Sitting on so many tasting notes already but that damn full-time work of mine as a teacher has taken its toll and prevented me from sharing impressions for some time, despite already dong two tours to Germany during the last three weeks (imagine coming home and looking at 100+ Math exams that need to be corrected and graded…). Thankfully I’m not teaching Science this year, otherwise I would have a similar pile of Chemistry tests to dig into - the national exams are due the coming week. I will be able dodge those but I’ll have my fair share of scyscraper piles of exams when they hit the students in May.
Nevertheless, having challenged a major wine publication to actually do a better job on covering the German landscape for a full year, through a one-man solo project, I have already put boots on the ground and actually visted winemakers in person and asked to taste whatever they would be willing to show at this early stage. In addition, I will return to all of these estates later in spring for a second round of impressions, so you can expect a more thorough report in May. For now, I have managed to visit Dönnhoff, and Schäfer-Fröhlich in Nahe, Leipolds in Franconia, Keller in Rheinhessen and Zilliken, Julian Haart, Fritz Haag, Schloss Lieser and Willi Schaefer in Mosel. On my next trip in April I’ll try to make appointments at Egon Müller, Weingut Haart, Knebel, Stein, Schlossgut Diel, Joh. Bapt Schäfer, Eva Fricke, and Dr Crucius. If you happen to have any requests about where you want me to visit and report back on the 2021 vintage, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do. I’ll put out some reports for everyone to download - there will be no exclusive 3 day previews for USD 2000 a month. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
From these initial first two trips, my impressions of the 2021 vintage have come out VERY favourable. Don’t get me wrong - it wasn’t a picture perfect vintage, quite the opposite. One could even call it a difficult vintage, with a late bud break, uneven flowering, lots of rain in the ground from early spring and cooler summer than the last three vintages and, to add to it, fog in the Mosel valley that further challanged the vintage and the possibility of reaching high oechsle. Thus, there will be very limited Auslese in the Mosel valley and to some degree even Spätlese. If anything else, what 2021 is, it’s a Kabinett year. But Come-to-Papa!, not just any Kabi Year because, in my humble opinion, the somewhat higher acidity and cooler summer created some quite astonishing magic in some parts of Germany. The playful interplay between ripe acidity and residual sugar, together with the minerality from either slate or limestone rock, have created some truly mindboggling wines. Again, in my humble opinion. Don’t take my word for it but go out there and explore for yourself - only then we can share notes and impressions. All in all, it was a freakish year, if looking at it from the younger generation’s side. Standing all alone, without much wisdom and experienes from an older generations by their side, I think many of the younger winemakers would be more puzzled as is actually the case. Winemakers like Cornelius, Tim, Dorothee, Julian, Felix, Peter, could probably say it’s an unusual vintage while Hanno and Helmut exclaimed - ahh, finally, a normal vintage! Meaning, the vintages they were used to i the early 90s. It will be so fun to have these in the bottle the coming years and compare the vintage with the previously warmer vintages. For me, with my limited experience (well, everything is relative, of course), I’d compare 2021 to 2004 or 2008 but with riper acidity. That’s actually quite an important statement, given how those vintages have evolved and taste today, but I need to elaborate on that another time.
The first question fired at me at every estate visited was - “What IS that, that you are driving??” Apparently the rental agency provided me with a Swedish-Chinese “something” called Lynk & Co. I wasn’t really sure what actually propelled it forward. Was it an electric car or did I need diesel or something else? It was Hanno Zilliken that finally solved the mystery after a carefull examination - it’s a hybrid of some sorts. After having cleared that first curiousity from every winemaker I visited, I was greeted at every place with a big, hearty “THANK YOU, Miran!”. Literallay at every place, except at Weingut Keller, where Klaus-Peter already had planned to open almost their entire range of wines. When I asked about why the many thanks, the answer was the same everywhere, that it was the first time for them too to actually sit down and taste the new vintage in a more ordery setting, compaing their own wines side by side. Sure enough, they have tasted the wines while working in the cellar but I was told that it wasn’t nearly the same thing to take a sip every now and then while working in a cold cellar environment, compared to what we were about to be doing now - tasting almost the complete lineup side by side. At some weinguts it was exactly just that, sitting down with the winemaker - at other, it was more exotic, like with Julian Haart, who was in the process of bottling but graciously ran around among the tanks to allow me sampling most of his wines and the same with Tim Fröhlich, who showed me different tanks for some wines, that will later be blended together. Oliver Haag (Fritz Haag winery) too, who ran down to the cellar and came up with one delicious wine after another. What an incredible treat to be able to sample wines like this while chatting with the winemakers and pick up the latest gossip about what’s going on at the winery. Visiting in person at every place - boots on the ground - is so much more rewarding and educational, in my opinion, than lazily just having samples sent across the world and collected by the pallets at some distant office. Here you get the vibe, the feeling and above all, the direct interaction with and information from the winemakers themselves.
Need to get back to the paper on didactics I’m supposed to write this weekend so just a short overview of initial impressions. Peter Leipolds in Franken (Franconia) was an delight to visit and in my opinion, it shows more and more where he got his training from. The wines are pure, delicate and oh…those four different Scheurebe he showed me! ![[dance2.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a6ccdc94a15acd80c66296c39ad7b68296214956.gif "dance2"){kind=small}
Zilliken was boring. Don’t get me wrong! Boring as in no surprises. Tasting with Hanno and charming Dorothee is always a treat and the wines behaved as suspected, with fine, filigree Saar delicacy. The Rausch and Bockstein Riesling Kabinetts were particularly vibrant at this estate. Wines from Schloss Lieser felt more backward, with Thomas and Lara deciding there’s no point in tasting the GGs at this early stage, and again, the different Riesling Kabinetts here (from Wehlen, Niederberg, Graach, Brauneberg and Piesport) were all delightful. Can’t wait to return later in spring to taste through the complete lineup, including the GGs. Thomas brother, Oliver, (Fritz Haag) showed wines that ooozed with class. So transparent, elegant and crystal-clear white, succulent peach throughout the lineup. Christoph and Andrea (Willi Schaefer) were a big, big disappointment. BAZINGA! (As Sheldon Cooper would shout out in the Big Bang Theory). In that they didn’t produce as many wines they normally do from a warmer vintage. It was a mixed bag here, with the Domprobst Riesling Spätlese AP 5, not as vibrant as I remember from previous vintages but with the auction Spätlese maybe the best Spätlese I have ever set my lips to from this estate. Will I come over a bottle - no, because the price will go through the roof and the VDP auction in Tier in September this year. Oh…and the Kabinetts? Make your own guesses… I asked to take a barrel with me in my rental car - Christoph refused. Stubborn people. The visit to Julian Haart was quite depressing. Oh, don’t get me wrong - Julian is a terrific guy but I wished he hadn’t showed me his entire production. It can be stocked in a room. A small room… I didn’t even need to step inside - it was enough standing just outside to take a quick glance and realise that the production is of almost academic interest. Don’t even know how to get hold of these rare wines with such low yields from this vintages. What was in the glass, however, made up for the previous depression. Rememeber where you heard it first, but the six Riesling Kabinetts he showed me…mark my words, some of the best white wines not only in Germany but in the world, will come out of this cellar. Again, in my very humble opinion, of course. Dönnhoff, well… Dönnhoff. What can I say? Helmut Dönnhoff at the table, a vast ocean of wine bottles and stories… Lots of stories. This is such a rare treat that words are simply not enough. I will show what I mean in a different setting. The wines - simply brilliant. Again, I wonder if there isn’t something particularly special going on when a cooler vintage and higher acidity interplays with residual sugar. So many brilliant wines here. I told Cornelius that some of the wines I tasted might have possibly been some of the most delicious I remember having tasted at this early stage. In front of Helmut, so I hope I’m invited back! Oh, Tim (Schäfer-Fröhlich), took me for a long walk around Stromberg. Again, so many stories… They must be shared with you! Thankfully, everything is recorded, so I’m looking forward to offer some insights one seldom gets the chance to hear. The wines were, again, simply brilliant. Nahe and 2021 seem to be a combination that has created it fair share of magic. The Felseneck… Oh Boy. Be it interpreted in the form of a Riesling Kabinett or a Riesling GG, wine after wine offered oscillating, crystalline energy. I was extremely impressed. Keller… Well, what am I supposed to say? What can I tell you that you already didn’t know? Well, for one thing, the highlight while tasting through the 2021 vintage (and the 2020 reds), was actually the interaction between father and son, Klaus-Peter and Felix. No more the shy-looking son, Felix is evolving and is now an important part of the Weingut Keller team. And get this, he’s not just following his father’s and grand-father’s footsteps but actually pushing forward with new ideas based on his own experiences after internships at various famous estates. I’m still having the same argument year after year with him, that his dry Gelber Muskateller from that row beside the wall in Abtserde should be a Kabinett but given the 10 years of struggle before I could convince his father that Scheurebe should be Kabinett style, or the almost 20 years of bickering with KP about PLEASE showing that the limestone rock in Rheinhessen can indeed produce a world-class Chardonnay, my expectations are rather low on Felix changing his mind any time soon. What I DO know is that Felix will show what passion and the greatest vineyard sites combined, can achieve with sparkling wines in Germany. Oh, and then there’s the straight Chardonnay he makes…first vintage from three year old vines. Oh Mein Gott. I suggested I get all the bottles but Felix replied I can have a SIP from one, that’s it. Greedy. See, at least HE is listening, more so than his father. The remaining wines, well, do you really need to say anything? I can’t tell you what you already know. The Silvaner is indeed up for a revolution, Robert Dentice - so many brilliant Silvaners this year, including the new wine from a “Clos”, then there’s the Scheu…I’d better not tell you because I want them all for myself, the Rieslings… COME TO PAPA!!! The Ober-Hubacker Riesling GG, a monopoly this year, it’s…well, one day they will admit what I’m suspecting right now - that they didn’t use any grapes at all when pressing - just stones. How else would you explain the liquid minerality? The two Niersteiner siblings, Hipping and Pettenthal, difficult to decide between them, the Morstein GG or G-Max Rieslings…oh dear, but hasn’t Abtserde Riesling GG surpasssed them by now? I could go on and on and on (and on and on and…) about the brilliance at this estate but that would not be giving you much new information so let me tell you this. This vintage, the 2021. The Riesling Kabinetts… Just wait and see. Because if magic ever needed a definition, it’s found it’s time and place. That’s all I can offer for now. I’d love to share some more impressions with you here and now, or some of the tons of photos but it’s - unfortunately - time to hit the books again! Because that paper needs to be finished by next week.
Thanks for listening.
So when they pushed the auction to November last autumn, they probably thought that they would be safe but lo and behold, the cool vintage and late ripening resulted once again in the auction taking place while some estates were still harvesting the last grapes. So we’ll see what happens this year, when they gather again in September - maybe with the winemakers in rubber boots, ready to hit the vineyards.
