Buying aged Riesling

Terry -

Tremendous stuff so far. What a treat.

Riesling fanatics like myself are constantly seeking aged wines with good provenance, well stored, and for fair prices. They’re not always easy to find. Barring a fresh trip to Germany, what are some useful ways to find and buy Riesling with some age?

I am really sorry to say there are hardly any. Now and again an estate with mature stocks will find a new importer who can plunder them. I’ve long since dried out any supplies among my guys, save the occasional homeopathic few cases of this or that.

You might look within Germany at various online forums to see whether anyone is selling old vintages in good condition. I mean, it’s bound to happen, and someone will know about it.

Another source is to find a retailer that is selling someone’s cellar. I find that if a cellar had a good selection of german wines, it was likely that the collector also had the good sense to store them well (not always tho). I happen to know that a very large german cellar will be coming onto the retail market soon and it was owned by someone who had temperature controlled storage and bought upon release so the wines have been about as well-stored as any resold US german cellar is likely to be.

Mind you, this collection is mostly from the past 15 years, not really old, just beyond the current market.

Is that Ed Hyers’ cellar? Or did he sell it to Cru a few years ago?

nope - I don’t know Ed but it’s not his.