A Grosses Gewachs/Grand Cru Style Riesling
- The Power of the Nahe but Expressed in a Unique Style
- Mineral, Citrus, White Cherry
Plus One of My Favorite Sauvignon Blancs You Can Buy
- All About Finesse and Terroir
- Incredibly Distinctive
It's time to rant about how unbelievably great Andi Schneider's wines are and how they awesome of
For the price of less than a typical village wine from a VDP member I can offer you Andi's best wine, the 2015 K.H. Schneider Riesling "Domberg" for as little as $29.99 a bottle and because I truly think this is a remarkable wine I am cutting my margins thin on case prices of $26.99! Insane! This is a crime it is so inexpensive - compare at $60+ for wines of equivalent quality. This is Grosses Gewachs/Grand Cru quality from a site that Andi is making famous. It is from very poor soils (60-80 cm, slate/quartzite) which makes the vines struggle and produce better, more complex tasting fruit. Small grapes are harvested and they come in very compact bunches which gives the wines great aromas and serious structure, density and backbone.
This is Andi's favorite wine of the vintage and one of his favorite wines he has ever made. He says it is very individual and special and I will not disagree. Nothing like it. Nose is all cut grass and smoke. There are hints of fresh fruit (candied citrus, lemon drop) but the singular Domberg character shows through strong. That minerality, even with air, comes through more and more. The palate is an exercise in precision and there is much more clear-cut Riesling fruit apparent than on the nose. It has the intense acidity and ridiculously ripe and generous citrus and white cherry fruit. There is also beautiful minerality that really is the star of this wine. Amazing persistence and grip. Extraordinary balance. Complexity and pitter patter tannins. Salty. The length is very impressive and the mineral persistence makes this wine just so special. It is so mineral you will not believe and the massive mineral concentration is off the charts. Unreal wine. This is not a fruit bomb Riesling but lithe, lacey, expressive and sparse. I think with age you can take this to a 2015 Nahe big boy blind tasting and this would blow some big boys away. I had the 2007 at the estate and it was beautiful.
Up next is the 2015 K.H Sauvignon Blanc Trocken for $19.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. I rarely offer sauvignon blanc because it mostly disappoints me but this is a ridiculously great wine and in a brilliant place now. Sauvignon Blanc is a big deal in Germany. It is typically the first wine to sell out at a winery and sometimes it can be more expensive than fantastic village Rieslings. Having said that all of it is not successful and definitely falls into the 95-5 rule of appreciating anything. 95% of it is not worth your time, while 5% is and that 5% can take a lifetime to appreciate and explore. For German Sauvignon Blanc it is more like 99%/1% for now. I've tasted Sauvignon Blanc across many regions in Germany and by far, for me, the most successful region is the Nahe. There is some promising stuff from Franken but the Nahe is the home of German Sauvignon Blanc.
Sauvignon Blanc can be a very polarizing grape so I can start by telling you what this wine is not to get that out of the way.
It is not offensive.
It is not cat piss, gooseberry or really that much if any fruit aromatically (yay!). Typical Sauvignon Blanc from CA, NZ has aromas that are like 4-dimensional obnoxiousness. If they could aromatize the Kardashian family it would be New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
It is not overly fruited.
It is not wooded.
It is not innocuous.
It is not low in acid.
Now to the good part. What is this wine and why is it so good? It is great because it lets the terroir shine through. The most successful German Sauvignon Blancs should have a breakdown of 85% terroir aromas and taste and 15% varietal aromas and taste. Too much Sauvignon Blanc that makes you remember with every sip that you are tasting Sauvignon Blanc is never a good thing. If the Germans put their mind to something they will master it. They made great sweet Riesling and now they are make great dry Riesling. The style here at Schneider is one that is dripping in terroir and in some cases you need a powerful atomic microscope to find the Sauvignon Blanc character. That is a very good thing. Andi's was by far the best I have tasted and it has the terroir of Bad Sobernheim in this wine like a rainbow in a prism. It is so there. So precise. The wine is all about minerality and terroir. It is present in the aromas, the taste, the structure. Everything. There are some hints of grassiness that let you know the Sauvignon Blanc is the grape. The purity is astonishing and there is freshness and persistence that linger and linger. So much finesse and mineral sap. The elegance and class is what impressed me the most. I honestly would rather drink this than any $25 dollar Sancerre and I have a soft spot for Sancerre. Terrific wine and maybe the best Sauvignon Blanc value in a style you did not know existed until you read this e-mail.
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