David Bowler "Rudipalooza" - 2007 German Wines
tribecca
Tasted June 19, 2008 by Mlermontov with 1,344 views
Introduction
This tasting firmed up my thoughts on the vintage. Its a very strong, high yield vintage with classical notes and style. the highs are NOT as high as in '05 or '06, but the wines are cleaner and the LINEUPS rather than individual wines, are trully excellent. once again - there is finally a LOT of excellent kabinets, some labeled as such and some labeled as qba (but i would doubt anyone peresented actually had to chaptilize their wine) these will offer excellent drining in the near to mid term. the QPR on these is less obvious then in the previous years because of the weak dollar - but for those of us who love riesling - there are quite a few under $20 steals that will blow away most wines in the the price range.
now i dont mean to say that there arent great wines - obviosully there are!! great winemakers ake amazing wines - but that has less to do with the vintage then with their amazing skills. Haag, Lieser, Schaefer-Frochlich, Zilliken...well the notes are below.
IMO this is the vintage to buy kabinets for now and spatlese for mid-term aging. Auslese are more rare and some are quite serious and will provide amazing pleasure - but if buying totally blind - spats seems to offer more bang for the buck in '07.they will also be reasy sooner - way sooner - so you can drink these while waiting for the '05 and '06s to mature.
Flight 1 - Various (Haag, Von Hovel, Milz) (8 notes)
Haag, as usual, worked with the vintage - creating sublime, mineral filled wines. the Estate is a great qpr and the spat is showing glimpses of beauty though hard to judge now.
Von Hovel is a QPR star here - true steely and green apple-filled saars - a must buy and a homerun for them.
Flight 2 - Monchof (6 notes)
Herr Eymael managed to combine the syle of the vintage and his personal style to make quite serious wines - while the riper vintages sees to almoust play too much into his style - aking the wines big and overly baroque, the lighter vintage gave his complex wines the freshness they often need. the UW spatlese was a true favorite and a good QPR - showing UW in a very classical frame.
tropical fruit but with good acidity in the middle.
Flight 3 - Wegeler (10 notes)
there are estates that one just doesnt love - no matter the reasons - the style is just not the right fit. I love the rheingau wines from Wegeler. but the mosel wines feel heavy - rheinish? :) with that said - i think the WS spatlese was a success, and quite complex. and the Rottland spat is my perrenial favorite - few wines say Rheingau as openly as that one.
Flight 4 - Weins-Prum (4 notes)
It was a pleasure to meet Herr Selbach and taste with him. the vintage is a stunning success IMO, with the spats showing classical notes and amazing depth. excellent job.
Flight 5 - Lieser (5 notes)
not much one can say here.. seriously - Schloss Lieser has trully become a star in Mosel. amazing elegant wines. no words give justice to these.
Flight 6 - Haart (7 notes)
Haart is one of the producers deterined to bring the prosperity and good name back to Piesport. And with these wines - he very well may!
Flight 7 - Karthauserhof (6 notes)
Karthauserhof wines show what Ruwar is capable of. '06 was a tough year but the '07 collection is back on track - with lovely green apple notes everywhere.
Flight 8 - Zilliken (6 notes)
Zilliken, too, shined again, almost as brighly as in '05. elegant and pure saar wines. perhaps not as long lasting and "showy"- these wines are very pure.
Flight 9 - Weil (5 notes)
Weil put together the most consistant collection in the past few years. with that said - the spatlese was not on the level of '04/'05/'06 - although excellent in its own right.
Flight 10 - Kunstler (5 notes)
Kunstler was not as successfull this vintage IMO - it was a less than perfect year for dry wines and his noble sweet wines are usually the epitome of power - not something easily found in this vintage.
Flight 11 - Pfeffingen (5 notes)
for those who have seen my Theise notes - you know how good the Sheu is this year... and the Gewurz... well - here are some top examples.
Flight 12 - Schaefer-Frochlich (6 notes)
Tim is in that category of winemakers where vintage is subordinated to the power of the an behind the wheel. the wines are stunning year in and year out. the spatlese is still the greatest IMO and still a QPR.
Flight 13 - Gundloch (6 notes)
did not have the chance to taste the best wine - the Auslese *** - since its still fermenting. but the other wines show that the vintage was quite sucessful here!
Flight 14 - JJ Prum (4 notes)
tasting the '06s again... these are stunning. just stunning. then again - it is prum :)
Closing
David - HUGE thanks for the invite - and a thanks to Rudi for bringing these in... amazing to have the opportunity to taste these.