Members' Only Tasting

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

The two dessert wines were both excellent for their respective styles.  The overwhelming favorite of the evening was the Rosch but I had a slight preference for the Knebel.  The Knebel was like a laser beam of honeyed pineapple and was certainly richer than most Auslesen.  The Rosch was rich beyond belief with flavors of marmalade and stone fruit.