Rockin' good. This was paired with the '07 version in a flight at a Thai place and what a treat that was. The '05 was singing, so well balanced and true Spat profile. Light golden coloring, and has the zing that draws me into Riesling. Elegant and playful. Have one more bottle and excited to revisit.
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Staggeringly vivacious nose roared immediately from the glass. Delicious Riesling but this bottle revealed too much of the ripe, rich vintage for my taste. Very good nonetheless.
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Waxy, petrol notes with citrus, pineapple, white peach, acacia, and honeycomb. Rich, fruity, and sweet upon opening, with plenty of acidity to cut through. No hurry, but this is drinking great. Great match for cheese and spice.
Edit: Tasting this over the following two days, the wine hasn't shown any decline in overall quality, although the apparent primary fruit sweetness has played into the background, allowing the acidity to take a more prominent role. Still very delicious and I think the wine can yet improve over the next 5+ years and drink well after that (92-93 pts).
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On opening this had a moldy cork. Lots of CO2 in the glass which was surprising, and one of our Thanksgiving guests wondered if the wine was a flat sparkling wine.
The wine was a straw color. The aromas were generous and included quince, pear, lemon zest, and persimmon. On the palate, this was light bodied, but I was surprised at the lifeless acidity. I was expecting more verve with this and overall conclude the wine is flabby. On the palate there is plenty of residual sweetness that I found cloying because of the lack of acidity. On the palate this has predominant notes of pear and quince with lemon zest coming in the mid palate. The finish has limited length and ends abruptly.
Given the lack of acidity I will be drinking the remaining bottles sooner than later.
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Not as electric as my previous bottle, but this is still incredibly tasty with tangerine and pineapple notes dominating. Not as sweet as I remember. Great balance and texture.
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Light nose, slight notes of honeyed flowers and a touch of petrol; palate is electric, with fabulous, bright flavors, complex with layers of light pineapple, peach, apricot, guava, all dancing in a laser beam of acidity; light on its feet, with with terrific intensity, length and interest. An amazing Spat. This was a leaking bottle, though the cork came out well, with no sign of damage in color or flavors.
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This is outrageously delicious. Full of energy right out of the bottle, it has rich, high tone peach and pineapple fruit. A lot of auslese-like sweetness but also more than enough acidity to keep with it. The vibrancy and electricity of the wine are stunning. I need to find another bottle as this could be really special in 10 years. 95++
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Very youthful and still showing a touch of spritz beneath its ripe peach and grapefruit flavours. It quickly becomes more complex with air as floral and mineral accents emerge around the bright fruit, and there's also great balance and bright acidity here that makes it really easy to drink even though the sweetness and ripeness here are well into Auslese territory.
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All time great Spatlese. In its youth ripe strawberry notes and a little spritz were the main notes, now it's growing up as Keith says into an auslese in all but name: the ripe custard apple character is becoming dominant and the red fruit angle is receding a little. Still the best damn $25 I ever spent on German wine. 25 down, 11 to go...
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This is just as impressive right out of the gate as the bottle I drank on release which struck me as one of the 2 or 3 most spectacular wines of the vintage. The lusciously tropical and deep brassy fruit tones and auslese-level richness are pretty much completely unchanged, and it still has plenty of energy and vivacity. Some of the cut has mellowed, though, which pushes the sweetness more to the foreground as the wine loses its chill. It'll be curious to see which way this one goes... can it regain its definition and end up on a similar trajectory to the jewel-cut '01, or is this going to end up as an auslese-style after-dinner wine?
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A fantastic spatlese. Drunk with Chinese takeout -- aromas of tropical fruits explode from the glass. Perfect balance of acidity and sweetness, such that you hardly notice this is a sweet wine. Complexity galore, long finish, great mouthfeel. I could just have easily given this a 100. Should keep for another 50 years.
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Medium gold color, a nose that "sparkled" with tangy peach, candied apricot, and some miscellaneous white and green fruits. On the palate, apricot, honey, melon and cranberry, finishing in a long song of tawny, amber, russet spice. Bracing acidity all the way through. This vintage, this producer, must be some considerable bottle variation, looking over the other tasting notes. Tasted like an older and more expensive Riesling to me.
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Sweet! Too sweet. This was crazy over the top. Foolishly had this with a salad course at the front of the meal. Should have been with cheese at the end. Sweetness dominated. There's a compelling wine in their somewhere but the baby fat has to come off. Acidity is buried deep. This will be a long lived wine, visit again in 10yrs?
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Disappointing showing. Definitely an example of the 2005 vintage where the level of sweetness is slightly out of proportion with the acidity, but much more out of proportion with the level of extract. The overall profile and level of extract comes off like a kabinett, but the high level of sweetness is clumsy and the texture is nebulous and confused. There is a soft, almost flinty minerality that would have been better expressed in a dry wine. Don't get me wrong... I love off-dry rieslings and my favorite pradikat is auslese. This isn't a good example of off-dry style in my opinion and not terribly age-worthy. Like many other vintages in Germany, 2005 is not a year to blindly trust vintage charts.
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Explosively delicious stuff. The nose is almost sparkling with cream soda, raspberries, and fruit cocktail. It's not heavy or cloying due to the acidity and the finish lingers on and on. lip smacking good and will just get more complex with time. 1st bottle from the case. glad i tried it.
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Tasting Group Dinner - Rieslings & Thai (Chiang Mai Thai, Minneapolis): A slight grassy note on the nose. Riper and sweeter than the '05 Donnhoff, tasted side-by-side (see TN). Ripe cherries. Expressive and seamless. Deep and long. Finely detailed structure. Complex and beautiful. Terrific.
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Thai and Riesling Event (Ching Mai Thai): Raisony aromas and flavors (but less so then the Karlsmuhle). Very lengthy finish. Nice and one of my favorites of the night.
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At LOS. Another fabulous wine from this producer. Light golden color; beautiful strawberries and cherries on the nose and palate. Sweet-tart acidity keeps the massive fruit in check. Just a wonderfully balanced, precise wine. Loved this.
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Showed significant signs of seepage so I wasn't expecting much. It had lost a bit of its sparkling acidity but that wallop of very sweet ripeness persisted. Loads of apricot framed by red grapefruit (with sugar sprinkled on top). Not as good as the stunning bottle I had a few weeks ago but still love the intensity here.
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Pale yellow. Waxey yellow fruits, acacia flowers, honey and minerals on the terrific nose. Rich and lush in the mouth with a distilled essence of yellow fruits and honey followed up by bracing lime acids that really lift this and kkep the sugar tamed. The finish is about as pure as you could ask for. Really classic stuff that just needs time. Wow!
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Spatlese my ass. I was absolutely blown away by the density and richness before I put two and two together and realized this is an Auslese (and then some) in a Spatlese wrapper. But the mislabeling doesn't change the fact that this is a luxurious and monumental wine, with brassy, muscular fruit and a fractally detailed structure, speckled with twinkling acidity in four dimensions like star charts flickering on the roof of your mouth.
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Very, very good. A wonderfully complex mix of citrus and minerality. I think TT is dead on though, when he says that you cannot really discern the individual flavors. Perfectly balanced, vibrant, and light in the mouth. Almost towards the ephemeral feeling of Donnhof.
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4/3/2024 - VDLT Wine Likes this wine:
Another very tasty bottle and not as fat and flabby as the last. But I was looking for more energy and lift.
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3/19/2023 - btock Likes this wine: 95 Points
Rockin' good. This was paired with the '07 version in a flight at a Thai place and what a treat that was. The '05 was singing, so well balanced and true Spat profile. Light golden coloring, and has the zing that draws me into Riesling. Elegant and playful. Have one more bottle and excited to revisit.
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2/6/2022 - VDLT Wine Likes this wine:
Staggeringly vivacious nose roared immediately from the glass. Delicious Riesling but this bottle revealed too much of the ripe, rich vintage for my taste. Very good nonetheless.
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6/28/2019 - MarkLA wrote: 92 Points
Waxy, petrol notes with citrus, pineapple, white peach, acacia, and honeycomb. Rich, fruity, and sweet upon opening, with plenty of acidity to cut through. No hurry, but this is drinking great. Great match for cheese and spice.
Edit: Tasting this over the following two days, the wine hasn't shown any decline in overall quality, although the apparent primary fruit sweetness has played into the background, allowing the acidity to take a more prominent role. Still very delicious and I think the wine can yet improve over the next 5+ years and drink well after that (92-93 pts).
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11/24/2016 - COWineLover wrote: 88 Points
On opening this had a moldy cork. Lots of CO2 in the glass which was surprising, and one of our Thanksgiving guests wondered if the wine was a flat sparkling wine.
The wine was a straw color. The aromas were generous and included quince, pear, lemon zest, and persimmon. On the palate, this was light bodied, but I was surprised at the lifeless acidity. I was expecting more verve with this and overall conclude the wine is flabby. On the palate there is plenty of residual sweetness that I found cloying because of the lack of acidity. On the palate this has predominant notes of pear and quince with lemon zest coming in the mid palate. The finish has limited length and ends abruptly.
Given the lack of acidity I will be drinking the remaining bottles sooner than later.
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6/26/2016 - shutto1992@gmail.com Likes this wine: 96 Points
Served with foie gras pate and the combination was awesome.
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4/20/2015 - dkstar1 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Really lovely wine. Pineapple, viscous, layered. Superb. Try again in 5 years.
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1/26/2015 - pifcho Likes this wine: 93 Points
Not as electric as my previous bottle, but this is still incredibly tasty with tangerine and pineapple notes dominating. Not as sweet as I remember. Great balance and texture.
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5/18/2014 - alanr wrote: 94 Points
Light nose, slight notes of honeyed flowers and a touch of petrol; palate is electric, with fabulous, bright flavors, complex with layers of light pineapple, peach, apricot, guava, all dancing in a laser beam of acidity; light on its feet, with with terrific intensity, length and interest. An amazing Spat. This was a leaking bottle, though the cork came out well, with no sign of damage in color or flavors.
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4/3/2014 - pifcho Likes this wine: 95 Points
This is outrageously delicious. Full of energy right out of the bottle, it has rich, high tone peach and pineapple fruit. A lot of auslese-like sweetness but also more than enough acidity to keep with it. The vibrancy and electricity of the wine are stunning. I need to find another bottle as this could be really special in 10 years. 95++
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10/1/2013 - salil wrote: 92 Points
Very youthful and still showing a touch of spritz beneath its ripe peach and grapefruit flavours. It quickly becomes more complex with air as floral and mineral accents emerge around the bright fruit, and there's also great balance and bright acidity here that makes it really easy to drink even though the sweetness and ripeness here are well into Auslese territory.
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7/4/2013 - VDLT Wine Likes this wine:
Vibrant, provocative and downright delicious on a hot afternoon by the pool. Drained this much too quickly (with help). Plenty of time left.
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5/24/2013 - ubercuvee wrote: 94 Points
All time great Spatlese. In its youth ripe strawberry notes and a little spritz were the main notes, now it's growing up as Keith says into an auslese in all but name: the ripe custard apple character is becoming dominant and the red fruit angle is receding a little. Still the best damn $25 I ever spent on German wine. 25 down, 11 to go...
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5/13/2013 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine: 95 Points
This is just as impressive right out of the gate as the bottle I drank on release which struck me as one of the 2 or 3 most spectacular wines of the vintage. The lusciously tropical and deep brassy fruit tones and auslese-level richness are pretty much completely unchanged, and it still has plenty of energy and vivacity. Some of the cut has mellowed, though, which pushes the sweetness more to the foreground as the wine loses its chill. It'll be curious to see which way this one goes... can it regain its definition and end up on a similar trajectory to the jewel-cut '01, or is this going to end up as an auslese-style after-dinner wine?
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1/29/2013 - wino31 wrote: 95 Points
A fantastic spatlese. Drunk with Chinese takeout -- aromas of tropical fruits explode from the glass. Perfect balance of acidity and sweetness, such that you hardly notice this is a sweet wine. Complexity galore, long finish, great mouthfeel. I could just have easily given this a 100. Should keep for another 50 years.
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7/16/2012 - wino31 wrote: 94 Points
With lobster rolls to start a dinner at the shore. Great wine for summer meals -- the high acidity hides the sugar. This just gets better and better.
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5/29/2012 - wino31 wrote: 94 Points
Outstanding Spatlese -- terrific summer drink. Great fruit, sweetness perfectly balanced by the acid, great complexity.
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3/23/2012 - Old Doug wrote: 95 Points
Medium gold color, a nose that "sparkled" with tangy peach, candied apricot, and some miscellaneous white and green fruits. On the palate, apricot, honey, melon and cranberry, finishing in a long song of tawny, amber, russet spice. Bracing acidity all the way through. This vintage, this producer, must be some considerable bottle variation, looking over the other tasting notes. Tasted like an older and more expensive Riesling to me.
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2/6/2012 - wino31 wrote: 92 Points
Nose of tropical fruits, esp. lychee and melon; sweetness balanced by tremendous acidity; great mouthfeel. Everything you want in a young Spatlese.
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12/22/2011 - btock wrote: 88 Points
Sweet! Too sweet. This was crazy over the top. Foolishly had this with a salad course at the front of the meal. Should have been with cheese at the end. Sweetness dominated. There's a compelling wine in their somewhere but the baby fat has to come off. Acidity is buried deep. This will be a long lived wine, visit again in 10yrs?
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9/13/2011 - wino31 wrote: 94 Points
Terrific Spatlese, with loads of tropical fruit, good acidity, great mouthfeel. Very yummy on a hot summer afternoon.
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5/8/2011 - DollarMenunaire wrote: 86 Points
Disappointing showing. Definitely an example of the 2005 vintage where the level of sweetness is slightly out of proportion with the acidity, but much more out of proportion with the level of extract. The overall profile and level of extract comes off like a kabinett, but the high level of sweetness is clumsy and the texture is nebulous and confused. There is a soft, almost flinty minerality that would have been better expressed in a dry wine. Don't get me wrong... I love off-dry rieslings and my favorite pradikat is auslese. This isn't a good example of off-dry style in my opinion and not terribly age-worthy. Like many other vintages in Germany, 2005 is not a year to blindly trust vintage charts.
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1/22/2011 - wino31 wrote: 94 Points
outstanding, with vibrant up front tropical fruits and long finish.
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2/9/2010 - Milhous wrote:
Explosively delicious stuff. The nose is almost sparkling with cream soda, raspberries, and fruit cocktail. It's not heavy or cloying due to the acidity and the finish lingers on and on. lip smacking good and will just get more complex with time. 1st bottle from the case. glad i tried it.
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4/26/2009 - Siggy wrote: 93 Points
Tasting Group Dinner - Rieslings & Thai (Chiang Mai Thai, Minneapolis): A slight grassy note on the nose. Riper and sweeter than the '05 Donnhoff, tasted side-by-side (see TN). Ripe cherries. Expressive and seamless. Deep and long. Finely detailed structure. Complex and beautiful. Terrific.
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4/26/2009 - Mattshank wrote: 92 Points
Thai and Riesling Event (Ching Mai Thai): Raisony aromas and flavors (but less so then the Karlsmuhle). Very lengthy finish. Nice and one of my favorites of the night.
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2/10/2009 - DHJ1968 wrote:
At LOS. Another fabulous wine from this producer. Light golden color; beautiful strawberries and cherries on the nose and palate. Sweet-tart acidity keeps the massive fruit in check. Just a wonderfully balanced, precise wine. Loved this.
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4/13/2008 - ClassicWater wrote:
This continues to (literally) sparkle. Laser sharp focus and seperation of layers. An absolute star.
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1/12/2008 - ClassicWater wrote:
Showed significant signs of seepage so I wasn't expecting much. It had lost a bit of its sparkling acidity but that wallop of very sweet ripeness persisted. Loads of apricot framed by red grapefruit (with sugar sprinkled on top). Not as good as the stunning bottle I had a few weeks ago but still love the intensity here.
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12/26/2007 - ClassicWater wrote: 95 Points
Dried cranberries, intense ripe apricots, stones, vibrant acidity that sparkles in your head. Spatlese+++ (more like BA). Opulent and unforgettable.
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12/20/2006 - chefee1 wrote: 93 Points
Pale yellow. Waxey yellow fruits, acacia flowers, honey and minerals on the terrific nose. Rich and lush in the mouth with a distilled essence of yellow fruits and honey followed up by bracing lime acids that really lift this and kkep the sugar tamed. The finish is about as pure as you could ask for. Really classic stuff that just needs time. Wow!
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11/5/2006 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 98 Points
Spatlese my ass. I was absolutely blown away by the density and richness before I put two and two together and realized this is an Auslese (and then some) in a Spatlese wrapper. But the mislabeling doesn't change the fact that this is a luxurious and monumental wine, with brassy, muscular fruit and a fractally detailed structure, speckled with twinkling acidity in four dimensions like star charts flickering on the roof of your mouth.
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10/15/2006 - jerhardt wrote: 93 Points
Very, very good. A wonderfully complex mix of citrus and minerality. I think TT is dead on though, when he says that you cannot really discern the individual flavors. Perfectly balanced, vibrant, and light in the mouth. Almost towards the ephemeral feeling of Donnhof.
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6/30/2006 - Jack wrote: 92 Points
Terry Theise Wines: Verynice. A little green on the finish.
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