Catching Up: Various Tn's on wines with no fruit, huge minerals and high acidity

Been drinking a nice mish-mosh of wines recently. Some highlights and some lowlights. The lowlight was the 2005 Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Passetougrains. I was introduced to this wine blind by a sommelier friend of mine with the 2002 vintage and was really blown away by it. It had amazing depth and structure without sacrificing its essential Gamay-ness. Pataille had me hooked. I have enjoyed bottles of their Marsannays and have also been intrigued I would say, rather than seduced by their 46 LB bottle of Marsannay l'Ancestrale which should retaile for something north of $60! Well I was anxiously awaiting this wine during a rolicking nite of drinking with some of the old Crush crew it dissapointed in a big way. Grapey, with little depth, some alchohol peeking out and not much in terms of acidity. It improved as it was open but never really got there. Maybe some bottle shock? I will defer my judgement till now until I have had another taste.

That was quickly forgotten when the bottle of 2005 Heger Ihringer Winklerberg Weissburgunder Spatlese Trocken. This is from Baden and I can proudly say that I visited Joachim Heger at his estate this summer. Despite having a crazy allergy attack during the tasting Joachim's wines shined in 2005 and he was very understanding of my condition. This was my first time tasting this since that sneeze-filled afternoon in Baden. What a massive wine. Lots of exotic red citrus fruits( tangelo, blood orange) on the nose and on the palate. Almost spirit-like on the finish upon opening but soon became more civilized. Soon this was big yet beautiful with loads of chewy citrus fruits, a high-toned florality and a wonderful herbaciosesness. Great concentration and creaminess. Great balance. This takes around two hours to really get going but once it does watch out Alto Adigian Pinot Bianco!

Next up was the 2005 Emrich-Schonleber Monziger Halenberg Spatlese. This was a sulfur bomb upon opening but soon cleared up and had a subtle yet complex nose of red fruits, flowers, dense minerality and stone fruits. Palate had great acidity, balance and purity but took a while (read 3hrs) to get there. Definetly a wine that is heading for the big sleep. Beautifully detailed and complex wine.