Good Riesling – not available in intensive care

Yesterday I got out of hospital where I had been spending the past week. I suppose this blog is a bit of a home for florid expressions of excess, so let me just say that pancreatitis is without a doubt the most painful thing I have experienced in my life. Moreover, such was the woeful condition of the hospital beds I could hardly sleep and spend most of the time in hospital colourfully psychotic. I have left the place with a case of diabetes with which to remember the occasion.

On to the wine. This wine is part of a small sample I scored from Leon Stolarski Fine Wines. I have some experience with this grower and I know he is pleased as chips with his small holdings of some top-flight vineyards and he treats them with the respect they deserve. I am very pleased that his pricing policy is not to charge the earth.

[image image_id=”5464″ size=”medium” align=”left”]

Riesling Spatlese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2009, Dr Weins-Prum

This kind of nose is why one pops German Rieslings young; it is charged with peachy, Muscatty fruit that seems deliciously ripe and attractive. There is a good dose of minerality here, but perhaps this nose is not charged with the very most dimensionality I’ve ever experienced. That being said, it is a gloriously ripe example of a 2009 that could have little more allure. The palate is distinctly sweet for a Spatlese with loads more of that gorgeous fruit. Again there is a good mineral tang but it could have a shade more I feel. Acid levels are pretty much there, but it is not one of those wines that makes your teeth fizz. I like them. This is a very good Spatlese which is a great example of the vintage, albeit not the most thrilling and exciting Riesling you might ever try. I will be ageing my other bottle as it clearly merits the compliment of cellar time.

3 Comments