rieslingstudy011 - Pizza Beddia

Crazy 36 hours of hoagies, music, pizza and riesling!

Night one was a VIP event in the Private Hoagie Room at Pizza Beddia. To my knowledge it is the only Hoagie room in existence and very much has the feel of a secret sushi or Japanese vinyl bar.

We enjoyed a plethora of Keller Dry wines from 2004 though 2017 with five vintages of G-Max. There were many great wines, my favorites were 2008 and 2017 G-Max. Special mention goes to the 2016 Scheurebe Trocken which was just stunning, the bottle age has toned down the exotic aromatics and amped up the minerality for a perfectly balanced delicious wine that disappears way too fast.

Pizza Beddia did a fantastic job with the food. I canā€™t wait to go back to the Hoagie room.

We took a Riesling break for lunch and had an absolutely wonderful meal with Sarah and Jonathan where we shared a number of great bottles - I made it through the entire lunch without Riesling!

Then on to the main event. We did a full buyout of the restaurant and had close to 100 people from all over the United States for a major BYOR (Bring Your Own Riesling) event with music from Cosmo Baker, Max from Brewery Town Beats and Skinny Pablo who flew in from LA. We also had a visit from legendary hip hop star and Philadelphia native Schoolly D.

It is really hard for me to focus on individual wines at these large events because I am making sure everything is going smooth and that everyone else is happy.

Some wines that really stood outā€¦13 Egon Muller Kabinett, 93 Ludes Auslese (stunning), 14 Keller G-Max, 94 Egon Muller Spatlese, 13 Falkenstein Altenberg Spatlese Trocken and 14 Laible Achat. And the 65 Hipping Eiswein and 76 FK Schmitt Pettenthal BA from the night before were both even better on the 2nd night. I also recall a 2012-14 few Weiser-Kunstler Steffensberg that were great.

Canā€™t say enough great things about the overall job Pizza Beddia did for the two nights!

Future events will be in LA, Memphis and NYC. And possibly Washington DC, Houston and Boston. Send me a DM with your email if you want to be notified of future events.

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i remember when they first opened at the original location. Havent been back since but itw as already great then

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Despite the new place being significantly larger (like 50x) it still has the same vibe and the food is excellent.

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It was a truly remarkable 36 hours. Love having the party come to Philly! Of course the wines were wonderful, as were the music and vibe and food, but itā€™s really the warmth and attitude (or lack thereof) and generosity of the people that makes these events what they are.

Thanks so much to Robert and Stephen and Joe and everyone else who made it all happen - the work that goes in must be huge, but then you make it look effortless.

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Philly has earned the right for the party to come it!

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Looks like yā€™all had a hell of a party. Bummed I couldnā€™t join this. As always, Iā€™m looking forward to future ones and thank you Robert for all your efforts in organising these!

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Looks amazing. I hope Iā€™m able to make the LA Riesling Study when it happens.

Thanks for organizing this Robert! It really was a great time. The food was amazing as always, but the wines were fantastic. I took notes on the ones I tried, but they were very brief and sketched because I was enjoying myself too much.

If I did it again, Iā€™d step out of my comfort zone and meet a few more people. It was fun to talk to Joe and meet a celebrity, and one or two people I follow on instagram, but I also recognized a couple people from here that I was too shy to say hello to. As you see below, the wines I tasted were very different from those listed above, but I loved them all.

Wines my friends and I brought:
2020 Stein Riesling Feinherb ā€œWeihwasserā€ - The first wine we opened. Shimmering and just sweet, rounded and with enough focused acidity to keep from feeling flabby. Good length, and a nice pure riesling.

2014 Dr. Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling SpƤtlese - I brought this because it is the oldest in my very humble collection. The favorite of the ones we brought. A really strong petrol nose kind of masked everything else at first but as it blows off botrytized golden fruits emerge, peaches, lemons and more exotic tropical fruits. The palate follows, with a distinctly herbal note lacing through mango and pineapple. Thereā€™s definitely honeyed botrytis in there, but that herbs and some stony citrus acid emerge at the end. Beautiful, though as it warmed in the glass to room temperature it became flabby and the only thing that remained was sugar. Definitely needs to be cold.

2019 Bencze (CsalƔdi Birtok) Rajnai Rizling - Hungary, Balaton, Badacsonyi
I brought this because I thought itā€™d be different from other things there. It was a popular wine I suspect exactly because it was so different from anything else we had. Unfiltered and definitely natty, this tasted like a gingery kombucha. I was worried based on skimming that this is grown near a lake resort that it would be overripe, but on the contrary it maybe could have used some RS to soften the sharpness.

Wines from the pairing:
2017 Weingut Beurer Riesling trocken - a nice start to the meal with clean apple fruits and nice crispness. A little bit muted compared to the Loosen open alongside, but thatā€™s not really this wineā€™s fault.

2013 J.B. Becker Wallufer Oberberg Riesling Kabinett ā€œHalbtrockenā€ - Paired with the salads. Electric, mineral, salty, but with a lifted and pleasantly softening sweetness. With air (or warmth?) this really opened up and became more expressive.

2020 Weingut Hermann Ludes Thƶrnicher Ritsch Riesling Kabinett feinherb - served with pizzas.
Effervescent, light, bright. Tasted like the sensation I would imagine you get from driving a buzzsaw into limestone. A surprise favorite amongst the scheduled glassesā€¦ glad I bought the 1994 spatlese a couple weeks ago and now canā€™t wait for it to arrive so I can crack one open.

2020 Peter Lauer Ayler Riesling FaƟ 4 - A little meek, though I may have not done it justice it with soft serve and amaro (my favorite, Sibilla) alongside. When alone, it was light on its feet and citrusy, almost pop rock-y, but more like a riesling lemonade. Maybe a little bit less focused than other Lauers Iā€™ve had (my favorite riesling producer, I got a few 2019ā€™s as anniversary wines to open down the road), but by no means a slouch.

And then the fun part when we mingled, however briefly:

2020 Weingut Keller Riesling von der Fels - This just had a brilliant nose that makes you see see rocks and gasoline when you close your eyes. On the mouth it was extremely clean and concentrated white fruits, but felt a tiny bit subdued compared to the smell. Also my first Keller, so Iā€™m going to have to try more because this was pretty exciting.

2007 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett - This was singing on the night. By far the wine doing the most, with sharp cut and really ripe mango. Did not feel like a kabinett to me, even after tasting the next two wines. Having only had this once, not sure if itā€™s on itā€™s way up or down, but really brilliant now.

2003 Joh. Jos. PrĆ¼m Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese - By chance had this right after the Schaefer above, and it was a really nice comparison of the vineyard. Remarkably electric. I tasted bananas, which Iā€™ve never noted in a riesling before. When I think of this wine I picture its sweetness being held up by a thin ribbon of acidity; this is I think what people mean when they speak of tension in wines.

2003 Joh. Jos. PrĆ¼m Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese - This was my wine of the night amongst the shared bottles I got to sample. 03 Prum Auslese head to head, this one was my favorite by a long shot (though many others preferred the Himmelreich). I got tropical fruit befitting the designation, but also a strong citrus streak with a very distinct coriander spice dusted all over it. It was so unique and kept me coming back to the glass.

2019 Wittmann Westhofener Morstein Riesling GroƟes GewƤchs - Never had anything by this producer, but it was excellent. I got really surprisingly fresh squeezed lemon on a salt lick. I could sense fruit under there but right now it felt bathed in acid, the acid hiding the contents. This seems like something that will really shine with time.

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Thanks for the great notes. Were these 2003s out of 750ml bottles? I have some 2003 GKAs in 750s and they have disappointingly low acidity. I wonder if theyā€™ll ever fall into balance.

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Thanks for the notes. Totally agree on 2003 GH.
We had the 2003 GH above alongside the 2003 GH GKA back in Oct. and the latter definitely comes in second, right now. Needs much air to shed what feels like layers of baby fat and definitely shows lower acidity, which I checked and see I mentioned in my note. FWIW. Not sure what will ever come of it.

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Thank you so much for coming, your great notes and the nice feedback. I can almost guarantee we will we will do another event at Pizza Beddia. The staff, owners and Joe are just so enthusiastic about it and it is a joy to work with them. I would highly encourage more mingling next time :slight_smile:

Meeting fellow wine lovers and being able to try so many great wines is what it is all about.

They were in 750s. I donā€™t know how long they were open though. If they opened at the start of the night, could have been ~4-5 hours. They were in an ice bucket that people were reaching into and pouring into wanting glasses, so really all I know about them is they were well chilled.

I have way way less experience tasting wines than you all, so these were actually the first two auslese wines I had ever tasted. I thought maybe this is the style, (and thought spatlese might be more ā€œitā€ for me) but maybe I was tricked by the vintage. I loved the wines (in the way I love dessert wines) but maybe I should try some other years and see if I can sense the difference

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Forget the wines. Forget the hoagies. Schoolly D! Thatā€™s gettinā€™ paid! I had an adorable cat named Schoolly D in grad school.

Nights like the one you describe Robert make you glad to be alive.

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I had to do a lot of explaining to the younger attendees of the importance of Schoolly. There would be no Ice T, NWA or Public Enemy without Schoolly.

Nice notes! Time to pull a bottle of that ā€˜07 Schaefer. Schaefer Kabis tend to hit another level in the 15-20 year range from vintage, so this one appears to be right on schedule.

According to IG, it looks like my buddy Anthony made it up from NC. I hope to be able to attend one of these in the future (or even host one) if my schedule ever gets sane.

Another awesome event. Robert (and co.) thank you so much for putting these nights together! Your passion and good spirits are infectious.

Iā€™m happy and lucky to say that I made some fast friends at the first Beddia event. It was a lot of fun to see so many familiar, unmasked facesā€”both from those Riesling-inspired friendships and just as many from other Philly stomping grounds.

Iā€™m bad with notes, but getting to try some wines with serious age and a couple Keller GGs was a highlight (a 2014 G-Max at the bar and I believe an Absterde that Robert poured). I also reconfirmed my love for Wieser-Kunstlerā€™s wines and made a note to double down on purchasing when possible.

I brought a bottle of 2003 Prum Graacher Himmelreich Auslese but was sitting at the bar so not sure if thatā€™s the one that made it to the other ice bucket. I didnā€™t get a chance to try the other ā€˜03 Prum but would agree the GH needed some serious air and improved through the night.

The ā€˜96 J.B. Becker Kabi trocken I brought was totally cooked. I also got a chance to try a corked Egon Muller at the bar. Neither of those were happy circumstances but also must say that itā€™s been helpful to gather some data points like that in a low-stakes environment.

Agreed! Really enjoyed this one and it was right on time.

PS: Robert, to be fair, not all the younger attendees need a Schoolly lesson! :stuck_out_tongue: Getting to know him a bit over the years has been a trip, the guy oozes character and kindness. Hereā€™s an interview I did with him a few years back: Schoolly D Reflects on Creating Gangsta Rap With ā€˜P.S.K.ā€™ on Its 30th Anniversary ā€“ Billboard

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Jay - That is so cool. Thanks for posting the link to the article.

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