45+ seconds.

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Flight 5 (2 Notes)

  • 1988 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese 95 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    This wine's color is on the lighter side for Muller aus of this age, and this appears quite young. Not surprisingly on the nose the wine doesn't really have much detectable botrytis but Egon believes it will come out more with age in this wine. There is a faint apricot note on the nose along with fresh herbs and this is a cooler styled Muller wine, which is much to my own liking. On the pallet the wine is fresh, so fresh, transparent, light, and ethereal, so classy and everything in great balance, proportion, and harmony. The apricot comes on stronger on the pallet like free-run apricot juice, and classic Scharzhofberger mineral, herbs, and gooseberry accompany. This wine speaks volumes about the vineyard, and the focused acidity drives it all home. This wine has serious length given its style, I count no fewer than 60 seconds.

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  • 1975 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese 93 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    This wine is much darker than the '88 tasted along side, honey golden in fact. The nose offers botrytis, and dried apricot. This is a hefty and viscous wine with more weight than other Muller wines enjoyed at this sitting. On the pallet dried apricot and mandarin are in balance with the botrytis note. The wine has nice focused acid structure and is very much alive. The finish lasts eons. This is very good wine and the flavor profile is less "unique" than this cuvee typically comes across.

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Flight 6 (2 Notes)

  • 1976 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese 96 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    This was difficult to judge along side the '83 Eiswien and the '59 TBA. Basically this was a great TBA and everything was in proportion. The wine of course has a real flavor presence without being as heavy handed as other TBAs from the region, the acids were precise and this wine is simply a touchstone in its class.

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  • 1983 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Eiswein 99 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    This stuff is about the most rock-star wine I've ever had. In the glass it is brilliant amber and the wine itself appears to give off light. The nose whispers to your soul and ignites euphoric emotion. On the pallet the wine is electric, sun flares of magic eiswein flavors dance across the tongue, this elixir is simply not comparable to any other potable substance of this earth. This is a viscous wine of very light weight and the acid is fierce and sizzles like fine pop-rocks candy, the wine is just sweet enough and has some underlying savory elements. The wine sticks to the mouth and the glass lip pings as is separates from my lower lip, divine. Egon reminds us that there are two 1983 Scharzhofberger eisweins, he says the other is better! and never saw the light of day (referring to the commercial market), and there was actually more of it produced! Wow.

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Flight 7 (1 Note)

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