Riesling Study Night #2 (1/21/23)

Another 2021 Riesling Study night, another set of wines. We started with the main event of Peter Lauer's Rieslings before moving onto a small flight of Canadian Ice Wines, Champagne digestif, and finally a few red wines to end the night.

• 2021 Peter Lauer Neuenberg Riesling N°17 93 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Leaner stone fruit, tinge of sweetness with RS, slight sour lemon and herbaceous lift, pear drop/peach candy. I’d say cusp of off-dry. Balanced, complex, long finish, all around very nice! Opens better in the glass, needs more time to settle down for better integration in the bottle. I will hold off for a few years. 93 today, 93-94++ potential.

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• 2021 Peter Lauer Unterstenberg Riesling N°12 91 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Sharp and clean, very brisk. Like a freshwater river stream, lots of minerality and freshness. Lean orchard fruit, sweet lemon. This is showing very pure, comes off as very refreshing. Needs time for additional complexity. 91-92, with upside.

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• 2021 Peter Lauer Riesling Barrel X feinherb 89 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Like licking a salty lemon, with some spontaneous fermentation funk, citrus fruit, meyer lemon and yuzu sweetness. Some effervescence on the palate. A little dirty, but still a very decent and fresh tasting feinherb. Not as pure or delineated as the other bottlings tonight. 89-90, with some upside.

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• 2021 Peter Lauer Stirn N°15 93 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Fresh, guzzleable/glugable, great stony minerality of slate, reminds me of No 12 but with more sweetness which helps quite a bit with less heat and better balance right now. Ripe stone fruit, lean apricot, sweet lemon and citrus. Really good acid balance, solidly off dry. This is drinking great today, but still has upside. 93-94 today, 94+(++) potential.

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• 2021 Peter Lauer Kern Riesling N°9 93 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Sweet citrus and tropical fruit, tart ripe pineapple and golden kiwi fruit. Very sweet and sour, high racy balancing acidity. Off dry, not too sweet, great balance, just very tasty! In the same realm as Stirn, just a touch more simple, but equally guzzleable. 93-94 today with upside.

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• 2021 Peter Lauer Ayler Riesling N°4 90 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Reminscent of lemonade. Intense with sweet and sour citrus, calamansi/key lime and some minerality. Simple, a little straightforwards, but altogether enjoyable. Upside with additional age. 90(+)

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• 2021 Peter Lauer Lambertskirch Riesling Kabinett 94 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Sweet and tarty tropical fruit, like a perfectly ripe (not overripened) pineapple, pluot/yellow peach. On the cusp of med dry, not overly sweet and still holding great balance with the cooler vintage acid. Really really tasty. 94+ with upside.

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• 2021 Peter Lauer Schönfels Riesling Kabinett No 111 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Sweet yellow citrus and stone fruit, with a racy amount of acidity to balance. Sweetened meyer lemons, with wet slate minerality and slight saline freshness. Quite tasty, but the Lambertskirch eeks out ahead with more complexity today. 92-93, with upside.

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• 2019 Reif Estate Vidal Grand Reserve Icewine 88 Points

  Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara River VQA

  Smells white grape and muscat. Quite sweet, lychee and sweet muscat grapes. Very ripe sweet apricot, Syrupy viscosity. Could use more acid, comes off cloying. Least balanced of the icewines tonight. 88-89

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• 2018 Peller Estates Vidal Blanc Icewine Andrew Peller Signature Series 90 Points

  Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula VQA

  More apricot fruit than the first (Reif) icewine. Sweet and tarty apricot, honeyed yellow peach, reminds me more of Tokaji flavors. Good concentration and better balance, more enjoyable than the Reif, but still a touch simple. Overall quite decent. 90-91 with upside.

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• 2019 No. 99 Wayne Gretzky Estates Vidal Icewine 89 Points

  Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula VQA

  Sweet apricot, sweeter than the Peller but still fairly balanced. Heavy honeyed characteristic, botrytis-like notes. Not bad, but I preferred the Peller here as this was slightly more clumsy. 89-90

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• 2017 Inniskillin Vidal Sparkling Icewine 91 Points

  Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula VQA

  Effervescent, which was very beneficial to the mouthfeel, making the wine seem almost lighter. Definitely just effervescent and not really all that sparkling. Lychee, sweet yellow peaches, muscat, very good balancing acid with honey and syrupy characteristics. Good concentration and long finish. Probably the best icewine tonight. 91-92 with upside.

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• 2018 Peter Lauer Saar Riesling Brut

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  A little prosecco-like on the nose, bright and crisp orchard fruit. Seems lacking in intensity, quite light in flavor. Lean orchard fruit, lean pear and apple, quince, touch of autolysis and lees yeast notes. A bit simple and straightforward. Not a bad brut though. Unfortunately it paled in comparison with the Tarlant 2004. 87-88 today, but I do not see too much upside with additional age.

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• 2004 Tarlant Champagne La Vigne d'Or Blanc de Meuniers Brut Nature

  France, Champagne

  Creamy apple butter, orchard fruit, bruised apples and pears. yeast and bread. Creamy butter on the nose. Bone dry (zero dosage) but not austere. Showing the Pinot Meunière characteristics very nicely. Hard to judge on a short tasting. 90-92 today.

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• NV Jean Vesselle Champagne Cuvée Friandise Demi-Sec 91 Points

  France, Champagne

  Sweetness of the dosage noticeable. Sweet raspberries ripe strawberries, slight grenadine. After getting into a bunch of lower/no dosage Champagnes since my last demi-sec, the sweetness is now very noticeable. But this is a demi-sec afterall and it fits the bill nicely.

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• 2017 Maison Albert Bichot Savigny-lès-Beaune 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune

  Funky, ocean air, dirty/dusty red fruit nose. Slightly thin on the palate, med intensity red fruit, hard to delineate, red berries and cherries. Simple, but not a bad wine. This will do in a pinch, but I would not cellar any.

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• 2016 Château Grand-Pontet 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Good typicity of Bordeaux, nose of black fruit, slight barnyard. Palate of cassis, black currant, slight meatiness, quite dark, dark chocolate/cocoa, decent depth. This is nice, showing a lot of complexity with a long finish. In a decent spot, can definitely age further. 90-91 with upside.

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• 2015 Clos René 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Opened in the bottle for 4 hours before trying due to CT notes. Earthy nose, some dark fruit. Deep dark fruit, black plums, black cherry, some dark chocolate, lacquered cherries. Overall a pleasant right bank! Seems like it was in a decent spot after 4 hours. Major potential for further ageing. 90 today, with big upside. Compared with the Grand Pontet, this was not showing as well, but the Clos Rene was showing a deeper extraction of fruit.

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