There is too much good German Riesling available

[Tom_G_l_a_s_g_o_w]

My only concern is that there is actually not nearly enough available dry Rieslings with some age in the US market! I’d love to find more (any??) to backfill and to experiment with aging. I love the stuff young but aged examples have been really nice too.

There hasn’t been a ton of new release dry German Riesling in the USA for very long. It was barely a trickle (IMO) until about 2008-2010. I would say that 2010 really marked a change in availability. So there’s not much inventory to meet your wants/needs.

Too true! I got lucky in that my husband was working at Moore Brothers waaaay back when they were the only ones bringing in the dry Rieslings - and bringing them in with perfect provenance, thank goodness! - so his dowry came with a bunch of older bottles. But even for us, there isn’t much with real age.

NJ or DE?

[Howard_Cooper]

PS - When did Egon Mueller get so damned expensive while I wasn’t looking.

Try Zilliken or Maximin Grunhaus. Much easier on the wallet.

[Howard_Cooper]

^ I don’t find that there are endless quality producers and I try quite a few German rieslings that I find relatively uninspiring. What I do find is that the world class producers are priced at a level that makes them accessible to anyone. Egon might be an exception to this with the kabi now breaking $100, but other top saar producers are priced at a fraction of his prices.
A

I know you drink lots of Riesling so you are coming from an informed opinion. I do think that Germany has an enormous amount of great wine and more on a % basis that does not get imported to the U.S. than any other country. And new producers are popping up all of the time (usually it is a daughter or son taking over an older Domain).

That might be true. I don’t have enough experience to say. At VDP last year, I was struck my the significant drop off in quality from the grosser ring tasting to the bernkasteler ring tasting. In my view, there was generally a significant difference between the quality level for top tier producers versus the next rung down, with a few outliers.
A

When I purchase Burgundy, I am looking for newer producers (esp. up and coming ones) to get wines at somewhat reasonable prices. When it comes to German wines, other than producers like Egon Muller and Keller, there isn’t the price difference between my favorite producers and the up and coming good value producers. So, the producers I have the most German wines from are Prum, Zilliken, von Schubert, Selbach, Schloss Lieser and Reinhold Haart. These six producers make up about 75% of my German wines.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

There hasn’t been a ton of new release dry German Riesling in the USA for very long. It was barely a trickle (IMO) until about 2008-2010. I would say that 2010 really marked a change in availability. So there’s not much inventory to meet your wants/needs.

Too true! I got lucky in that my husband was working at Moore Brothers waaaay back when they were the only ones bringing in the dry Rieslings - and bringing them in with perfect provenance, thank goodness! - so his dowry came with a bunch of older bottles. But even for us, there isn’t much with real age.

NJ or DE?

NJ, but it was at least 15 years ago, I’d say.

[lleichtman]

I have so much old Riesling that I am reluctant to buy anything more than basic ones right now. Hopefully, I can drink them all up before my drinking window closes. Jay, Egon Miller hasn’t gone up anywhere near as fast as Napa Cabs or any other cult wines.

[Howard_Cooper]

My only concern is that there is actually not nearly enough available dry Rieslings with some age in the US market! I’d love to find more (any??) to backfill and to experiment with aging. I love the stuff young but aged examples have been really nice too.

There hasn’t been a ton of new release dry German Riesling in the USA for very long. It was barely a trickle (IMO) until about 2008-2010. I would say that 2010 really marked a change in availability. So there’s not much inventory to meet your wants/needs.

Too true! I got lucky in that my husband was working at Moore Brothers waaaay back when they were the only ones bringing in the dry Rieslings - and bringing them in with perfect provenance, thank goodness! - so his dowry came with a bunch of older bottles. But even for us, there isn’t much with real age.

Interesting way to pick a spouse. Do an inventory of their wine cellar first.

[Jim_Stewart]

I have so much old Riesling that I am reluctant to buy anything more than basic ones right now. Hopefully, I can drink them all up before my drinking window closes. Jay, Egon Miller hasn’t gone up anywhere near as fast as Napa Cabs or any other cult wines.

That’s a good one . . . and a pointed turn of the phrase. Drink up!

[T_Fletcher1]

I’ve only discovered an appreciation for German Rieslings within the past 9 months. Over this time period, I’d say approx. 20% of my total wine purchases have been Rieslings. As others voiced, the only problem is my wife does not care much for them.

I’m working through different producers, regions and designations so I’m thankful for threads like this and David’s posts on CT.

Have you tried your wife with the dry Rieslings as well? I have found that the population at large has an easier time making the transition into Riesling with those rather than kabinett, spatlese and above.

We’ve only done the Kabinett, Spatlese and even sweeter Auslese. I thought the Kabinett was considered “dry”. Any recs?

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

I’ve only discovered an appreciation for German Rieslings within the past 9 months. Over this time period, I’d say approx. 20% of my total wine purchases have been Rieslings. As others voiced, the only problem is my wife does not care much for them.

I’m working through different producers, regions and designations so I’m thankful for threads like this and David’s posts on CT.

Have you tried your wife with the dry Rieslings as well? I have found that the population at large has an easier time making the transition into Riesling with those rather than kabinett, spatlese and above.

We’ve only done the Kabinett, Spatlese and even sweeter Auslese. I thought the Kabinett was considered “dry”. Any recs?

No, kabinett is not generally dry unless it’s labeled as kabinett trocken. Kabinett seems to be getting sweeter and sweeter at a lot producers, in fact. You might want to see what your wife thinks of the dry wines, as a lot of people can’t get past the sweetness, despite the balance. Look for anything with trocken on the label, or Großes Gewächs (GG) which are basically the dry grand crus, though those will not be bone dry and are often more expensive. There are dozens of great producers of dry wine. Our favorites are Keller, Schafer-Frohlich and Emrich-Schonleber (they all make sweeter wines as well) but there are so many more. Schloss Lieser, Martin Mullen, Battenfeld Spanier spring to mind, just to name a very, very few. Even producers known for their sweets will often make dry as well, though I don’t think they always excel at it.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

There hasn’t been a ton of new release dry German Riesling in the USA for very long. It was barely a trickle (IMO) until about 2008-2010. I would say that 2010 really marked a change in availability. So there’s not much inventory to meet your wants/needs.

Too true! I got lucky in that my husband was working at Moore Brothers waaaay back when they were the only ones bringing in the dry Rieslings - and bringing them in with perfect provenance, thank goodness! - so his dowry came with a bunch of older bottles. But even for us, there isn’t much with real age.

Interesting way to pick a spouse. Do an inventory of their wine cellar first.

If you’d ever had his cooking, you would know his cellar wasn’t first on his list of attractions.

[p_raghib]

For me, the current opportunity to buy German Riesling, particularly from the Mosel, is the greatest inefficiency in my wine journey. These are wines where the price could be raised significantly

I love the wines, and while they are still cheap to other regions I still can’t over the uptick in some prices over the past 20yrs…I’m also not sure they could be priced that much higher because with fee exceptions the wines are not too difficult to source.

But no, you can’t buy too much.

[J_Rock]

I’ve recently been hit incredibly hard by the Riesling bug and can’t seem to get enough of it (seriously, I need another job to afford all of this wine). I think Riesling may be my favorite varietal and as there is so much great diversity within the varietal, I can see it taking up a very large portion of my collection. If you’re in the Los Angeles area and need to unload any of your extra Riesling, let me know!

[J_Rock]

I’ve only discovered an appreciation for German Rieslings within the past 9 months. Over this time period, I’d say approx. 20% of my total wine purchases have been Rieslings. As others voiced, the only problem is my wife does not care much for them.

I’m working through different producers, regions and designations so I’m thankful for threads like this and David’s posts on CT.

Have you tried your wife with the dry Rieslings as well? I have found that the population at large has an easier time making the transition into Riesling with those rather than kabinett, spatlese and above.

We’ve only done the Kabinett, Spatlese and even sweeter Auslese. I thought the Kabinett was considered “dry”. Any recs?

Markus Molitor’s White Kapsel Rieslings are all dry, regardless of the Pradikat classification (e.g., Kabinett, Spatlese). I think their Kabinett and Spatlese white kapsel’s are a great way to dip your toes into dry Riesling as they are very reasonably priced and very good.

[Kirk.Grant]

So many producers and styles, you can afford the very best, and the next vintage is always around the corner. I keep stockpiling the stuff. I do drink it regularly, but still, not as fast as I can buy it. It’s currently at about 20% of the cellar. Has anyone ever looked back and thought they bought too much German Riesling?

David,

I love German Riesling. It accounts for 12% of my cellar and I’m trying to keep it to less than 600 bottles. It means I have to be selective in what I’m buying and I tend to drink less often than others here (maybe 1-2 times/week). I’ve never regretted buying as much as I do…usually the problem for me is that to keep things balanced and in check the number goes down each year as I try to age more of them.

In fact…the one regret I have right now is not buying more Keller GG’s while they were easier to find & buy.

[T_Fletcher1]

Have you tried your wife with the dry Rieslings as well? I have found that the population at large has an easier time making the transition into Riesling with those rather than kabinett, spatlese and above.

We’ve only done the Kabinett, Spatlese and even sweeter Auslese. I thought the Kabinett was considered “dry”. Any recs?

No, kabinett is not generally dry unless it’s labeled as kabinett trocken. Kabinett seems to be getting sweeter and sweeter at a lot producers, in fact. You might want to see what your wife thinks of the dry wines, as a lot of people can’t get past the sweetness, despite the balance. Look for anything with trocken on the label, or Großes Gewächs (GG) which are basically the dry grand crus, though those will not be bone dry and are often more expensive. There are dozens of great producers of dry wine. Our favorites are Keller, Schafer-Frohlich and Emrich-Schonleber (they all make sweeter wines as well) but there are so many more. Schloss Lieser, Martin Mullen, Battenfeld Spanier spring to mind, just to name a very, very few. Even producers known for their sweets will often make dry as well, though I don’t think they always excel at it.

Great education…thanks Sarah! I’ve had and enjoy Shafer-Frohlich…actually have two bottles of the Vulkangestein trocken so we’ll try one of those next!

[T_Fletcher1]

Have you tried your wife with the dry Rieslings as well? I have found that the population at large has an easier time making the transition into Riesling with those rather than kabinett, spatlese and above.

We’ve only done the Kabinett, Spatlese and even sweeter Auslese. I thought the Kabinett was considered “dry”. Any recs?

Markus Molitor’s White Kapsel Rieslings are all dry, regardless of the Pradikat classification (e.g., Kabinett, Spatlese). I think their Kabinett and Spatlese white kapsel’s are a great way to dip your toes into dry Riesling as they are very reasonably priced and very good.

Thanks Jordan! I have a bottle of Markus Molitor’s white capsule. It’s a Spatlese but we’ll give that a whirl soon too.

[Howard_Cooper]

Too true! I got lucky in that my husband was working at Moore Brothers waaaay back when they were the only ones bringing in the dry Rieslings - and bringing them in with perfect provenance, thank goodness! - so his dowry came with a bunch of older bottles. But even for us, there isn’t much with real age.

Interesting way to pick a spouse. Do an inventory of their wine cellar first.

If you’d ever had his cooking, you would know his cellar wasn’t first on his list of attractions.

[Charlie_Carnes]

yes, way too much since the wife hates it.

Bad kind of metoo. This was fantastic over the weekend in Cupertino and my wife said “I know this is well-made and really great but I wouldn’t buy it again”; hell, I’d bathe in it.

FCB45B22-F453-49F4-A9E2-A8C16DBAA5E8.jpeg

Damn skippy. That’s great stuff!

[Jim_Stewart]

I’ve only discovered an appreciation for German Rieslings within the past 9 months. Over this time period, I’d say approx. 20% of my total wine purchases have been Rieslings. As others voiced, the only problem is my wife does not care much for them.

I’m working through different producers, regions and designations so I’m thankful for threads like this and David’s posts on CT.

Trent, my interest in Riesling has also taken place during the same time frame as you, although I have not focused on the German Rieslings in depth. Reading your comment about your wife sounded like something I would also say. FWIW, here is a TN of a Trocken that we tasted not too long ago. Good luck and good drinking. -Jim

TN: 2017 A.J. Adam Riesling Trocken

[Charlie_Carnes]

I am selling quite a bit of wine at auction, but the estimates for the Rieslings were absurdly low considering the quality of the wines. 1971 Auslese for $80 from decent producers, 1975/6 same for less than $50. The estimates were based on what has sold, and so were correct. Do I value these wines more than the estimate? Absolutely. So not selling, and putting together a series of tastings to enjoy the wines
German wines are the orphan child; as the tide on most wines rise, Riesling (and Port) are sinkers. I am not sure the drinker part of me considers this to be a problem.

Mark, well said, this is a window into the “bizarro” world of wine quality, price, criticism, et. al. etc., etc. Riesling is, to me, the greatest, cheapest wine in the world. It is dumbfounding sometimes.