If there was ever a wine made for elevenses it’s Riesling. I don’t mean any old Riesling, I mean German Riesling.
If I am talking to wine folk, I apologise for preaching to the converted. If not, and you are new to such a wine, sort yourselves out! This is not the wine of doubtful quality doled out to old ladies at parties, but one of the finest expressions of the grape in the vinous pantheon. It could, without being humbly stated, lay substantial claim to being the world’s greatest white wine.
A combination of incredibly pure, primary fruit aromas (floral, honeyed and racily steely in its youth – morphing to secondary aromas of petrol and plasticine as it ages) married with a richness and complexity extraordinary in a wine of such low alcohol – between 7 and 10% abv – this is a wine of exceptional longevity.
High in extract, it’s residual sugars balanced with naturally high levels of tartaric acid, the examples of the cooler climate Mosel, Saar and Ruwer are perfect wines. If you are slightly afeared of residual sugar then seek out the drier trocken styles.
Nice! How was the wine in the photo? Did you get to try it? Erdener Treppchen is easily among my top five vineyard sites along the Mosel….I miss it. We bought a 1991 Max Ferd Richter Kabinett last year at a store here in A2 that has a good selection of wines, but unfortunately, that bottle had its best years way behind it…
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It was cool, and cheaper than it ought to have been! I am forever a fan of such wines – if only the rest of the UK could catch up and catch on – then again, maybe not, best that we hang on to such well kept secrets.
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It’s what I am so torn about as well…I want others to fall in love with these wines, but one of the reasons why they are still rather affordable is that the general public refuses to take notice…is that a bad thing? Yes and no. As Goethe said: “Two hearts are pounding my chest.”
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