How do you rate the last decade's vintages?

Hi Terry -

Would love to hear your thoughts on how you think 2001 onward has stacked up? What do you like or dislike about these vintages.

TIA.

The very best wines are: the 2005 Mosel, Saar, Ruwer and Nahe wines, followed closely behind by the 2001 Mosel and Nahe wines.

The best among the vintages seen as a whole (i.e., both the ceiling and the floor) is 2007, followed closely by 2009.

The ripe years were 2003 and 2006. These are sunny and golden. Think peaches.

The more lunar or silvery years were 2002, 2004 and 2008. The German Riesling “classicist” has a soft spot for such years. Think green apples or not-quite-ripe plums.

The decade’s most common problems or challenges were ignoble botrytis, and ladybugs.

There are things to like and dislike about almost all of them, except 2007 and 2009 (ladybugs notwithstanding), both of which were homogenously fine. My own least favorite vintage was 2006, because of the many massive sweet wines it gave. Even then, there are plenty of super '06s, but it was a struggle as a whole for those of us relatively indifferent to mega-musts with 1000% botrytis.

Nice! I’m glad to see we have some agreeing overlap. '01 was the first vintage I bought heavy-mostly Mosel and thank god we getting close to peaking in some of them. I tasted the '09s at the Winewise tasting in LA, and was blown away with the quality from just about everywhere. Johannes S. knocked it out of the park, so did Leitz.

When I tasted the previous vintage-'08-it seemd like the acidity was out of control. My mouth actually hurt after that tasting. Have the '08s balanced out yet and what do you anticipate for their future?

Just wanted you to know, that’s it’s guys like you, that exude passion, who make this industry all the better. Your determination and hard work pays off in spades and makes our lives, both as consumers and itb’s, much more rewarding and frankly easier to enjoy these great wines. laso have to say, you are easily one of the greatest TN writers ever. I have a library of your portfolio books.

Cheers!

I feel your pain Gregg, after tasting a big ol slew of '08s. Remember, no grower makes wine with a view to how it will “show” alongside 100 other wines. In an acid-driven year like '08 there’s gonna be some beach-erosion on your palate if you taste a mess of wine. If you simply drink one, or taste only a few, they’re already balanced and will remain so, as long as your palate tolerates balance on an ultraviolet wavelength.

I thank you so much for your kind words.

Interesting comments on vintages. I find that 2005 does not have sufficient acidity for my tastes, so my preferences run to 2001, 2002 and 2004.

All things being equal, '05 has more flesh than '01, but no less acidity. Rather the opposite in many instances.

When I spoke to a few winery owners in 2006 (Loosen, Prum, etc) they said 2005 had much lower acids than 2001.

The '08s may have hurt to taste, but I bought a lot of those wines (Selbach really hit it out of the park, and I think I guzzled down a case of Anrecht in very little time - Schäfer-Fröhlich, Dönnhoff, Christoffel and AJ Adam made some absolutely incredible wines as well). They’re FAR more pleasant when opening a bottle or two with dinner and good friends than they are in a big tasting, and for Kabinetts and lighter Spätlese, it’s one of my favourite vintages in the decade. (On a side note - Terry, please tell the Schaefers they need to bottle their Kabinett in magnums. 750 ml bottles vapourize far too quickly between a couple of people.)

Funny you mention Loosen. I found their 2005s too flabby and confected for my taste at release and actually gave up on the producer for a few years as a result.

2008 is one of my favorite Riesling vintages Ive been able to taste at release. I love the explosive oppulence of 2009s, but the 2008s are just so refreshing and energetic. 2008 style Kabinetts are sadly all to rare these days.

Interesting thoughts on the 05 mosels. I bought quite a bit but when a Schaefer kabinett tasted fat and blowsy to me early on I decided the rest of my stash must need much sleep to shed baby fat and I’ve really drunk none since.

And, indeed, I love the 02, 04, and 08 mosels. By the way, Salil, the 08 Anrecht has shut down considerably.

The acidity comparison between '05 and '01 will of course vary by winery, and harvest dates (and methods) play a large role. But I can match anyone’s anecdotes with ones of my own.

Curiously, Schaefer is an estate who weren’t conspicuously successful in 2005.

Most of my own private stash is in a cellar in Germany since if it were here I’d be like Ulysses tied to the mast. But I’ve had two of them in the last few months, a dry wine from Adam and a stunning balls-to-the-wall Spätlese from Weingart. No dearth of acidity on that boy.

As a huge fan of 1990 German wines, I have actually enjoyed the precision of the 2008s, at least from the better estates.

I should retaste '08. My comments were not a knock on the vintage, but with the deserved hype of '09, I felt I could wait a vintage. Acidity is my friend, but balance is my best friend, so I felt '08 needed time, even in it’s youth, if the acidity was going to balance out. I loved '01 on release in MSR and '09 is clearly the equivalent or better imho.