Tastingnotes by Jancis Robinson, MW
- 2003 vintage
Quick access:
| von Buhl | Mönchhof | Gunderloch
| Fritz Haag | Reinhold Haart
| Künstler | Schloss Lieser
| Karthäuserhof |
| Pfeffingen | J.J. Prüm
| Wegeler Mosel | Wegeler
Rheingau | Weins-Prüm | Robert
Weil |
|Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) |
Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz
- Zilliken) (Saar valley)
Zilliken 2003 Riesling Kabinett Saarburger Rausch
17 pts. Drink 2006-12
Tense, introvert nose. Cooler, tarter and drier than most. Very freshing.
All Zilliken¹s wines are particularly delicate.
Zilliken 2003 Riesling Spätlese Saarburger Rausch
17 pts. Drink 2007-14
Dumb nose. Definitely pronounced acidity. Steely, racy, fine, delicate.
Zilliken 2003 Riesling Auslese Saarburger Rausch
17 pts. Drink 2008-20
Very unusual glucose syrup (Lucozade) sort of nose. Floral rather than
botrytis on the nose. Relatively simple.
Zilliken 2003 Riesling Auslese Gold Kapsel Saarburger
Rausch 18? pts. Drink 2010-25
Nose masked by sulfur. Dumb. A mere baby. Difficult to judge.
Zilliken 2003 Rausch Riesling Saarburger Auslese
Long Goldkapsel 18.5 pts. Drink 2006-15
Fresh, iced, much more open than the wine above. Very easy to love with
the
scent of currant bushes. This contains 80 per cent Eiswein picked on 12
dec
03.
von Hövel (Saar valley)
von Hövel 2003 Riesling Kabinett Oberemmeler
Hütte 16.5 pts. Drink 2006-12
Light, delicate nose much more delicate than the range above. Tropical
fruit start to the palate. then quite chewy definite astringency
still. Just 8% alcohol.
von Hövel 2003 Riesling Spätlese Oberemmeler
Hütte 17 pts. Drink 2005-13
Lovely fresh mineral nose. Great crystalline strcture but relatively evolved
and low acid for this style of wine. Odd!
von Hövel Riesling Spätlese 2003 Scharzhofberger
17 pts. Drink 2006-16
Very mineral, fresh nose. Lively, white peach flavours. Some gas still
on the palate.
von Hövel 2003 Riesling Auslese Oberemmeler
Hütte 16.5 pts. Drink 2006-20
Dumb nose lots and lots of sugar (this was deliberate policy in
this vintage here where only one dry wine was made as they wanted to keep
alcohol levels low). Clean but not that interesting or intense.
Gunderloch (Rheinhessen region)
Gunderloch 2003 Riesling Dry 15.5
pts. Drink 2004-2006
Hint of golden syrup. Nutty nose. Fine, keen, angular (not chaptalised).
Big and bold with lots of grip on the finish. Better balance than the
2002 Nackenhaiem Rothenberg trocken served imediately before it. Fresh,
but
relatively simple.
Gunderloch 2003 Red Stone Riesling 15.5
pts. Drink 2005-2006
Creamy praline nose. Good, clean, lively and fresh. Easy. A little tough
on the finish.
Gunderloch 2003 Jean-Baptiste Riesling Kabinett
16 pts. Drink 2005-2007
Scented, perfumed, gentle nose and good fruity balance. Quite hard on
the finish, but bright.
Gunderloch 2003 Riesling Auslese *** 17
pts. Drink 2005-2008
Big, bold and spicy on the nose. Vibrant. Terroir. Smoky. Very explosive.
Great tingle and excitement. Edge of grapefruit again. Very long.
Gunderloch 2003 Riesling Kabinett Nackenheim Rothenberg
(CS), 16.5 pts. Drink 2005-2012
Very keen and silky and creamy on the nose. Lovely energy. Hawthorne blossom.
Slightly gassy. Easy. Lively. Pure.
Gunderloch 2003 Riesling Spätlese Nackenheim
Rothenberg (CS) 17 pts. Drink 2008-2015
Quite deep colour. Slightly reduced. Slightly yeasty aromas. Something
definitely smoked meaty. Very lively. Very, very fresh. Big, quite unctuous
edge of German sausage with acidity.
Gunderloch 2003 Riesling Auslese Nackenheim Rothenberg
(CS) 18 pts. Drink 2010-2022
Half of this was or Beerenauslese ripeness. Quite stinky on the nose and
still cloudy, but good and lively. Masses of acidity and real life. Smoked
sausage again, with great nervosity. Bravo! Real lift.
Gunderloch 2003 Riesling Beerenauslese Nackenheim
Rothenberg (CS), 19 pts. Drink 2010-2025
Still cloudy. Still fermenting. Lots of tarte tatin caramel flavour. Pale
gold. Should eventually be glorious.
Gunderloch 2003 Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Nackenheim
Rothenberg (CS) 20 pts. Drink 2012-2030
Very deep tawny. Obvious botrytis. Burnt notes. Baked apple and honey.
Honey. Unctuous. Fab. Tasted when still only about 5.5 per cent alcohol.
The Hasselbachs have to be able to cite 6 on the label.
Fritz Haag (Mosel valley)
Fritz Haag 2003 Riesling 16.5
pts. Drink 2005-08
Very pale, very pure, very concentrated and earthy with some admirable
minerality. Telltale liveliness. Cut and multi-faceted like a diamond.
Quite severe. Good value.
Fritz Haag 2003 Riesling Kabinett Brauneberger Juffer
17 pts. Drink 2006-12
Very pale again and slightly mousey on the nose but good fruity mid palate.
Admirable balance.
Fritz Haag 2003 Riesling Spätlese Brauneberger
Juffer-Sonnenuhr 18 pts. Drink 2005-18
Exciting tension plus lovely ripeness. Very successful combination! Should
have a long life.
Fritz Haag 2003 Riesling Auslese Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr
18? pts. Drink 2008-20
Low-key nose. Lime fruit syrup. Should eventually develop into something
exciting.
Fritz Haag 2003 Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Brauneberger
Juffer-Sonnenuhr 19 pts. Drink 2012-25
Great depth, tension and botrytis character a real treat for the
long term.
Reinhold Haart (Mosel
valley)
Reinhold Haart 2003 Haart to Heart Riesling
17 prs. Drink 2004-07
Pure nose and lots of lovely pure fruit on the palate. Very expressive
for such a relatively modest wine, but then it is presumably deliberately
made to be drunk quite young. What more could you want for early drinking?
Wine of the week - 15 June 2004
Haart to Heart, and other Mosel Riesling 2003 QbAs Very soon I will be
publishing my notes on the 2003 vintage in Germany which was as variable,
and in almost the same ways, as Bordeaux’s 2003s. Some wines from the
hardest-working estates are quite delicious however, and none more so
than the most successful Rieslings from the steepest banks of the rivers
Mosel and Saar. Haart to Heart is the ‘basic’ QbA Riesling from Theo Haart
of Weingut Reinhold Haart (www.haart.de),
arguably the brightest star of that sinned-against village Piesport -
although bear in mind that virtually all German Riesling picked in 2003
reached Spätlese ripeness or higher, so QbA is a stylistic rather than
technical term. This halbtrocken-style, all-Riesling wine from a steep
site was launched with the 2000 vintage but the newly released 2003 is
absolutely delicious. The nose is wonderfully pure and bright. The fruit
on the palate so clearly delineated it brings to mind my common analogy
with diamond-cutting. And above all the wine, for such a modest category,
is stunningly expressive of where it comes from. What more, I wrote in
my tasting notes, could you want for early drinking from this extraordinary
(and not always successful) vintage? All of the Haart 2003s I tasted had
an utterly admirable combination of opulence (the hallmark of the 2003s)
and tension (all too often absent). The wine is about 10.5 per cent alcohol
so could be drunk with or without food and its 18-25 g.l residual sugar
is not especially noticeable even in this relatively low-acid vintage.
Reinhold Haart 2003 Riesling Kabinett Piesporter
18 pts. Drink 2005-14
Pure, quite opulent, almost flashy nose rich! Yet manages tension
too.
This producer succeeds in combining the raciness of the Rielsing with
the
opulence of the vintage.
Reinhold Haart 2003 Riesling Spätlese Piesporter
18 pts. Drink 2007-20
Still quite restrained on the nose. Great citrus raciness and admirable
extract.
Reinhold Haart 2003 Riesling Spätlese Dhronhofberger
18.5 pts. Drink 2007-25
Nutty nose a definite logical progression from the wines above.
Lime syrup
with lots of acidity. Really exciting.
Reinhold Haart 2003 Riesling Auslese Piesporter Domherr
18 pts. Drink 2007-27
Pure but no more concentrated than the Dhronhofberger Spätlese above.
Tense
and vibrant though and a very fine wine.
Karthäuserhof
(Ruwer valley)
Karthäuserhof 2003 Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken
Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg 16.5 pts.
Drink 2005-07
Pure scented lavender lozenges nose, very ripe flavours that suggest on
the front palate that this is sweeter than halbtrocken. Good balance.
Extraordinarily open.
Karthäuserhof 2003 Riesling Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg
15 pts. Drink 2004-07
Dumb nose. On the palate quite opulent. Sweetness but not much tension.
Karthäuserhof 2003 Riesling Kabinett Eitelsbacher
Karthäuserhofberg 16 pts. Drink
2004-09
Floral nose. Quite nervy and racy with noticeable sulfur still. Broad
almost fat. Very low acid. 16 Drink 2004-09
Karthäuserhof 2003 Riesling Spätlese Eitelsbacher
Karthäuserhofberg 16.5 pts. Drink
2005-11
Some minerality on the nose (unlike the wines above) and much tenser and
more classic. Very forward relative to other vintages. Sprawling flab
almost.
Karthäuserhof 2003 Riesling Auslese Eitelsbacher
Karthäuserhofberg 16.5 pts. Drink
2008-15
Still very muted on the nose with definite sulfur and a certain nuttiness.
Clean, crystal-clear in structure,, but the acid seems remarkably low.
Franz Künstler (Rheingau
region) not yet rated
Mönchhof - Robert Eymael
(Mosel valley)
not yet rated
Pfeffingen (Pfalz
region)
not yet rated
Joh. Jos. Prüm
(Mosel valley) region)
not released until September 2003 - not yet rated
Reichsrat von Buhl (Pfalz
region)
not yet rated
Robert Weil (Rheingau
region)
not yet rated
Schloss Lieser (Mosel valley)
Schloss Lieser 2003 Riesling 16.5
pts. Drink 2005-09
Very pale with quite a bit of sulfur but no shortage of fruit - relatively
broad. Dryish with good balance. One of the best dry wines.
Schloss Lieser 2003 Riesling Kabinett 17
pts. Drink 2005-12
Nuts, minerals and even something faintly marine. Lovely broad fruit.
Schloss Lieser 2003 Riesling Spätlese Niederberg
Helden 17.5 pts. Drink 2005-15
Again, that marine quality plus some smokiness. Full and confident.
Schloss Lieser 2003 Riesling Auslese Niederberg Helden
18.5 pts. Drink 2007-20
Liquid honey - plus honeysuckle. Gentle, charming but also quite exciting.
Bravo!
Schloss Lieser 2003 Riesling Auslese *** Niederberg
Helden 18.5 pts. Drink 2006-26
Very tense and intense. Flattering, quite dramatic.
J. Wegeler (Mosel
valley)
not yet rated
J. Wegeler (Rheingau region)
not yet rated
Dr. F. Weins-Prüm (Mosel
valley)
Dr. F Weins-Prüm 2003 Riesling Spätlese
Graacher Domprobst 16.5 pts. Drink
2007-16
Full, smoky. Very, very sweet and loose - lacks tension.
© Copyright 2000-2004 | Jancis Robinson All rights reserved.
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