a deeper well

Bernhard Huber, Spätburgunder Alte Reben, 2010

torsten — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 21:20:12 +0000

I haven't had much luck with my wine recently. For various reasons I haven't enjoyed much wine at home the past few years, so some bottles that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half years, some wines passed out of all knowledge. Or at least that's how Galadriel would have put it. Anyway, some wines spent probably a little too much time in London's tastiest wardrobe. The last few weeks I made it my mission to go through the aged wines in my possession and drink them. Sadly, I haven't had much success - until I opened this Pinot Noir from Baden that is.

Schnaitmann, Fellbacher Lämmler, Lemberger GG, 2009

torsten — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 12:34:21 +0000

Schnaitmann, Fellbacher Lämmler, Lemberger GG, 2009

Württemberg is not one of the wine regions the average wine drinker will know much about; most likely they will not even have heard about it. Now, I could tell you a that it is a rather interesting area - a red wine making region dominated by a plethora of growers associations and rivers - but the main reason I like to drink wines made by the local tribe of the Swabians is that I was born there. In fact, as a child I played not far from Rainer Schnaitmann's Lämmler vineyard.

So every now and then I need to go back, to check what my homies are up to.

torsten Tuesday, 31/03/2015

Domaine Huet, Vouvray Clos du Bourg, Sec 2011

torsten — Mon, 26 May 2014 08:44:28 +0000

Domaine Huet, Vouvray Clos du Bourg, Sec 2011

As this week will have a French wine theme - Wednesday I am invited to a French rosé and food event - I figured I should kick it off with a wine from one of my favourite French regions: the Loire. Admittedly, its more famous cousins Burgundy, Champagne or Bordeaux would usually be mentioned first, but I love both the freshness and the quirkiness of the Loire wine. In many ways it is the French region that suits my style most.

It is also the French wine region that got me hooked on Chenin Blanc, partly due to the exciting wines coming from Domaine Huet.

torsten Monday, 26/05/2014

Peter Jakob Kühn, Pur Pur, 2005

torsten — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 21:02:25 +0000

Peter Jakob Kühn, Pur Pur, 2005

Ever heard of Dunkelfelder? If not don't be alarmed - if I wasn't such a German wine nerd I probably had not heard of it either. It is a rare grape variety that doesn't have the best reputation, but it does have one of the coolest alternative names in wine classification: "Froelich V 4-4". Well, if you like to name your grapes after super weapons perhaps. Leaving unusual names aside, Dunkelfelder is one of the varieties that went into the 2005 vintage of "Pur Pur", and so eventually into my wine glass.

Is the Dunkelfelder wine a secret weapon or yet another of these German oddities we sometimes write about?

torsten Sunday, 13/04/2014

Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben, Erdener Treppchen, Riesling Auslese 1971

torsten — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 21:55:12 +0000

Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben, Erdener Treppchen, Riesling Auslese 1971

When the topic of really expensive wine comes up, my dad has a story to tell. Years ago, when he was working in a Michelin-decorated restaurant, one of the guests told him that he had made a good deal that day and now wanted to find out. To find out whether the most expensive wine on the menu was really worth it. So he asked my dad to bring that bottle and get his colleagues too so they all could taste the wine. A few minutes later a group of highly trained sommeliers and waiters clustered around the guest and sampled the wine - I think it was a Bordeaux - to conclude: nice, very nice in fact; but not nice enough that any of them would spend even remotely as much money on a bottle. Even so they were all happy, especially the guest as he now had found out what he always had wondered about.

Today I am embarking on a, somewhat, similar mission. Behold, and you will see the most expensive wine I have ever bought, a Riesling older than yours truly. And the question is: was it worth it?

torsten Monday, 31/03/2014

Prinz von Hessen, Riesling Dachsfilet, 2011

torsten — Sat, 08 Feb 2014 18:52:22 +0000

Prinz von Hessen, Riesling Dachsfilet, 2011

This skin-contact Riesling is reviewed in more detail in our article Two Princes. The short summary, lacking horribly in context, is below.

torsten Saturday, 08/02/2014

Domaine Laureau, Savennières, Cuvée des Genêts, 1999

torsten — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 00:01:28 +0000

Domaine Laureau, Savennières, Cuvée des Genêts, 1999

As a well-behaved historian I can tell you that traditions are fake. Or, if you want it in more professional language: invented. That doesn't mean to say that they can't be fun though, and so today it is time for me to indulge in a tradition we invented for the Wine Rambler a few years ago: the first wine to be reviewed in any year would not come from Germany - to remind us, as far as that is necessary, that there is so much more to the wine world than us krauts.

This year my choice is a little conservative at first glance - that fits the historian cliché nicely - as it is from France. However, not a Claret or Burgundy, no, it comes from the beloved Loire.

torsten Monday, 13/01/2014

Martin Müllen, Riesling Spätlese halbtrocken, 1995

torsten — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 07:39:52 +0000

Martin Müllen, Riesling Spätlese halbtrocken, 1995

People, it is said, become more interesting with age. In the same way as our faces start telling a little about the lives we have lived we too have more stories to tell, gain some wisdom - at least that's the theory - and become more distinct characters. The same is true for ageworthy wine, but with a pleasant difference: while people can become a little difficult over time, stuck in their ways and perhaps too edgy, a good wine becomes more harmonious and balanced. At some point the wine will decline rapidly and become an old grump, but that is a question of timing and also not what today's wine story is about.

Today I am revisiting Martin Müllen's exciting Mosel wines and in particular an aged specimen I recently got my hands on.

torsten Tuesday, 29/10/2013

Philipp Kuhn, Cuveé Luitmar, 2008

torsten — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 09:13:34 +0000

Philipp Kuhn, Cuveé Luitmar, 2008

So there you sit in Tuscany, enjoying the evening sun and sipping on your Sangiovese blend - oh, wait! It is not Tuscany but the German wine growing region of the Pfalz (Palatinate) and you are not drinking a Chianti but a German red. Sounds unlikely? Well, unlikely it may be but certainly not impossible: Pfalz winemaker Philipp Kuhn is well known for his red wines and one of them, the Cuveé Luitmar, is indeed made of Sangiovese.

Not just Sangiovese but also Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch (also known as Lemberger) - not exactly what you would expect from a German wine...

torsten Thursday, 26/09/2013

Dönnhoff, Kahlenberg Riesling trocken, 2011

torsten — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 08:46:27 +0000

We are back. Well, almost. While I have survived three weeks of scorching heat in North America (a hot and humid torture device otherwise known as summer holiday), my co-Rambler Julian is still out somewhere on a secret mission I am not at liberty to talk about. Even so our summer hiatus is over and it is time to catch up with interesting wines and events of the past few weeks.

And what better way to get back into the swing than a German Riesling!