2001 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Auction

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 97.5 points

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  10/8/2015 - sweetstuff wrote: 98 Points

  2001 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Auction, AP no. 19 02. 8.5 percent alcohol by volume. Circular White Auction Label: Weinversteigerung Bad Kreuznach Nahe Ahr, 29 September 2002. DeeVineWines, San Francisco, CA, importer. $65/375 ml. WineBid.com.
  
  Of course this is not a 'Goldkapsel' Auction, because there is no 'regular' auction, but that's the way the crowd has decided to have it.
  
  The short version: Deep but brilliant colors and thick texture. Starts out with honey and wild cherry flower, following on with an unresolved youthful mid-nose, ending with sweet bacon fat, a powerful but backward nose. Punchy honey, plum, apricot entry, juicy acidity and a bitter walnut-citric nugget tied up with full white wine tannins, with flashes of funk that belong up on the hillside above it. A tremendous nutty-bitter finish, tailing into a transparent finish that is nearly endless. Could be mistaken for a Brücke bottled a year or two before. Advise plenty of patience. Don't serve too cold if you can't wait, and open at least 24 hours in advance.
  
  Tasted from an Impitoyable; later from a Riedel Riesling. Cork-finished. Cork somewhat loose, pushed down by the Ah-So. Vivid orange-green, highly refractive thick sheeting shows high extract. Fully botrytis-influenced nose appears, with Nahe wild cherry flowers and warm sweet bacon fat. This fruit is so dense it resembles a foxy Labrusca, but just a hint of it. The unresolved part of the fruit would be quite citric, but in this case almost totally bound up with white wine tannins. It takes only a few minutes and a little swirling in the Riedel that shows an extremely Hermannshöhle-like rich funk, something I've never found in a Brücke--ever.
  
  The entry is powerfully honied and with balanced, juicy acidity. This wine starts with just a hint of a labrusca-like note, and something like the plasticizer used in clear PVC sheeting. There is a bit of bottle-stink, but shows evidence of being a wine in highly youthful condition, needing a considerable amount of teasing apart. With the tightness of this wine, it has an interesting lightness to the body. There will be no sense in tasting this again until tomorrow. Barbara is highly impressed with this wine, made by one of her favorite persons. This wine was opened to celebrate our 10th anniversary, the night before we leave for Europe for a Viking Grand European Cruise.
  
  There will be another note or two before we leave. 14 hours later: Color even more vivid with orange, amber, and green. Grape and lychee, right out of the refrigerator, a touch of walnut, and back to the delicate florality, underlain by plum and apricot. There is an ever-so-slight resinous, woody, citric-bitter hint in mid-palate, that is evidence of adolescent rebellion in this wine, the only sight of it, but it quickly harmonizes as the wine gets a bit warmer in the glass. Juicy acid even more prominent, but with a delicate, clear, two-minute aftertaste, developing into a citric walnut, Waldorf salad note without the strawberries and cream. I can see that in the few hours left to us we will not be able to scale these heights at all.
  
  Drink 2020 till at least 2050. This one will outlive me unless I break the century tape. A humbling wine, at once beautiful and deeply challenging. (98 pts.)
  
  Can you believe that it's still wonderful after being in the refrigerator till January 2, 2016?

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  8/28/2010 - jrobs7777 wrote: 97 Points

  Riesling - First The Rest (of the World), Then The Best (Germany) (Our House (2033 Brandywine St.): Definitely a candidate for wine of the night. This is painfully intense. The minerality is overwhelming. Baked apple, caramel, tropical fruit buttressed by terrific acidity. The finish is neverending. So so young.

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  8/28/2010 - ews3 wrote: 98 Points

  Riesling Tasting (Schloss Roberts): stunning. my first note reads "oh wow...". sharp acid on the attack that prepares you for the onslaught of flavor that is just a moment behind. caramel, peach, brown sugar, stone, clove. amazing nasal finish with loads of botrytis goes on forever and ever... a remarkable achievement, but unfortunately a rare bottle I will likely never taste again...

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  1/17/2010 - Tarhealer wrote: 97 Points

  Wasn't sure what to expect, but this is still an auslese, richer than the N.H. I had with it, but not as rich, say, as the Reinhard & Beate Knebel Winninger Uhlen Riesling Auslese, but perfectly luscious. Weightless on the palate, yet packed with gobs of ripe and candied fruit, spices, minerals and fine acidity. Can still taste it.

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