Light gold, lighter than I would have expected at this age. This was served at fridge temp and didn't seem to open up much. The nose was not as showy as Hermannshöhle can be, leaning towards citrus primarily. The palate was mid- weight, only slightly sweet, and had good acidity for the vintage. This was my first '05, and based on this I feel it's still a bit young.
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375...Not sure if I caught a couple bad splits, or Donnhoff '05 just aren't great or variable...but...my wine is nothing like it should be and unlike the previous CT notes. Flaccid, lacklng structure. Like sweet Mott's apple juice. Not unpalatable, but not what this wine should be.
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Restrained nose of apple compote, dried apricot, lemon sorbet, grapefruit, and white blossom. Gorgeously balanced sweetness and acidity, with honeyed fruit and loads of floral notes. It’s a bit lacking in concentration but the flavours are lovely.
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#15-06, 7.5% abv. From half-bottle. Maybe a smidgen more advanced than I remember this wine being, but I think it's also been apparently exactly three years since I had this last and memory is such a fickle thing... I read that I wrote previously that I didn't find any/much botrytis previously, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case today. There's definitely some of the marmalade/spice notes from botrytis on the nose, as well as some poached pears. There's not much sign of apples (malic acid) though. On the palate, this is sweet and mildly creamy, and while the acidity's there to counterbalance it out, it's not the sort of racy, prominent acidity of Mosel riesling. An archetypal bottle of Dönnhoff.
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Golden. Medium intensity and highly elegant scents and flavors of tropical fruits, peaches. Very long with a creamy finish. 5/12/18/10. This is going to age well for one or two decades if stored under textbook conditions since release.
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Nice medium to deep gold in color. Nose gives away some very light petrol, some grassy hay. Nice palate that is rounded but also with a bit of zip. Tropical fruit, of yellow peach, pineapple. Yellow apple.
Bottle helped me deal with some spicy Malaysian cuisine, cutting through the heat.
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Golden. This is much better than the 2004 or the last bottle of this. This is more nuanced, showing more play and complexity with tropical, yellow and citrus fruits. Long, still quite sweet, so working well with not to sweet e. g. citrus desserts. Bottles like this should age well for another 5-10 years, maybe longer. 5/13/18/10. -2026+
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Deep golden. The nose is of quite low intensity first, evolving a bit with more air and time. Spicy, quince, citrus, brown sugar, developing cherry notes later. 5/12/18/10. This is showing more intensity than the "Brücke", sweeter, but also with more balancing acidity. Though there are not that much different scents and flavors, it shows more play than the list of aromas might suggest. 5/12/17/10. -2040+
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Light to medium body with a fresh, citrus acidity balancing the honey flavor and a fairly persistent length. A perfect option for a lighter bodied but still delicious after dinner wine.
I expect this wine will last a long time in the cellar.
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Spot on immediately after opening, at first full of quince notes, then more rich and spicy, slightly botrytised notes. Not heavy and showing great clarity. Absolutely lovely, seems to show all it has but will keep a decade at least.
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2019 Athens Wine Event (Athens): From half bottle. Came at the end of a superb and long wine flight so this wine was at a disadvantage. But its effortless beauty shown though and the polished core of acidity was right on the money to shine through the behemoths of 2004 Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Masseto & Solaia. Bright and energetic, soft petrolly side, soft honey touches. Solid 92
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Peach, white flowers, raw apricot, Canadian honey on the nose, on the palate, white peachy fruits along with some green apple and lychee, the acidity was very lingering and not overwhelming, modest touch of creaminess on the finish. Very enjoyable and I prefer this over 2011 vintage
Eclectica at Table, Donkey and Stick (Chicago, IL): #15-06, 7.5% abv. From half-bottle. Touch of herbal elements here balance out some really soft fruit elements. There's plenty of acidity but none of it is racy. This isn't a very loud or piercing riesling, it's more of a gentle, wafting sort of wine. Seems to have very little botrytis influence, if any.
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Ten years since I had this, and it's still absolutely brilliant. Hasn't budged a whole lot, really. Still quite primary with lots of clear, fresh orchard fruit, minerality, and a very gentle sheen of botrytis, all coming together seamlessly and perfectly balanced by its acidity.
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Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Spätlese mini vertical (Chicago, IL): #15-06, 7.5% abv. From half-bottle. A brilliant auslese that doesn't suffer from any prädikat creep at all. It's clearly a step above in ripeness and sweetness in comparison to the spätlese, but it doesn't feel like a heavier wine at all. In fact, this has the very same Theise "ethereality" that the spätlese has. It's gentle, but light-handed, perfumed, and delicate. Quite clean, too -- there seems to be little, if any botrytis here.
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First half from a pack of 12. This is still so primary. Peaches and cream, light citrus, nice acidity. Medium sweetness, classic Auslese and clear GK quality. This is lovely but very unevolved. Leave 3-5 years before trying again. This will evolve for 50 years.
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Peach, honeysuckle, and crushed stone on the nose. Viscous, plush, round. This isnt overly sweet and would pair well with many savory dishes but it is a tad short of acidity, rendering the wine slightly unbalanced. Still, delicious.
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No leaking or mold at cork. Pale yellow color turning a bit golden, adolescent at this point. Orchard fruits and citrus on the nose and palate, with the slightest hint of spritz. Mostly pear, honey, and pineapple with a little apple in the background. Drink or hold.
Served with chicken enchiladas in red sauce, refritos, guacamole, and deep fried polenta.
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9/12/2012 rated 96 points: AP 7 753 010 15 06; 7.5 pabv. Gift of Helmut Dönnhoff during a visit in September, 2007, along with the 2006 Felsentürmchen Spätlese. Herr Dönnhoff signed this bottle, as is indicated in the photos in CellarTracker. At this meeting, he encouraged Barbara and I not to make too much of his wines. They are means of legitimate enjoyoment of life, not something to be worshipped. When we see you at this tasting room over the years, you are part of our family and we like to take care of you. After requesting the two bottles for purchase, we were astonished when he simply gave them to us.
Perhaps I shouldn't tell this story, because of course he can't afford to do this with every one who comes in the door, nor, probably, with every visit Barbara and I make to Oberhäusen. Of course, you'll find out, if you don't already know, the high level at which Herr Dönnhoff plays this particular game, and his wines themselves are enough of a gift to the world, at whatever price.
Sunday 9/8/2012 we went to Sakai Japanese Restaurant; Troy, OH (one of the few truly worthy Japanese restaurants in the Dayton area) and opened this for sipping through the meal, offering Chef Brian a sip as we digested our sashimi and so forth.
Wine has an intensely refractive but mild green-orange cast right out of the undecanted cork-finished bottle.
The envelope is that of a sappy, juicy, ripe apple surrounding fresh air tainted with woodsmoke, with good focus and mineral grip, with a slghtly less funky-pungent, less-intense **umami** note than I remember from previous examples of Dönnhoff wines from this vineyard.
Powerful and intense, sailing-acid entry, with a great juiciness and drive, with crystal-clear juicy apricot punch. and wonderful bitter-limeskin notes and a somewhat delicate and quite lacy sweetness, pushed through on the palate with enormous length. Given a ninety-sixth point after having spent four days loosely corked in the refrigerator. Still quite primary, with many long years ahead of it. A wonderful value on the secondary market, where it can be purchased for $10-15 less than on release. Why? An embarrassment of riches, perhaps. Drink now (if you like 'em right out of the cradle--2055, well-stored). Apricot is probably not botrytis but perfectly-judged harvest ripeness.
(From 375ml) I should absolutely love this. I love the winemaker. I love the vineyard. In fact, I love the nose of this 14k gold colored wine. Pears, berries and rocks on the nose - terrific. The palate is creamy and chalk full of fruit and minerals. The issue here is that everything falls off quickly ... And I mean quickly. One of the great things I love about German Riesling is the complexity and depth. This has great initial complexity and then ...A tough one to score for what is there is fantastic. Maybe more time is needed. (90)
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WOW..ripe, clean and pure. The word that came to mind is "refreshing" which you generally don't get from Auslese. White flowers and tropical fruits. This was a real treat.
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Chicago ♥ Dönnhoff (Chicago, IL): #15-06, 7.5% abv. From full bottle, believe it or not. This wine really embodies that ethereal quality that Terry Theise mentions in his descriptions of Doennhoff. There are sweet white peaches and pineapples here, lifted by what I can only call acidity ex machina. Needless to say, this is quite young and there's still plenty of potential. It will be very interesting to see how this unwinds.
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'05 and '06 side by side. A fun comparison, the '05 was more elegant and vibrant, the '06 much weightier and intense. Really a stylistic preference. The '05 is drinking younger, the '06 starting to show visual signs of age. Obviously both will go much, much longer, though fine to drink now.
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AP 7 753 010 15 06; 7.5 pabv. Gift of Helmut Dönnhoff during a visit in September, 2007, along with the 2006 Felsentürmchen Spätlese. Herr Dönnhoff signed this bottle, as is indicated in the photos in CellarTracker. At this meeting, he encouraged Barbara and I not to make too much of his wines. They are means of legitimate enjoyoment of life, not something to be worshipped. When we see you at this tasting room over the years, you are part of our family and we like to take care of you. After requesting the two bottles for purchase, we were astonished when he simply gave them to us.
Perhaps I shouldn't tell this story, because of course he can't afford to do this with every one who comes in the door, nor, probably, with every visit Barbara and I make to Oberhäusen. Of course, you'll find out, if you don't already know, the high level at which Herr Dönnhoff plays this particular game, and his wines themselves are enough of a gift to the world, at whatever price.
Sunday 9/8/2012 we went to Sakai Japanese Restaurant; Troy, OH (one of the few truly worthy Japanese restaurants in the Dayton area) and opened this for sipping through the meal, offering Chef Brian a sip as we digested our sashimi and so forth.
Wine has an intensely refractive but mild green-orange cast right out of the undecanted cork-finished bottle.
The envelope is that of a sappy, juicy, ripe apple surrounding fresh air tainted with woodsmoke, with good focus and mineral grip, with a slghtly less funky-pungent, less-intense **umami** note than I remember from previous examples of Dönnhoff wines from this vineyard.
Powerful and intense, sailing-acid entry, with a great juiciness and drive, with crystal-clear juicy apricot punch. and wonderful bitter-limeskin notes and a somewhat delicate and quite lacy sweetness, pushed through on the palate with enormous length. Given a ninety-sixth point after having spent four days loosely corked in the refrigerator. Still quite primary, with many long years ahead of it. A wonderful value on the secondary market, where it can be purchased for $10-15 less than on release. Why? An embarrassment of riches, perhaps. Drink now (if you like 'em right out of the cradle--2055, well-stored). Apricot is probably not botrytis but perfectly-judged harvest ripeness.
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Very light yellow. Very light and airy nose of peach and apple with a touch of honey and herbs (verbene and mint). On the palate, it has depth and complexity, rather low but sufficient acidity, not too much sweetness and great balance. It finishes with honey and citrus notes. Very good already.
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FROM a 375ml: This was beautiful and in a great spot from the half bottle. An expressive nose that struck a fine balance between expressive floral notes, vibrant fruit, and chalk. On the palate the wine exploded in the mid-palate with a melange of stone & tropical fruits with a long mineral driven finish. Outstanding.
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Medium color. Some honey, peach and lime. Weighty but not overly sweet. Some vanilla cream and good earthy finish. Not a wow wine but certainly very good.
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Light gold - a touch deeper than previous bottles. Vanilla pear nose. Spreads out with air, initial impression was underwhelming. Light as a feather (despite the viscosity) on the palate, this wine is very pure. Finishes very strong. A wine of finesse, purity and length. Very nice if not a blockbuster. (93)
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Tasted on day 1 and then let sit and drank again on days 5 and 7. I really enjoyed it on day 1 and texturally I would say that I prefered it on that day, but it just gained more and more complexity with time. Aromas of grapefruit, lemon, melon, cherries, ripe red apples, yellow stone fruit and some pineapple and tropical fruits with baking spices, incense and over a complex and salty minerality. I hate to sound cliche, but the word kaleidoscopic truly seems apropos. Layer after layer of flavors rush at you and on the first day the acid cut through it like a knife. On days 5 and 7, it gained so much body and texture that the acid, while still good, had difficulty in balancing the wine through the very long finish. Yet, no matter what, the wine, as with all great Donnhoff's, it displayed this wonderful sense of serenity that is very difficult to capture in words. As said by a colleague, this is one of those wines where it's almost better to not dissect it and just enjoy it for what it is.
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Very thick and creamy, but not quite so sweet that it's in dessert-wine territory, with the fruit starting to develop a slight tequila flavor. There's a sense of slate or black rock under the fruit but there's not really all that much detail.
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Way better than the Brucke recently but still in dormancy. Impeccably balanced, light as air, but with unreal intensity. Minerality in spades. White flowers, stone fruits, and a touch of spice. Lovely wine.
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Almost clear. Bracing nose of salt, green apple and pollen. Medium bodied with good sweetness – pear liquor is the dominating flavor. So youthful – really just a shell of what it will become. Hold until 2017+. (92++)
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Wasn't taking notes because it was NYE, but this was terrific. Layers of complexity and power, but without much weight at all. Had a slight kick of spice. A clear step up from the Brucke.
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A night of Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle at Trestle on Tenth (NYC): Combines incredibly bright, sweet tropical and white fruit flavours with an intense slatey minerality and a sense of weightlessness in the mouth. Very layered and complex and seemed to be getting even better with air in the glass. Still very open right now, and absolutely delicious.
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Light yellow colour. Quiet nose at first but it opens and unravels with a little time, offering apple, cherries, citrus, peach, tropical and white fruits, spices and hints of honey. Thrilling on the palate with incredibly pure, beautiful red and white fruits over spices and intense mineral flavours and tremendous precision. This feels almost weightless in the mouth, with an unbelievably long finish. Wow.
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Light yellowish color and fat tears. Grapefruit, lemon and stones on the nose. Lots of terroir in an extremely complex, yet forward wine. Very restrained sweetness in perfect balance with the other elements. Served with a little bit of fresh luxury strawberry icecream with gigantic black berries. Rating: 96
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4/14/2024 - Vlamentino Likes this wine: 95 Points
Pure amazing honeyed petrol Riesling
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7/14/2023 - jlm wrote:
Light gold, lighter than I would have expected at this age. This was served at fridge temp and didn't seem to open up much. The nose was not as showy as Hermannshöhle can be, leaning towards citrus primarily. The palate was mid- weight, only slightly sweet, and had good acidity for the vintage. This was my first '05, and based on this I feel it's still a bit young.
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5/8/2023 - decaturwinedude Does not like this wine:
375...Not sure if I caught a couple bad splits, or Donnhoff '05 just aren't great or variable...but...my wine is nothing like it should be and unlike the previous CT notes. Flaccid, lacklng structure. Like sweet Mott's apple juice. Not unpalatable, but not what this wine should be.
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11/13/2022 - mrgarreth Likes this wine: 90 Points
Restrained nose of apple compote, dried apricot, lemon sorbet, grapefruit, and white blossom. Gorgeously balanced sweetness and acidity, with honeyed fruit and loads of floral notes. It’s a bit lacking in concentration but the flavours are lovely.
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1/23/2022 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
#15-06, 7.5% abv. From half-bottle. Maybe a smidgen more advanced than I remember this wine being, but I think it's also been apparently exactly three years since I had this last and memory is such a fickle thing... I read that I wrote previously that I didn't find any/much botrytis previously, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case today. There's definitely some of the marmalade/spice notes from botrytis on the nose, as well as some poached pears. There's not much sign of apples (malic acid) though. On the palate, this is sweet and mildly creamy, and while the acidity's there to counterbalance it out, it's not the sort of racy, prominent acidity of Mosel riesling. An archetypal bottle of Dönnhoff.
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10/9/2021 - Caruso Likes this wine: 95 Points
Golden. Medium intensity and highly elegant scents and flavors of tropical fruits, peaches. Very long with a creamy finish. 5/12/18/10. This is going to age well for one or two decades if stored under textbook conditions since release.
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9/17/2021 - 87tellub Likes this wine: 92 Points
Wished I'd had more than a 375.
Nice medium to deep gold in color. Nose gives away some very light petrol, some grassy hay. Nice palate that is rounded but also with a bit of zip. Tropical fruit, of yellow peach, pineapple. Yellow apple.
Bottle helped me deal with some spicy Malaysian cuisine, cutting through the heat.
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5/13/2021 - Caruso Likes this wine: 96 Points
Golden. This is much better than the 2004 or the last bottle of this. This is more nuanced, showing more play and complexity with tropical, yellow and citrus fruits. Long, still quite sweet, so working well with not to sweet e. g. citrus desserts. Bottles like this should age well for another 5-10 years, maybe longer. 5/13/18/10. -2026+
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2/1/2021 - Ltim BE Likes this wine: 94 Points
Irresistibly great. Perfect to drink now.
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9/27/2020 - Caruso Likes this wine: 94 Points
Deep golden. The nose is of quite low intensity first, evolving a bit with more air and time. Spicy, quince, citrus, brown sugar, developing cherry notes later. 5/12/18/10. This is showing more intensity than the "Brücke", sweeter, but also with more balancing acidity. Though there are not that much different scents and flavors, it shows more play than the list of aromas might suggest. 5/12/17/10. -2040+
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9/12/2020 - Volleyball wrote: 93 Points
Light to medium body with a fresh, citrus acidity balancing the honey flavor and a fairly persistent length. A perfect option for a lighter bodied but still delicious after dinner wine.
I expect this wine will last a long time in the cellar.
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5/27/2020 - leonlevitt77 wrote: flawed
A
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2/1/2020 - DK Amateur Likes this wine:
Spot on immediately after opening, at first full of quince notes, then more rich and spicy, slightly botrytised notes. Not heavy and showing great clarity. Absolutely lovely, seems to show all it has but will keep a decade at least.
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8/25/2019 - ubercuvee wrote:
Smooth, balanced, nothing out of place but also missing some distinctiveness. I think I prefer either the Spatlese or the BA (for the botrytis hit)
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6/28/2019 - Papies wrote: 92 Points
2019 Athens Wine Event (Athens): From half bottle. Came at the end of a superb and long wine flight so this wine was at a disadvantage.
But its effortless beauty shown though and the polished core of acidity was right on the money to shine through the behemoths of 2004 Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Masseto & Solaia.
Bright and energetic, soft petrolly side, soft honey touches. Solid 92
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6/9/2019 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
It's kinda orgasmic. Still really fresh.
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2/22/2019 - Ms. Bubblehead Likes this wine:
Peach, white flowers, raw apricot, Canadian honey on the nose, on the palate, white peachy fruits along with some green apple and lychee, the acidity was very lingering and not overwhelming, modest touch of creaminess on the finish. Very enjoyable and I prefer this over 2011 vintage
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1/23/2019 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Eclectica at Table, Donkey and Stick (Chicago, IL): #15-06, 7.5% abv. From half-bottle. Touch of herbal elements here balance out some really soft fruit elements. There's plenty of acidity but none of it is racy. This isn't a very loud or piercing riesling, it's more of a gentle, wafting sort of wine. Seems to have very little botrytis influence, if any.
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12/30/2018 - fisk15 wrote: 94 Points
Class, drinking very well now and will continue to for the foreseeable future. Early maturity now, lithe and balanced.
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7/27/2018 - salil wrote: 94 Points
Ten years since I had this, and it's still absolutely brilliant. Hasn't budged a whole lot, really. Still quite primary with lots of clear, fresh orchard fruit, minerality, and a very gentle sheen of botrytis, all coming together seamlessly and perfectly balanced by its acidity.
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7/27/2018 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Spätlese mini vertical (Chicago, IL): #15-06, 7.5% abv. From half-bottle. A brilliant auslese that doesn't suffer from any prädikat creep at all. It's clearly a step above in ripeness and sweetness in comparison to the spätlese, but it doesn't feel like a heavier wine at all. In fact, this has the very same Theise "ethereality" that the spätlese has. It's gentle, but light-handed, perfumed, and delicate. Quite clean, too -- there seems to be little, if any botrytis here.
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4/22/2018 - kevin h wrote: 92 Points
First half from a pack of 12. This is still so primary. Peaches and cream, light citrus, nice acidity. Medium sweetness, classic Auslese and clear GK quality. This is lovely but very unevolved. Leave 3-5 years before trying again. This will evolve for 50 years.
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4/18/2018 - rlove wrote: 92 Points
Peach, honeysuckle, and crushed stone on the nose. Viscous, plush, round. This isnt overly sweet and would pair well with many savory dishes but it is a tad short of acidity, rendering the wine slightly unbalanced. Still, delicious.
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4/21/2017 - fisk15 wrote: 88 Points
Too sweet, needed more acidity to balance it out.
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4/7/2017 - shedcellar Likes this wine:
Delicious and well balanced. Very much ready to drink but the only real sign of evolution is a hint of caramelised fruit on the finish.
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11/12/2016 - suttonri wrote: 93 Points
No leaking or mold at cork. Pale yellow color turning a bit golden, adolescent at this point. Orchard fruits and citrus on the nose and palate, with the slightest hint of spritz. Mostly pear, honey, and pineapple with a little apple in the background. Drink or hold.
Served with chicken enchiladas in red sauce, refritos, guacamole, and deep fried polenta.
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8/21/2015 - sweetstuff wrote:
9/12/2012 rated 96 points: AP 7 753 010 15 06; 7.5 pabv. Gift of Helmut Dönnhoff during a visit in September, 2007, along with the 2006 Felsentürmchen Spätlese. Herr Dönnhoff signed this bottle, as is indicated in the photos in CellarTracker. At this meeting, he encouraged Barbara and I not to make too much of his wines. They are means of legitimate enjoyoment of life, not something to be worshipped. When we see you at this tasting room over the years, you are part of our family and we like to take care of you. After requesting the two bottles for purchase, we were astonished when he simply gave them to us.
Perhaps I shouldn't tell this story, because of course he can't afford to do this with every one who comes in the door, nor, probably, with every visit Barbara and I make to Oberhäusen. Of course, you'll find out, if you don't already know, the high level at which Herr Dönnhoff plays this particular game, and his wines themselves are enough of a gift to the world, at whatever price.
Sunday 9/8/2012 we went to Sakai Japanese Restaurant; Troy, OH (one of the few truly worthy Japanese restaurants in the Dayton area) and opened this for sipping through the meal, offering Chef Brian a sip as we digested our sashimi and so forth.
Wine has an intensely refractive but mild green-orange cast right out of the undecanted cork-finished bottle.
The envelope is that of a sappy, juicy, ripe apple surrounding fresh air tainted with woodsmoke, with good focus and mineral grip, with a slghtly less funky-pungent, less-intense **umami** note than I remember from previous examples of Dönnhoff wines from this vineyard.
Powerful and intense, sailing-acid entry, with a great juiciness and drive, with crystal-clear juicy apricot punch. and wonderful bitter-limeskin notes and a somewhat delicate and quite lacy sweetness, pushed through on the palate with enormous length. Given a ninety-sixth point after having spent four days loosely corked in the refrigerator. Still quite primary, with many long years ahead of it. A wonderful value on the secondary market, where it can be purchased for $10-15 less than on release. Why? An embarrassment of riches, perhaps. Drink now (if you like 'em right out of the cradle--2055, well-stored). Apricot is probably not botrytis but perfectly-judged harvest ripeness.
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4/19/2015 - dbkitc wrote: 90 Points
(From 375ml) I should absolutely love this. I love the winemaker. I love the vineyard. In fact, I love the nose of this 14k gold colored wine. Pears, berries and rocks on the nose - terrific. The palate is creamy and chalk full of fruit and minerals. The issue here is that everything falls off quickly ... And I mean quickly. One of the great things I love about German Riesling is the complexity and depth. This has great initial complexity and then ...A tough one to score for what is there is fantastic. Maybe more time is needed. (90)
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3/11/2015 - Sennma wrote: 94 Points
WOW..ripe, clean and pure. The word that came to mind is "refreshing" which you generally don't get from Auslese. White flowers and tropical fruits. This was a real treat.
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3/4/2015 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Chicago ♥ Dönnhoff (Chicago, IL): #15-06, 7.5% abv. From full bottle, believe it or not. This wine really embodies that ethereal quality that Terry Theise mentions in his descriptions of Doennhoff. There are sweet white peaches and pineapples here, lifted by what I can only call acidity ex machina. Needless to say, this is quite young and there's still plenty of potential. It will be very interesting to see how this unwinds.
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1/2/2015 - jerhardt wrote: 93 Points
'05 and '06 side by side. A fun comparison, the '05 was more elegant and vibrant, the '06 much weightier and intense. Really a stylistic preference. The '05 is drinking younger, the '06 starting to show visual signs of age. Obviously both will go much, much longer, though fine to drink now.
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12/15/2012 - randomly wrote: 87 Points
Completely unexciting. Perhaps mildly corked?
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9/12/2012 - sweetstuff wrote: 96 Points
AP 7 753 010 15 06; 7.5 pabv. Gift of Helmut Dönnhoff during a visit in September, 2007, along with the 2006 Felsentürmchen Spätlese. Herr Dönnhoff signed this bottle, as is indicated in the photos in CellarTracker. At this meeting, he encouraged Barbara and I not to make too much of his wines. They are means of legitimate enjoyoment of life, not something to be worshipped. When we see you at this tasting room over the years, you are part of our family and we like to take care of you. After requesting the two bottles for purchase, we were astonished when he simply gave them to us.
Perhaps I shouldn't tell this story, because of course he can't afford to do this with every one who comes in the door, nor, probably, with every visit Barbara and I make to Oberhäusen. Of course, you'll find out, if you don't already know, the high level at which Herr Dönnhoff plays this particular game, and his wines themselves are enough of a gift to the world, at whatever price.
Sunday 9/8/2012 we went to Sakai Japanese Restaurant; Troy, OH (one of the few truly worthy Japanese restaurants in the Dayton area) and opened this for sipping through the meal, offering Chef Brian a sip as we digested our sashimi and so forth.
Wine has an intensely refractive but mild green-orange cast right out of the undecanted cork-finished bottle.
The envelope is that of a sappy, juicy, ripe apple surrounding fresh air tainted with woodsmoke, with good focus and mineral grip, with a slghtly less funky-pungent, less-intense **umami** note than I remember from previous examples of Dönnhoff wines from this vineyard.
Powerful and intense, sailing-acid entry, with a great juiciness and drive, with crystal-clear juicy apricot punch. and wonderful bitter-limeskin notes and a somewhat delicate and quite lacy sweetness, pushed through on the palate with enormous length. Given a ninety-sixth point after having spent four days loosely corked in the refrigerator. Still quite primary, with many long years ahead of it. A wonderful value on the secondary market, where it can be purchased for $10-15 less than on release. Why? An embarrassment of riches, perhaps. Drink now (if you like 'em right out of the cradle--2055, well-stored). Apricot is probably not botrytis but perfectly-judged harvest ripeness.
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8/6/2012 - octopussy wrote: 93 Points
Very light yellow. Very light and airy nose of peach and apple with a touch of honey and herbs (verbene and mint). On the palate, it has depth and complexity, rather low but sufficient acidity, not too much sweetness and great balance. It finishes with honey and citrus notes. Very good already.
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6/16/2012 - Kirk Grant wrote:
FROM a 375ml:
This was beautiful and in a great spot from the half bottle. An expressive nose that struck a fine balance between expressive floral notes, vibrant fruit, and chalk. On the palate the wine exploded in the mid-palate with a melange of stone & tropical fruits with a long mineral driven finish. Outstanding.
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5/30/2012 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 92 Points
Best bottle yet. Nothing in the realm of "complexity" but it's damn delicious, and more precise than my last bottle.
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5/21/2012 - aravenel Likes this wine: 94 Points
Beautiful. Nose and taste of honey, beautifully balanced. Nose was incredible--didn't even want to drink it, just smell it forever.
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4/21/2012 - drwine2001 wrote:
Medium color. Some honey, peach and lime. Weighty but not overly sweet. Some vanilla cream and good earthy finish. Not a wow wine but certainly very good.
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4/14/2012 - rho wrote: 93 Points
Floral aromas. Same notes as previous taste.
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1/3/2012 - dbkitc wrote: 93 Points
Light gold - a touch deeper than previous bottles. Vanilla pear nose. Spreads out with air, initial impression was underwhelming. Light as a feather (despite the viscosity) on the palate, this wine is very pure. Finishes very strong. A wine of finesse, purity and length. Very nice if not a blockbuster. (93)
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9/10/2011 - br wrote: flawed
corked!!!! feh.
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9/5/2011 - Keith Levenberg wrote:
Pineapple creamsicle. Score: 70 or 90 depending on what kind of riesling you're in the mood for.
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4/27/2011 - wickedwax wrote:
Tasted on day 1 and then let sit and drank again on days 5 and 7. I really enjoyed it on day 1 and texturally I would say that I prefered it on that day, but it just gained more and more complexity with time. Aromas of grapefruit, lemon, melon, cherries, ripe red apples, yellow stone fruit and some pineapple and tropical fruits with baking spices, incense and over a complex and salty minerality. I hate to sound cliche, but the word kaleidoscopic truly seems apropos. Layer after layer of flavors rush at you and on the first day the acid cut through it like a knife. On days 5 and 7, it gained so much body and texture that the acid, while still good, had difficulty in balancing the wine through the very long finish. Yet, no matter what, the wine, as with all great Donnhoff's, it displayed this wonderful sense of serenity that is very difficult to capture in words. As said by a colleague, this is one of those wines where it's almost better to not dissect it and just enjoy it for what it is.
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3/7/2011 - MondovinoCA wrote: 93 Points
Peaches and apricots, great botrytis spice and crisp acidity.
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12/10/2010 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 87 Points
Very thick and creamy, but not quite so sweet that it's in dessert-wine territory, with the fruit starting to develop a slight tequila flavor. There's a sense of slate or black rock under the fruit but there's not really all that much detail.
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8/30/2010 - christyler wrote: 92 Points
Not a bargain, but a beautiful wine.
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11/8/2009 - amateurwino wrote: 93 Points
I might've preferred this to the Keller slightly, but only because I tend toward spatleses and ausleses over dryer rieslings.
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10/24/2009 - rho wrote: 93 Points
Medium bodied with sweet fruits on the nose. Peach, apple, pear and citric flavors. Nicely balanced and complexed with a very long finish. Beautiful!
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9/3/2009 - rc@ughey wrote: 91 Points
Way better than the Brucke recently but still in dormancy. Impeccably balanced, light as air, but with unreal intensity. Minerality in spades. White flowers, stone fruits, and a touch of spice. Lovely wine.
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8/17/2009 - dbkitc wrote: 92 Points
Almost clear. Bracing nose of salt, green apple and pollen. Medium bodied with good sweetness – pear liquor is the dominating flavor. So youthful – really just a shell of what it will become. Hold until 2017+. (92++)
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1/2/2009 - rc@ughey wrote: 93 Points
Wasn't taking notes because it was NYE, but this was terrific. Layers of complexity and power, but without much weight at all. Had a slight kick of spice. A clear step up from the Brucke.
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12/4/2008 - salil wrote: 94 Points
A night of Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle at Trestle on Tenth (NYC): Combines incredibly bright, sweet tropical and white fruit flavours with an intense slatey minerality and a sense of weightlessness in the mouth. Very layered and complex and seemed to be getting even better with air in the glass. Still very open right now, and absolutely delicious.
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12/4/2008 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 90 Points
Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Vertical (Trestle on Tenth): Not closed up yet! More slatey and minerally than most of the rest today. Nice showing.
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5/18/2008 - salil wrote: 96 Points
Light yellow colour. Quiet nose at first but it opens and unravels with a little time, offering apple, cherries, citrus, peach, tropical and white fruits, spices and hints of honey. Thrilling on the palate with incredibly pure, beautiful red and white fruits over spices and intense mineral flavours and tremendous precision. This feels almost weightless in the mouth, with an unbelievably long finish. Wow.
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8/28/2006 - gorm wrote: 96 Points
Light yellowish color and fat tears. Grapefruit, lemon and stones on the nose. Lots of terroir in an extremely complex, yet forward wine. Very restrained sweetness in perfect balance with the other elements. Served with a little bit of fresh luxury strawberry icecream with gigantic black berries. Rating: 96
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