Any info on this wine? Have no clue. I think I picked it up long time ago because of the pretty label!
No idea. Put out some queries on IG.
I canât tell you about the wine, but I can tell you about what is on that pretty label. The Falterturm is also known as the âLeaning Tower of Kitzingen,â which is a wine town in Franken, not Rheinhessen. Go figure.
That is the weird thing about this. My guess is the Rheinhessen winery did a bunch of travelogue labels. Canât figure out why the winery name isnât on there, unless it was sold as part of a set.
Wish I knew this bottle yet Iâm sure the the combined experience of this board can help you. We have savants. My only thought was alluding by Mr. Haque above, artful label and why you grabbed it, so some cross-over with the âMost beautiful wine labels?â thread. Its well done IMO and Iâll follow along as aged Dornfelder might cross my wheelhouse one day.
Thread for suchâŚ
Can someone translate the back label?
The grape variety is Dornfelder:
https://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-139-dornfelder#:~:text=Dornfelder%20is%20a%20relatively%20recent,crossing%20of%20Helfensteiner%20and%20Heroldrebe.&text=It%20is%20commonly%20made%20in,%2C%20Sp%C3%A4tburgunder%20(Pinot%20Noir).
The back label says:
This winning quality-wine from the grape variety Dornfelder has dry notes. It is characterized by a red color and savory tannins. Best tasting at the temperature 16-18 degrees.
Cooking Wine
Itâs obvious that here we have a wine for tourists.
This is correct.
The back label (actually it´s the legal main label) states the variety DORNFELDER, which is a relatively new grape variety with quite dark skin and a certain tendency to overproduce. Usually the resulting wines are simple and fruity. The wine comes from Rheinhessen - but it´s odd that no producer (winery, bottler etc.) is indicated.
The wine should be dry - and from vintage 2004 ⌠which is quite old for this type.
The other label seems to be a (watercolour?) painting of the âFalter-Towerâ, the landmark (signature building) of Kitzingen in Northern Bavaria, which is quite distant East of Rheinhessen (a good 200 km).
Maybe it´s a bottle for tourists or for PR-purposes in Kitzingen ⌠but the lacking producer is not really legal ⌠!
You should be content if it turns out to be âdrinkableâ - I have no higher hopes.
Good work team! YeahâŚI wasnât thinking this was anything but cheap, probably sweet, plonk. But the label is so pretty! I think iâll just keep it for that!
Dornfelder is one of the later hybrids developed. From what I have gleaned, it was often made in a slightly sweet inviting style, but the dry style is now more prevalent. Dornfelder is known to be almost inky black and was perhaps initially developed more for color than for its flavors. Not sure how much is grown in Austria, but I think itâs growing in popularity and in quality. Some is grown here in the US - Lodi at the Mokelumne Glen vineyard (that specializes in Austrian and German varieties) does some.
There seems to be a general consensus that out of the Austrian varieties Blaufränkisch is the variety that seems to be the most loved, but that Zweigelt, Dornfelder and St Laurent can make nice reds. I had a period of buying quite a bit of Austrian wines, but I canât say I developed a strong feel for the reds (they were a bit hit and miss) - it was mostly GrĂźner etc. I have heard Claus Preisinger does some wonderful reds. Full disclosure; I took some Zweigelt this year and it has surprised me with itâs deep color, despite being picked pretty early. So far itâs a tensioned, high acid and primal wine with very nice fruit aromas. I have a very strong idea on how this needs to age and in what slight oak profiling it needs to complement it. Iâm pretty excited about it, but the final results will only be apparent in about a yearâs time or so.
You should be content if it turns out to be âdrinkableâ - I have no higher hopes.
So probably just 90 points from Buzz?
I love Dornfelder. And yes, you will find a lot of cheap âplonkâ still produced with the Dornfelder grape out of Germany, but itâs also being produced much more seriously than in the past. Iâve had some terrific versions that were produced with whole berry fermentation and tank fermented that were just lovely in their youth. And other oak aged, much more serious versions that were black as night, and really developed over a short period of time.
This one looks like itâs past itâs prime (guessing it was tank fermented, and meant to be drunk young), but you never know.
I have also had some ultra serious versions from the Santa Barbara area. Huber Cellars used to produce a superb, very rich version.
Cooking Wine
Itâs obvious that here we have a wine for tourists.
Well, my one Dornfelder data point is a glass I had at a restaurant in Bonn about 15 yrs ago. Iâd never had that, so I thought Iâd try, despite the menu description: âDornfelder isâŚDornfelderâ. As you might guess, it was awful. From some of the reports here, it can get better, but that one sure wasnât worth much.
I love Dornfelder. And yes, you will find a lot of cheap âplonkâ still produced with the Dornfelder grape out of Germany, but itâs also being produced much more seriously than in the past. Iâve had some lovely versions that were produced with whole berry fermentation and tank fermented that were just lovely in their youth. And other oak aged, much more serious versions that were black as night, and really developed over a short period of time.
This one looks like itâs past itâs prime (guessing it was tank fermented, and meant to be drunk young), but you never know.
I have also had some ultra serious versions from the Santa Barbara area. Huber Cellars used to produce a superb, very rich version.
FunnyâŚas it looks like I own TWO bottles of DornfelderâŚthis GermanâŚand a 2003 Huber! Never tasted one yet though.
Dornfelder is one of the later hybrids developed. From what I have gleaned, it was often made in a slightly sweet inviting style, but the dry style is now more prevalent. Dornfelder is known to be almost inky black and was perhaps initially developed more for color than for its flavors. Not sure how much is grown in Austria, but I think itâs growing in popularity and in quality.
There seems to be a general consensus that out of the Austrian varieties Blaufränkisch is the variety that seems to be the most loved, but that Zweigelt, Dornfelder and St Laurent can make nice reds.
Itâs not a hybrid, itâs a crossing. 100% Vitis vinifera.
Where did you get that Dornfelder would be grown in Austria? I myself have never seen a single bottle of Austrian Dornfelder. Iâm not saying there wouldnât be any, but seeing how it doesnât appear in this list and âother red varietiesâ all together put up a measly 0,3% of the total planted acreage, there canât be that much Dornfelder planted.
This is how you know youâre getting old. You donât read that thread is about German Dornfelder and assume itâs a thread about Austrian wines because you thought the grape was developed in AustriaâŚ
as silly & forgettable as Dornfelder most frequently comes across, a couple highly respected Pfälzer estates take the variety seriously
i even know one that commits the unpardonable sin of blending it with Pinot Noir
never saw one from Austria â their great crossing is the Blauer Zweigelt aka Rotburger,
which has far less to apologise for than Dornfelder
and here the list of permissible red Qualitätswein varieties in Austria â no Dornfelder
BLAUBURGER
BLAUER PORTUGIESER
BLAUER WILDBACHER
BLAUFRĂNKISCH
CABERNET FRANC
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
MERLOT
PINOT NOIR
RĂTHAY
ROESLER
ROSENMUSKATELLER
ST. LAURENT
SYRAH
ZWEIGELT
Cooking Wine
would you actually cook with a wine that you wouldnt drink?
kaum zu fassenâŚ