VIEW FROM THE CELLAR By John Gilman March-April 2010 Number Twenty-Six The 2009ers from Germany- Another Absolutely Stellar Vintage That Will Give the 2007ers A Run For Their Money. (pages 1-54) The 2009 Bordeaux Vintage- Futures Glory? (pages 55-129) A Second Helping of the Beautiful 2008 Red and White Burgundies. (Bonus Issue) Coming Attractions The Stony Hill Winery- Long-Lived and Compelling Napa Wines. Vertical Report on Domaine Dujac s Gevrey-Chambertin aux Combottes. Maison Louis Jadot Celebrates 150 Years of Passionate Performance. In Search of California s New and Old Schools of Terroir. Domaine des Comtes Lafon- A Vinous Journey Back to Classic Excellence. St. Émilion Renaissance at Château Corbin- Putting the Grand back in Grand Cru Classé. Domaine Georges Roumier s Superb Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras. Cru Beaujolais From the Absolutely Monumental 2009 Vintage. Edmonds St. John- Another Old School Holdout in California. Plus Château Beychevelle, Weingut Willi Schaefer, The New Vintage in the Loire Valley, Château Trotanoy, Marcarini s Brilliant Baroli, Domaine Henri Gouges, Champagne Henriot, Domaine François Cotat- Sancerre at its Finest, Francesco Rinaldi Baroli, Update on the Judgment of Paris, The 1997 Piemonte Vintage and The End of Cork-Tainted Wines? View From the Cellar is published bi-monthly by John Gilman, who is solely responsible for its content. Electronic subscriptions are available for $120 per year ($220 for two years), available at www.viewfromthecellar.com. Inquiries may also be emailed to jbgilman@ix.netcom.com. Copyright 2010 by John B. Gilman, all rights reserved. Content may be utilized by members of the wine trade and/or media as long as either View From the Cellar or John Gilman are fully credited.
The Superb 2009 German Vintage Ripe Charm, Great Terroir and Snappy Structures The great Domprobst vineyard looking down on Weingut Willi Schaefer in the town of Graach.. Germany has had another truly outstanding vintage in 2009, and there are a very large number of wines of this vintage which will rival the very best of the other recent top vintages of this absolutely magical decade of German wines: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007. It is a vintage that will offer a little something for lovers of every style of German wine, as it is perhaps one of the best vintages for dry rieslings in Germany in decades, and is also extremely strong up through each of the Prädikat levels of the noble sweet styles of wines. There is not the same heavy spread of botrytis in 09 that defined vintages such as 2005 and the middle Mosel in 2006, but there is plenty of botrytis still to be found in 2009, and best of all, it is essentially very clean botrytis that has produced some absolutely magical sweet wines. The 2009ers are for the most part characterized by absolutely scintillating balance, with nice, high acidities that are amazingly ripe and integrated into the bodies of the wines, giving them a haunting sense of succulent equilibrium. This is a characteristic that is found from the very dry wines, up through the slightly off dry, Feinherbe ranges to the wines at the Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese level. For many of the wines, the acids actually measure a bit higher than was the case in the snappy vintage of 2007, but their overall perception is of wines that are less forbiddingly buttoned up behind their acids and will probably be rather difficult not to
drink in their delicious youths. I also tasted plenty of utterly profound dessert wines from this vintage, with Eiswein fairly prevalent and plenty of Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen also having been produced. A little something for everyone! The season of 09 started out fairly normally in Germany, after a cold winter that included extended periods of frost and cold temperatures. February and March were rainy, which allowed water reserves to build up nicely for the coming season. Bud break came in mid-may, as temperatures spiked up at this time and got the season out of the blocks on time. Flowering occurred in the middle of June, but because of the scattered rain in the spring, it was a little uneven and would lead to a bit of ripeness variation on the backend of the vintage in the autumn. Fortunately, the end of the season weather was perfect to compensate for these different timetables for prime ripeness, allowing vignerons to pick each parcel at the optimum time. After the flowering, July was hot and muggy, and August also hot, but with the humidity dropping dramatically through the course of the month, allowing the grapes to ripen beautifully without the threat of rot or mildew. The water reserves built up in the soils during the rainy weather of the winter and spring allowed vines of all ages to continue to ripen steadily, with no younger vines (and their more modest and shallow root systems) shutting down from hydric stress. The first half of September remained warm, but the latter half of the month and October were cooler, though these six weeks remained dry and sunny. It was really in this stretch of the vintage that the 2009ers great quality was made, as vines continued to photosynthesize because of the sunny skies, but the cool temperatures kept the acidities at their fine, high levels all through this period. The result is one of those very rare grape growing seasons where sugars could climb in a leisurely fashion without the acids ever degrading, and the resulting wines are magically balanced from this fortuitous combination. Of the twelve top estates that I visited on my trip in mid-march, all of them began harvest in the middle of October under perfect conditions and continued on well into November. The result was another vintage with extremely long hang times by today s standards (as was also the case in the great vintage of 2007 in Germany), with many wines produced from grapes that hung out on the vines for between one hundred and ten and one hundred and twenty days. It is extended growing seasons such as this that produce the most complex wines, and this is certainly in evidence with the 2009ers. Grape sugars are excellent up and down the hierarchy of Prädikats, with beautiful balancing acidities and flawless balances. The botrytis that came in October was very clean, but not particularly widespread, so that winemakers who wished to make botrytis wines had to carefully collect the berries in several passes through their vines. What one sees more of at the Auslesen level in 2009 is beautifully pure wines with fairly moderate lifts of botrytis, which deliver uncanny purity of soil expression and dramatic aromatic and flavor complexity to go along with their classy glazes of noble rot. However, because of the meticulous collection of botrytis and the perfect end of season weather (which allowed producers to simply watch their grapes everyday and wait for the perfect moment to pick), there are also some pretty amazing botrytized 2009 Goldkapsel Auslesen and dessert wines that just sizzle across the palate and are amazing high wire acts.
In terms of Spätlesen, the news is every bit as good in 2009 as is the case with the stunning sweeter wines, as I tasted many simply stunning wines at this Prädikat level. The best 2009 Spätlesen, and there are really a very large number that can be ranked amongst the vintage s best, will have no difficulty over the coming twenty-five years giving the best 2007 Spätlesen a run for their money. Between the two vintages, there is little to give one year a leg up over the other in this ripeness category, as both vintages have produced Spätlesen that will be brilliant reference point wines far, far into the future. The 2009ers are a bit riper in their presentation of fruit tones than their counterparts from 2007, but with slightly higher acidities as well, so that they do not come across as any less filigreed or racy. And both vintages have produced wines of unbelievably beautiful expressions of terroir. 2009 is a vintage that seemingly allowed the winemaker to decide which style of Spätlese he or she would prefer to produce, for the wines ranges stylistically (and this is only at the twelve estates that I tasted at during this visit) from the beautifully traditional, delicate and ethereal style of Spätlese made by Klaus-Peter Keller from his new holdings in the Niersteiner Pettenthal, the kaleidoscopically crystalline examples from the Domprobst and Himmelreich produced by Christophe and Willi Schaefer, to the more powerful (but still quintessentially Spätlesen in spirit) styles crafted by Egon Müller or Johannes and Theo Haart in Piesport. The 2009 vintage is also extremely strong at the Kabinett level, and fans of these delicate and dancing rieslings will be delighted with the best examples. I tasted several absolutely classic Kabinetts in 2009, with great delicacy, intensity of flavor and dancing complexity on the both the nose and palate, foremost amongst these being the Herrenberg Kabinett from Maximin Grünhäuser. There are also plenty of top examples of what I would term the more modern style of Kabinett in 09, as many of these wines are made from grapes that are well up into Spätlese must weights, and several of these are drier in style like traditional Kabinetts, but with a tad more weight in the mid-palate. In fact, for the VDP estates, there are some dramatic new regulations that have been adopted this year (and which I will go into more detail about further on in this article) with an eye towards both simplifying the various categories of German wines and guaranteeing even higher levels of quality, and which will most likely produce greater numbers of these slightly more powerfully-styled Kabinetts in the future. While these regulations do not have to be adopted by VDP estates until the 2014 vintage, several estates, such as Weingut Geltz-Zilliken in Saarburg, have figured that the perfect growing season of 2009 has presented the optimal raw materials to make the switch to the new regulations and have adopted their winemaking and harvesting focus to adhere to the new VDP rules, and the results are very impressive indeed. While the vintage of 2009 is absolutely an embarrassment of riches with profound examples of classic, noble sweet wines, in the end, it may well be best remembered generations hence by the monumental quality of the dry rieslings this year. In short, I have never tasted a greater set of dry rieslings from Germany. My gut instinct suggests that the nexus of a great vintage in 2009 and a maturing understanding of how to best handle Germany s unique wine-growing conditions and optimize them in pursuit of dry rieslings by the country s best winemakers has produced a very deep, broad and stunning
array of dry wines. Like the noble sweet wines, the best examples of dry 2009ers offer up a purity of fruit expression, an utterly refined and elegant sense of balance, superb depth and simply breathtaking transparency and precision of soil expression. And this is true in regions that have been hotbeds of superb dry riesling winemaking such as the Rheinhessen and Nahe (I did not get to any estates in either the Rheinpfalz or Rheingau on this visit), but also in more surprising places such as the Saar and the middle Mosel. There are some simply great dry rieslings on the way from 2009! I should take a moment at the outset of this article to apologize for only covering the wines from twelve estates in this vintage report. I would have loved to have visited more estates on this trip, but I also had tasting trips to Burgundy and Bordeaux booked for my March circuit, and given the daunting length of time that I was scheduled to be on the road with a family waiting back in New York, I could just not envision adding more days to the itinerary. While my visits included a veritable who s who of the best producers in Germany, given its small number, it invariably left out a great many estates that are worthy of visiting and tasting sur place. I can only send out my sincere apologies both to subscribers who may not see notes on some of their favorite estates in the feature and to the very serious winemakers in various regions of Germany that I could not get to on this trip. Foremost amongst the latter category are the proprietors and winemakers at two of my absolute favorite estates in the middle Mosel, Weingut Schloss Lieser in Lieser and Weingut Fritz Haag in Brauneberg. Both domaines are making simply fantastic wines these days (with many reports circulating that the Schloss Lieser 2009ers are amongst the greatest wines produced in Germany this year- a rumor I cannot confirm or deny right now, but which I intend to verify as soon as I can sink my teeth into some of their wines from this vintage), and it is really a pity that I could not schedule appointments to taste at either estate this year. The problem is that my palate simply fatigues far faster each day tasting through young German wines than it does with any other type of wine, and consequently, I cannot schedule as many estates each day as I can in a region such as Burgundy for instance. I know that there are some tasters who can handle more appointments per day in Germany, and my hat is off to them, but it is simply not possible for me. So rather than try and fake accurate notes with a blown out palate, I simply had to keep my appointments to three or four per day- which is already a whole lot of tasting in a high acid vintage such as 2009! But at least this (slightly) more limited schedule allows me to give the proper attention to each vigneron s wines, and this seems to be the only appropriate approach to my mind, given the amount of work each passionate winemaker and vineyard worker extends over the entire season in these unbelievably steep vineyards to produce the magical wines that are to be found in this vintage. These people spend their entire year completely devoted to the ultimate quality of the grapes of the season (this is at least the case at Germany s finest estates), so that they can make the best possible wines that nature allows in any given year. To disrespect their yearly efforts by only asking to taste a limited range of their offerings, skipping lower level bottlings or certain varietals, seems to me to be the ultimate in effrontery. I would much rather cast my net less wide and try to approach my métier with some modicum of the seriousness which they display sliding around all year in these steep slate hillsides.
The Nies chen vineyard towering over the town of Kasel on the Ruwer. I had hoped this year to augment my visits to particular estates by another trip to Prowein in Düsseldorf, as was the case with the 2007ers, but the event was scheduled at the same time as the Les Grands Jours tastings in Burgundy this year. Prowein offers up an extremely impressive roster of Germany s top estates to taste each time it is held (albeit not in as fine a setting for tasting the wines as is the case at the domaines themselves), and the producers who attend do an incredible job of getting representative samples of their new vintage assembled and available to taste at the three day event. The organizers also do an admirable job of arranging for fine stemware and adequate space to taste and write one s notes, and I would have loved to have attended this yearespecially considering the stunning quality of the 2009ers that I did taste during my visits to the estates. Prior to my departure from New York, I deliberated for several weeks about which event to tackle (I could have caught the last couple of days of Les Grands Jours and still gone to Prowein, but this would have necessitated my missing the days when the wines from Chablis, Marsannay, Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey St. Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée and Nuits St. Georges are tasted), and in the end I had to opt for the Burgundy option. The reason was that I had several of my favorite domaines who I could not schedule during my trip from November of last year, and given the sheer beauty of the 2008 Burgundies and the likelihood that few others are going to give the wines the respect they deserve, what with the riper and more buxom 2009s already waiting in the wings, so I wanted to devote more than a couple of days to
my Burgundy stage of the trip and the only possibility which allowed this was to skip Prowein. The other disappointing aspect of only visiting twelve estates on this trip is that it may give the false impression that it is only the crème de la crème of Germany s wine estates that merit serious attention from consumers. Nothing could be further from the truth and I hope that I have not given this impression by only getting to twelve producers this time around. Winemaking in Germany has perhaps not been at such a high level in several generations as it is today, and each and every day more estates are joining the quality revolution that is quietly surging in Germany s top regions. Perhaps no one in Germany today better exemplifies this search for ever higher levels of quality amongst the newcomers than Klaus-Peter Keller in the Rheinhessen, whose success seems to have been taken note of by many other aspiring winemakers and their estates, and the future of high quality wine production in Germany has never looked brighter than it does today. The wine market itself is not yet quite as cognizant of this fact, but there are signs everywhere that the market may be on its way to catching up with what passionate lovers of German wine have known for years. And the most exciting aspect of this is the exploding interest within Germany itself for the growing number of superb dry rieslings being made these days. The vast majority of German wine lovers have shown some pretty remarkable disinterest with their own country s best wines for at least a generation nowthis is particularly true of the traditional off-dry and noble sweet wine styles- but this is emphatically changing and demand for the best 2009 dry rieslings is going to be unprecedented within the country. Keep this in mind if you are going to be searching for the dry 2009ers in other markets and make reservations accordingly early. Now for a bit about the changes in the regulations of VDP estates across Germany, which were adopted early in 2009 and which are scheduled to take effect no later than the 2014 vintage at member domaines. It is a far-reaching and important change in both labeling practices and in viticultural regulations that, in my opinion, will dramatically affect German wine far into the future. On the labeling front, one will now see more and more wines labeled by VDP member estates simply with the vineyard name from the very best sites in Germany, rather than with the name of the town and the vineyard, as had been previously practiced for decades. These best vineyard sites, which are classified as Erste Lage and designated with the following symbol on labels immediately after the name of the vineyard:. The wines that bear the Erste Lage designation can be either dry or noble sweet in style, with the dry wines all bearing the Grosses Gewächs designation or GG on the label, and the classic, off-dry wines from these sites simply listing the traditional Prädikat level after the name of the vineyard. The only real difference for these wines is the absence from now on of the name of the village on the labels for the Erste Lage bottlings. The vineyard sites themselves are not really too surprising, as these have long been considered the best sites in Germany and will be familiar to German wine lovers the world over- Himmelreich and Domprobst in Graach for instance are the Erste Lage vineyards in this village. But what is rather revolutionary is that now yields will be regulated in these vineyards for all VDP member estates who wish to use this new classification system, and they will be limited to fifty hectoliters per hectare- which is dramatically lower than what some of the most famous
estates currently practice in their famous vineyards. How this will shake out in the end will be very interesting to witness, as some of Germany s most famous vignerons have argued for years that higher yields are desirable to make great classic German Riesling, and their now current practices will be proscribed by the new VDP regulations. For these high yield advocates, they have until 2014 to decide on how to adapt their practices in the vineyards to the new, stricter yield regulations. Below the level of the Erste Lage wines, or Grand Crus, will be wines that are categorized as Ortsweine, which will essentially be the quality equivalent of village wines in Burgundy. In fact, the new VDP regulations are very Burgundian-centric in orientation, as the VDP has clearly embraced the concept of terroir with the new regulations and will be promoting terroir at every opportunity. This seems like a highly logical direction for the organization to take and I suspect that it will lead to an even greater visibility for top German wines in the international marketplace. The Ortsweine category will list the wines by the village name, such as Saarburger Kabinett from Weingut Geltz-Zilliken, with no mention of the name of the vineyard to appear on the label, and in fact, these wines can be blended from several of the best vineyards in the village. The maximum yields allowed for wines to be sold in the Ortsweine level is only sixty-five hectoliters per hectare, which is still dramatically below what many estates are practicing for their very best wines. The Ortsweine level can be either dry or off-dry, and terms like Trocken, Feinherb and Kabinett will appear at this level, depending on how the wine is finished off by the winemaker in terms of residual sweetness. At the level below this is the final category, called Gutsweine, which is roughly equivalent to the Bourgogne appellation in Burgundy and which will just have the name of the estate producing the wine on the label, along with perhaps Riesling Trocken or a proprietary name, such as Weingut Rheinhold Haart s Haart to Heart bottling. All of these changes should make reading German wine labels to wine lovers relatively new to the wines of the country much easier to decipher, and the limits on maximum yields is going to make a quality revolution in the realm of German wine. Egon Müller has long argued that excessive yields was one of the German wine world s biggest Achilles heels, and clearly we will soon find out if his observations are accurate, as yields are going to be coming down dramatically at some estates in the not too distant future. To date, the only estate that I know has adopted this new classification for their 2009ers is Weingut Geltz-Zilliken, as Hanno Zilliken and his daughter Dorothy Zilliken both observed that what better vintage could we have than 2009 to start to adopt our viticultural practices to the new regulations- so why wait until 2014? I should note that one of the other important tenets of the new VDP regulations is that minimum must weights for the Erste Lage category will be Spätlese- even for wines that are to be designated as Kabinettwhich may make it more difficult to find those delicate, filigreed Kabinetts of yesteryear. When I mentioned this to a German friend, he quickly pointed out that climate change has effectively already done away with most Kabinetts at old Kabinett levels of must weight anyway and the new regulations are simply formalizing what Mother Nature has already decreed.
Rheinhessen Weingut Keller (Dalsheim) It is always a pleasure to visit with Klaus-Peter Keller and his wife Julia at their winery in Dalsheim, as I have the sense that things change here faster than anywhere else in Germany these days- and always for the better! There is a new vineyard site in the Keller portfolio this year, and it is a very exciting new addition, as it comes from one of the very finest slate-based vineyards in all of the Rheinhessen, the Niersteiner Pettenthal. Klaus-Peter has taken out a long-term lease on parcel in the vineyard to start with and has produced some absolutely beautiful wines from this steep slate vineyard in 2009, and fans of the estate will now have another vineyard that they will simply have to add to their shopping list of must have Keller wines. The vines in the Pettenthal were all planted in 1978 and are in the very steepest section of the vineyard, all on red slate soils. The vines are owned by the family of Franz-Karl Schmidt, who was one of the most famous producers in the Rheinhessen in the first half of the twentieth century. Klaus- Peter has made absolutely profound wines from the Pettenthal in his first vintage, with the vineyard showing itself to be capable of magical summits both as a dry wine and in the more classical, noble sweet styles. In fact, the 2009 Pettenthal Kabinett is so
hauntingly delicate and filigreed this year as to make one wonder if this kind of ethereal, well water style of Kabinett is going to be lost forever at VDP estates when the new regulations take effect at all member estates in 2014 and Kabinetts will no longer be able to be made from grapes with must weights below the level of Spätlese. Across the board, the 2009ers from Weingut Keller are the finest to date of Klaus- Peter s young and already illustrious career. He has made both brilliant dry and sweet wines this year, and though I did not taste them, I am sure that the pinot noirs from 2009 will be outstanding as well. We started off our tasting with the 2008 reds this time, as I had not seen the wines in a year and this is a more appropriate time to be getting a read on pinot noir, as six months after the harvest is really just too young to be handicapping pinot in my opinion (though I probably did it last year). There will be a new pinot noir in the future at Weingut Keller as well, as Klaus-Peter has just purchased a parcel of vines in the Morstein vineyard that was planted with sixty-five year-old sylvaner vines and grafted them over to pinot noir- the cuttings for which came from Freddy Mugnier s Chambolle-Musigny les Fuées vineyard. The first vintage of this pinot from the Morstein will be the 2011. It will be very exciting to see how these old vines take to pinot noir and how the Morstein s terroir will define this pinot noir in the coming years- I suspect the answers to both questions will be extremely positive in nature! The white wines from Klaus-Peter in 2009 are clearly the finest wines he has ever crafted, and fans of his dry wines are duly warned out of the blocks to also take note to the magical noble sweet wines that he has made this year, as they are clearly amongst the finest to be found anywhere in Germany in 2009. There is opulence and very clean, pure botrytis in the dessert-styled wines, and haunting delicacy in several of Kabinetts and Spätlesen this year that recall some mythical golden age of German Riesling. As far as the dry wines go, the two Sylvaners are superb, and the lower level dry Rieslings are all as fine as I have ever tasted here (and there have been some amazing values previously). As far as the Grosses Gewächs bottlings are concerned, all have come in at thirteen percent alcohol, with the exception of the new Pettenthal, which is only 12.5 percent. Across the board, these are the most elegant and refined Grosses Gewächs bottlings from Klaus-Peter to date, and will be worth a special search of the market to add to the cellar. At Weingut van Volxem there is a very serious effort underway to recreate the glories of the past, and at Weingut Egon Müller there is a connection to the past that has never been severed and continues on as a living and breathing thing, but here at Weingut Keller, one senses that the best facets of both the past and the future have been synthesized into one of the most insightful and inspired set of wines that one can find in all of Germany. And when the amazement at the quality of the wines gets the upper hand and one asks Klaus-Peter how he is doing all this magic, his answer is both simple and seems as if it should have been self-evident, so that the questioner feels a bit foolish at even having asked: In the end I have to just trust the vineyard each year and try not to lose too much of the potential of each vintage in the cellar. Let s just say that there was little lost potential in the Keller cellars this year!
Pinot Noir 2008 Bürgel Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs- Weingut Keller The 2008 Bürgel Spätburgunder is a deep and very pure wine on both the nose and palate. The excellent and very classy nose is a blend of black cherries, a touch of plums, raw cocoa, lovely soil tones, woodsmoke and just a touch of new wood. On the palate the wine is medium-full, long and still very primary, with the purity of the nose echoed on the palate, a nice core of cool fruit, moderate tannins and a long, tangy and very finely balanced finish. This will need about five years of cellaring to really come into its own and will once again be one of the very best pinot noirs in Germany. 2015-2035. 91+. 2009 Frauenberg Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs (Selection Massale)- Keller This is the Frauenberg bottling made from Burgundian cuttings, which are now twelve years of age and starting to really come into their own. Most Burgundians will tell you that pinot vines need to be at least twenty years-old to really start hitting on all cylinders, which probably means that as good as this wine is today, it will be even better ten vintages down the road- rather a scary thought! The bouquet is deep, pure and simply beautiful, as it wafts from the glass in a classy blend of black cherries, a hint of grilled meat that recalls Gevrey-Chambertin a bit, fresh thyme, mustard seed, lovely minerality, woodsmoke and a gentle base of new oak. On the palate the wine is fullish, pure and tangy, with lovely focus and complexity, moderate tannins and great intensity of flavor and lightness of step on the very long and complex finish. Just a superb bottle of pinot that revels in its terroir. As was the case with the 2007, this wine will be auctioned off in September in Bad Kreuznach- see you there! 2015-2035. 94. Dry Wines 2009 Grüner Sylvaner Trocken- Weingut Keller The 2009 Sylvaner Trocken is a lovely wine that will offer up outstanding value. The bouquet is deep and pretty, as it jumps from the glass in a blend of grapefruit, lemon, wet stones, orange peel and a touch of straw in the upper register. On the palate the wine is medium-full, crisp and snappy, with lovely minerality and good length and grip on the bright and zesty finish. Classy sylvaner. 2010-2020. 87. 2009 Sylvaner Trocken Feuervogel Alte Reben- Weingut Keller This cuvée used to be just designated as S for the old vines, but Klaus-Peter has come up with a very appropriate new name for the cuvée: Feuervogel (or Phoenix in English). The name has a fine double meaning, as these sixty-five year-old vines are planted in very red soils that can recall fire, but the choice of the Phoenix as a moniker for this bottling also pays tribute to the very real renaissance that is thriving in Germany these days with the Sylvaner varietal, as vignerons across the country rediscover this grape and its potential, and it literally is rising from the ashes all across the country these days. In any case, the 2009 is outstanding, as it jumps from the glass in a very wild yeasty nose of grapefruit, orange, complex, stony minerality and a topnote of citrus peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and delivers great focus and cut, with super balance and very impressive grip on the complex and long finish. A lovely wine. 2010-2020+. 91. 2009 Riesling Trocken- Weingut Keller The basic Estate Riesling Trocken is delicious in 2009, as the wine offers up a compelling nose of apple, pink grapefruit, chalky minerality and a topnote of orange peel.
On the palate the wine is medium-full, crisp and juicy, with a lovely base of minerality, bright acids and really pretty good length and grip on the complex and wide open finish. I wish I lived in Germany and could drink this as my house white wine! 2010-2020+. 88. 2009 Riesling Von der Fels Trocken- Weingut Keller Of course, I would probably not buy the Estate Riesling Trocken, as the Von der Fels bottling is only a couple of euros more per bottle and is a notable step up in both breed and complexity. The bouquet on the 2009 is flat out fantastic, as it soars from the glass in a blaze of grapefruit, tart orange, petrol, plenty of stony mineral tones and wild yeasts galore in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, medium-full and very intensely flavored, with great mid-palate depth, ripe acids and great focus on the very long and transparent finish. A great wine this year and a most stunning value! 2010-2025. 91. 2009 Riesling RR Trocken- Weingut Keller As readers might recall, the RR bottling all hails from a section of the Kirchspiel vineyard that is all red soils. The 2009 offers up a more citrus-centric aromatic profile than the Von der Fels, as it delivers scents of oranges, sweet grapefruit, wild yeast, great minerality and every type of citrus zest known to humankind. On the palate the wine is fullish, crisp and complex, with just a touch of sweetness on the attack, great focus and balance, bright acids and lovely length and grip on the very long and classy finish. Another terrific value. 201-2025. 90. 2009 Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Grosses Gewächs- Weingut Keller The 2009 Kirchspiel Grosses Gewächs is stunning. The bouquet is deep, nicely reserved and simply terrific, as it offers up scents of tart orange, grapefruit, crystalline minerality, incipient notes of petrol, classy wild yeast tones and a topnote of orange peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and very, very racy, with a great base of minerality, laser-like focus, a rock solid core of fruit and superb length and grip on the snappy finish. High class juice. 2016-2040+. 93+. 2009 Dalsheimer Hubacker Riesling Grosses Gewächs- Weingut Keller The 2009 Grosses Gewächs from the Hubacker is fantastically elegant this year, as this is the one terroir in the GG portfolio that can be a bit powerful and bound up in its structure in its early years. But not in 2009, as the wine delivers a beautifully refined nose of white cherries, pink grapefruit, delicate notes of petrol, kaleidoscopic minerality and a touch of lemon grass in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and very, very complex, with great focus and balance, racy acids and simply stunning minerality on the long backend that closes with scintillating, zesty acidity. A great Hubacker. 2017-2040+. 93+. 2009 Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling Grosses Gewächs- Weingut Keller The Grosses Gewächs 2009er from the Pettenthal is an extremely exciting new addition to this stellar lineup of dry Rieslings. This wine was harvested on November 1 st. The bouquet is fantastic, as it jumps from the glass in a beautiful mélange of apple, sweet grapefruit, petrol, slate, orange and grapefruit zest and a gentle topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is medium-full, long and really very refined and elegant, with a great inner core of fruit, lovely energy, zesty acidity and a stunningly long, focused and dancing finish. The slate soils of the Pettenthal have produced a more delicately styled Grosses Gewächs than the limestone soils that Klaus-Peter s other Grosses Gewächs bottlings hail from, and the differences are fascinating. A great wine. 2016-2040+. 94+.
2009 Westhofener Morstein Riesling Grosses Gewächs- Weingut Keller The Morstein was harvested on the same day as the Pettenthal, which was no small feat, as Westhofen and Nierstein are not exactly next door neighbors! The Pettenthal was harvested in the morning and the Morstein in the afternoon, and one can imagine that there was a pretty tired crew when that was finished. The 2009 Morstein Grosses Gewächs will be utterly magical, as it soars from the glass in a blaze of grapefruit, orange, gentle notes of petrol, wild yeasts, orange peel and a profoundly complex, almost zesty base of minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very, very pure, with a rock solid core, perfect focus and balance and a very elegant, snappy and multi-faceted finish that is almost gem-like in its brilliance and precision. What a profound wine. 2018-2040+. 96. 2009 Westhofener Abtserde Riesling Grosses Gewächs- Weingut Keller The 2009 Abtserde Grosses Gewächs is another absolutely monumental bottle in the making, and will be a must have for any long-time Keller fans. The profound bouquet offers up a magically complex blend of orange, pink grapefruit, gentle notes of petrol, kaleidoscopic minerality, lemon grass and a myriad of citrus zests and oils. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and racy, with a rock solid core, impeccable focus and balance, ripe, seamlessly integrated acids and stunning length and grip on the laser-like and dancing finish. An utterly profound wine. 2018-2040. 96+. Klaus-Peter and Julia Keller outside of the entrance to their estate in Dalsheim.
2009 G-Max Riesling- Weingut Keller Look, the 2009 G-Max is already going to be impossibly hard to find, so I really should not tell anyone just how good this magical wine is going to be with sufficient bottle age, as it will ensure that I never find any bottles for my own cellar. But I never really figured out this business thing after all, so I guess I will just say that this wine is as close to perfect as a young wine should be allowed to come. The brilliant bouquet soars from the glass in a magical mélange of white cherries, oranges, pink grapefruit, delicate notes of petrol and a profoundly complex base of crystalline minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and utterly seamless, with stunning intensity of flavor, laser-like focus, electric purity, perfectly ripe acids and a simply endless finish. 2018-2040+. 99+. Noble Sweet Wines 2009 Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling Kabinett- Weingut Keller The 2009 Pettenthal Kabinett is very much old school, well water Kabinett that Klaus-Peter likes to say one could drink all day long. The bouquet is deep, pure and filigreed, as it offers up scents of peaches and apples, slate, a nice touch of wild yeasts, apple blossoms and a touch of orange zest in the upper register. On the palate the wine is medium-bodied and downright light, with lovely intensity of flavor, bright, bouncy acids, lovely focus and a long, complex, ethereal and dancing finish. A great, great wine. 2012-2030. 93. 2009 Niersteiner Pettenthal Riesling Spätlese- Weingut Keller The 2009 Pettenthal Spätlese is another lovely, bouncy and light as a feather example of the vintage. The beautifully fresh and pure nose delivers scents of peach, pear, bee pollen, orange blossoms, a great base of soil and just a hint of petrol perking up at the top. On the palate the wine is medium-bodied, succulent and zesty, with a delicate glaze of sweetness in the core of fruit, juicy acids, lovely transparency and excellent length and grip on the dancing finish. A beautiful Spätlese. 2010-2035. 94. 2009 Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Spätlese- Weingut Keller The 2009 Kirchspiel Spätlese is a bit less delicate in style than the Pettenthal, but every bit a match for that wine in terms of aromatic and flavor complexity. The fantastic nose soars from the glass in a blaze of pear, white cherries, a delicate touch of the petrol to come, peppermint leaf, bee pollen, spring flowers and a fine base of hard limestone soil tones. On the palate the wine is medium-full, deep and juicy, with great length and focus, a fine core, juicy acids and outstanding complexity on the bright and vivid finish. A superb bottle. 2010-2035+. 94. 2009 Westhofener Abtserde Riesling Spätlese (Auction)- Weingut Keller The 2009 Abtserde Spätlese will be sold at auction in Bad Kreuznach in September. This is a brilliant bottle of Spätlese in the making, as it delivers a stunning and amazingly complex aromatic mélange of oranges, petrol, white peaches, crystalline minerality, bee pollen, orange blossoms and a distinct topnote of peppermint. On the palate the wine is medium-full, deep, pure and very minerally, with brisk acids and stunning length and grip on the laser-like finish. Brilliant juice. 2014-2045. 95. 2009 Monsheimer Silberberg Rieslaner Auslese- Weingut Keller The plot of old vine Rieslaner in the Silberberg vineyard produced also a Spätlese and a Beerenauslese this year, in addition to this stellar Auslese. Not since Hanz-Günter Schwartz s heyday at Müller-Catoir have I been as excited about this varietal as when I
taste the new releases from Weingut Keller. The Auslese is absolutely spectacular, as it soars from the glass in a veritable tropical blaze of sweet grapefruit, pineapple, baby bananas, honey, lovely minerality and a hint of rosemary in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, fresh and quite tropical in its fruit complexion, with great acids and simply stunning length and grip on the beautifully focused and intense finish. The style here is a bit different than the great old Rieslaners from Müller-Catoir, as it is a bit less reductive and more elegant in profile. But the quality is in the same league. A great wine. 2010-2030+. 94. 2009 Dalsheimer Hubacker Riesling Auslese- Weingut Keller The 2009 Hubacker Auslese was harvested on November 20 th and is another exotic beauty. The brilliant bouquet offers up scents of yellow plum, oranges, a touch of pineapple, honeycomb, mango and a great base of minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, pure and decadently tropical, with great mid-palate depth, a stunning base of minerality, crisp acids and stunning length and grip on the perfectly focused and racy finish. Another brilliant wine. 2010-2040. 94+. 2009 Westhofener Morstein Riesling Auslese- Weingut Keller The 2009 Morstein Auslese was harvested the next day, on November 21 st and it too is an absolutely magical bottle in the making. The profile of this wine is more mineral and less tropical fruity than the Hubacker Auslese, as it offers up a brilliant bouquet of apple, white peach, tangerine, white flower and a huge base of chalky, crystalline minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, medium-full and very transparent, with outstanding filigree, zesty acids and a very long, ethereal finish. Stylistically, this has more in common with the beautiful, delicate wines from the Pettenthal than the more high wire acts from the Hubacker. A stunning bottle of racy Auslese. 2016-2040+. 94+. 2009 Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel- Weingut Keller The 2009 Kirchspiel Goldkapsel Auslese was made up of eighty percent botrytized grapes, with the remainder golden berries. This is a gloriously pure botrytis wine with an amazing lightness of step for its very generous glaze. The bouquet is a fantastic blend of orange, pineapple, honeycomb, apricot, orange zest and a beautiful base of minerality. On the palate the wine is medium-full, long, pure and utterly refined, with a great core of fruit, dancing acids and stunning length and grip on the supremely elegant finish. A tour de force. 2012-2050. 95. 2009 Westhofener Abtserde Riesling Auslese (Auction Bottling)- Weingut Keller The 2009 Abtserde Auslese will also be sold at the auctions in September and shows even a higher level of botrytis than the Kirchspiel Gold Kap, as it soars from the glass in a brilliant mélange of apricot, orange, candied grapefruit, a touch of new leather, clover honey and great minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, quite honeyed and also very citric, with a rock solid core of fruit, brisk acidity and stunning length and grip on the heavily glazed and racy finish. A brilliant botrytis wine. 2010-2050. 96+. 2009 Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese- Weingut Keller The 2009 Kirchspiel Riesling TBA is a beautiful high wire act, as it packs 240 grams per liter of residual sugar into a super-charged body with 17 grams per liter of acidity. The stunning nose soars from the glass in a blaze of apricot, desiccated peaches, orange, honey, new leather, a hint of rosemary and a gentle base of minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, creamy on the attack and very tropical, with an
impressive lightness of step, shockingly vibrant minerality on the backend and great focus and cut on the endless and very pure finish. This wine has stunning backend delicacy for such a opulent wine on the attack. Great juice. 2010-2070. 96. 2009 Westhofener Morstein Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese- Weingut Keller The Morstein Riesling TBA may be even better in 2009. The bouquet is deep and simply fabulous, as it offers up scents of honey, pineapple, orange, leather, candied citrus peel and an exotic topnote of hazelnuts that (bizarrely?) reminds me strongly of the scent one gets in certain aged Baroli! On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, laser-like and very, very pure, with zesty acidity, laser-like focus, glorious backend minerality and stunning length and grip on the crystalline and racy finish. Just a magical bottle of wine. 2010-2070. 98. 2009 Westhofener Abtserde Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese (Auction)- Keller Look, the Abtserde Riesling TBA in 2009 is simply perfect, and in a world where hundred point scores are bandied about with rather alarming frequency for all kinds of over the top mediocrities, this wine probably deserves about a hundred and ten points. The wine does not trade on its power or depth (which it has in spades), but on its haunting purity and utter refinement for a wine of such immense depth and glaze, as it soars from the glass in a fantastic mélange of peach, apricot, apple pie, tea leaves, orange zest, magical minerality, honeycomb and a floral topnote of orange blossoms. On the palate the wine is deep, medium-full, insanely long and utterly pure, with dancing acidity, laser-like focus and a never ending finish of just impeccable balance. I simply cannot imagine a better bottle of wine, and I have little doubt that it will be a tough catch at the auction at Bad Kreuznach in September, but it will be worth every penny of the price of admission. A transcendental wine. 2010-2070. 100. Peter Ruhberg, who helped with the 2009 harvest at Weingut Keller, contemplating what he helped bring into being after working through the magical lineup of the Keller 2009ers.