I would like to take care of all the “thank
yous” first. Thanks to Barry and Joan
for hosting. Thanks to Barry for
donating many of the older wines. Thanks
to Joan for all the wonderful food and thanks to Angela Carlsson for donating
the Von Hovel.
The Members’ Only Tasting was a rousing
success. It was our largest turnout of
the last several years and the wine and food were excellent. We had a fantastic array of wines from dry to
sweet that included wines as old as 1971 and as young as 2011. I was quite busy pouring wine all evening so
my notes are sparse, but here are my impressions of the wines that caught the
attention of my palate.
2011 Eva Fricke Seligmacher Trocken
2010 Keller Westhofener Kirchspiel Grosses Gewächs
Trocken
2010 Leitz Rüdeshemier Berg Schlossberg
“Ehrenfels” Trocken
We began the tasting with three dry wines. Based upon past experience, I figured the
Leitz would be a touch sweeter than the other two so I placed it third among
the trockens. I then took a shot in the
dark and started with the Eva Fricke followed by the Keller. In retrospect, I think this was a
mistake. The palate on the Fricke was so
powerful that the more subtle Keller seemed weak in comparison. The Fricke was definitely the most popular
trocken of the evening. I found it to be
flavorful and tight with a salty, lemony flavor. The Keller was simply amazing – the palate
was very smooth and integrated with flavors of zest, gooseberry, bitter marmalade
and apple. It had a long finish and was
one of my favorite wines of the evening.
My only notation on the Leitz was “delicious.”
1999 Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen Kabinet
I was quite surprised by this wine although I
must admit that for Dr. Loosen, I set the bar quite low. I’m not a huge fan of Loosen. I fully expected this wine to be completely
ruined but I was wrong – it wasn’t fantastic but it did have a pleasant, sweet,
lemony flavor.
1971 Schönborn
Rüdesheimer Bischofsberg Auslese
This was another of my favorite wines of the
evening. I’ve probably tasted around a
half a dozen 1971’s over the last few years and I’ve thought they were too far
over the hill. This Schönborn was definitely past its prime but
amazingly, still showed the faintest hint of primary flavors along with the
secondary flavors acquired from aging.
It showed a faded marmalade with wisps of citrus on the finish.
2005 Knebel Winninger Röttgen Auslese
2005 Rosch Trittenheimer Apotheke Beerenauslese
