This Week's Tasting
Cool Climate Whites from Germany + Austria
June 1, 2022
Global warming so has been kind to German wine growing. Two or three decades ago, the grapes did not get ripe enough to make wine palatable without being sweetened in many vintages. Now they are.
 | Federal WineLine TONIGHT
Wednesday, June 1 4:30 - 6:30 German & an Austrian White |
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My pet theory is that grapes grown close to the climate limit of where they can ripen make the most expressive wines. Tonight's tasting will test that assumption.
We'll have five German wines, including one from an area that was always thought secondary, two traditionally sweet wines, and an excellent example of Austrian Gruner Veltliner.
Helmut Dolde is a small natural winegrower in the hitherto secondary area of Swabia. His best expression is the Sylvaner grape. The 2019 has just the right balance between minerality and fruit that makes this dry wine tantalizingly refreshing
AJ Adam is in on the Dhron, a tributary of the Mosel just south of Piesport. There, in a plot called im Pfarrgartern, a section of the grand cru Hofberg they make a barely off-dry exotically flavored Riesling with herbs, spices, and lime
Rheingau wines are more full-bodied. We have been fans of the Georg Breuer winery for years. Bottles of their Grand Cru Schlossberg cost three figures. Their value Sauvage Riesling is just as dry, if a bit lighter but with great breadth and fullness, and certainly more affordable.
Two more traditionally semisweet wines
Clemens Busch and his wite Rita farm their impossibly steep Marianberg naturally and organically. The 2018 Marianberg Kabinett is simply sumptuous, as rich as a Spatlese.
Ernie Loosen needs no introduction to many at Federal. Suffice to say, his Wehlener Sonnenuhr is his flagship wine.
2020 Dolde Silvaner Alte Reben Organic Very Good Plus $31, Case $26.99
2020 AJ Adam Drohn Im Pfarrgarten Riesling Feinherb; Aroma: Reduced, funky, with richness underneath, firm; Mouth: Juicy rich, definitely dry, fat, nicely juicy intensity; Very Good Plus $25.99, Case $22.99
2020 Georg Breuer Sauvage Riesling Aroma: vibrant notes of lime, slate, and a hint of peach; Mouth: intense & mouth-filling, forward and exciting, the lime with an added saline note, juicy, and long; Very Good - Excellent $26.99, Case $22.99
2020 Ott Am Berg Grüner Veltliner The wine opens with a clear, fresh, beautifully delicate, and spicy white stone fruit aroma. On the palate, this is a light and fresh, straight, seriously structured, and grippy Veltliner with 11.8% alcohol and fine lemon fruit bitters on the sustainable finish. Stephan Reinhardt $27.99, Case $23.99
2018 Clemens Busch Marienburg Kabinett Organic biodynamic pure, bright, and fresh yet heavily reductive on the nose that displays a kind of slate perfume with white fruit aromas. Lush and piquant on the palate, this is a hedonistic Riesling with elegance, piquancy, and stimulating salinity. A fabulous Riesling that tastes rather like a very digestible Spätlese, though. Good length, grip, and salinity" Stephan Reinhardt $26.99, Case $22.99
2019 Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese clear, ripe and honeyed fruit with crunchy slate aromas. Piquant and juicy on the palate, this is an intense, fruity, and classy Spätlese with concise acidity. Stephan Reinhardt $29.99, Case $25.99
A small quantity of these are in stock
Mix any 12 or more at their case prices
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Please pass this on to any friends who are wine enthusiasts!
- Len Rothenberg
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