The Schafer-Frohlich sponti, does it ever go away?

Some of you know I recently scored some bottles of 2014 S-F Felseneck GG halves and 2017 S-F Fruhlingsplatzchen at very slick pricing at a locally respected retail shop. Have now opened a second bottle of the 2014 Felseneck due to this overpowering cured meat/bacon/rotten egg note I got on the first bottle obscuring other aromas and flavors, with the second bottle showing similarly. The 2017 S-F Fruhlingsplatzchen, now 3 days open in the fridge and after a decant, still has the sponti stink.

Clearly these arenā€™t mature, but I wanted to see what they were like. Is the sponti stink in Timā€™s GGs always there, but more easily blows off with time? Any serving tips on trying these wines when young?

Vigorously splash decant hours in advance. Maybe back and forth.

It goes away and the wines become remarkable. I donā€™t think itā€™s that much different from a bunch of other producers in the region. Disagree about splash decanting though. That ainā€™t gonna do it. You just have to be patient.

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Yes. In fairness, I rarely drink them that young, but I have been going through half a case of the 2013 Kupfergrube which is absolutely delicious. Havenā€™t been drinking anything younger.

A number of us, including Robert, did a big Schaefer-Frohlich vertical in January from about 2007 to 2012 and none of the wines showed like that.

Huh. It has worked very well for me, similar to some heavily sponti PrĆ¼ms.

But I know I have no clue about Riesling. :wink:

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In roughly the last 18 months Iā€™ve had felseneck GG from 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2016. The last of these is the only one that shows sponti. The other three are breathtaking wines. While I canā€™t claim to have had all upon release, I had the ā€˜10 early on and it showed the typical stink. Iā€™ve also had a bunch of the pradikat wines and, again, the story holds. I donā€™t think it makes much sense to open these I the first 10 years of life. I have the same takeaway for Julian Haartā€™s top dry wines and Schloss Lieserā€™s various doctor wines, regardless of pradikat. I will say that for really great wines, despite the sponti, I think greatness is discernible beneath the stink. It is one thing to open a wine and find the sponti distracting. It is another to find sponti and nothing else. If I found the latter early on, I donā€™t think the wine would interest me that much. For wines where I find greatness beneath the stink, Iā€™m not concerned at all. Itā€™s just a waiting game.
Alex

Uh huh. Yes, you can wait, I agree. Long decants also get the job done. 30 years of Riesling drinking has shown that to be true for me.

David I opened the 2011 Gonon mag that you sold me last night for friends. It is in a great place. If youā€™ve kept any, you might give it a whirl. Some sediment though if you want to decant off. But all in all really wonderful. Thread drift.
Alex

Glad you enjoyed it. I am actually glad we did all of that transaction, as I have discovered I really donā€™t enjoy the wines that much. Weird but true.

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Where does one find pre-2012 S-F GGs these days? Maybe I should add it to my ā€œI have neverā€ list :japanese_ogre:

No old GGs left in my cellar, but SpƤtlese going back to 2002.

Now I remember having a 2007 Felseneck spƤtlese lately, which was wonderful and didnā€™t have the stink.

Make it to a Rieslingstudy and Iā€™m sure one will be around.

Iā€™ve a vertical of 6 packs of the felseneck gg from 08-15 if youā€™re interested - I have more riesling than I know what to do with! Sitting IB in the UK thoughā€¦

Like this one?
40CF66A3-8516-457D-9A2B-E6DF496CE9BF.jpeg

Jayson, thatā€™s the Felsenberg, cā€™mon, up your game.

Something like that :slight_smile: l definitely brought an older Felseneck to the last Rieslingfeier. Trying to remember if it was a mag or not.

I didnā€™t bring it, but I did taste it. I brought 2001 Muller-Catoir Burgergarten Kabi Halbtrocken and 2004 Donnhoff Brucke Spatlese to that #rieslingstudy.

Iā€™m not familiar enough with these wines to have an opinion, but when I hear rotten egg, I think reduction. Is something like rotten egg being attributed to fermentation yeast rather than reduction, or might there be both types of funk in some of these wines?

Side note: when I first tasted the 2015 Rings Saumagen GG, it was so reduced I thought the wine was permanently flawed. I tried it again a couple of years ago and it was really coming around. Shows what I know. I guess I would have said the same thing about older era PrĆ¼m had I not known their track record.