2003
It has been a while, way too long, actually, since I reported on a wine made by the lovely people from the Haart winery. The winery is based in the village of Piesport, a name that is infamous in the UK for cheap wine, but famous among wine lovers for the Goldtröpfchen (little drop of gold) vineyard, one of the best at the Mosel. The Haart family has been making wine since the 14th century and the sweet Rieslings of Theo Haart, who runs the family estate with his wife and son, have an excellent reputation. For me they are also the embodiment of what I love about the Mosel style of winemaking.
So we were drinking this German Syrah one night and - Wait, a German Syrah, you say? Yes, that is true - a Syrah from Germany, and a bloody marvellous one too.
This Knipser demonstrates nicely how a nice, juicy Riesling can taste when it trades some freshness for a little saturation. Mineral, peaches, lemon and herbs with a little acid and signs of age - a juicy, full bodied peach melting on your tongue with a little creamy mineral. Different in character from the Riesling I usually have and hence very welcome, especially as you feel this wine has substance without being oaked to death.
Pale, clear yellow colour; in the nose at first a little reserved, mineral with citrus fruit, but the wine opened up after a little while, adding green fruit (apple) and a hint of pineapple. [read the full post...]
Cherry red, with an orange-brown rim.
Phantastic smell, finest red berries, sour cherries, dry autumn leaves, a nice sour touch.
A bit morbid and smoky in the mouth, like eating berries by a wood fire, enormous minerality.
A melancholy, touching wine with secrets, like a trail into the woods ("down from the door where it began..."). Loved every drop of it.
Seriously, I have never had a Huxelrebe before - and before you ask, it is not a disease, but a grape varietal! It is almost exclusively grown in Germany and needs lots of attention, but can also produce high quality wines, especially of the sweeter type. And sweet it is, baby!
The colour is an intense gold-yellow which makes it shiny with a little bit of milkiness too. It is very creamy in the glass. The fragrance is intense, honey sugary with a bit of green apple. In the mouth it is sweet, very sweet baby, intense honey with a sweetness that is almost spicy and burns a little on the gum. There is some passion fruit (or fruit gum with passion fruit flavour maybe). The finish is intense too; honey and the slight burning sensation stay with you for quite a while. [read the full post...]
After a long and painful day of shopping for plumbing equipment and furniture I stopped by at Philglas & Swiggot to buy some new wine glasses and discovered this gem in the "reduced" section. Later at home I was pleasantly surprised to see that WeinPlus rates it at 94+.
Very clear colour with a hint of green; the cork was not yet fully out of the bottle and I already had sophisticated fruit in the nose, mineral, maybe a hint of herb and peaches. In the mouth, lots of peaches, a hint of mineral (getting weaker with time), brilliant right out of the bottle. Very clear, "it tastes very clean" (Caroline), very elegant and filigree. Acid is perfect, the sweetness starts with a hint of honey but became more sugary with time.
Flawless. And the peaches!