A German Riesling

To start out why I was looking for a German Riesling goes back to my Grandpa.  There was a story told one time about when he was working in Germany [He was Polish] before WW2, he was working Restaurant don't know if it was a server or busser or what. Being the 30s in Germany the owner not always able to pay his staff, they decided that with his coworker they would drink Old Rieslings from the owners cellar [you know Riesling with 20years bottle age, making them what 1910s?] that would cover a days worth of work.

So that bring us to today my Grandpa is dying, and we wanted to have one last dinner as family before it was too late.  So on short notice 3 hours [Short notice because no one told me that today was the day of the dinner hah!], I ran down to Liberty Wine Merchants here in Vancouver at Granville island knowing they carry a good selection of Riesling and are known to have aged Riesling with 15years on them.  Unfortunately they did not have a Aged Riesling in stock so  with some talking to the people in the store I was steered to a  Auslese from the 2007 vintage from what the clerk said was a good vintage for showing Petrol notes, cuz I like sniffing petrol~

When I arrived at the house, grandpa was in bed and not doing so well, so we let him rest, and the rest of the family enjoyed the wine.  And it was not all bad news this day, as my brother and his wife announced that my grandma would be a great grandmother, and me a uncle! The Circle of life.  The wine itself was pretty good too.


The Stats:
Vereinigte Hospitien
Piesporter Goldtröpfchen
Auslese
2007
Riesling
8.0% Alc
Mosel Saar Ruwer


The Eye:
Med Minus Golden

The Nose:
A Hint of Petrol, A Dash of Flint, A a Delicious Helping of Passionfruit curd, Richness on the nose for sure

The Mouth:
High Acid, Med + Finish
A another hint of Petrol, Luscious Passion fruit, lemon curd, red apple, crushed Rocks


Overall/Reflection: A very tasty wine, Would love to see how this would age for sure, nice richness, the Acid Sugar Balance was Superb, did not taste "sweet" at all very nice

Score: 92

THE 100-POINT RATING SCALE (Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate describes this in more detail.)
• Extraordinary (96-100 points)
• Outstanding (90-95)
• Very Good to Excellent (85-89)
• Good (80-84)
• Average (75-79)
• Below average (70-74)
• Avoid (50-70)

WSET Lvl 2 Class [Sauv Blanc, Semillon, Riesling

I should of did this for my other wines at class for the other days  but hey Im on the ball now
Gotta love it when the instructor gets super excited about a wine [the german riesling] that we are about to taste, I think he bought it more for himself then for us haha

WSET CLASS, SAUVIGNON BLANC, SEMILLON, RIESLING - Downtown Vancouver [AI School] (2/1/2010)
From Our WSET level 2 Class, on Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Riesling

Sauvignon Blanc

• 2008 Henri Bourgeois Sancerre Les Baronnes - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre
  Appearance: Clear, Pale Plus, Lemon Tinge of Green
  
  Nose: Clean, Pronounced,
  Fruit, Gooseberry, Floral, A Confectioners Icing Sugar, Touch of Veg not really green tho
  A very pretty nose
  
  Taste: Dry, Grassy, Red apple, Gooseberry
  High High Acid, med body, Long finish
  
  Conclusion: I enjoyed this riper then a NZ style, not super complex on the palate, but well made (87 pts.)
• 2008 Shepherds Ridge Sauvignon Blanc - New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough
  Appearance: Clear, Pale, Lemon
  
  Nose: Clean, Pronounced
  Vegetal, Pepper, Herbs, Leafy, Mild Fruit, Tropical Red Apple, Confectionist Sugar
  
  Taste: Dry, Med + Acid, Med Body, Finish Med minus
  Ripe Fruit, tropical, Herbs
  
  Conclusion: Simple in its approach but it is that NZ style so it is true to its place (87 pts.)

Semillon

Semillon and Semillon Blends

• 2007 Château Saint-Jean-Des-Graves Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves
  Appearance: Clear, Medium, Med Lemon
  
  Nose: Clean, Med Plus Intensity
  Waxy, Melted Butter/Brown Sugar[light] Apple, Oak[light balanced] Opened up with lots of Lanolin nice and musky good way
  
  Taste: Dry, med Plus Acid, med body, finish med
  Good use of Oak nicly balanced, Apple, Raison, Yellow Grapefruit Pith[the bitterness] Creamy
  
  Conclusion: I really did enjoy this wine, as again not super complex could see this going really nice with a White Fish and Butter Sauce (86 pts.)
• 2006 Peter Lehmann Sémillon The Barossa - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  AppearanceL Clear, Pale Plus, Lemon
  
  Nose: Clean, Med Intensity
  hazelnut, lanolin, plastcine, waxy, light fruit
  
  Taste: Dry, med plus acid, med plus body, finish med
  Fruit Apple, Green Fruit, Waxy, Toasty BRioche
  
  Conclusion: As mentioned by some other people tasting with it did seem to have a...different sensation as if there were "tannins" some people thought maybe the Acidification was balanced properly as it high acid for a barossa which can't really be natural
  Not a bad wine, but the graves we tasted was much better tho it was blended with SB and Oak (85 pts.)

Riesling

One Off Dry and One Dry

• 2007 Weingut Max Ferd. Richter Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
  Appearance: Clear, Pale, Lemon tinge Green
  
  nose: Clean, Light Intensity
  Little Rubber, Very light Peach, apple lime
  
  Taste: Off Dry to Medium [7.5% alc] High Acid, Medium Minus Body, Finish LONG
  Green Fruit, Citrus, fantastic Balance, Purity exceptional
  
  Conclusion: Kickass Balance and Purity, Clean! but not in your face intensity very delicate (89 pts.)
• 2008 Wolf Blass Riesling Yellow Label - Australia, South Australia
  Appearance: Clear, Pale, Lemon
  
  Nose: Clean, Med + Intensity,
  Seven Up [Sugary Lemon/Lime] Rubber Cement
  
  Taste: Dry, High Acid, Med Minus Body Finish Medium Plus
  Citrus Grapefruit [mix of Yellow/Ruby] Touch of Rubber, Bitter Grapefruit Pith also
  
  Conclusion: has that dry riesling "bitterness" that personally doesn't suit me, also the wine isn't overly complex not like a german riesling can be (84 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker
THE 100-POINT RATING SCALE (Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate describes this in more detail.)
• Extraordinary (96-100 points)
• Outstanding (90-95)
• Very Good to Excellent (85-89)
• Good (80-84)
• Average (75-79)
• Below average (70-74)
• Avoid (50-70)

German Wine Tasting Event

Wines of Germany Tasting Event

Riesling Riesling Riesling

Ok So first thing first I came to this tasting not being a huge Riesling fan, don’t get me wrong I like the stuff heck I was at fuel restaurant in Vancouver had the 6 course tasting menu and had the sommelier / part owner (Who loves Riesling) pair the meal with 3 Riesling Awesome! Especially the 1993 (don’t know the name). But the sugar bothers me and even from the tasting it really coats your palette I could see drinking a glass but after that its way too much.

Lots of good balanced Auslese / Spätlese 2007/2008s Kabinett nice anything under Kabinett really not worth buying IMO.

Sylvaner grape compared to Riesling at the event seemed flat

Pinot Gris was round a buttery, almost flat like and I like Pinot Gris drink some nice ones here in British Columbia.

Gewurztraminer Oily compared t o Riesling and close to being matching but Riesling still wins

So here is a list of wines I liked anything I didn’t find above average I didn’t even write about, the problem was the room was super crowded and really hot, that I did not get a lot of flavour notes, just had no concentration though I did get a feel of good balance verse off balance.

___________________________________________________________

2007 Wurzburger Stein “Hagemann” Very Different Almost Green, apparently this is a “Grand Cru” vineyard in Germany. Not your typical Riesling

Weingut-Kruger-Rumpf, Nahe,

2007 Kabinett, Munstereer Kapellenberg

2007 Erben Auslese (Langguth wine and spirits)

Dr. Loosen all very good and you can see why they are a world brand leader

2007 Spätlese and Auslese were especially good “Urzigner Wurzgarten” Good Fruit, Good Acid, Good Balance

2007 Auslese Moselland Insignum bergkastel-kueser Kardinalsberg

Weingut Max Ferd Richter

2007 Spätlese, A Delicate Spätlese very good but catches you off guard compared to all the “heavier” Spätlese’ really nice though

Auslese not Delicate thumbs up

Weingut St. Urbans-Hof

2007 Auslese Piesporter Goldtropfchen. Nice fruit Sugar Acid Good Balance

Weinguter Graf Von Schonburn

2007 Spätlese/Jubilaum Hattenheim Pfaffenberg

2007 Spätlese Erbach Maroobrunn

Weingut Johannishof/Eser: 2007 Kabinett Johannisberger “V” Aroma of being at the Hair Salon, that cut hair plus burnt hair really interesting, I smelt this and kinda of giggled and the guy kinda of gave me this look thinking I was some sort of Drunk hah!