Christophe Tyrell's place was out first appointement on day three and Christophe has a beautiful estate that dates back to the days of those wine loving Cistercian Monks. Truly great views and an estate that not only has wine but roosters, horses and rams. That's alot to see for a city kid like me.
We first took a tour of Christophe's cellar and it was great to see all those old moldy, funky bottles of Karthauserhof. Then it was into his tasting room for one of the greatest tastings of the trip. I love acidity and there was no lack of it in these wines plus a true line of terroir that goes through all of his wines as he only works from one vineyard....and yes as in typical German fashion makes 20 wines from this said vineyard.
The wines are all designatated Eitselbacher Karthuserhofberg so I will just put the pradikat level, dryness deisgnate, or fuder/cask # when appropriate.
'05 Spatlese Trocken - Nose of wet hay, minerals and earth. Extremely earthy nose. Really smells like the vineyard. Minerally and ripe palate with great etched detail. Great length, purity and clarity.
'05 Auslese Trocken "S" - Steely and mineral nose that is quite tight a the moment. The palate is more open though with great inner mouth aromas and verve. Spicey, complex and long. There is also a honeyed, rich character due to the ripeness. But do not make the mistake that this is a sweet, normal Auslese. Great unique Saar wine. Built for the long long haul.
'03 Spatlese Feinherb - Nose of spicey peach, kumquat and minerals. Nice fleshy palate but lacking snap. Another '03 victim. Good material but almost no acid.
'05 Auslese Trocken - Steely, peachy spicey nose with great minerality. The palate conveys and uncanny sense of freshness mixed with steeliness. Great acidity and brilliant fruit on this. This is the Auslese Trocken that is for drinking now.
'05 Kabinett - I remember in May at the tatsing I thought this was the best Kabinett in the room. The nose was more closed this time but still gave off floral aromas and wet stone with hints of fleshy peach and apricot. Great acidity and length on tha palate with a velvety texture. Really stunning Kabinett and one of the great values of the vintage.
'05 Spatlese - Red-fruited nose with cherries and slab of minerals poking into the foreground. Incredibly complex palate with loads of fruit pulp. Inner mouth pine aromas while you swish add to the insane mineral complexity. Brilliant Spatlese. Up there with the Zilliken Saarburger Rausch.
'04 Spatlese - More nerve and acidity than the '05 but less thrilling fruit. Nose has more green elements like celeriac and sugar snap peas but by no means underripe. Lean and crisp but classic.
'03 Spatlese - Mineral extremely ripe nose but somehwat diluted palate. '03...ahhhh....'03 syndrome
'05 Auslese - Now here we go. Tropical. confectionary nose of great complexity backed up by steely minerals. Gloriously ripe and concentrated palate with great length and luscious fruit. Very long and finishes steely and minerally but not lacking fruit at all.
'05 Auslese # 18 - Just a sick wine here. The full package of the previus Auslese but that extra degree of concentration and ripeness. Incredible silky texture. Brilliant stuff.
'05 Auslese # 35 GK - Huge botrytis on the nose. Marcel says 50% botrytis on this with huge mineral and tangerine notes too. This is so ripe and dense but light on it's feet you almost cannot believe it. Thick and luscios with an extra element of almost umami. The delineation and near-perfect presentation of fruit, acid, mineral, botrytis interplay left me speechless. This was one of my can't miss wines of the vintage to steal one from Burghound. I used a three star system but around 15 wines got four stars and this was one of them. The ne plus ultra of Karthauserhof's '05's.
'99 Auslese # 23 - Petrolly botryized nose with a nice palate of bitter (but not offensive) fruit with nice density and concentration. Good wine but it's tough to follow the # 35
'94 Auslese # 40 - Great nose of petrol, honey, incredible ripeness and sweet wet moss. Sleek citrus flesh on the palate with pulpy tangerines and great length. This was a stunner. Christophe told me that many winemakers in the Mosel/Saar/Ruwer consider 1994 as good as or better than 2001. Food for thought when backbuying.
'90 Auslese # 13 - Great nose of lemon curd, petrol, custard, tapioca and spring water. The palate just slayed me. High acid and beautifully delineated fruit with swet citrussy, tangy fruit. Fantastic explosivness and length. One of the highlights of the tasting.
'89 Auslese # 57 - Intense nose of lemon curd and petrol with hints of green tea. Electric palate with a wonderful powdery texture and ripe fruit. Excellent but not in the same league as the '90
'05 Trockenberenauslese - Whoah! This was unreal. I mean how can I even think about Sauternes after all the killer BA and TBA I had this trip. A huge nose of floral, honeyed fruit and loads of botrytis. Also wonderful aromas of forest floor after a fresh rain. Palate is dense, evil and endless. But evil in a good, dirty way. I mean this wine did things to me. The breadth of minerality was incredible. Definety a teeth hurter. Gotta get me some of those porcelain veneers. The purest citrus fruit of the day. Transcendant TBA.
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