TN - 2010 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese - celebrating 25 years of tasting wine!

Good evening everyone,

COVID has thwarted yet another life milestone that would have merited a party, but with a little careful thinking- my 25th Anniversary as a devoted wine enthusiast was celebrated in good form.

On September 23, 1995, I came home from college for a night to see my parents and told my father I was interested in wine. A couple of weeks before, I had visited Centennial Liquors for the first time- an old school wine and liquor store at on Guadalupe just a couple of blocks north of the UT Austin campus and next door to the famed El Patio restaurant. My fellow UT Longhorns will remember it well. By the time I was visiting, the old wine manager had retired and the next generation was not caring for the bottles- but there were bins and bins of 20-30 year old Dom Perignon. A glass case with imperials of 1918 Latour and 1970 Mouton. A 1908 Chateau Talbot, and a whole wall of 1970s and 1980s Bordeaux. All cooked by that point- but what a fascinating sight that reminded me of growing up and Dad pulling bottles of fine wine out of the cellar for dinner parties, and taking me to the local wine store for tastings (and once to observe a competitive tasting.)

Dad smiled, pulled out a 1976 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, and the rest is history.

Tonight should have been a bottle of Lafite- but bottles of mature Lafite are few and far between in my cellar these days, for obvious reasons. Opening one alone at home is unthinkable. And so I decided I needed a half bottle, preferably something low alcohol, and something very special- ideally something I have never tried. And then it hit me- Maximin Grunhauser Trockenbeerenauslese. I am a huge von Schubert fan- it is one of the biggest holdings in my cellar. But I have precious few bottles of their TBA. Even with my sourcing experience, it is not an easy find. And I have never opened one. And so here we go.

Cheers to 25 years of tasting wine- a good bit of that sharing stories, tasting notes and in-person wine dinners with so very many of you on this forum- anywhere from newly met here to people I have known since alt.food.wine days. Cheers to you all, and here is hoping for another 25 years of good bottles, good company and good times.


2010 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese

Decanted at 8AM and left in decanter for an hour, then placed back in half bottle for 10 hours unopened in the fridge and finally left on the counter for about 20 minutes to bring it up to proper temperature.

rich light gold color, a magnificent nose of pineapple, cream, marzipan and dark citrus with hints of deepest red rose petals, chopped herbs and figs, on the palate a wonderment- a Trockenbeerenauslese of greatest scale and volume, yet ethereal in presentation with its subtle layers of honey dripping down on one another over a cornucopia of tropical and citrus fruits, all of this culminates in a fig and rose driven impact on the palate of thunderous proportions leading into a ripping and intense finish of immense tension with lime acids interwoven with endless streams of honeyed orange that linger on the palate for several minutes, intense after-finish fragrance of roses, lilac and even a bit of honeysuckle - with some vibrant cut grass and earth notes, with time in glass the orange and lime peel notes on the mid-palate intensify giving this wine a tremendous vibrancy despite its great mass, impeccable balance, a succulent core of fig, blood orange and red berries lingers in the mind as a variety of floral sensations blossom aromatically on the finish, and as breathtaking as it is- this needs more time, at least a decade in my opinion, fun as it is in this muscular and unruly stage- with time this could well become one of the greatest German wines of our generation, a complete wine meant to be savored- it has taken me 3 hours just to get through 1/4 of the half bottle, [placeholder for additional comments 24 hours later], as good as it gets, one of the greatest wines ever tasted.

(*)+! A sixth star seems inevitable in time. 2030-2100+, this has the volume and pristine balance to last and delight for 100+ years.

so you liked it? Congrats on a quarter century of wine enjoyment.

Congratulations Tom!!! I have enjoyed your notes and wish you more wine pleasure over the next 25 years. The Von Schubert Abtsberg bottlings are one of my favourite German rieslings.

I visited the auctions in 2011 … among the very best wines :

Ruwer :
Carl Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Abstberg eiswein 1993
Carl Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Abstberg auslese “101” 2010
Carl Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Abstberg beerenauslese 2010
Carl Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Abstberg TBA 2010
Carl Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Herrenberg eiswein 2010
Carl Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Herrenberg eiswein n°56 2010

Auctions in 2015 again :
Maximin Von Schubert Abstberg TBA 2005 (AP13) : 17,5/20 – 18/9/2015
Should probably improve through times …

Congratulations! And thank you for an absolutely lovely post and note. We all love drinking great bottles with friends. However there is something to be said about losing oneself, alone, in a great bottle. I do it occasionally with a meal while traveling for work (which led to a funny rumor in SF that I was a Michelin inspector : ) )

Damn that’s awesome, congrats on this milestone Tom!

Congrats on 25 years Tom! Great notes for a great wine.

Incredible note

I have tried the 2010 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Herrenberg Riesling Eiswein.

Thunderous and sharp were the words we used for it.

Enjoy all the best

Was able to taste this wine this week due to Tom’s generosity. Drank the sampler out of a Grassl Liberte.

I wouldn’t attempt to write a note remotely as descriptive as his above. However, I found the nose to be amazing. Petrol in the most attractive way. As with my favorite wines I don’t want to drink them down to lose the aroma. The color was a beautiful honeyed glow. Can’t describe the taste any better than Tom and I would agree with his note. Although, I found it a bit more honeyed sweet than I take from his note. But that doesn’t diminish at all. Especially given my novice knowledge of Riesling at this stage.

Thanks Tom!

Just tried my sample, shared with my wife. A singular treat - my first Mosel riesling TBA and may well be the only one I’m ever fortunate enough to try.

Obviously, if I had to sum it up in one word, that word would be psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop. Beyond that, maybe my wife best encapsulated it with “it’s like biting into a wine gummy bear!”

Clearly still a toddler, the first impression for me was mostly honey and tropical fruits (which I attribute to botrytis?), but on the finish the acidity kicks in and it shifts to a lingering lime/citrus aftertaste that lasts for minutes. Just fantastic with so many decades to go…

Tom, you’re a mensch! Thanks again!!