Much better than the last bottle I had, incredibly fragrant and polished with green herbal and forestal elements, pure red and dark fruits and maturing earthy and leathery elements all coming together on a silken, medium weight frame. This is drinking superbly now with the tannins just about integrated and the acids keeping it incredibly fresh and vibrant.

More bretty and funky than the last bottle of this I encountered, but this is still really great with a core of fresh dark fruits, earth and higher toned herbal notes beneath the leathery/meaty funk. It feels remarkably youthful with few signs of its age, and a real freshness to the fruit that suggests there's plenty of time ahead here.

Producer over vintage, producer over vintage... this is lighter and thinner than Verset usually tends to be, but this is still quite compelling with that classic Verset fragrance combining vivid bloody, leathery and meaty elements with green olives and red fruits. While it does show some green elements on the palate and feels a bit thin on the back end, the aromatics here are absolutely compelling and it's a pleasure to drink.

Just a spectacular claret. There's such complexity and depth here, layers of red and dark fruit, earth, cedar and more exotic dark chocolate and violet notes all coming together seamlessly in a very polished, fragrant whole. It still feels rather young with some fine grained tannin lingering on the back end, and the fruit still very youthful and fresh, but the sense of finesse and the lightness of touch here make it so easy to keep drinking now. Thanks Patrick.

Very elegant, savoury, and drinking really well right now without the aggressive tannic backbone I've found in so many '86s; there's a core of fresh red and dark fruited flavours framed by developed tobacco, cedar and earthy elements, and it keeps developing more nuances and opening aromatically with air. Lovely.

Compelling as ever, barely dry and conveying layers of bright floral, saline and herbal flavours around a core of fresh citrus and green apple fruit. There's that elegance and delicate touch I so often find in Nikolaihof's wines, wonderful balance and while it's a little too light and dry to complement the spicier Sichuan dishes, this is really lovely.

That classic Grünhaus scent right away; fresh citrus, pear and apple fruit, pine cones, higher toned herbal and floral elements and a savoury smokiness all coming together into a fragrance that's hard to move away from. This is just fantastic Riesling, so complex, layered, polished and impeccably balanced with gentle, understated sweetness and a bright acid spine making each glass of this disappear all too quickly.

When I had this a couple of years ago it came across too rich and sweet for my liking with the ripe fruit overwhelming everything else, but it seems in a much better place now - the fruit comes across leaner, still very fresh and vibrant, and now it's framed by vivid mineral and floral elements with that bright '01 acidity cutting through the sweetness and keeping it perfectly balanced. Fantastic.

This still rocks. A spectrum of fruit ranging from tarter limes and pears to riper red apple and stone fruit flavours, gentle herbal and floral accents and that same vivid stony base beneath with vibrant acidity balancing the sweetness so well. So refreshing and easy to drink that it'll be hard to keep my hands off the few bottles I have remaining.

A nice way to end the evening, a powerhouse of ripe tropical fruits, candied limes, honey and high toned spicy elements with plenty of sweetness matched by an intense spine of acidity. Long, nicely balanced and very fun to drink.