I bought a couple of bottles of the 2016 Scharzhofberger Kabinett when they came out (fall 2018). $89 all in. I pay that much for White Burgs and the occasional nicer white N. Rhône. Why not for German Riesling? I thought. I adore the usual suspects, mostly drink Trocken/Feinherb/Kabinett, and was in a ‘try new stuff’ mode. I popped one of the bottles soon after receiving them and was impressed. It was a beauty: delicate, penetrating, well balanced. I scored it a 92 and wrote ‘very nice but not better, let alone 3+ times better, than other producers I enjoy.’ Now it seems like current releases are relatively even more expensive.
Every wine region has its superstars that command a price multiple of others. Why should German Riesling be any different? This one doesn’t bother me at all - if I had to have Müller I could imagine paying up for it. But it’s not a must buy to my palate. How lovely that one of the anointed top dogs of this region has so many obvious excellent and (far more than) adequate replacements at more reasonable prices! Really it’s just Keller and Müller, and Keller is at yet another nutso price tier that is easy for me to skip (though I sure like the Von der Fels).
I don’t fault anyone for paying up for these wines. I buy bottles in the $150+ range too, just pick different battles. Heck I can just drink my friends’ Kellers while they sip my Krug. And I’m glad to have that second '16 Scharzhofberger Kabinett, it will be fun to try in a few years.
This is a funny conversation to spectate from the sidelines. The pricing on German wine relative to its objective quality is so utterly broken. Across vast stretches of vinous geography it is simply impossible to make a wine as complex, balanced, exciting and ageworthy as a $19 kabinett. Yes it all comes down to personal preference but it is hard for me to complain even about G-Max pricing given the extreme discount Germans must accept in the global marketplace on all other offerings. As a consumer count me VERY appreciative of this imbalance but never let me be accused of being ungrateful for my good fortune - and I would continue to buy these wines if they increased in price 200-400% because I have already shown willingness to chase my favorite French, Italian and American wines up that same ladder.
what the heck is driving the $200 price on 2020s when there are 17 and 18er Kabis available for less than half that out there still?? seems like just fairly random pricing. crush currently has something like 3 vintages available for fairly less than the 2020s.
But where are the bulk of their sales made? If 5% goes to the US, American demand doesn’t explain the price. If 30% goes to the US, it’s a different story. If the quantities you were sold were small (as I’d imagine) and a small portion of the total production, that doesn’t say anything about what’s driving the price.
This is how I feel these days. I do not purchase the commercial releases at all, but when there is a Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese Auction available I will buy a few bottles.
Part of this is due to the fact that I drink wine rarely enough compared to most that I had to make some hard choices recently about where to continue my German focus- and in that respect I put most of my investment into the racier and zestier wines like Schaefer and von Schubert. But even taking that into account, I am hard pressed to spend several thousand dollars for a mix of the commercial release Egon Muller wines top to bottom each year when there is Prum out there. Or what about Merkelbach? Those are not quite at the level of nuance of Muller or even many Prums- but at maturity they are devastatingly beautiful. And they sell for a pittance compared to what you are getting.
But the Muller Auction Spatlese in the right year (1999 being a good example) is about as magnificent a wine as one will ever taste- think Romanee-Conti level, seriously. At double or triple the going rate (221 Euros for the 2019) it is still worth it, and I would gladly pay. The way pricing is going for the Auctions- I sadly may get tested on that assertion before too long.
Perhaps but if you were looking to spend anywhere under $100 then you can find ten to fifteen Lauer wines that blow Egon’s sharzhof out of the water. At one-third to one-half of the price.
Maybe the better question is, setting aside price, who’s making better sweet Riesling today than Egon. Maybe Willi Schaefer? Or Prum? Or Von Schubert? Schloss Lieser? I probably prefer Schaefer but not sure I prefer any of the others in an absolute sense. For people who think that Egon is making the best wine in the category, it’s harder to argue with the pricing. The best of anything is expensive.
That said, I’m not a buyer at $200 Kabinett. Last time I bought it was more like $85 Kabinett, which while expensive is a lot easier to stomach.
Out of curiosity, I did an all-country search for the Kabinett on Wine Searcher, and the wine seems to be widely available around the world. Lots of listings in Hong Kong and Singapore and Australia, as well as the UK and many shops in the German-speaking world. So it does not appear as if the pricing is driven primarily by the US market.
By “sweet”, do you mean anything across the pradikat or are you talking about the top of the pradikat? I’ve never tried Egon’s TBA, but my experience with Egon’s auslese and my very limited experience with the auslese GK have been pretty special. As for kabi, I will take Julian Haart’s wines over Egon and would have no problem paying Egon prices for Julian’s alte reben kabis, and a 2017 Haart piesporter goldtropfchen spatlese alte reben the other night was as wonderful for me as spat can get. There are many producers that make spat that I’m just as happy to drink as Egon’s, including the names you listed above.
John I agree with that. And never meant to imply that the U.S. is driving pricing. What I do know for sure is that there is a lot of demand for the wine in the U.S. which your earlier post implied there is not at these prices. Mr. Mueller IV told me his dad always told him never to have too much exposure to one market, I think his father had an issue once where a large partner in a particular country went under or something like that.
Alex - To add a little color to what you said earlier in the thread regarding traveling around the world. I know that all of the recent dinners Egon has held in the U.S. were because he was asked to come and not the other way around. And the TBA, BAs and older wines he brought were because he is extremely generous. He produces so little of the TBAs I can’t imagine him have to market them. I think I have sat at this table at Rieslingfeier every year and his generosity is staggering. Just like when you visit him and sit in the library where he opens bottle after bottle direct from the cellar.
I guess I should have added that the Wine Searcher results suggest that it’s not domestic German demand driving the prices, as I believe it is for some German reds and dry whites.
You bring the Julian Hart Kabi Alte Reben and I will bring the Egon Auction Kabi and will throw in a Keller Schubertslay Auction Kabi for fun and lets see how the OG does!
For me, it’s more like 5-10% more of said pleasure for double (or triple, or more) the price, but whether that matters to you is, well, up to you. I’ve only had a handful of Muller wines in my life but they have been some of if not the best Rieslings I have ever tasted.
I am not so sure I agree with you. The only wine I can think of where Germany is driving the price is George Breuer and that is only because Skurnik does such a poor job of distributing them here.