Riesling and Tapas Part III

I did Riesling and Tapas once before by accident and it was an Albert Hoffman like accident. A revelation to my senses. Last night a friend from Germany who works for the Deutsches Weininstitut was in town and I wanted to show him that German Riesling goes great with traditional Spanish tapas. He was convinced after a wonderful evening. Went to good 'ol Tia Pol and it was cracklin' on a rainy Friday night. Loud with a good vibe. Got two seats at the bar and proceeded to order a barrage of food with our three Rieslings. Started with an El Maestro Sierra Fino which was lovely and crisp with good salt tones. This is a great house that I need to explore more as the two sherries I have had from them have been top notch.

The first wine was the 2005 A.J. Adam Hofberg Reserve and this wine was flat out bonkers. Having only tasted Adam in passing and never sat down with a bottle I learned after this I should more often. I will as Adam will grace my cellar very soon. This wine had a wonderful creamy texture along with juicy citrus and stone fruits that culminated in a wonderful juxtaposed finish. The nose was crisp pear and mineral along with spice that kept getting more prominent throughout the night. This really reminded me of Batard in texture and length. It was rich but also had a juiciness due to the wonderful acidity that was not crazy but perfect for this wine. The finish was long and winding with notes of flowers and spice. An amazing wine that really was one of the best Rieslings I have had all year. Adam is from the small town of Dhron in the Mosel. I have some of his 2007 Kabinett on order and am excited to taste it.

Next up was the 1993 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese** which also was a wonderful wine. Had that wonderful 1993 acidity along with a creamy texture and lots of slate. Very rich and opulent with great site specific flavors. Creamy and long - - -but not as long as wines from Wehlen as is the norm. The nose showed some petrol and an interesting note of custard. Molitor reminds me of Mugnier in Burgundy in that his style is that he has no style. Each wine is a perfect example of the specific site they come from. Wonderful stuff and did wonders with the seared tuna/anchovy dish.

The final wine was a new producer to me and it was solid if unexciting. The wine in question was the 1999 Becker-Steinhauer Muhlheimer Sonnenlay Auslese which was creamy, rich, slatey and had a nice juicy finish. The texture was nice but the acidity was low as it tends to be for the vintage. A nice drink to end the night but all in all a mediocre wine in the context of the two wines drunk perviously. And oh yes after two bottles of Riesling a third is a daunting proposition but we finished half of it and left the rest for the staff.

So Riesling again goes with Tapas. Maybe Tia Pol will start to pour one by the glass? Stranger things have happened.

Great German wine information site out of the UK

Thanks to the Hanes for pointing me in the direction of this website. Wow . . .Hanes gets 2 mentions in a week. He is a favorite here and a great guy. Would love to see him comment . . .even anonymously.

Fake Ponsot pulled from Acker Auction

Apparently at the Acker auction on April 25th many lots of rare Ponsot wines were pulled midway through the auction at the request of Laurent Ponsot himself. Now this is shocking and does bid well for the defenders of fake wine out there. Apparently some of the wines were from vintages that Ponsot had never even bottled! Read all about the intrigue here!

The money quote and there are many.

"My father, Jean-Marie, didn't begin to produce our Clos St-Denis until 1982. So how could the bottles say 1945, 1949, 1959, 1962, 1966 and 1971?"

Alice Feiring's article on the Parker/Edmunds debaucle

It is a great summation of the Parker attacks on Steve Edmunds and the subsequent follow up with the whole Robin Garr comparing his notes to Josh Raynolds thing.

Alice's article is well written and summarizes it brilliantly and is worth a read.

I haven't had a Schafer-Frohlich in a while . . . .

. . . .so I thought I would crack open the 2006 Schafer Frohlich Kabinett and it gave me my Schafer-Frohlich fix for this quarter. It is in the style of the 2006 Kabinett's in that it is strong and muscular and could probably be a Spatlese in any other vintage. Lovely nose of apricot, kiwi, mineral, sweet tart dust and a hint of apple. After a bit the wet slatey aromas start to come around. The palate is just an explosion of citrus, mineral and grippy acids. Big on the palate with a chewy texture this is not your grandmother's Kabinett but a lovely drink nonetheless. Crisp and clean with lovely crunchy acids and a rich texture this straddles the line between Kabinett and Spatlese but still has that trademark Schafer-Frohlich purity, precision and cut. A great producer. I shall hold my other bottle for five years to see how this develops.

Goodbye Twitter

As with Snapshots I have found Twitter to be an annoying bust. I have no motivation to write twitter updates anymore as it limits me to 140 words and I already have my own blog. What people write I find is boring and uninteresting and there is alot of spitter (spam-twitter?) So not really sure what to say except . . .tweet . . .tweet . . . .splat!

A lovely visit with Paul Pernot

On my recent trip to Burgundy I did some extensive barrel and bottle tasting and it was a serious exercise. The wines are difficult to evaluate and you have to be really on point to see if they are in balance and if "it's all there." Some have not started malo, others are in the middle or just beginning malo, while others have just finshed. At each of these stages the wines are very difficult to taste. With all that said I will be beginning to post notes on my Burgundian visits. The visit to Pernot was not my first visit but it was one of the most memorable as it had what I had always dreamed of in my head sitting in my apartment, an old-school Burgundian who does not say much. I am pretty sure during the whole visit he did not even know I was there. He did not speak to me but his wines sure did.


2007 Bourgogne Blanc - Nice grippy Chardonnay with exceptional concentration. Lovely purity and richness but with nice acids. Excellent quality for the appelation.

2007 Puligny-Montrachet - Nose of mineral, hickory and some apple. Elegant and concentrated palate with great purity and a mineral/lemon-tinged finish.

2007 Meursault 1er Cru La Pièce-sous-le-Bois - Rich minerally palate that is very crisp. Great acid and cut on the palate with lovely penetrative fruit flavors of apple and spice. Big explosive fruit on the finish.

2007 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Garenne- Nose of high-toned florals, hickory, minerals and earth dust. Very detailed and precise nose. Really outrageous depth and minerality. Ripe, juicy, clean and pure. A wow wine.

2007 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Folatieres" - Hugely mineral and floral nose that is also incredibly detailed. Very rich and dense palate but very approachable at this stage. Sappy finish with crisp acids and the intensity lingers. A great Puligny.

2007 Puligny-Montachet 1er Cru "Pucelles" - Floral and mineral nose leads to a painfully intense and concentrated palate. Long and spicey. Lovely sap that gets to every nook and cranny of the palate. Inner mouth energy is great. A six star wine in my humble book. ;)

2007 Bienvenues-Batard-Montrachet - Nose of mineral, iodine and earth. Had a nice earthy stank to it. Smelled like trees after a fresh rain. Palate is minerally, precise and very elegant. Lots of sap on the finish with lingering notes of mint, cinnamon and pear. This really wowed me too.

2007 Batard-Montrachet - Another lovely nose of mineral iodine and deep minerality. Really very layered nose. The palate is deep and minerally with lovely complexity already and a long slow-mounting finish.


After the tasting of the whites we moved into the cellar for reds that were still in barrel.

2007 Volnay Carelles- Precise nose of red fruits that were elegant with some spice. Palate had lovely purity that was very impressive. Seemed like it was ready to drink now. Tannins were a bit chalky though.

2007 Beaune Clos du Dessus des Marconnets- Very earthy and minerally wine. Tannic and ripe but at this stage it is to austere to really get a grip on it.

2007 Beaune 1er Cru Les Reversées - Nose of dusty cherries and spice. Very tannic and ripe. Austere. There is a stoniness on the finish.

2007 Pommard Noizons - This was the star of the red part of the tasting. Very dark, mineral and brooding nose. Pretty fruit that is exceptionally ripe on the palate. Dark berries and earth with a long, supple, killer finish. Classy stuff.


2006 Beaune 1er Cru Teurons - Berry compote, earth and mineral on the nose. Palate is crunchy, lovely and fruity. Chalky and ripe with a nice mineral tinged finish.

2006 Volnay Carelles - Very elegant with lovely fruit and richness. Chalky, ripe tannins. Really a wow wine. Nimble but stuffed Volnay.

A great visit with most wines performing on a high level. What a great consistent producer at relatively sane pricing.