Community Tasting Note

hankj wrote:

Friday, June 26, 2015 - First experience with Rotgipfler and can say I'm fairly blown away.

Did a little poking and a close cousin is Gewurztraminer. Use that as a baseline for imagining this wine's potential for weight, aging and strong aromatics. It doesn't have a Gewurz aroma profile exactly though, less of the spicy element and something more saline.

There are several wines it reminded me of in ways: saline and acid in a richer white like Albarino; the savory herbaceous almost a little oily character of Pinot Blanc; the beeswax and pepper richness of Roussanne; the layered, deep stone fruit an slight wooliness of Vouvray.

Comparisons aside Rotgipfler is all its own, distinct, unique. It's got richness and would age absolutely fabulously. It's also light on its feet and elegant, would match a huge range of foods. This bottle of Rotgipfler holds up as a peer of fine examples of the analogues mentioned above - it's not a minor cousin but rather could easily inhabit the place of a famous varietal if much more broadly planted and much more broadly known. But it will remain a rare little wine. At $20 a bottle I'm now hunting a case of this, and have hardly been more confident that a white will pay off in spades 5, 10 and even 20 years of age.

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