2019 German Riesling

Today I received and read through the Mosel Fine Wines newsletter previewing the 2019 vintage. A more comprehensive report will be out with their next issue in June.

Because of the COVID lockdown there has not been a lot of reporting on how this vintage is shaping up. Seems like yields are down quite a bit due to weather extremes, but that the wines at the upper echelon have a quality comparable to that of 2001 from what MFW says. Curious for our fellow riesling aficionados on WB if this is what you’ve heard as well, and how you’re planning your wine purchases.

Johannes Selbach was quite enthusiastic about 2019 during a recent Zoom call.

I have no idea what I will do. I bet wine shops have little idea what they will do.

I’ve been drinking quite a few already (Julian Haart, Keller Limestone, Bollig, Stefan Miller and Quint - Falkenstein have arrived but I am yet to open one). I am impressed so far, for sure it’s at least a very good vintage but you don’t drink vintages…

I will probably buy more than I plan to.

It seems like some people think this has the potential to be one of the best vintages ever, so that has me very excited. We’re really spoiled with all of these recent vintages. I just did a horizontal 2018 Fritz Haag tasting (w/ a Zilliken thrown in too) yesterday, and the 2018s are already coming together and showing even better than I recall from 6 or so months ago.

Good to know. I honestly was not been that enamored with the wines I tried from 2018 when they were first released, and for my palate prefer the 2017s.

This will be an interesting year in the U.S. for German riesling purchases for sure, between COVID and the import side being in disarray after the departure of Terry Thiese from Skurnik.

Fun timing. Spoke with Lara at Schloss Lieser recently. She loved the 2019s and said it reminded her of 2015. Harvested 40% less than 2018.

I have to say I was excited by the MFW report as well. German Riesling has had a string of good to very good vintages the last few years and I’ve been buying pretty steadily. I’ve really enjoyed the 2018 Fritz Haag as well as JJ Prüm, Willi Schaefer, and Donnhoff. I will go heavier on 2019 for sure.

Hmm, 2015 is nothing like 2001.

I was there days before the harvest and it definitely had been a tough growing season, but people felt like it was coming together nicely. Not that you can really trust the producers for an unbiased opinion, though. They are going to find something good about every vintage to encourage you to buy.

Just for my education, how so?

If Lara is saying it reminds them of 2015, I may hold off buying from them this vintage.

Looking to buy as much as I can reasonably afford. It’s the year we got married, and given how long they age…these will likely be wines we can drink long into retirement.

I hope the MFW issue that comes out in June gives the Oe levels of all of the wines. I really love when they do that.

With apologies for the thread drift, is there any chance you have notes to share on these? And if anyone else has tried them, i’d appreciate their thoughts. Especially kabinett and spatlese wines.

I’ll put up a separate thread tonight or tomorrow (a Kab and Spatlese were pretty closed yesterday, so I might wait until I revisit them tonight).

Johannes Selbach did talk about 2019 being very ripe. Not really my sort of vintage.

That would be consistent with 2015 (in my opinion, though I know some people love the vintage). 2001 had (on release) plenty of intensity, but nothing overly ripe/flabby, with tremendous acidity, and lovely, complex wines. 2015 (again IMO) is much riper, more fleshy, sometimes over the top. Just too much for my tastes. So if 2019 is anything like 2015, it’s not a vintage I would chase, and (again IMO) not a vintage I think will age well. Though I have read it does have good acidity, which will help.

He was making comparisons with 1976 and 2003.

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Wow, then definitely not my style.

Ouch. I wonder if producers in cooler regions of Saar did better.

Nonetheless, Im happy backfilling on 2017s and 2016s.

Careful. 1976 remains a fantastic vintage. 2003 is turning into something completely different than what it was on release.

People write off vintages, much to their later dismay.