4/20/2020 - grafstrb wrote:

-- cork pulled 30 min. before initial taste --
-- tasted non-blind over a couple hours --

NOSE: mineral; lime; light peach; moderately expressive. Preferred this out of the Grassl Mineralite over the Liberte.

BODY: Diam10 cork; light to medium-light body.

TASTE: dry; lots of mineral; high acidity; medium-light fruit flavor, which is a bit reminiscent of Sauvignon Blanc, which Riesling sometimes does for me. Really solid. At $30, I don't see the QPR unless this ages well, as there's other trocken Rieslings out there that are very similar for closer to $20. But this does seem like it would age well, so I'm in.

3/20/2020 - fc1910 Likes this wine:

Bought this bottle yesterday, curious to know if there is something new to spot on the LRA horizon, as you might have read I am among the critics of the for me "new" or lets say "everybodys darling" style from Rioja.
Since the 2001 vintage I found most of the filled bottles from LRA too less Rioja origin style, which means not really made for the long haul, low ABV, very elegant without much weight, and for a long life ahead if young with a demanding acidity, we or better I cannot escape the fact that most of the LRA Gran Reservas y Reservas come along with a juicy fullbodied fruit to impress young since 2001,
after this introduction of my thoughts lets pnp!
Initially this shows a strong note of licorice and tar, but in a very good way, on the palate licorice again, the american oak with nutty, earthy and smoky aromas, fresh, no....., lets say lively fruit on the midpalate, more red fruit driven at the moment, the again 13,5% alcohol is very well covered and balanced by the enormous pronounced acid, mouthfilling after swallowing, ripe tannin, this wine is a baby so far but that delicious tonight, cause in this case the bodega has found the right proportions between drinkability young and if you like, to cellar this one easily two decades(+), since the 2001 vintage the first really great showing in my honest opinion, highly recommended! **(* *-*****), 93-96(+) potential in a decade+!

And I forgot to post something about the incredible QPR, this is one of the blue chips from the whole wine world, you can buy this for around 35-40€, dollars, pounds etc, you get an extraordinary quality and for me the best argument, you are free to enjoy this bottling during the next decades, so there are many reasons to purchase at least one whole case.

Update 24 hours later: nothing has changed essentially, refined showing with great elegance, fresh fruit and this vibrant mouthwatering acidity!

3/8/2020 - Andr5858 wrote:

I was expecting a lot more from this wine. After drinking old Rioja vintages from the 60s 70s and 80s recently, this wine should be tasting a lot younger. I don’t think it’s going anywhere. Nice enough but didn’t move the earth. Keeping wines in barrel for several years so can be categorised as Gran Reserva is questionable. I have had some stunning Old Crianzas which have been very similar to top notch Burgundies. Regretfully this doesn’t come near. After years of drinking Riojas I am beginning to lose respect for “Gran Reservas”. Better Crianzas and Reservas with a decent amount of bottle age. The wine itself is nicely mouth filling. Grippy tannins with a medium body. Slight watery but elegant. Savoury on the palate with pronounced oak and dried figs. Good finish. Pleasant enough but none of the stuffing to suggest a long life ahead. Still quite a few bottles left!

8/29/2019 - fc1910 Likes this wine:

A fine summer afternoon doing some paper works for my company, to motivate myself I pnp this one into my glass, WOW and wow again, the Kieselstein yesterday on the terraces was a great Riesling example, but this bottle is blowing my mind away, dreaming of holidays, a cooling swim in the ocean, some seafood with fresh lemon........, NO: this is a reference for all german Riesling bottlings and zones, precise, razor sharp like a samurai sword, the pure hedonistic stone licking, that refreshing, why am I drinking some other stuff sometimes- and days?
Really great++ showing, that young, but mouthwatering demanding, both the slate from this soil and the acidity, very, very long finish, for the next decade+(+), 95-97(+) potential

8/7/2019 - 2caveman wrote:

This wine has fallen from lofty heights with passage of extra year. Faded glory with no real backbone left to support it and weak somewhat cloying tannic residual. Had the 2007 earlier this summer and found it to be still in tail end of its prime. 14 years is too much to ask of reserva

3/25/2018 - DFBW Likes this wine:

5-way Rioja tasting with 2004 Tondonia, 2009 Prado Enea, 2007 Ardanza and 2011 Muga Seleccion Especial. The expected winner actually came third but still a delicious wine that is set for more with some more bottle age.

4/22/2017 - forceberry wrote:

Tasted blind in Kabinett Cup 2015. 7% alcohol.

Pale green color. Very stuffy and reductive nose that does not open up at all during the evening, offering nothing more than sulfurous hard-boiled egg aromas and hints of acrid smoke. The wine is light-to-medium-bodied, medium-sweet and very racy on the palate with focused primary flavors of tart lemony citrus fruits, juicy red apples, some grapey fruit, a little bit of reductive hard-boiled egg character, a hint of honey and a touch of gunpowder smoke. The wine feels very juicy, but also quite reductive still. The finish is long, ripe and moderately sweet, but also quite reductive with pungent sulfidic burn, some sulphurous rotten egg notes and a hint of gunpowder smoke along with hints of Granny Smith apple and lemon marmalade.

This was a very wonderful Kabinett Riesling, were it not for the very pronounced reduction. It feels as though the wine has been given a dose of sulfites a bit too big, and some of the sulfites have reduced to become smelly sulfur compounds. You can taste that the quality here is impeccable and the balance between the acidity and the moderately high sweetness is incredibly fine, but the reductive qualities detract a lot from the pleasure. Seeing this wine is bottled under a screw cap, I really hope that the reductive qualities blow off with age - at least the wine feels like it is built to last for a long time in a cellar. If the wine is to be opened young, decant it vigorously just to blow some of the reduction away - although I doubt this much skunk will dissipate in any short period of time. The wine needs at least a few years just to get out of its very primary phase, and perhaps more than a decade to lose its skunky reduction. This wine received no points in our Kabinett Cup of 32 Rieslings from 2015, but a few people commented that this would've been a serious contender were it not so darn skunky. Shows a lot of promise.

12/8/2017 - hermesbach32 Likes this wine:

Still very restrained, especially on the nose, but coming with power, layers and layers of flavours and fresh fruit and a piercing acidity. This wine perfectly shows its terroir and drinks already very well today. Green, yellow and red apple combined with citrus fruit (lime, citrus, orange, blood orange) really have a nice expression, combined with powerful minerality and the classic "Keller" caramel flavour.
After some time opening up and showing really high intensity, truly amazing length (goes on for over one minute), lovely texture, simply a Riesling without any weaknesses and a great personality and lots of potential left, which should reveal itself over the next years.
Highly recommended!!

Should reach its peak in another 6-7 years.

Points: 93
Drinking: 2020-2035

6/25/2017 - hermesbach32 wrote:

Schönes Parfüm, Blumenduft, Vanille, Karamell, Erdbeere, rote Kirsche, Kirschmarmelade, schöne Säure, schöne Textur, sehr gute Länge

6/25/2017 - Collector1855 wrote:

Surprise of the night. Served blind and I thought it was a young right bank wine. Starts with the color of this bottle, Deep purple, basically showing no sign of age, must have been stored impeccably. Then there is lots of blue fruit in the nose, the most surprising thing was how soft and lush the palate was, My recollection of many 2002 is leanness, not this wine. Really a value play this Pichon from 2002.

6/24/2017 - Cathair Chaladinn Likes this wine:

Hermesbach 32 I dont think further aeration would necessarily improve the enjoyment of the wine a couple of hours is just fine. Interestingly you can still find this wine at the same price as the recently released 2016 vintage. And its ready to enjoy !!!

6/17/2017 - Cathair Chaladinn Likes this wine:

Decanted 2 hours before lunch. Gorgeous aromas waft from the glass cassis and graphite. The wine is so elegant feels weightless when Bordeaux get it right it draws one back time after time. Continued to enjoy every sip as the wine evolved in the glass over the hour. Speaking with many people the 2009 Bordeaux vintage is much more approachable than the 2010. If you have a bottle don't be afraid to pull the cork why wait ? Outstanding !

5/28/2017 - hermesbach32 Likes this wine:

Nice and complex on the nose (lots of different flavours (blossom, apple, peaches - a very broad range)),
High acidity, slight sweetness, very very long (amazing finish) - this wine has real balance of fruit and acidity, but it will need a lot of time until it reaches its peak
This wine has real elegance, it is medium (-) bodied - if you want intense fruit this might not be your choice, but if you like the classic Riesling style, you will almost certainly love it

It is a bit too early to say it for sure (this wine is still pretty closed, especially on the nose), but I am really optimistic this will turn into a real stunner after 7-10 years of aging

5/25/2017 - GonzaloManzaneda Likes this wine:

Color poco evolucionado para tener la edad que tiene. En nariz es pura bergamota y acidez. Largo, potente, concentrado. Se nota que fue una añada fría. Mucho más largo. Dos grand crus en este vino de la misma parcela y dentro del mismo vino.

2/17/2017 - acyso wrote:

A Rieslingfeier of our Own; 2/13/2017-2/18/2017 (Traben-Trarbach, Germany): (At Laurenz in Mainz.) #42-16, 13.5% abv. After three days of lovely (that's a German pun) Mosel wines, sometimes you just need something very different, and despite my fears and dislike of dry riesling, when you see a screaming deal on a wine list, you order it. This is an excellent wine, there is no doubt about it. The nose screams lemon oil and minerals, and the boldness here is a clear prelude of the things to come. The palate is incredibly dense and ripe, but perfectly poised thanks to the very potent acidity. We compared this in very favourable terms to a Corton-Charlemagne for its fat fruit, bold acidity, and crisp minerality.