| Vintage Name Variety | Publication Reviewer Score More... | |
|---|---|---|
| White |
2010 A.J. Adam Dhroner RieslingMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GAD-043. ($33.00) As good a dry Mosel wine as I’ve ever tasted, especially from ’10. Aromas are fresh and sappy, like a Styrian wine; balsam and those quince and allspice notes from sandy slate; a super-friendly food wine with a key-limey umami. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling AusleseMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GAD-046H. ($59.00) 50% botrytis, and a BA-flavor enters the picture, which you’ll love if that’s the taste you love! The high notes of fruit really lift this out of the generically “rich,” and makes the wine animated and vinous, though it’s still baroque. |
| White - Sweet/Dessert |
2010 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling BeerenausleseMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GAD-047H. ($169.00) Honestly, I couldn’t see into this massive young sweet wine, so I will spare you my words. Judged on clarity and containment, and on the grower’s track record, I’m comfy to offer it. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling feinherbMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GAD-041. ($45.00) More angular than the Dhroner, albeit not as dry; as often happens here, these have the lambent, lapidary quality of other sanguine wines like Dönnhoff ’s or Nikolaihof ’s. Sweet hay and peach-blossom fruit, becoming more refined and compact – the 50% steel shows – and the whisper of sweetness is charming. Walnutty on the finish. |
| White |
2010 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling KabinettMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GAD-040. ($34.00) This has the purest fragrance of old-school Mosel Riesling. It’s why we love it with a heart almost childlike, one we hardly know we own. This is sleeker than most recent vintages – a “mere” 87° with 10.8g acidity, which is not unnoticeable, but the slightly arch charm is beautiful for its angularity, and the wine shows absurd length. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling SpätleseMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GAD-042. ($49.00) 50% botrytis, and a BA-flavor enters the picture, which you’ll love if that’s the taste you love! The high notes of fruit really lift this out of the generically “rich,” and makes the wine animated and vinous, though it’s still baroque. |
| White |
2010 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling TrockenMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GAD-044. ($76.00) Steely mineral power and a craggy palate profile; a bit radishy the way Kögl and Zwerithaler can be; a wine for lovers of liquefied iron and pulverized rocks; leads to an equally huge-feeling finish of molten terroir and the smoke from burning shoots. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 A.J. Adam Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling feinherbMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GAD-045. ($103.00) 110º, from the severest terraces, planted in the early 40s; an iridescent shimmering brilliance, almost minty, with a tart-plum fruit and a thick finish with echoes of slate and Empire apples. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 Weingut Alexander Gysler Scheurebe halbtrockenRheinhessen more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GGY-090L. ($16.00) Something I noticed with the ‘10s was how their acidities just burned away the sweetness, even D-assed wines. And so if you had a “formula” whereby a wine like this was always Halbtrocken, you either kept it that way and had a radically different type of wine, or you adapted the sweetness to create a similar type of wine that wasn’t Halbtrocken any more. And so this is a serious wine and a serious departure from its norm, all sage and marjoram rather than cassis and elderflower. Zero botrytis yet over 90º (i.e., good Spät), salty and Sencha-like, with almost a GrüVe boxwoody note. |
| White - Sweet/Dessert |
2010 Weingut Alexander Gysler Weinheimer Hoelle Huxelrebe BeerenausleseRheinhessen more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GGY-092H. ($50.00) This has 160g RS and 15g acidity. You’d better mean it when you say you like acidity! But I’m sure you do, and the wine is as always markedly good value. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 Weingut Alexander Gysler Weinheimer Holle Silvaner halbtrockenRheinhessen more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GGY-093L. ($19.00) There are two, but it’s easy to tell them apart. Alex estate-bottled a Demeter-certified version, but there wouldn’t be enough to fill our orders, so he made another wine from purchased grapes. This one I saw pre-bottled, and with its 9g of acid I felt it needed to jettison the “Halbtrocken” limits and go to Feinherb for this vintage alone. With 25g.l. RS, the wine was perfect; greener and fresher than usual, and also longer and with more density. The Demeter bottling was already made, to fill orders we’d already placed. It was painful to taste it just-bottled, plus it was a sponti and had the natural-yeast funk, and I suspected the acid-sugar equation was askew – but couldn’t be sure, as bottling had shut the poor guy down. I am certain it is better than it showed. The bottle will have the Demeter logo. |
| White |
2010 Weingut Alexander Gysler Weinheimer Riesling KabinettRheinhessen more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GGY-091. ($23.00) And the best-ever vintage of it. Normally this is an extremely low-pH (and thus acid-driven) Riesling, which receives a generous sweetness in order to balance its steely structure. It succeeds by juxtaposing the two extremes in a high-tension dance. But in ’10 there’s a whole other layer of richness and fruit, and serious depth; the fruit is euphoric and not merely arch; key lime, aloe, balsam and kirsch, charming sponti aromas, almost Mosel like. Always a good value, this zooms above its long-term norm in this bizarre yet compelling vintage. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese **Mosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GJC-194. ($57.00) The aromas are a little mute, and the palate is turbulent and nubby and with kitten-teeth of acidity, yet it’s drenched with internal perfume, and recent bottling has surely twisted it into an obdurate knot. What does show is compelling. |
| White |
2010 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Erdener Treppchen Riesling KabinettMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GJC-191. ($31.00) Pleasingly angular, digitally focused and hi-def, certainly plausible as a Spät, and if you have a long memory, as an Auslese. Stylish and almost sleek, with a really walnut-y finish. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Erdener Treppchen Riesling SpätleseMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GJC-192. ($32.00) And a superb, light-ish Auslese – yes I know it’s a Spätlese, and it does have a refined shimmer of fruit and great fresh contrasts and relief, but there’s also the slight underlying syrup that identifies Auslese. Not “sweet” as such; just a concentrated little core. Extra fine wine. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese *Mosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GJC-193. ($45.00) Some fruit from the 2-star parcel is in here, and it wasn’t clear whether this was a small-vintage expedient or if the range was to be compressed forever. I fancy it seems to show fuller fruit than usual, but perhaps that’s power of suggestion. A hint of botrytis also shows. The angular fruit is determinedly streamlined yet also shows a mirabelle jam tertiary flavor. This is wonderful, but I miss that original and singular old 1-star – there really wasn’t another Mosel wine like it – and I hope it comes back. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese ***Mosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GJC-195. ($67.00) Botrytis shows but doesn’t obtrude. 2010 was some kind of electric charge here in Ürzig/Erden, as if the stone itself were zapped. This amazing wine is almost gauzy but incandescent with spice and fruit, and with an elegant restraint that conveys a kind of melting, a swoon of fennel and lavender. Truly a vino di meditazione. |
| White |
2010 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling KabinettMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GJC-189. ($31.00) A really beautiful fragrance; the palate is a miniature of the 1-star Auslese, licorice and wisteria, bright and dancy-springy, as if it trailed slatey streamers in the air behind it. By no means “Kabinett,” but they’ve learned a lot since 2006 – these wines work. |
| White - Off-dry |
2010 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling SpätleseMosel Saar Ruwer more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GJC-190. ($32.00) Exquisitely refined aromas, and the palate is stunningly bright and spearminty yet also herbal and slatey; hyper-animated, with a fascinating tilt toward dryness, so that a swollen molten slatey iron shows; the finish is almost caraway seed and juniper. Remarkable, original, nearly explosive wine. |
| White - Sweet/Dessert |
2008 Darting Dürkheimer Fronhof Riesling BeerenauslesePfalz more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GDR-183H. ($34.00) Not remotely a botrytis monster, but instead remarkably pure and virginal. |
| White |
2010 Darting Dürkheimer Fronhof Riesling Kabinett trockenPfalz more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GDR-203L. ($18.00) My colleague Valerie Masten ID’d a GrüVe touch, nailing it. More vinous and herbal, and thicker than this usually is. It also seems drier though it isn’t. Extra class this year. The slogan ought to be “Improve the dreck you drink on your deck.” Because this is the archetypal knock-it-back focking-yum wine. |
| White |
2010 Darting Dürkheimer Hochbenn Riesling KabinettPfalz more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GDR-199. ($20.00) I resisted writing a tasting note. It tastes like itself! As rendered by 2010 with its sorelly silvery concentration. It’s perhaps more stylish than usual. You’ll like it at least as much as you did before. |
| White |
2010 Darting Dürkheimer Michelsberg Riesling KabinettPfalz more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GDR-206. ($17.00) Class! Multiples of fruits, and the enticing aroma at a good florist, with meyer lemon and white chocolate. Shows what Dartings can do from fine land. |
| White |
2010 Darting Dürkheimer Nonnengarten Gewürztraminer KabinettPfalz more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GDR-198. ($19.00) As usual, delicate, moderate and varietally true, even to the prototypically bitter finish, though with its essential dense vinosity there’s a mass of general wine flavor that doesn’t alight on the particular grape. |
| White - Sweet/Dessert |
2008 Darting Dürkheimer Nonnengarten Rieslaner BeerenauslesePfalz more |
Terry Theise Estate Selections, Terry Theise2011 German Catalog (3/1/2011) GDR-184H. ($34.00) F-bombs were flying about my brain. This is less winsome and more complex than the Riesling. It’s difficult, in the best way! It wreaks fucking havoc on your palate with its salty vicious fire. |
Terry Theise Estate Selections (click to search again)
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