Community Tasting Note

sweetstuff wrote:

Thursday, March 26, 2009 - Recent Arrivals at the Trombleyhaus:

2007 Heribert Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese * and Auslese *** Auction - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (3/25/2009)
TN:2007 Heribert Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese * Auction (Versteigerungswein) Bernkasteler Ring Auction 2008
AP 2 576562 18 08; 9.0 pabv. Imported via Ewald Moseler Selections/Mitchell Wines, Portland, OR.
Estimated costs:
6 bottles @ € 9.5 (US $14.25) plus US $4.26 (exchange fees and shipping)= $18.51 plus $4.00 per bottle UPS fees
$18.51 wholesale; $27.77/750 ml estimated retail value at 33.3 percent markup on selling cost
120x 750 ml bottles produced; 6 bottles thought to be imported into the United States.

Moderately strong straw-green (chlorophyll-like) like most Kerpen wines of this style.

Mint, lavender, baby powder, spun sugar, transparent apple, hint of unleavened bread on the nose.

Very firm acids on entry with a delicate floral impression; lissome body; sugar almost hidden under the acid but there's plenty of residual there, I think. Lime and a little peach on the finish.
This wine is still a little rustic and has a touch of roughness, but will come together, I believe, with a little more time. Plenty of flavor and plenty of complexity and stylishness. 89-91/100. Note that these wines were perforce tasted within a week of shipping receipt, so this is a conservative score.

By the third day a pleasant and promising hint of Prüm-like yeastiness and a nice vibrancy and integration, playing off the lime and lime-peel, have started to show.

By 3/31, open for almost 6 days, the wine has settled into a brisk, transparent-green minerality with a nice touch of saffron medicinality. There's even a touch of pleasant. juicy metallicity on the finish. Good tactile white-wine tannins give even more lift to this tipple. More promising and I'm giving it another point. After reading the note on Kerpen's 2007s in International Wine Cellar, it's possible this is the best Kerpen Spätlese made in 2007. 91/100.

Excellent with some year-old Kaltbach Gruyère.

TN:2007 Heribert Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *** Auction (Versteigerungswein) Bernkasteler Ring Auction 2008.

AP 2 576562 24 08; 8.5 pabv; imported via Ewald Moseler Selections/Mitchell Wines, Portland, OR.

Estimated Costs 6x 375 ml bottles purchased @ €14.00 (US $21.00each) plus US $4.26 (exchange fees and shipping)= $25.26 plus $4.00 per bottle UPS fees. $25.26 wholesale; $37.89 retail value at 33.3 percent markup on selling cost.

60 x 375 ml produced; 6 x 375 ml thought to have been imported into the United States

Color may even be a little lighter than the Spätlese, but the same shade of green; heavier-bodied, of course.

Strong unleavened bread scent, with honey, peach and mango; has a decided yeast note.

Plenty of honey and soaring acid on entry; some citrus on the mid-palate; fairly well integrated for such a powerful wine. Enough botrytis to have been called a Beerenauslese, but not as sweet and sticky as would earn that title. The numbers are there, though, I'd bet. So is plenty of deftness on its feet for such a big wine.

Very long finish that summarizes all of the above, with predominating honey and tartness. Needs some time to be adequately judged. 90-92/100. This is again a tasting within the first week after arrival, and so conservative.

On the third day, the reductive yeast notes and the honey/apricot scents have melded to create something finer than at first. The acids and the sweetness are firm but balanced, and a neat bitter lime-peel sneaks in to the finish to bring about better integration. On the sixth day the reduction is still there with some scintillating petrol and Ceylon tea on the nose, dancing over a floor of clover honey, and an entry of metallic, vibrant mint, tart/sweet grapiness, honeydew melon, and skin tang, summarized on the finish. This Auslese still hasn't settled down from the travel and opening.

Both of these will be stunning beauties at the price I paid for them--about $22.50 and $39.90 INCLUDING SHIPPING, respectively, estimated as retail cost, but about a third cheaper in actuality. Doubt if you'll see either of these in the US for sale, but a great buy if you can find 'em at near these prices.
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A votre santé,
John Trombley

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