Tastingnotes by Jancis Robinson, MW
- 2004 vintage
Quick access:
| von Buhl | Mönchhof| Fürst
| 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)
publication date: 01 jul 05
Zilliken 2004 Butterfly Riesling 15 Drink 2006-08
This is Zilliken's attempt at a more mass market off-dry wine and very
successful it has been too. Tasted in jun 05 it still seemed a little
hard and bitter - probably best to head for the 2003 for a while.
Zilliken 2004 Riesling Kabinett Saarburger Rausch 17 Drink 2005-10
Very fine and sleek on the nose. Wonderfully delicate and mountainstream-like.
Just a delicate caress of a wine - and all the better for it!
Zilliken 2004 Riesling Spätlese Saarburger Rausch 17 Drink 206-12
Hazelnuts on the nose - quite sweet and rich.
Zilliken 2004 Riesling Auslese Saarburger Rausch 17 Drink 2007-15
Rather loose fruit quality with a strong aroma of blackcurrant leaves.
Very pure.
Zilliken 2004 Riesling Gold Kapsule Auslese Saarburger Rausch (Sep 05
auction) 18 Drink 2008-20
Opulent nose with great tension on the palate. Liquid honey and some green
fruit flavours. Should last very well.
von Hövel (Saar
valley)
Von Hövel 2004 Riesling Kabinett Scharzhofberg 17 Drink 2006-10
Water white. Floral - very summery. May blossom. Lots of lift and acidity.
Fresh as a spring shower. 8.5%. Just off dry. Talk about rinsing the palate...
Von Hövel 2004 Riesling Spätlese Scharzhofberg Riesling 17.5
Drink 2008-14
Pale, green leaves on the nose. Lots of personality. Lively, lucozade.
Bracing and punchy. Good balance - not too much sweetness. Very clean.
Von Hövel 2004 Riesling Auslese Scharzhofberg 18 Drink 2009-17
Extremely 'cool' nose. Light as a feather but with great intensity and
a strong mineral streak. Very positive with great, pure acidity. Integrity
and very refreshing.
Gunderloch (Rheinhessen region)
GUNDERLOCH, Rheinhessen
Gunderloch 2004 Red Stone Riesling QbA 14.5 Drink 2005-06
A bit loose and stinky. Quite soft.
Gunderloch 2004 Riesling Dry 2004 15 Drink 2005-07
Mousey nose - rather hard but deep-flavoured. Very broad.
£10
Gunderloch 2004 Jean Baptiste Riesling Kabinett 16.5 Drink 2005-09
Full and expressive. Quite broad though not yet open. Good direct
mouthful of fruit.
Gunderloch 2004 Riesling Kabinett Nierstein Pettenthal 17 Drink 2005-10
Perfumed, direct, not especially sweet. Very focussed. Full and delineated
with some grapefruit character.
Gunderloch 2004 Riesling Spätlese Nackenheim Rothenberg 17 Drink
2006-12
Rather strange nose. Zippy, rich, lively - positively pulsates with life
and race.
Fritz Haag (Mosel valley)
Fritz Haag 2004 Riesling 16 Drink 2006-10
Very cool, dry, taut and youthful but there is some creaminess of texture
here too.
Fritz Haag 2004 Riesling Kabinett Brauneberger Juffer 16.5 Drink 2006-12
Cool, tart and focused - very slim and well sculpted. Dense, fruity, layered,
very honest with some ripe pear flavours. Should give lots of pleasure,
and be ready very soon. Slightly astringent on the finish still.
Fritz Haag 2004 Riesling Spätlese Brauneberger Juffer 17 Drink 2006-15
Round fruit flavours yet extremely tense too - a tightrope walker of a
wine.
Fritz Haag 2004 Riesling Spätlese Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr
16.5 Drink 2006-15
Open nose. Extremely sleek with some nice molten honey flavours but, to
me, not desperately more winning than the wine above. Leafy nose and a
big mouthful of fruit with good definition. Tastes more like Kabinett
in terms of concentration. Slightly astringent on the finish.
Fritz Haag 2004 Riesling Auslese Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr 17.5 Drink
2007-17
Lime cordial flavours and very light, delicate texture. Featherlight.
Perfumed, not especially sweet. Honey and actually some austerity. Still
chewy. Embryonic.
Reinhold Haart (Mosel
valley)
Reinhold Haart 2004 Haart to Haart Riesling 16 Drink 2006-09
Tingly dry and very pure. Quite severe and rather hard at the moment.
Reinhold Haart 2004 Riesling Kabinett Piesporter 17 Drink 2006-12
Cool, fruity, pure and racy - really rather like an elderflower-flavoured
sports drink it's so energising.
Reinhold Haart 2004 Riesling Spätlese Piesporter 17.5 Drink 2006-15
Dense, tingly, zesty, spritzy grapefruit flavours and very direct fruit.
Bravo!
Reinhold Haart 2004 Riesling Spätlese Piesporter Domherr 18 Drink
2006-17
Very, very pure molten honey yet miraculously light and ethereal.
Reinhold Haart 2004 Riesling Spätlese Trocken Piesporter Kreuzwingert
16+ Drink 2006-10
This tasted a bit mousey and bitter with a very pinched finish - though
it was perhaps simply overwhelmed by the fruitier styles.
Reinhold Haart 2004 Riesling Spätlese Piesporter Ohligsberger 18.5
Drink 2006-20
Palest green. Big, pure, explosive. Very clear-cut lime juice and just
so incredibly clean and healthy. Bursting with life.
Reinhold Haart 2004 Riesling Auslese Piesporter Goldtropfchen 18 Drink
2010-20
Still subdued by sulfur but masses of ripe fruit compressed into this,
an essence that needs lots of time.
Karthäuserhof
(Ruwer valley)
Karthäuserhof 2004 Riesling Feinherb Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg
17 Drink 2005-07
Both fine and delicate with great raciness. This wine managed to stand
up well even when tasted straight after an Auslese. Feinherb is a decidedly
useful, if unofficial, off-dry category.
Karthäuserhof 2004 Riesling Spätlese feinherb Eitelsbacher
Karthäuserhofberg
17 Drink 2005-10
Cool, expressive, extremely fruity. Dense.
Karthäuserhof 2004 Riesling Kabinett Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg
15.5? Drink 2006-10
Intense, mineral-laden nose. No suggestion of sweetness on the nose. Off
dry on the palate and lots of spritz. Very light and lively (8.5%) with
just a suggestion of slightly tired sweetness on the finish. Not the purest.
Was this a bad bottle?
Karthäuserhof 2004 Riesling Auslese Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg
17 Drink 2008-15
Green and leafy nose. Very piercing and lively. Chewy. A real mouthful.
Good balance. Quite long and powerful. Powerful and confident. Sweet but
not tense. Another five Auslese were made apparently.
Karthäuserhof 2004 Riesling Auslese Nr 54 Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg
17.5 Drink 2008-18
Racy, dense, some honey flavours and satin texture. But this producer's
sweeter wines are not noticeably better than its drier ones in 2004.
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)
Von Buhl 2004 Riesling Kabinett Trocken 16 Drink 2004-07
Full and broad. Very racy.
Von Buhl 2004 Riesling Armand Kabinett 15.5 Drink 2005-07
Simple, floral, forward, easy, off-dry.
Von Buhl 2004 Riesling Spätlese Forster Jesuitengarten 16 Drink
2008-13
Light nose with overtones of honey. Quite sweet. Lively and well balanced
but no ingredient X to imbue excitement.
Robert Weil (Rheingau
region)
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling dry / Trocken 16+ Drink 2006-08
Chock full of fruit with very marked, pure fruity acidity. No hardship
but no hurry to drink either.
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling (dry) Kiedrich Gräfenberg Erstes Gewächs
18 Drink 2007-12
Opulent, spicy fruit. Quite big, at 13.5 per cent alcohol, and still very
tight indeed. Very marked acidity - a crystalline fruity essence. Feels
as though it is being etched on your tongue. Needs lots of time. Very
confidently hewn. Lots of lime juice sensation.
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Kabinett 16.5 Drink 2006-10
Clean and clear - much less tense than the wine above. Big, round fruit
with currant bush aromas. Ripe acidity insists only on the finish. Competent.
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Spätlese 17 Drink 2005-12
Very little nose at present. Tangy lime cordial sensation - attractive,
easy medium dry drink with 8 per cent alcohol. Much livelier than the
Kabinett. Still a little perceptible sulfur, so those particularly sensitive
to it should wait for a couple of years before trying this.
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Spätlese Kiedrich Gräfenberg 18 Drink
2008-15
Strongly mineral nose - very exciting. Then a rich fruity acidity on the
palate. Vibrant but still very youthful. This is a really bracing wine
that should repay bottle ageing very well. I tasted the 2003 vintage of
this wine alongside and found it so much looser and softer, with what
seemed like far more than one year's additional evolution. Though there
were good elderflower flavours in the 2003. The 2004s are very firm and
sculpted.
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Auslese Kiedrich Gräfenberg 18.5 Drink
2008-18
Some nutty flavours on the nose - which is very clean and direct, vibrant
even. Wonderfully clean, clear fruit. 8 per cent alcohol. Glucose fix!
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Gold Kapsule Auslese Kiedrich Gräfenberg
19 Drink 2008-25
More delicate than the Auslese above, a dancing, almost featherlight wine
with masses of both ripe peachy fruit and searing acidity. A marvel. Great
balance. Lovely stuff!
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Beerenauslese Kiedrich Gräfenberg 18.5
Drink 2010-20
Not much nose at the moment but a very impressive display of botrytised
Riesling - very clean - on the palate. Just needs a little more zip...
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Beerenauslese gold cap Kiedrich Gräfenberg
19.5 Drink 2010-30
A river of honey, minerals and linden blossom just flows across the palate
playing some sort of wonderful piano concerto as it goes. Wonderful texture.
Just waiting for the acidity to be tamed a little and for a little more
complexity to build up (in case you're wondering why I'm denying this
wine 20).
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Eiswein Kiedrich Gräfenberg 17.5 Drink
2007-12
The heaviness and unresolved nature of this wine is in marked contrast
to the two botrytised wines it was tasted inbetween. A bit plodding and
there's no apparent relationship between the high acid and high sugar
level. 7.5 per cent.
Robert Weil 2004 Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Kiedrich Gräfenberg
19.5+ Drink 2008-35
Quite marked gold and 7 per cent alcohol. Fascinating savoury notes on
top of the honeyed fruit flavours and botrytis. Great edge and so much
ripe fruit that it almost blitzes the (doubtless very high) acidity. No
complexity yet but I can't see why it won't develop. Wonderful edge of
bacon fat makes this fascinating already.
Schloss Lieser (Mosel valley)
Schloss Lieser 2004 Riesling 16 Drink 2005-06
Bright, fruity nose. A little sweet and power-puff like but good stuff.
Schloss Lieser 2004 Riesling Kabinett Brauneberger Juffer 17 Drink late
2005-2009
Water white. Very cool, refreshing nose with attractive hazelnut aromas.
Lots of fruit and life on the palate. Purity in a bottle. Very exciting
punch. Slightly chewy on the finish still.
Schloss Lieser 2004 Riesling Spätlese Lieser Niederberg Helden 17
Drink 2008-14
Slight cellar stink on the nose still. Lively, quite assured. A little
hard on the finish. Tingly, should develop well. Quite delicate - leafy.
Schloss Lieser 2004 Riesling Auslese Lieser Niederberg Helden 16.5? Drink
2010-17
Very pale. Masses of sulphur. Difficult to read at the moment - quite
a bit of stink. Full, slightly metallic on the palate. Dances. A real,
chewy
mouthful. Delicate - needs time. Limes. Quite a hard finish.
Schloss Lieser 2004 Riesling Auslese ** Lieser Niederberg Helden 17.5
Drink 2010-20
Slightly stinky nose but very fragile, vibrant, delicate wine. Real lift.
Soime chewy character. Needs time. Lots of natural, quite racy fruit.
J. Wegeler (Mosel
valley)
Wegeler 2004 Estate Riesling 16.5 Drink 2005-07
Tingling, quite off dry, racy. Good wine but without quite the depth of
the St Urbans-hof version.
Wegeler 2004 Riesling Kabinett Wehlener Sonnenuhr 16.5 Drink 2006-12
Light, fine, delicate and slightly evanescent.
Wegeler 2004 Riesling Spätlese Bernkasteler Doctor 17 Drink 2007-15
Rather stinky at present. Very sleek, cool fruit, refined.
Fürst (Franken
region)
Fürst 2004 Riesling Kabinett trocken Centgrafenberg 16 Drink 2005-08
Dense, very very dry and pure. I can quite see why this producer is so
celebrated in Germany but it's a bit austere for non Germans.
Fürst 2004 Riesling Spätlese trocken Centgrafenberg 17 Drink
2006-10
Dense and punchy. Great restaurant wine - at a price.
Dr. F. Weins-Prüm (Mosel
valley)
Dr. F Weins-Prüm 2004 Riesling Spätlese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 16 Drink
2007-10
Almond aromas and rather loose, slack fruit.
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