Ludes Horizontal

First drink of the new vintage.

• 2022 Weingut Hermann Ludes Mosel Riesling 90 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  9% abv. AP 1. I notice the same AP number appears on the alternative label designs posted here, both "Mosel" and "Riesling II."
  NOSE: 24 hours open—minus 2 oz., resealed in the fridge—allowed trace notes of biscuit to vacate, leaving a pinpoint accurate rendition of middle Mosel Riesling. Lime, rock oil, seawater/mint slurry, red apple peel, and a very slight suggestion of duck fat. MOUTH: not exactly lieblich, but an increment sweeter than feinherb; balanced between poles of juiciness and jagged mineral structure. 90-91 points.

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• 2022 Weingut Hermann Ludes Riesling "Hermann" 91 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  10% abv. AP 2. NOSE: slicing gestures of smoldering chalk pierced with lime, citron, and peppermint. Golden, reflective highlights carry perfumes of spring herbs and green apple. MOUTH: perfectly trocken, borderline austere; stacked with raspy, crumbled, and arid stone aggregate; insistent pulses of lime oil and salt extracted from bedrock. At the same time, the pace is fleet. The action is organized and unencumbered. This is a tonic and quenching object, and brightly transparent. I should be concerned that my trocken maximalist siblings might overlook this item, which would only add to their losses.
  ________
  Now 48 hours after the bottle was first open, some of that intense dry structure seems to have relaxed a bit. By taste, it still fits squarely in model trocken. Yesterday, I couldn't have guessed it had more than 7g RS (but more like <5); today, I suppose I could imagine analysis up to 9 or 10g.
  ________
  72 hours post screwcap twistoff, threatening to invite an upgrate (92? 91.5?) Some of the fruit and structure has consolidated into an appetizing rinse of saline resin.

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• 2022 Weingut Hermann Ludes Thörnicher Riesling 91 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  10% abv. AP 3. NOSE: iron and cobbles drenched with bruised, green and white peach drippings. There's an effort in the background distance to muster an army of blueberries, inclusive of the odd leaf. MOUTH: decisively dry, yet buffered by the virtual impression of pome, ripe stone fruit, yellow mango, and saline. Struck flint teases the action. Weathered soil tar. Stiff angelica branch. Compared to 2022 Hermann, this exhibits more mature fruit flavors and gum texture. Compared to broader standards, it's sharp and quite dry.
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  72 hours after the closure was first broken, it's a more integrated drinking experience—as is fitting and expected. The very clever could always spend 10x more for 1% more finesse. Drink 2023-2032.

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• 2022 Weingut Hermann Ludes Thörnicher Ritsch im Schneidersberg Riesling Kabinett -t- 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  9.5% abv. AP 4. Finesse. NOSE: profligate tissue/mica layering of chalk, mint, strawberry, cress, tangerine fossil, tea, lavender/millet, lemon, and green rose. MOUTH: dry, articulated, impacted, and lateral arrangements of flavor. Direct; incidentally fluid; with minimal fat and substantial carrying capacity enabled by a deep reservoir of brittle, filigreed glycerins. Birch and tobacco darkness conspired with ripe cherries to mock the upper registers. Confident; restrained; classical; scented; thorough; and as dry as balanced wine can be.
  Obscure bass notes of dry salt point to a fine length of appetizing bitterness. I'll like to drink this wine over some years, and play around with pairings. Green curry? Conch? Elk tacos?
  ________
  48 hours after the seal was broken, I'm beginning to speculate that the appended letter "t" to the name of this wine might be a hint that the Ludes's consider it to be Trocken, perhaps even in spite of its analytical status. Frankly, it fits within my own models of dry-tasting Mosel feinherb, but I could imagine testimony to something drier.
  
  It's so good.

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• 2022 Weingut Hermann Ludes Thörnicher Ritsch Riesling Kabinett feinherb Gackes Unten 93 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  9.5% abv. AP 5. NOSE: tea tree, lemon oil, high and delicate arcs of brittle stone, snuff, strawberry burr, coke/salt scattered kiln grit (but more elegant than that can possibly sound.) MOUTH: certainly there's a teasing strand of fruity sweetness. Notice how integrated and contrasted it is with the arguably more imposing lithic botany. I suppose what joins them is a rinse of cool, deep blue saltwater.
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  24 hours later: more enunciated and expanded in range. Lyrical, perfumed flower gestures rebound across grimly active formations of blue iron, black sky, and cold gravel. Tilting overall in the direction of phenolic floral and cassis. Not particularly salty, perhaps unexpected in such a replete mineral environment. How dry is this drink? Dry, and luxuriant. It belongs in the file of Feinherb explication models!
  Pattern THESIS: H. Ludes' more "important" wines—starting with this one—are vigilant to avoid encumberances, a dynamic challenge to appetite for gravity.

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• 2022 Weingut Hermann Ludes Thörnicher Ritsch Riesling Kabinett "Terrassen" 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  8% abv. AP 7. NOSE: I imagine this is some maniacal plot to rehabilitate the smell of Palmolive as it was circa 1975. Sturdy and unbounded, launched, scented impressions of mints, laurels, fennel, limoncello, ginger, and jagged, mythical slices of apple and pear. MOUTH: it rinses in due haste. Bony, fluid rock and quenched steel carry the action forward. Clarity. Geological transparency. Lilting, weightless, dry puffs of strawberry frosting intersect with herbal cigarettes, and cold ink on rag paper. How will this fill in? Where is the tension, and will it unspool over time?
  ________
  Drinking it 24 hours later, I notice how distinctively pale and washed is the flavor. This vacancy allows room for startling launch of translucent floral sweetness. Translucent, I tells ya.

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Good stuff!