The Year of Jazz & Wine: 1959
Verticals & Retrospectives, featured, France, Germany, Spain
, Nov 2020
Two extraordinary 1959-themed dinners at the end of last year presented a mouthwatering opportunity to examine this legendary vintage. This article looks at those wines and some of the stories that lie behind them.
Rheinhessen 2018: Revelatory Rieslings
featured, Germany
, Nov 2020
For any oenophiles still unaware – or seeking proof – that Rheinhessen justifies a buzz of critical acclaim and consumer excitement currently unsurpassed worldwide by any Riesling growing region, a perusal of the wines turned out in 2018 should do the trick.
Generosity and Diversity - Mosel 2018: Graach to Grünhaus
germany: Mosel, featured
, Nov 2020
It’s the rare wine among Mosel Rieslings of 2018 – a generally forthcoming, even effusive bunch – that seems to demand cellaring, and then usually only because a surfeit of sweetness is among a given wine’s generous-to-a-fault characteristics. Continuing upstream, I offer my second of two reports on the 2018 vintage Mosel Rieslings, here including those from estates based along the Ruwer.
Generous to a Fault, Mosel 2018: Winningen to Wehlen
germany: Mosel, featured
, Aug 2020
Ripeness, personality, abundance: from every angle, the Mosel Rieslings of 2018 are characterized by generosity, though only the best preserve the cut, complexity and prodigious ageworthiness of this genre at its very finest.
Cellar Favorite: 1949 Weingut Dr. von Basserman-Jordan Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling TBA
germany: Mosel, cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites
, Jul 2020
This German Trockenbeerenauslese appeared at the end of a La Mission Haut-Brion dinner a few months ago, and to be honest, though it was love at first sip, at the time I did not truly appreciate its rarity.
Cellar Favorite: 2001 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese #9
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, Germany
, Jul 2020
I rue the fact that I have not or rather cannot keep up with German Riesling. Anyone who doesn’t like German Riesling either doesn’t like wine or is no longer alive.
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Saar Riesling 2018: Beating the Heat
Germany: Saar, featured
, Jul 2020
The precocious 2018 vintage with its hot, dry summer, held the potential for wines short on acidity and high in alcohol. Fortunately, adept growers worked successfully to avoid that outcome, and estate owners nearly everywhere saw a combination of generous ripeness with unexpectedly abundant yields. This report focuses on the Saar, whose hills and side valleys are known for being cooler and breezier, and for birthing Rieslings correspondingly more acid-retentive and buoyant.
Germany 2018: The Nahe – Leading by a Nose
featured, Germany
, Jun 2020
There is a lot to like from 2018 in Germany: both multiple attractive features and a lot of wines to exemplify them. And then there are the exceptions, including the vintage’s genuinely exciting Rieslings, of which, yet again, many are found on the Nahe.
Multifarious 2017 Mosels: Graach to Grünhaus
germany: Mosel, featured
, Apr 2020
Local weather conditions and harvest decisions go a long way toward explaining why quite a few Mosel growers struggled to achieve excellence in 2017 and a minority of those scored memorable successes. Continuing upstream, I offer my second of two reports on the 2017 vintage Mosel Rieslings, here including those from estates based along the Ruwer.
Multifarious 2017 Mosels, Part 1: Winningen to Wehlen
germany: Mosel, featured
, Jan 2020
Along the Mosel, local weather conditions, vine genetics and snap picking decisions counted in 2017 for almost as much as site, viticultural regimen or talent. Superb wines are numerous, but still the exceptions.