Yes, this is a 35 year old wine that I originally bought on release and have patiently stored in the coolest part of my cellar. It comes from the Maximin Grunhauser estate in the coolest and highest part of the Mosel River Valley, who is famous for the immortality and exquisite quality of its Rieslings. You might also think that a wine this old would be completely ready to drink straight out of the bottle. But no, it took three days being opened to get really good. The color is a lovely translucent gold, and the wine enters the mouth with the penetrating, rich, saber sharp, and resonating acidity that distinguishes Upper Mosel Rieslings. This wine has considerable botrytis, residual sugar, and enormous concentration that is most apparent in an endless mouth coating aftertaste that goes on for over 10 minutes. To dramatically experience how powerful the acidity and its citric and gooseberry flavors are, put a tea spoon of granulated sugar in a cup of water, and with an eyedropper or pipette, keep putting in a small single squirt of this wine and retasting it until the sugar taste disappears, and you will be amazed how few squirts are needed. Also watch how the wine adds a textural richness to the sugar water.
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3/21/2018 - Mossrose wrote: 97 Points
Yes, this is a 35 year old wine that I originally bought on release and have patiently stored in the coolest part of my cellar. It comes from the Maximin Grunhauser estate in the coolest and highest part of the Mosel River Valley, who is famous for the immortality and exquisite quality of its Rieslings. You might also think that a wine this old would be completely ready to drink straight out of the bottle. But no, it took three days being opened to get really good. The color is a lovely translucent gold, and the wine enters the mouth with the penetrating, rich, saber sharp, and resonating acidity that distinguishes Upper Mosel Rieslings. This wine has considerable botrytis, residual sugar, and enormous concentration that is most apparent in an endless mouth coating aftertaste that goes on for over 10 minutes. To dramatically experience how powerful the acidity and its citric and gooseberry flavors are, put a tea spoon of granulated sugar in a cup of water, and with an eyedropper or pipette, keep putting in a small single squirt of this wine and retasting it until the sugar taste disappears, and you will be amazed how few squirts are needed. Also watch how the wine adds a textural richness to the sugar water.
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4/13/2016 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 93 Points
Slightly past peak but displaying mellowed dry sweetness with light honey and floral notes backstopped by dry pear. Nice wine to end a dinner with.
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3/24/2013 - salil wrote: flawed
Leo's Blind Tasting Group - March '13 edition (Hearth, NYC): Oxidized. A real shame.
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6/3/2009 - salil wrote: flawed
Mostly Rieslings (old and young) at Grand Sichuan (NYC): Also dead. Darn it. Really oxidative and impossible to get past the aromas just from the bottle.
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