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Wine Type
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Vintage
Name
Variety
Locale
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Date
Posted
Score
Helpful
Comments
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White - Off-dry
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2003 Peninsula Cellars Semi-Dry Riesling
Old Mission Peninsula
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TN: Peninsula Cellars Riesling Semi-Dry 2003 Old Mission Peninsula; $14/750 ml; 11 percent alcohol by volume, Village Corner, Ann Arbor, MI. Made from a mixture of Tom's Vineyard and Dohm Vineyard fruit, both about as far north as Riesling is grown on the Old Mission Peninsula.
An important re-visitation of a mature Riesling by the then-winemaker Bryan Ulbrich, during a time when balanced skin ripeness was a maturing element in his winemaking style. (Bryan now owns his own house, Left Foot Charley's).
Cork-finished, double-decanted. Shows prominent sheeting. A slightly richer color than I remember for this wine. Also shows plenty of tartrate micro-crystals and still has some spritz.
Raw paper and minerality edged with smoky caramel and with a hint of straight-bourbon sweetness shows a maturing secondary nose.
Crisp and energetic entry to palate is still there, with plenty of juicy fruitiness. Clean and persistent aftertaste, good full texture, and has picked up some definite quality and style as it has aged. 89/100. Drink now-2012.
Nice match with generic Piqua Chinese, which we wolfed down with good appetite.
This shows what happens to good Old Mission Riesling at five or six years along from a good vintage. It does keep and improve, and still maintains its style. Bryan was, and is, still on the right track with all his whites, especially his Rieslings.
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White - Off-dry
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2001 Nik Weis / St. Urbans-Hof Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese
Mosel Saar Ruwer
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2001 St. Urbans-Hof Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese, AP 329 290 015 02, 8.5 pabv, $19/750 ml, Village Corner, Ann Arbor, MI. HB Wine Merchants, New York, NY.
Cork-finished with a good plug of fungus on top of the worn capsule. The cork was pushed about 2 mm.
Light copper-green. Starts with a good blast of petrol, which melds into a grilled-lime note, with still hints of peach and a dust of mint.
Pineapple, verbena; a good grip of limy bitterness on the way in, with a juicy, rocky midpalate, and an elegant, clean finish. A nicely tactile wine, a beautiful blue-slate Saar example. 89/100.
With a little air gets a pretty peachy roundness and a hint of sweetness. Most of the RS seems to have gone away, except this little bit.
Went wonderfully with homemade veal scallopini with a handful of capers with an anchovy and marsala-infused sauce, with sweet fresh greeen peas. This was a 'gulp it down' match.
This bottle is in much better condition than one other I've tasted. (See http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard...ad.php?t=166220 ). Not a bit of the screechy metallicity I remember from before. It's starting to come into a prime drinking window.
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Red
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2007 Bogle Vineyards Petite Sirah
California
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TN: 2007 Bogle Vineyards Petite Sirah (USA, California)
Clarksburg and Lodi fruit; appellation: California; harvest date: September 10 through October 24, 2007
Releasd: March 2009.
Wine pH: 3.61 acidity: 0.57g/100ml. Alcohol: 13.5%. $12/750 ml at Meyer's in Troy, OH. 150,000 cases made.
This is a cork-finished wine with a heavy bottle that is sort of a Bordeaux-Burgundy hybrid, like that of Chateau Haut- Brion. Could have a greener package, I'd say. Not decanted, which I think is right for this wine.
It’s a very dark purplish brown colored, glass-coating sample, likely unfiltered given the somewhat muddy color.
Typical glossy, tarry nose with overtones of plum and thyme, which show a little vanilla toastiness. I can also detect hints of cocoa and strawberries and tobacco. Grows incomplexity with air, adding cherry and sweet anise hints over leather. Whether the crispness of the acidity is natural or an addition is unknown, but it’s not overdone. The fruit is gently sweet, with a nice touch of energy, and the tannins ripe and caressing; finish medium. A touch metallic, as this variety often is. Not bad at all at the price range, and a very pleasant drink, but lacks the explosiveness of style I’ve seen over the years from this variety; perhaps I expected this to be a little less suave and more rustic. Very ripe and low in acid, but comes together nicely. Still an excellent value.
86/100; now-2017.
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White - Sweet/Dessert
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1997 Gundel Tokaji Muscat Lunel Lauder-Lang Vineyards
Sárga Muskotály, Muscat more
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TN 1997 Gundel Tokaji Muscat Lunel Lauder-Láng Vineyards, bottled in Tolksva, Hungary, 13.5 pabv; 500 ml; (Hungary, Hegyalja, Tokaji).
Cork-finished; brown-orange with a good dash of bittiness.Plenty of ‘stick-tuitiveness’ and sheeting when swirled after the double decant.
Don Phillips’s house in Piqua; drunk with finger food up to and inclulding Tira Misu, my own concoction. Thanks to Evanthia from church for the donation of Elizir Borsci (Itaian sweet bitters), the perfect reinforce for the Ethiopian Farrar coffee beans made into sixteen shots of espresso and dosed with dry Marsala of Florio, and sweetened with light Muscovado sugar. The alkali-process cocoa seemed to harmonize all this, not make it pugnacious, with the wine.
Quite verbena and honey laden; saturated with tea leaf. We are noticing good crisp acids and nice integration sweet/tart; plenty of a subtle muscat grapiness, mineral and suave, for such as we, and a lime and rosewater bitterness that cleaned thepalate . Finishes nicely but with a touch of heat, and brings along some spearmint or peppermint.. Both Barbara and I found it quite delicious. 88/100; drink now or hold. Excellent with some thin-sliced smoked turkey ham. One of those wines that it’s almost impossible not to gulp down with gusto.
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White - Sweet/Dessert
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1995 Weiss Goldburger Ausbruch
Neusiedlersee
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1995 Familie Weiss Goldburger Ausbruch, Prädikatswein, SPN LE 580 96, 10 pabv. $2.00/750 ml, Cost Plus Wine Market Wine Warehouse, Detroit, MI
Cork-finished. Viscous. Rich orange with brown overcast.
Unleavened bread, apricot tart, honey, orange, kumquat, thyme, leaf note, roast veal.
Rich but balanced sweetness; tangerine peel, appropriate finish. 89/100.
Best value for a while in dessert wines, but I had to open about four of them before I found one that was in good condition.
According to winesofaustria.com and wkipedia.com., this variety is a cross between orangetraube and welschriesling.
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Red
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2008 Pierre-Marie Chermette Beaujolais
Gamay more
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2008 Pierre Chermette, Beaujolais Rouge, (non filtré à la mise) 12 pabv; $18, Dorothy Lane Market, Springboro, Ohio, Weygant-Metzler, Unionville, PA, importer. 'Sustainably produced'. Not sure that this is an estate bottlling like others this house produces. Estate name is Dom. du Vissoux.
Cork-finished. Typical body, texture, and color (red with violet-pink overtones, transparent to center).
Tobacco and cherry leaf with wet stones in the nose, edged with a touch of blackcurrant. Reminds me of some old-style Graves wines except it comes on a bit more gently.
Impressive balance of fruit and Montmorency cherry tartness, with just a hint of fine tannin on a clean finish. As pleasant and gulpable as a good example should be, but without the overwhelming banana I'm used to in most negoce bottings.
One of the most interesting simple Beajolais wines I've ever tasted. A good value even at exhorbitant Ohio prices. I've ignored this producer for years, but that's to my own cost, as I can now see. Wonder what their upscale bottlings are like? I'm giving it an extra point just for uniqueness and not being one of the crowd.
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Red
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2007 Georges Dubœuf Beaujolais-Villages
Gamay more
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2007 Georges Dubœuf Beaujolais-Villages - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages (4/21/2010), $10/750 ml; 12.5 pabv, no importer statement, 'Gamay Hand Harvested'.
Some of you may have bought a bottle of this, and might want to know what I found off the shelf at Kroger (perhaps a risky proposition, because this may be a year-plus old shelf orphan). Maybe you'd pop one with me and see.
Double-decanted. Cork-finished. Served with Boeuf Bourgignonne.
Wine is somewhat fuller in color than the average Golden Slope product; with less luster than a young, polished wine would have, but there are some richer cherry-colored notes in there in the center of the glass. Has a bit more body and fullness than a Pinot noir might.
The primary fruit having died back some, this actually hints that it's a red burgundy, with a cola-driven, high-toned minerality peeking out over the subdued cherry fruit.
Unfortunately it's a little unbalanced to acid right now, and perhaps thinner on the palate than I'd hoped for, but nothing wrong with it as a quaffer at this point. Whether that acid might come back into balance, I don't know. This is about as long as I'd keep such a wine, but those who like risking their sawbucks in pursuit of pleasure might give it another year. Tannins are OK for what it's suppossed to do, not obtrusive and not harsh. More than OK with the Bourgignonne.
Another observation might be made--that strange hard-surfaced acid smell I often get with Doboeuf, not volatile acidity per se, I think, but certainly volatile and certainly acid--I think it's a product of carbonic maceration--cannot be found here. Whether this is a carbonique wine I dont' know, however.
84/100. Drink now-2011.
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Red - Fortified
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2004 Quinta do Crasto Porto Late Bottled Vintage
Port Blend more
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TN:2004 Quinta do Crasto Porto Late Bottled Vintage Unfiltered (Traditional): Bottled 2008; product of the single Quinta. $14/375 ml; Miami Valley Wines and Spirits; Tipp City, OH.; one of the more estimable of Bartholomew Broadbent's stable of fine wines. I was not impressed with the 1995 version of this wine; however, that may be because the premium put on 'grip' by the owners and importers meant that there was perhaps too little pleasure for me in that wine at the time I drank it. I might enjoy it more now if I had a chance to retaste it.. Others have reported better things from this house and its ancient source for fine wines.
Tasted alongside a 2003 Taylor Late Bottled Vintage Porto, which is a nontraditionally-styled example, from two titanium Zweisel glasses--one an 8-oz. general white wine glass, and the second a (red) 25-oz. Burgundy glass.
Cork-finished; pulled with an Ah-so since cork seemed undislogeable. Color is typical deep purple, with a hint of a cherry-colored edge to the Crasto; still a tad cloudy. The Taylor LBV seems to be a little deeper in color. Appears extracted and rich.
Earth, minerals, and cherries, with different cherry and berry notes. Medium-sweet, again with cherry-berry notes; pleasant and with a touch of herbosity and complexity. Tannins coat the mouth but not to any extreme. Well-made and with a clean finish. When compared with the Taylor, more lissome and less extracted, and with lower tannins and a somewhat different fruit profile. (Taylor tends to licorice and rose-water). This wile will improve for two or three years and will hold thereafter for a few years. The smaller glass is a much better analytical tool; the aromas, especially the high-pitched ones, are much more easily discriminated. When compared with the Talyor LBV, not intended for immediate consumption, but for holding a year or more. I think that the Crasto will ultimately be a somewhat classier bottle of Port.
I deliberately let this sit out for over a week with the cork replaced. The wine shows much integration of anise, sweet cocoa and vanilla cola on the nose. The palate is still headed in a positive direction. Palate has both deepend and focussed and now is a real pleasure to knock back. This one is actually hard to spit. Worth another half-point and it may keep up to 3-4 years with positive changes still happening. 91+/100
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White - Off-dry
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2004 Wegeler Bernkasteler Doctor Riesling Spätlese Goldkapsel Auction
Mosel Saar Ruwer
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Easter Crime: WineBid Held Up: 2004 Wegeler 'Bernkastel' Doctor Riesling Spätlese Goldkapsel Auction (VDP Versteigerung 2005).
DeeVine Wines, San Francisco, CA (still available at retail for $53); AP 2 567 810 17 05, 8.0 pabv; $28.50/750 ml after premium; WineBid.com; Auction hammer price was Euros 25/750ml. (Estimated full US retail about $110.)
Double-decanted. First day notes follow immediately:
Cork-finished. Has a deeply refractive lush gold color, showing some thin sheeting; considerable small tartrate crystal but which fall clear quite quickly.
No diesel yet and I doubt if it'll ever show any. Projects scents of honey-drizzled peach; quite stony and earthy, underlain with the typical terroir nose of microscope oil or cedar chest; rapidly evolves baked confection like almond cookie; there's a hint of clove; then one notices tropical melon. squash blossom, and rose water (halvah).
Begins with a flat, unexpressive palate overwhelmed by acid, quickly blossoming into a wine of moderately sweet, penetrating powdered-sugar ripeness and sailing tartaric acidity; juicy, with a mouthful of strawberry, pine, Silver Cloud white China tea; with a sort of '76 honeyed botrytis lurking in the background, sort of like the '06 Adam Hofberg Auslese I reviewed a couple weeks back. A gob of white wine tannins, now unresolved, grab your tongue, but all the best to age you with, my dear. A gripping, almost endless persistence shows great extract.
A beautifully crafted wine with all the pieces exactly in place and tremendously expressive. Perhaps the best Wegeler Doctor Spätlese I've ever tasted; and, strangely enough, with all this power, it doesn't come off like a supercharged, musclebound Auslese like some in this category show. Surprisingly primary for this vintage at this stage, and with much riper acidity.
A fine match with corned beef, cabbage, turnip, potato, onion, and carrot, although sometimes it seems like the wine blows away some of the more fragile veggies like potato and turnip. It certainly blew away both Barbara and me.
96/100. Drink 2012-2025 and onward.
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Red
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2007 Mouton Cadet
Bordeaux
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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caution: many similar bottlings from these folks; read label carefully. More expensive is not necessarily better.
2007 Baron Philippe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet Rouge (France, Bordeaux), 12.5 pabv; $11/750 ml; Kroger, Piqua, North Lake Wines, Madera, CA. Merlot 65 percent; Cabernet sauvignon 20 percent; Cabernet franc 15 percent.
Medium plum purple transparent to the center to within 2 mm of edge.
Currant and tobacco, cigar box, mint, a little plum, cherry, sweet mint.
Somewhat weedy cassis, crisp ripe acids, some good palate energy and minerality, a little ripe tannin, moderately good length. Nice match with lamb chops.
Nicely typical of non-California-ized Bordeaux; meant for pleasant, near-term drinking; not overly dosed with plummy merlot. A very nice value at the price; shows some good Médocain character and concentration from a cooler vintage, so it's not just overpumped pure Merlot made in the outer darkness; a nice blend of various sub-appellations, I'd guess. Shortcomings--it won't improve with keeping. A good case purchase if you can get it for about a hundred bucks per. Drink now-2012.
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White - Off-dry
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2001 Vollenweider Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese
Mosel Saar Ruwer
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Wgt. Daniel Vollenweider 2001 Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese, AP 2 576 801 04 02, 8 pabv, $18/750 mL, Brentwood Wine Co., West Linn, OR; Ewald Moseler, Portland, OR, Importer.
Very fine quality cork.
Rich copper color.
Very lively nose with peach and pine and some fresh paper and vanilla scents, papaya, and evidence of natural yeast fermentation still evident. Chablis-like gunpowder flint terroir notes.
Auslese level extract and sweetness, with fine precision and length. This is meant to be an easy-drinking style, but gives something extra beyond what is needed for it to earn its keep. Good value.
Haven't had a chance to taste the Portz or the Auslese bottlings, but this is very promising.
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White - Off-dry
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1976 Freiherr Heyl zu Herrnsheim Niersteiner Rehbach Riesling Auslese
Rheinhessen
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Weingut Freiherr Heyl zu Herrnsheim 1976er Niersteiner Rehbach Riesling Auslese, AP 4 382 093 22 77, 9 pabv; 350 mL, imported by Washington Wholesale Liquor Co., Inc., Washington, DC 20018.
Tartrate crystals evident. A quite vivid, limpid, polished, very optically dense green-orange.
Very smoky, with notes of orange, gasoline, lanolin, and dried chanterelles.
Relatively sweeter at this point than I expected it to be, as at this age such wines have often 'dried up', and with a nicely integrated, mouthwatering acidity. A touch of melon, with lots of orange peel and lemon/lime notes, with a segway into a neat cinnamon-cookie-dough impression. Plenty of tannin and other skin tang, tactile as well as affecting taste. However, very light and mobile in the mouth and inviting an almost ‘gulp me’ approach; this wine has a neat seamlessness to it, without being especially complex or profound. Good, lavender-tinged, mid-length finish, with a tiny hint of quinine. At its peak; Drink soon. A relatively low-botrytis '76er.
This is a wine from the iron-laden, volcanic 'Red Wall' (Roter Hang) that overlooks the Rhine river near Worms, and forms the absolute height of quality in Rheinhessen vineyards. It shows off its vineyard terroir in being relatively broad, soft, and winey, and in the larger repertoire of scents and flavors unavailable to the more floral and tense Mosel wines made in slate soil--especially in the more prominent and bitterish skin tones.
Most of these flavors and scents are what Riesling aficionados call 'tertiaries'. They follow the fresh-fruity 'primaries' and the muted, gasoline-dominated 'secondaries' that an adolescent Riesling is full of.
Served with a whipped-caramel icing chocolate cake and lots of Graeter's Vanilla Ice Cream. While Graeter's is not everything I was told that ice cream could be, it still makes considerable vanilla, even though it'd be better off without the stabilizer gums. It's nicely dense because it's made in French pots and has almost no air whipped into it. It went very nicely with the wine. Strangely, everyone seems to ignore the vanilla and goes on to the highly colored and flavored ice creams, which to me seem to miss the point of ice cream altogether, but that's neither here nor there.
Bee Bee’s Wines in Warren, MI has some bottles of the TBA of this exact estate and vineyard for a mere $250/750 mL. Or did have.
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White - Sparkling
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NV Bowers Harbor Blanc de Blancs
Old Mission Peninsula
Chardonnay Blend, Chardonnay more
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Chardonnay/Pinot noir. Bottled by Larry Mawby. 12 percent alcohol by volume. $17/$14/750 ml. Smokky, crip, deep, nutty, peachy. Attractive, mouth-filling, nice beadiness, fun to drink. Good value for money.
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White
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2009 Bowers Harbor Pinot Grigio
Leelanau Peninsula
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Tasted at the estate. Fruit from Big Paw Vineyard (Sean Wolfer's). Bottled one month ago. 100 Percent Leelanau fruit; 600 cases. 12 pabv; five and a half months in stainless steel. $14/750 ml. 9 grams/L acidity; 22.5 grams/liter residual sugar.
Slightly spritzy, very pale but refractivity suggests good extract. Nose is peaches and a hint of banana, moving to strawberry and spring flower. Tastes of mango with a touch of mint. Very attractive. A no-brainer purchase for those who love the style. 89
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Red
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2006 Bowers Harbor 2896 Langley Vineyard
Old Mission Peninsula
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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Tasted at the estate. Meritage-style wine with 65 percent Cabernet Franc, 32 percent Merlot, and 3 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, from the eponymous vineyard.
Medium-deep purple color comes to within 2 mm of edge. Intially shows lots of sweet oak, giving a baked cherry-pie note in the nose with a savory herbaceousness. These follow onto the palate; lithe and energetic expressions of cherry, appetizing finish. Oak is quickly absorbed as the bottle stays open. A very iinviting style; perhaps a bit pricy at $40; $100/magnum. Drink now-2013. 89
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White - Off-dry
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2008 Bowers Harbor Semi-Dry Riesling
Old Mission Peninsula
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Tasted at the estate; 12 pabv; 25 grams/L residual. Aromas a touch reduced; restrained paper, peach. Medium-firm acids and peach, fruit is stony, rocky, and mineral tailing to the finish. A more than pleasant, medium-bodied
estate Riesling. 90
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White - Off-dry
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2006 Bowers Harbor Riesling Montana Rusa
Old Mission Peninsula
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13 pabv; 15 grams per liter RS. At the estate. Kraft, resin, nice, firm balanced acid, caramel and tarragon. Seems a bit sweeter than the advertised residual. Somewhat dense; fairly big wine. Impressive.
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White
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2007 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle Riesling Großes Gewächs
Nahe
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Some of the Syrah-themed 2009 MoCOOL wines.
Bourillon Dorleans Coulee d'Argent Vielles Vignes (Vouvray, Loire, France) 2003, brought by Bob Henrick.; Lexington, KY. Vivid green-gold. Earth, melon, diesel; medium body; apple cider pungency, good length. Opens to show great depth, integration, and a scintillating energy. Very impressive dry Vouvray. 92
Clos du Petit Mont 1996 (Vouvray, Loire, France) Moelleux. Bob H. Vivid yellow-green; Lanolin with an interesting play of sweetness and maderization; Apple juice finish. 87
Howie Hart 2004 Sparkling Cuvee. One of Howie's eponymous bottles, always evident in generosity around MoCOOL. Pinot noir and Chardonnay. Quite strongly bubbly. Intensely weedy nose; pinot cola palate. 82/100.
Sybille Kuntz Estate Riesling 2006 (Mosel, Germany). Mine. Typical complexity and depth for this high-quality estate Riesling, very dry but roundly fruity, a great value. Should be better known and more widely marketed. This estate seems to reserve its best fruit for its least expensive wines. Round and satisfying; with or without food. 87-89
Craggy Range Syrah Le Sol Gimblett Gravels Vineyard 2002. Mine. Very Syrah-ish, ripe, with tar, violets, leather, and smoke, quite ripe, with lowish acid and good ripe tannins.'theme' bottle brought so that I could open what I really wanted to : 16 bottles of Riesling and stickies! Drink now. 92
Nikolaihof 2004 Riesling ‘Steiner Hund’ Reserve (Kremstal, Austria). Mine. Sweet nose, with funky fine fresh apple cider nose; light, delicate, crisp; Edgy fruit-white wine tannin combo. A great Steiner Hund. 92
Hermann Dönnhoff Riesling Hermannshöhle 2007 (Nahe, Germany). Mine. Strawberries and terroir-specific funk (umami); thick texture, sweet fruit. Infanticide. 95-100.
Heribert Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese *, Versteigerungs (Auction) Wine. Mine. Typical of previously reported bottles. Auslese density; rustic, powerful. 91/100.
Herman Dönnhof Felsentürmchen Riesling Spätlese 2007. Mine. Typical, complex, juicy, vivid; like gulping fragrant smoky-stony cherry juice. Great example of series. 92/100
Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese. Mine. Extroverted spiciness; hard surface and polished acidity. Not the time to drink this–give it five to seven more years. 91/100.
Jamet 1985 Côte-Rôtie. Jim Grow. Dark, cloudy, faded edge. Great volumes of integrated, plum and cherry--dominated fruit, seasoned with smoky bacon fat. A touch of appetizing, attractive bitterness on the finish. 95/100.
2000 Paul Jaboulet Ainé Hermitage La Chapelle, Outrageously sweet fruit with hollow, almost metallic midpalate, edged with some nice smoke. Fine ripe tannins, energetic dry cherry finish. 87
Ogier Côte-Rôtie 1966 Tête de Cuvée. Still quite alive with integrated thyme, cherries and resolved tannins. Very nice for a negociant wine. 86
Hickory Creek 2005 Riesling Lake Michigan Shore. Eau de chat; crisp, dieselly, dry. 85
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White - Sparkling
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NV de Venoge Champagne Brut Sélect Cordon Bleu
Champagne Blend more
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N.V. de Venoge Champagne Brut Sélect Cordon Bleu (France, Champagne, NM 439 001); $19/375 ml; Half Wit Wines. Importer: Louis Latour, San Rafael, CA. 12 pabv.
Cork removed without difficulty to reveal a wine wth somewhat low pressure and fine bubbles in a positive straw-colored background.
Apples, peaches, and toast with a hint of rose water.
Quite dry; low dosage apparent. Crisp, clean entry with suble notes of lime peel and an attractive hint of bitterness; finish is somehow richer than the midpalate. Drinking well now for an aperitif champagne but the possible loss of pressure from the half-bottles will worry some. Appetizing, well-made, subtle,and lots of fun to drink.
90/100.
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White - Off-dry
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1989 Château d'Orschwihr Riesling Vendanges Tardives
Alsace
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TN: 1989 Château d'Orschwihr Riesling Vendanges Tardives. Half-bottle purchased at Macarthur's, Washington, DC, in about 2005 for I'd guess $20/375 ml. 13.5 pabv; Langdon Shiverick, Cleveland, OH.
Consumed at the Riesling tasting at Trattoria Stella on St. Patrick's Day 2010, Traverse City, MI.
Orange-gold, with late-harvest viscosity. Full of petrol and dry resin with apricots. Medium-sweet withjuicy acidity, simple fruit, and good length. Unpleasantly petrolly and perhaps a bit oxidized. Very difficult to judge at this stage; at 20 years old, still would need time to develop and well-stored, might surprise to the upside.
Next day, clove, straight bourbon whisky (corn silk); fennel, honey, minerals; obviously improving with time.
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White - Off-dry
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2007 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese
Mosel Saar Ruwer
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AP 20 08;7.5 pabv. 27.95/750 ml; Jay's Seafood Restaurant; Dayton, OH.
Cork-finished; five bands. Moderate to light straw.
Peaches and strawberry and a hint of tea to nose. Big-shouldered on entry, with good energy and sufficent balancing acidity; a hint of tangerine peel; a little ungenerous at the back. For early drinking (first five years or so).
Went well with the baked scallops in ginger soy.
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White
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2005 Louis Jadot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Garenne Domaine du Duc de Magenta
Chardonnay more
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Tasted on St Pat's Day at Trattoria Stella. When opened very closed with very strong oak. At 30 hours shows evident class, but needs quite a bit of time yet.
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White - Sweet/Dessert
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1969 Weingut Willi Bründlmayer Weissburgunder Trockenbeerenauslese Langenloiser Taubenberg
Kremstal
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1969 Wilhelm Bründlmayer Weissburgunder Trockenbeerenauslese Langenloiser Taubenberg, $150/1 pt 7 fl oz; 12 percent abv; Schneiders/Capitol Hill. Heublein; Hartford, CT.
I tried to get Willi Bründlmayer to allow me to bring this bottle to the estate since there's none left in his Schatzkammer; however, he insisted we drink it on this side of the Atlantic and not expose it to more travel. This vineyard has been changed to Riesling and there is no Pinot blanc any more on this hillside. Tasted with Amanda Danielson, Sean, Ed, Bryan, and Barbara at Trattoria Stella in Traverse City, MI. Amanda, good as always with crumbly corks, got it all out without a crumb in the wine. What a wine to finish up a seven-hour tasting of Michigan, German, and California Rieslings. I'll try to make notes on as many as I can.
Black or brownish-green, quite dark (from the heavy botrytis); very thick and sheety..
Caramel, honey, licorice, mint, rhubarb, earth, smoked almonds in the somewhat oxidized nose (but that is its style).
Almost a Pedro Ximenez-flavor wine, but with firm acidity; mouthfilling, and just misses being hot. Very fine, clean, lengthy finish.
This wine is at its peak and holding; drink now-2020.
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White - Off-dry
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2005 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese Auction
Mosel Saar Ruwer
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TN: 2005 Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese VDP Auction 9/2006, AP 3 551 083 9 06, 7.5 pabv. $ $29/375 ml. Imported by DeeVineWines, San Francisco. Tasted at Trattoria Stella on St' Pat's Day 2010. Amazing how all the wines tonight seemed to have a touch of green color to them.
Cork-finished. Medium bodied, with copper and green highlights.
Creamy caramel, cigarette smoke, after shave, spearmint, apricot.
Powerful acid, somewhat too prominent at this point, needing to settle down; quite rich in residual sugar and ripeness. Luscious but barely missing being hot; powerful and round; honey, gooseberries. great clean finish. Needs some time yet. 2015-2025
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White - Sweet/Dessert
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2007 Bowers Harbor Riesling South Side Block II
Old Mission Peninsula
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This was tasted against the regular Block II bottling from 2008 at Trattoria Stella Traverse City, with Ed and Sean O'Keefe, Bryan Ulbrich, Amanda, Barbara and I. 9.5 pabv.
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The regular Block II from 2008 (a combination of the north and south side and persillage/30 percent botrytis pickings, fermented separately) was a vivid green with a captivating fennel and grapefruit note, firm acidity, a very complete and harmonious wine. 90/100
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The South Side Block II from 2007 is made from one-third each botrytis and one-third dry berries from the south side of an east-west planted vineyard's rows. It's cork-finished. The refractive, viscous, sheeting wine has warm glints of yellow in its brilliant optic.
The aromas run to a mix of mild terpentine, iodine, honey, peach, and tangerine, behind which lurks a hint of minerality and herbosity.
A huge round mouth throwing off strawberry and saffron hints in a caramel and mango-driven tropical package, with great energy, resolving into tarragon and medicinality with perhaps a hint of sea air on the finish. With a little air that marine element is joined by a touch of pine sawdust.
A great Auslese-style wine, from a vintage and vineyard and grower that can provide top materials. Spencer's passion for vineyards comes through here, for me.
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