Blind Tasting of a Trocken (dry) German Riesling flight of wines

❓Do you prefer your Rieslings dry or sweet❓·

ℹ️ Each month a host prepares a flight or 2 of wines around a theme. I was excited to taste a Trocken flight vs a Spätlese flight. This flight had 5 wines, all but 1 from the 2016 vintage. Stack ranked, but not individually scored·

1️⃣ 2015 Selbach-Oster - Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese Trocken

📝 The only wine in the flight showing petrol on the nose likely due to extra year of age. Good notes of nectarine, orange blossom, and white peach. Acidity was lively but in harmony with medium+ body. Longest finish of the wines·

2️⃣ 2016 Dönnhoff - Felsenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs

📝 Nose needed air to come to life. Interesting combination of earthy, floral, and citrus. High acidity and medium+ body. Clearly feeling the weight in the GG. Finish was medium+ length. Group's favorite dry wine·

3️⃣ 2016 Schäfer-Fröhlich - Felsenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs ·

📝 Medium- nose. Grapefruit, pithy, and perfume. Laser like acidity. Medium body. Medium- length finish·

4️⃣ 2016 Weingut Keller - Riesling von der Fels

📝 This was the group's 2nd top wine. For me the nose was a bit muted and had an interesting savory note combined with grapefruit. Medium- finish. Needs time·

5️⃣ 2016 Müller-Catoir - Haardt Riesling Trocken

📝 Medium- nose. Lemon, lemon zest, white flowers, and ginger. Lightest body of the group. Shortest finish of the group ·

🔔 A fun tasting. I apologize as there were too many wines and not enough time to write full reviews. High level takeaway is that I clearly like weightier styles of Trocken Riesling. Based on my scoring of the Spätlese Trocken and GG wines. Keller and Müller-Catoir are fabulous producers, but just stood out as outliers in the group. In Blind, We Trust 😎·

 Blind Tasting of a Trocken (dry) German Riesling flight of

2015 Muller-Catoir - Haardt Scheurebe (88 pts)

- Pale Lemon color. Medium+ intensity on the nose. Initial aromas of matchstick, Flint, and kerosene. Followed by nectarine, papaya, gooseberry, and lime zest. The wine is dry, not to be fooled by the ripe sweet fruit flavors, medium acidity, medium- alcohol, and medium body. The palate starts with a tingle on the 👅. A lot more citrus and mineral on the palate. Grapefruit, lime zest, gooseberry, steely, and flint.  Ends with a medium length finish where the papaya and nectarine flavors linger. Overall this is quite airy and elegant. A lot of Scheurebe can be clunky, but this is quite refined. I am predisposed to think of most German white wines to have high acidity, however this wine is broad and generous without being flabby. A really good food wine. Love the nose!

 2015 Muller-Catoir - Haardt Scheurebe (88 pts) #winereview

2015 Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz - Pinot Blanc Dry Pfalz (87 pts)

ℹ️ Biodynamic producer located in the south of the Pfalz appellation of Germany. Where they have 22 hectares of vines planted and all farmed Bio-dynamically 👏. One of the movers and shakers in the VDP, owner and winemaker Hansjörd Rebholz has been president of the Pfalz VDP association since 1999. The estate's production of 10K cases are 99% dry wines. They also have an interesting and diverse mix of grape varietals planted with only 40% dedicated to Riesling. Pinot Blanc aka Weissburgunder makes up 15% of plantings·

👃 Medium intensity on the nose. Aromas of lime blossom, acacia, Meyer lemon, key lime, custard, and wet stone·

👅 The wine is dry. Medium+ acidity and a noticeable pin prick on the tongue as you first taste it. Medium alcohol. Medium- body. The palate is more mineral than the nose. Flavors of wet stone, steeliness, lime zest, lemon zest, and key lime. The finish is medium length and quite floral with lime blossom lingering on·

🔔 Really beautiful example of Pinot Blanc. I respect the effort put into this entry level wine and 🍇 varietal. For the retail price of $20 this really delivers a lot flavor and complexity especially when compared to mass market Pinot Grigios at the same price point. Kudos to Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz for having such a diverse line up and making them all have a unique voice

 2015 Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz - Pinot Blanc Dry Pfalz

Riesling Spätlese “Herxheimer Himmelreich”, 2011

12th generation of Petri winemakers are running this old winery located in the village of Herxheim am Berg in one of the 13 Anbaugebiete (wine growing regions) of Germany called Pfalz (the Palatine region), where they cultivate 21 hectares of vines. The business is dating back to 1655, when the Petris arrived from Tyrol working as barrel makers before starting the winemaking.

Ever since, the focus has been on environment-friendly cultivation with no chemicals in the vineyards and only harvest by hand to secure the health and natural development of their agricultural areas.

The wine undergo slow fermentation on steel to preserve the Riesling’s precious characteristics before maturation in big 80 years old wooden barrels of 3000 liters to gain some more complexity and balance the structure.

This wine’s aromas are what Riesling dreams are made of.

It brings notes of ripe pear and candied ginger followed by white fresh mushrooms, nice hints of old eraser or tennis balls and melted plastic, acacia honey and lemon peel and some nice petrol starting to show muscles without taking over yet.

The palate is oily, off-dry and fresh offering lovely notes of peach, dried apricot, lemon peel and mild honey. The balance between the sweetness and the acidity is just lovely.

I’ve been working with these wines for some years having tried most of their portfolio from different vintages. They all show fine quality, but this exact one (with this age) is the best experience I’ve had from Petri. For the price, their wines are really nice, btw.

If you’re ever searching for these wines, the labels have changed quite a lot, but the (aged) content doesn’t disappoint.

 ⭐️87/100⭐️ Weingut Petri Riesling Spätlese “Herxheimer

Almost dead, unfortunately. Extremely earthy, but it might do alright with a risotto or pasta with mushrooms.

Wow..! This is incredible. Open it half an hour before serving, and serve it chilled - not cold. Caramel, browned butter, prune, leather and cinnamon.

Grand old Grauburgunder in an Auslese version.

A funky fella... Exotic fruit (mango, banana, litchi and pineapple) combined with a serious touch of oak.

 Henninger - Pfalz / Rheinpfalz, Germany🇩🇪 Tasted: Summer

Stefan Bietighöfer. A man in his prime - a hot shot in Germany, and soon to be seen everywhere. A biodynamic winemaker from the southern part of Pfalz, Billigheim-Ingenheim to be precise. Stefan is a free spirit and not afraid of experimenting with his wines, which are often funky and edgy with a laissez-faire attitude to the common German winemaking.

Still, his wines are fantastic, exciting and different. No wonder, his name is on the lips of most German top sommeliers at the moment.

Rosé Reserve is made with French techniques matured in barriques to bring some creaminess and structure. The varieties are the classic Spätburgunder and the quite unusual Pinotage.  Aromas are opened from the beginning bringing fresh raspberry, grapefruit and mirabelle. Light spices, raw liquorice, light oak and “Haribo Mix” follow with a mineral finish.

The palate is light with a high but somehow creamy acidity.

Cranberry, raspberry and peach with green bitterness to bring some kind of match to the fruit.

Blind Tasting of a Trocken (dry) German Riesling flight of

2015 Muller-Catoir - Haardt Scheurebe (88 pts) #winereview

2015 Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz - Pinot Blanc Dry Pfalz

⭐️87/100⭐️ Weingut Petri Riesling Spätlese “Herxheimer

Henninger - Pfalz / Rheinpfalz, Germany🇩🇪 Tasted: Summer

⭐️84/100⭐️ Stefan Bietighöfer Rosé Reserve Trocken, 2018