2015 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese, Germany, Mosel - Wine Review

Score: 
96
Grade: 
A

Wow.  This bottle is probably still on the retail shelves for under $25.  It is amazing.  Everyone at the table was oohing and ahhing over it.  And it has decades of life left if you can keep your hands off.  Light golden in color.  The nose is awesome.  Pineapple, minerals, slight peach and what I thought was thyme (?).  On the palate, this is slightly sweet.  Amazing energy.  Wonderful texture; slightly oily slightly sinewy with juicy acidity.  Long finish.  Served with fried pickles stuffed with pub cheese and chiplote mayo (a very difficult match) this handled it in stride and was aweso

1996 Martin Müllen Kröver Letterlay Riesling Spätlese halbtrocken, Germany, Mosel, - Wine Review

Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-

I opened this to show a friend how well that Rieslings can age.  A mostly dry Riesling from 1996 and it was beautiful.  Golden in color, slightly deep.  The nose is clean with just a bare whiff of petrol.  There was grapefruit peel, slight lemon notes and "wet rocks".  On the palate, it was rich and tasted dry but perhaps a bit of residual sugar left.  Nice round texture but enough acidity to easily cut through it.  Long finish.  It begs for food and rewards the food nicely.  

2003 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel

Score: 
93
Grade: 
A

This was purchased at the winery.  Pop and pour.  Served at about 62F.  Golden, slightly deep, in color.  The nose is clean with pineapple and slight wet rocks.  No petrol.  On the palate, this is slightly sweet and given the style and vintage, not nearly as sweet as expected.  That's a good thing.  On the other hand, a bit more acidity would have improved the wine to the next level.  That said, plenty of apples, a bit of pineapple and nice minerality.  Good texture.  No real sign of age and it should easily go another 20 and probably more.  Went great with an assortment of cheeses.  

20 German Whites to Try Before you Quit Drinking

Unless you’re a super wine geek, German Riesling may not, at first, sound all that appealing. German wine has earned a bad rap in the past, most notably from the production of sweet and cheap Liebfraumilch—remember Blue Nun? The wine was produced on a huge scale (175 million bottles sold in 1984 alone), but its success destroyed Germany’s fine wine reputation. And Germany certainly was well known for fine wine: in the 19th century, German “Hock” sold for higher prices than first growth Bordeaux. But wine experts the world over agree that German Riesling is among the best wine in the world. In the Mosel, the Rheingau and other spots in Germany, Riesling reaches its greatest expression (think Pinot Noir in Burgundy). These wines are complex and packed with so many aromas and flavors you can’t even begin to name them all. They are handmade, with handpicked and hand-sorted grapes and minimalist winemaking intervention—pick the grapes, ferment them and put the wine in a bottle. This also means that German Rieslings express their terroir like few wines in the world are able to do. The same producer can make several Rieslings that are drastically different in style from one another, simply by using grapes from different vineyards. Riesling can also be made in a range of styles depending on the sugar levels of the grapes, from dry to very, very sweet.
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Crisp and Refreshing Summer White Wines by Broadbent, Dr. Loosen, and Spy Valley

Wines to Go Buy This Week: Crisp and Refreshing Summer White Wines by Broadbent, Dr. Loosen, and Spy Valley The dog days of August are upon us and we have but a few weeks remaining before hot summer nights give way to crisp autumn leaves. This summer has been brutally hot for most of the US -though not too bad here in San Francisco, though September tends to be our hot month, if "hot" and "San Francisco" can actually be used in the same sentence- and I've had the great pleasure of discovering some fantastic white wines that are both tasty and refreshing for those hot nights. So before summer ends, here are three white wines to go buy this week : Broadbent Vinho Verde - Vinho Verde is a staple of Portuguese culture. Translated it means "Green Wine" which refers to its youthful freshness. It's a low-alcohol, light, crisp, and slightly effervescent wine that is about as close to perfection as a summer wine can be. Broadbent makes a fantastic Vinho Verde and at about $9 a bottle, it's worth buying a case to serve at your Labor Day picnic. Your guests will love it. About $9. Buy Broadbent Vinho Verde
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Best German Rieslings (For the Money)

German Rieslings are, to put it bluntly, misunderstood wines. German winemakers will tell you that Riesling is their country's flagship wine and that the Riesling grape works perfectly with the cooler climates and slaty soils of German river valleys. If, however, you ask a group of non-German wine drinkers to tell you about Riesling, several of them will probably use phrases like "too sweet" and "doesn't pair well" in their descriptions. In my opinion, they are missing out on one of the world's great wines.
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Rhinehessen: The Mineral Soils of Germany's Wine Country

The Rhinehessen region in Germany’s wine country is a study of contrasts. The vast area is planted to just over 28,000 hecters of wine, dominated not by Riesling, but by Muller Thurgau. Ultimately though, this is Germany, and in Germany Riesling is still king. Groebe, Wittman and Straub wineries all share a common bond in this wine region. The minerality of the soil is a constant expression of the wines produced here and the Rhinehessen wines are clean, minimal wines. They also share a family winemaking history that extends hundreds of years.
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Germany’s Nahe Region: Wine Innovation and Tradition

The Nahe region is one of Germany’s smallest winegrowing regions comprising just under 11,000 acres of plantings. Fully 75 percent of the vines planted are to white varietals specifically Riesling and Muller-Thurgau. The remaining 25 percent of vines are dominated by the red blending grape, dornfelder. The area is home to many steep vineyard sites and the Nahe River languidly strolls by, bending just before the minuscule village of Oberhausen.
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