2017 Alfred Merkelbach Kinheimer Rosenberg Riesling Spätlese #2

Community Tasting Notes (5) Median Score: 92 points

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  11/28/2021 - SpenceP wrote: 93 Points

  Since I first tasted this wine more than 2 months ago, I've opened a total of 13 bottles (of which 4 had tainted corks). This latest bottle, with a perfect cork, was even better than the earlier bottles--the profile is the same, but a little richer and a little more vivid, and the toasted sesame aftertaste is now magnificent rather than ethereal--so I've raised the score by a point. If you get a bottle with a good cork (and the odds are in your favor, although, unless I was simply unlucky, not by as wide a margin as I'd like), this is really quite glorious and I wouldn't be surprised if it continued to improve. See my note of September 9 for a detailed description.

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  9/17/2021 - SpenceP wrote: flawed

  I've now tasted several more bottles from two different cases, and while most of these bottles are absolute delights (see my note of September 9), I've had to sadly conclude that a significant proportion of these bottles have been damaged by subtly tainted corks. This is not, at least in the bottles I've tasted, the sort of taint that's instantly obvious--rather, the taint is so subtle that if you haven't tasted a good bottle you'll probably simply find the wine mediocre and won't think to look for evidence of cork taint. These tainted wines are very much like what Aagrawal describes in his note of 9/5/2020--so much so that I strongly suspect that Aagrawal was tasting one of the tainted cork bottles.

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  9/11/2021 - SpenceP wrote: flawed

  A second bottle had a faintly tainted cork--the sort where it's possible to miss the taint itself but that leaves the wine mute and completely disappointing.

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  9/9/2021 - SpenceP wrote: 92 Points

  I gather from early reports that this wine was something of a puzzle when first released--but it's now on its way to to becoming a real beauty. Delicate flowers, baked apples, toasted sesame seeds, minerals, dried pears, a wisp of strawberries and perhaps a hint of almonds. A touch of sweetness. The aftertaste starts to quickly fade, but, almost gone, it lingers on and on like a memory of magic. Light and innocent. I wouldn't be surprised if this got even better with more time in the cellar.

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  9/5/2020 - aagrawal wrote: 85 Points

  AP #2. Light yellow; moderately aromatic with a bit of lemon cream, some minerality; palate is light-medium bodied, white fruits but fade very quickly through the midpalate, slightly savory, slight minerality, medium acidity, medium alcohol; finish is short. A bit clipped and lacking character compared to the other Merkelbach wines I've tried. A good but average riesling. 85

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