5/25/2022 - forceberry wrote:

With the 2015 vintage I was told Gruft was the same thing as GG Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, but only bottled in magnums - yet this wine was served from a standard-sized bottle, so I don't know who to trust! Fermented spontaneously. Aged in old oak barriques. 12,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Pale lemony color. Varietally correct nose immediately identifiable as a Riesling with its aromas of ripe citrus fruits and crunchy Granny Smith apple, some peachy tones, a little bit of sour apple candy, light floral notes of white flowers and a hint of nashi pear. The wine is dry, precise and light-to-medium-bodied on the palate with intense flavors of ripe, slightly sweetish citrus fruits, some sour apple candy tones, a little bit of apple peel bitterness, light steely mineral notes, a hint of tangy salinity and a subtly lifted touch of VA. Very high and wonderfully structured acidity. The finish is crisp, long and lively with tangy, precise flavors of saline minerality and tart lemony citrus fruits, some apple peel bitterness, a little bit of stony minerality, light sweeter nuances of peachy stone fruits and a faint lifted hint of VA, bordering on subtly acetic.

A very crisp, intense and still so very youthful GG Riesling. Immensely tasty and very promising. At the moment the wine is still a bit nervy and high-strung, but it shows good potential for future development - I'd let the wine wait for another 5 years, perhaps even more, in order to let it show its best. Terrific stuff with lots of upside.

12/10/2019 - forceberry wrote:

Fermented spontaneously with natural yeasts in 1000-liter stainless steel tanks. Fermented over 6 months, aged for 11 months on the lees. Bottled without fining, filtration or sulfites. 12,5% alcohol.

Deep and very slightly hazy copper color. Slightly wild, waxy and fine-tuned nose with somewhat sweet-toned aromas of honeysuckle, orange marmalade, some beeswax, a little bit of nuttiness, light grapey tones and a hint of bruised apple. The wine is light-to-medium-bodied, dry and rather acid-driven on the palate with crisp flavors of tart lemony citrus fruits, stony minerality, some oxidative nuttiness, a little bit of bruised apple, light smoky notes, a hint of Tawny-ish caramel and a touch of tangy salinity. The wine is quite intense and structured, but rather flat in the fruit department. The finish is dry, crisp and quite saline with intense flavors of tart lemony citrus fruits, some oxidative nuttiness, a little bit of bruised apple, light honeyed tones and a hint of white currant.

This really doesn't taste like a "unique take on a Riesling", this tastes more like a Riesling that has been kept too long open so it has oxidized. It's not funky, weird or faulty as all too many no-sulfite wines are, but it's nothing particularly captivating either. I wonder if this wine is supposed to be like this (i.e. it is vinified into this style and bottled like this) or if this bottle was just oxidized for one reason or another? Overall the wine is enjoyably fresh and focused, but if this is the style the producer is seeking, I fail to see the point.

12/16/2017 - forceberry wrote:

100% Estonian Rondo, vinified in a plastic wading pool. 11% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Slightly hazy and somewhat mahogany-hued pomegranate color, making the wine appear somewhat aged. The nose feels somewhat unclean with reticent aromas of raspberry, some sappy greenness of willow bark and a hint of unripe leafy character. The wine is very light-bodied, tart and racy on the palate with almost unripe and somewhat sappy, green flavors of fresh raspberries, tart green apples and some crowberries. The tannins are not particularly ample, but they feel quite underripe, green and aggressive, giving the wine noticeable tannic astringency. The finish is quite green-toned and coarse with light yet harsh, green tannins and medium-long, underripe and sappy flavors of tart green apples, underripe raspberries, redcurrants and chlorophyll.

Ugh. A thin, green and unbalanced red wine with no body nor any sense of ripeness. Although the tannins are not particularly ample, they are still aggressive enough to give the wine quite heavily astringent tannic structure. Not really an enjoyable wine. My guess was that it was a Latvian Zilga, so I wasn't that far off.

3/4/2017 - forceberry wrote:

12% alcohol.

Pale green color. Restrained and crisp nose with subtle aromas of sharp lemony fruit, some stone dust and a hint of smoke. The wine is ridiculously crisp, bracingly acid-driven and tightly-knit on the palate with racy flavors of ripe green apples, lemony citrus fruits and wet stones. There's obviously a lot of ripe fruit, but all of it is underneath the racy acidity, making the wine appear quite closed and austere. The long and dry finish is lively, crisp and racy with sharp flavors of green apples, grapefruit, some lemon zest and a hint of chalky bitterness.

A remarkably racy, rather austere and very tightly-knit Mosel Trocken Riesling that feels rather closed right now. The ripeness from this warm vintage is quite obvious, but it doesn't translate to expressive, fruity character - at least not yet. Impressive, but rather lean and inapproachable stuff, even though it isn't particularly austere in style. I suspect this wine will need more than a decade before it starts to drink nicely and perhaps another one to reach its apogee.