Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Gerümpel Riesling trocken “P.C.” 2010
25€; 13% abv; 7,8 g/l acidity; 8 g/l sugar. This was a very enjoyable wine. Ripe but gloriously mineral, pure Riesling aromas. Enormously concentrated - more than I would ideally prefer -, but with good acidity and just the right touch of sugar to keep this charming and instantly loveable instead of being austere and painful. Long, dry finish. If this is one of the de-acidified 2010s, the process seems to have worked here - this is really quite beautiful. Does anyone know if Dr. B-W was one of the estates that de-acidified?
Has anyone made a list of who de-acidified and who didn’t? How is de-acidification supposed to show in the wine - as in are there detrimental side-effects that might be noticeable?
Has anyone made a list of who de-acidified and who didn’t: No. And even if someone did the results would permanently be in dispute, as various folks have claimed not to have de-acidified, while others said that anyone who said they didn’t de-acidify is lying. (And by the way, questions on de-acidification would likely be on a wine by wine basis, not across a producer, at least for better estates.)
How is de-acidification supposed to show in the wine: Some say it strips the “soul” (whatever that means) from the wine. Of course many 2010s strip the enamel from your teeth, so pick your poison - eternal vinous damnation or dental pain. As for how it really shows - anybody’s guess, except that the acidity will be lower.
are there detrimental side-effects that might be noticeable: See the answer to the question above. It’s a question of vibrancy, but some 2010s were a little bit too vibrant for mixed company.
From Vino Enology dot com:
"Deacidification is the process of reducing titratable acidity in grape juice, must or wine. The biological process of deacidification in wine is a malolactic fermentation, in which malic acid is converted to lactic acid and also softens the mouth feel of the acid. Physicochemical deacidification involves either acid precipitation or column ion exchange. The deacidification agents precipitate some tartaric acid in the form of insoluble salts.
Calcium Carbonate /CaCO3/ forms carbon dioxide and precipitates calcium tartrate (CaT). However, this introduces a risk of calcium tartrate instability. Simple deacidification with CaCO3 is used against high tartaric acid content, mainly on grape juice/must, also can be utilized on young wines as well.
Potassium Bicarbonate /KHCO3/ and Potassium Carbonate /K2CO3/ are used for deacidification of grape juice, must or wine for improving quality or rounding off of flavors. They both form carbon dioxide and precipitate potassium bitartrate.
*With the double salt method you can reduce tartaric and malic acid. Double salt deacidification is a special technique in which you can take up to 20% of the volume to be treated and add all the CaCO3 calculated needed for the total volume. The goal is to precipitate tartaric and malic acid in roughly equal parts. The high pH over 4.5 produced in this fraction is to facilitate this."
Many people have written about it. Terry Theise comes to mind immediately. If you look back at his catalog from last year, he says something along the lines of learning not to ask IF they did so, but rather to ask HOW and WHEN they did. He doesn’t represent producers who tend to want to mess with their wines, either. I think almost everyone did with at least some of their wines, particularly anything labeled “Trocken”.
90% of folks de-acidified in 2010.
Schafer Frohlich didn’t for his GG and residual sugar wines, having risked a way late harvest, which is somewhat customary for him. The results were stunning.
I suppose it’s possible to have too much of anything, and I don’t know what the 2010s would have tasted like without deacidifying, but I have yet to taste a riesling that had too much acid for my tastes.
I have tasted many that didn’t have enough, though. Including a 2008 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese last week, my first experience with a mid-to-higher-end Donnhoff, and one of the more disappointing wine experiences I’ve had this year. Not enough acid or freshness, and nothing about it that really stood it apart from or above your typical $18 QPR Kabinett. After all the intense hype for that producer, I was quite surprised to find such an average wine.
But the two less expensive 2010 Donnhoff’s I’ve tried (the estate riesling and the Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett) were quite good and had good acid and structure, so I guess I need to pick and choose from the lineup. If those were deacidified, then it wasn’t overdone in those cases, at least as of this young age.
I’ve also never been impressed by a Donnhoff, finding them flabby and imprecise. I’m intolerant of both high and low acidity, unfortunately, which rules out a lot of wines/vintages others may enjoy. I did buy a bunch of JJ Prum 2010s but haven’t opened a single one yet, probably time to do so…
“After about a week of tasting, I reframed the question I’d been asking. It was no longer about whether a grower deacidified, but rather when and by what method. I would guess that at least 90% of German Rieslings were deacidified – closer to 100% for the dry ones.”
As much as I admire Terry, it’s conjecture when extrapolated to the entire population of Rieslings (though with data on many producers I am sure), and certain to be disputed to anyone who thinks they can use that information to gain an edge in sales (not that I have run across that happening…yeah…right).
David, I agree that neither Terry nor any of us knows the story with every producer in Germany, but I think it’s fair to say based on his findings that a heck of a lot of producers did deacidify their 2010s, though, of course, we don’t know a number or percentage. The few I’ve tasted that weren’t treated that way have been particularly zingy, making me think we need a new scale of perception of acidity (going beyond what I would normally call “high”) for German Riesling. Of course, each estate and wine is unique
wow, color me ignorant. i tasted a lot of 2010s in the mosel last year, and knew some of them were, but didn’t know how many. but, then again, even the friggin ausleses were razor-sharp, so i guess it makes sense.
It is usually that people de-acidified some of their wines, but sometimes not all of them. The higher level RS wines had enough must weight to handle so much acid, so they were the least likely to be de-acidified. Plenty of people still did even at AUS+ levels…I love the insane highwire balancing act of those who managed to pull it off successfully, like a four hundred pound hippo on a unicycle, on a tightrope. Balanced.
Normally you see roughly a 50/50 split between Malic and Tartaric acids in Germany. In 2010 it was 75% Malic, 25% Tartaric, in 2011 it was 25% Malic, 75% tartaric. Doppelsalzentsäuerung is not regulary employed in these modern times (2010 being the exception). Yields are getting lower, there is more canopy work to help to control acidity (leaf-thinning in the fruiting zone, higher canopies –or rather lower heads, green-harvesting, etc.), and there are many more measures taken to ensure that the soil is warm and loose which can lengthen the growing season considerably and help to build down acidity.
Of all of the top (VDP) estates in the Pfalz (to take but one example), I think that only 4 or 5 didn’t deacidify some wines, in some way in 2010. If they didn’t, we were seeing dry Spätlese at 12 or 13g/l. That’s tough to swallow for some people. On the other hand, the producers who didn’t (Christmann, Koehler-Ruprecht come to mind) had their best vintages that I’ve ever tasted.
Is the Bürklin-Wolf Gerümpel deacidified? I find it incredibly hard to believe that it wasn’t. One thing can hardly be disputed: Bürklin-Wolf makes among the most elegant Riesling in the world (to my taste, the most elegant in the Pfalz by some distance.) The wines are excellent and I like the estate more and more with every wine that I taste.
in the Pfalz, in addition to Christmann and Koehller-Ruprecht, Müller-Catoir, von Winning, and Rebholz all told me that they did no deacidification, punkt. Bürklin-Wolf told me no deacidification for single vineyard wines, as did several others. Beyond Pfalz, Rudi Wiest said that most of his producers did not deacidify because they determined that the very high dry extracts could take the acidity – assuming they did not deacidify, I think they are correct.
Bill: On a recent trip to the Mittelhaardt (Christmann, Koehler-Ruprecht, Karl Schaefer, and Müller-Catoir), I found Koehler-Ruprecht’s 2010 Saumagen Riesling Kabinett trocken and Spätlese trocken impressive.
Claude: I’d be curious to know which producers in Rudi Wiest’s portfolio didn’t do some de-acidification.
