And here are the Von Schubert Maximin Grunhaus pradikat wines. Got some Kabi again!
The mag was even more surprising.
The trend seems to be (already slowly starting in the last years) that the price spread between Kabinett and Spätlese and even Auslese becomes smaller and smaller. Dessert-type wines are not really en vogue whereas the Kabinetts are closer to dry Rieslings in style these days and there’s quite some demand for those slightly more food-friendly and earlier-accessible wines. Interesting for sure. Next year, I’ll bid on some Spätlese and Auslese, many of the auction Spätlese and Auslese tasted in Trier in the last years were just magical (e.g. Le Gallais, Zilliken, Prüm, Lauer, Thanisch Erben Thanisch).
Well, most of the significant bidders get to taste the wines multiple times before the auction. Maybe the spat just wasn’t that great. Egon’s prices are usually manipulated upward so a low price strikes me as a bit of a warning sign.
Given the fame of the vintage already plus the generally smaller allocations coming to auction, the von Schubert results, combined with others thus far, seem to firmly establish an unfortunate reality that COVID has been the most dominant phenomenon impacting the Auctions this year. It is certainly good news for we who have been buying at Auction for a number of years and have been hit with sticker shock in the last decade- and to all the producers out there, there are a great many of us who will treasure these bottles and are very happy to have them.
von Schubert’s Kabinett- one of my annual buys since their return to the VDP in 2015 (with a Spatlese, Kabinett in 2016 and beyond)- had a fine outcome at 41 Euros compared to 40 Euros for the 2018 offered last year. 600 bottles offered this year, 700 offered last year (with 796 ultimately sold.)
The Auslese yet another major surprise at 70 Euros for an offered 204 bottles. Last year there were 90 and 76 bottles each of GK Auslese and LGK Auslese, respectively, hammering for 180 Euros and 210 Euros each, respectively. Given the softness of demand we are seeing in the auction so far, I have to think the large number of bottles being offered this year as compare to the offerings of each of the Auslesen last year has to be the major factor in play. I am told the wine is marvelous- and I look very forward to trying it.
That is entirely possible- but remember far fewer people got to taste in person this year. Also, the real heavy demand for Muller is being driven by China- the auctioneer during the sale had some lulls during the bidding and specifically apologized for not speaking Chinese and being able to keep the action up to date in that language. And so I would expect the demand that has really driven the price bump in recent years has not come from people tasting at the event.
But again, I cannot say any of this with certainty. It is not unprecedented for something like this to happen in the auctions- I am just surprised it happened with Egon Muller and with the first Spatlese he has brought to auction in many years- a Spatlese being compared to his 99 Spatlese Auction which is one of the greatest wines I have ever tasted.
Here’s the benefizkiste/charity box:
Did anyone catch what the hammer price was?
I have not tasted the 2019 Auction Spätlese, but in the past Egon Müller has almost never produced a disappointing Scharzhofberger Spätlese (non auction as there’s hardly ever an auction Spätlese). And it received a raving review from MFW (“The 2019er Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese AP 10 (the auction bottling) was fermented down to sweet levels of residual sugar. It offers a showstopping nose made of pear, elderflower, lemon, vineyard peach, a hint of mango, fine fresh herbs, smoke, and floral elements. The wine is stunningly nuanced and precise on the palate. The zesty-fruity balance is simply breathtaking and the finish is just to die for as the lemony flavors interplay with smoke, herbs, and floral elements. The amazing feature of this wine is how it makes grandness seem so easy and obvious. What a huge success! 98+”). Sounds like signature Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Spätlese with that little bit of extra finesse from an extra selection (auction bottling). I rather think that the Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alte Reben has become a tradable icon wine, like DRC RC and La Tâche, Rousseau Chambertin, Cathiard RSV, Keller G-Max, etc. and people start speculating with the wine.
The Charity Wine Box has now sold, and Willi Schaefer is up in one more lot from now. It would seem if there is going to be any big upside surprise this year, Schaefer is the most likely candidate. Rumors abound that the Spatlese is one of the stars of the sale. Here we go…
- It went for 25k a couple of years back for a German wine board. It hammered at 5000ish but they paid 25,000 Anyway. The manager of the charity was in tears. A woman’s refuge IIRC.
I think it went for 5,000 Euros.
Willi Schaefer next!!
Hold on tight!
Willi Schaefer Spatlese just crossed the 100 Euro mark and bidding still going…
Didn’t take long for me to be out! 123 Euro!
Yow. No Willi for me…
Shut out as well.
Damn, Well at least I got some of the 2018 last year for the 71E hammer.
These are the times when No Limit bids are your friend. This year was the first time I ever went No Limit on anything- and luckily Schaefer Spatlese was one of them. Otherwise I would have been out too. Not only a record price but an almost unheard of price jump from one vintage to the next. Even at my most aggressive, if I had put a number on it, my bid would have been 112 at the most.
Inhale all my old catalogues back to the 2010 vintage here. Schaefer Spat went for 30 then.
At least I’m learning some more German. For example, I now know the German words for “internet” and “YouTube,” along with the phrase “No Willi for you!”