Germany

Rating

95

Release Price

$54

Drink Date

NA

Reviewed by

David Schildknecht

Issue Date

31st Oct 2009

Source

185, The Wine Advocate

I'm tempted to assert that with his second rendition of this parcel (half of which gave its first crop) - namely his 2007 Kreuzncher Krotenpfuhl Riesling Spatlese - Donnhoff has hit a towering home run, except that the metaphor seems wrong for a wine that is really quite delicate and subtle. But what complexity and sheer sensual allure this has! Peony, lily, tangerine, blood orange, mint, and quince in the nose lead to a richly-textured, palpably high-extract, yet buoyant and refreshing palate performance, with a sneaky appearance of honeyed botrytis. And talk about salinity, savor, and animality in wine: you'll know what they are when you taste this. A finish can afford to be understated if it never seems to end. Absent a track record, it's still hard to imagine this rewarding fewer than two decades in the cellar, although like Donnhoff's Kirschheck, one certainly wants to savor some of it young. While Donnhoff returned to his usual humility in characterizing the latest vintage - following an atypically unabashed outbreak of enthusiasm in describing his indeed amazing collection of 2006s - it is clear that the 2007s delight him in a similar way, as outstanding representations of their respective sites at Spatlese ripeness. (Note, incidentally, that the Pradikat has been removed from any dry wines here, in keeping with a new convention of the Nahe branch of the VDP growers- association.) -Within that range of ripeness,- he submits, -one best-recognizes the site. Here you have nothing exaggerated, but instead a normal harvest, meaning a documentation of the vineyards, each a different face on the landscape. They all went to the same school and had the same opportunities- he adds, gesturing to the long row of Spatlesen on the tasting table, and alluding to his own role as well as the vintage-s. -It was a bit intimidating this year at harvest,- he added, -because when the grapes are perfect, you can only make mistakes.- I had the rare fortune to taste this collection twice, and like so many 2007s (a comment that even more growers made about their 2008s) the wines were much more impressive in September than in Spring. A 2007 Hermannshohle Trockenbeerenauslese, by the way, is still trying to become wine after two years. 

Rating

97

Release Price

$275

Drink Date

NA

Reviewed by

David Schildknecht

Issue Date

27th Feb 2010

Source

187, The Wine Advocate

"It's a Kabinett and Spatlese vintage, and there don't have to be Auslesen, besides which the world has enough Auslesen right now from recent years in which what used to be special has become routine," says Donnhoff by way of introducing the 2008 Oberhauser Brucke Riesling Eiswein A.P. #21. "But we left just a few bunches hanging in the Brucke, he continues, because they were in such stable health. It got to be December and I though oh dear! I'd promised the family I would not spoil the holidays." Finally, on the 30th of December, conditions were perfect for Eiswein. Scents of radish, lemon zest, and apricot preserves along with an ominously smoky prickle in the nose usher in a palate of Eszencia-like viscosity, apricot nectar concentration, delicacy (at only 7% alcohol) and complete absence of superficial sweetness. This finishes with piercing intensity and dazzling complexity, adding black tea; sea salt; ginger; seedy, tart red raspberry; and honey to the apricot jam and lemon. it's like a razor-sharp saber slathered in oily, ambrosial jelly and suspended in mid air. Few if any Eiswein of the vintage approach this for intricacy, refinement, or classic Eiswein character. I expect whatever portion of its 300 liters that is not drunk sooner to astound for at least two and perhaps three decades. It was back to the roots this year, announced a beaming Helmut Donnhoff when I arrived to taste his 2008s. He harvested in the last week of October and first half of November during which time he characterized the weather as cool and stable. I can guarantee you, he added, that we didn't for a single day have muddy boots.

Rating

92

Release Price

$115

Drink Date

2012 - 2042

Reviewed by

David Schildknecht

Issue Date

26th Apr 2012

Source

200, The Wine Advocate

In keeping with this estate’s drive for a simpler portfolio of more decisively distinct bottlings, there is no “regular” Auslese counterpart to Loosen’s 2010 Erdener Pralat Riesling Auslese gold capsule. Candied lemon, orange liqueur and honeysuckle in the nose are reinforced on the buoyant palate by a creamy texture and high residual sugar, yet also mingled with fresh citrus and cooling green herbal essences. Pungency of citrus rind and brown spices as well as a hint of white raisin emerge in the luxuriantly yet vibrantly long finish to remind one of the botrytis presence, but this handsome offering is very much in keeping with the move that Loosen and Schug have made in recent years toward less gaudy and opulent expressions of Pralat and toward greater elegance and retention of fresh fruitedness. I would anticipate at least 30 years of delight. Cellarmaster Bernhard Schug offers an unadorned impression of the travails of 2010, in which he extensively double-salt de-acidified his musts. “This was especially necessary for the dry wines,” he points out, adding “I’m frankly surprised that those turned out as well as they did. The most stressful aspect of the harvest is that we waited for gradual diminution of acids and additional ripeness in flavor until we couldn’t wait any longer, and then it was a real rush to pick. It was an agitated, tension-filled autumn, and that is the way the wines turned out, too. We could have de-acidified another gram or so and ended up with an acid profile like that of 2009, but this would have been a mistake and have sacrificed the individuality of the vintage.” While Erni Loosen remains a staunch defender of residually sweet, delicate Mosel Kabinett as a category, his 2010s unfortunately underscore the challenges to achieving consistent success with this genre in an era when even in this, the rainiest growing season in nearly a quarter century, must weights galloped. It was with joy and relief that I began tasting the series of residually sweet Spatlesen from this collection, because what went before – with three exceptions – was frankly disappointing. Loosen has elected to henceforth accentuate the difference between Spatlese and Auslese by incorporating in the latter category, as Schug puts it, “more botrytis than we would have had in an Auslese three years ago.” (For the 2010s, that meant around one-third of the fruit.) The corollary of this – which has the desired result of simplifying the portfolio – is that with the exception of Pralat there is not, and will likely also not be in future, any gold capsule Auslese. Interestingly – though this can certainly be a matter of caprice and luck – only one of the wines in this year’s collection displayed any “Mosel stink” from fermentative residues or reductive reaction with the dose of sulfur applied at bottling, even though this phenomenon can often be a short-term annoyance with the odd Loosen bottling and was encountered quite often in other Mosel collections of the 2010 vintage. (If I could explain the phenomenon in question more adequately chemically, I would be only too glad to publish that explanation; but extended correspondence with scientific specialists has thus-far proved far from decisive.)