Weingart Bopparder Hamm Riesling Auslese

點擊次數(shù)：2215

Picked-out over various parcels (hence its non-specific labeling), Weingart’s 2009 Bopparder Hamm Riesling Auslese leads with smoky pungency and prickle of lime peel reflecting its strong botrytis component. Bittersweet candied citrus peel, peach preserves, caramel, and herbal elixir ally themselves on a richly-textured palate with piquant suggestions of deeply toasted nuts. Even more than its two sweet Spatlesen siblings, this threatens to become syrupy. But its finish – suggesting above all caramel-tinged grapefruit marmalade and peach preserves – is certainly persistent. One could happily plan to follow this over the next quarter century, though whether it will reveal greater focus or continued successful integration of its bitter elements, I won’t pretend to foresee. For notes on some recent developments at Florian Weingart’s estate, please consult my report in issue 187. While much has been done to improve vineyards and cellar, this young grower’s acute self-awareness and quality-consciousness continue as they have since he took over here, even as he has become one of his country’s most talked-about talents. And he would be the last to want readers to remain unaware that the wines rendered here when his father, Adolf, was in charge – of which I recently tasted a fresh, minerally-intense example that I had imported from the difficult 1987 vintage – were consistently good and often downright distinguished. Weingart reports some drought stress in 2009, but while he began picking already before mid October, Oechsle levels were universally high, which explains not only the relatively high alcohol of some of the dry wines (a phenomenon that’s been witnessed in these vineyards in quite a few recent vintages) but the lack of differentiation by that metric between those wines Weingart chose to bottle as Kabinett and those that became Spatlese. Acid levels were on the whole modest, on top of which several of Weingart’s 2009s – including a couple of the ones I thought among his finest, please note! – underwent at least partial malo-lactic transformation.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The Weingart 2007 Bopparder Hamm Riesling Auslese signals botrytis to the nose with its prickly pungency; mingles candied lemon rind, malt, and honey on an oily, plush palate; and disappoints just a bit with the softness and indistinctness of its finish. I would plan on enjoying it in its youth wherever unabashed sweetness, not-too-high acidity, and the exotic side of botrytis might prove appropriate.Florian Weingart’s reputation continues to mount, but he remains always the self-effacing and astute observer of wine, very much including his own. Given the amount of nobly sweet wine produced here in 2006 and the sometimes problematic quality of the botrytis that appeared this year, the estate essayed little in that genre this year, much of which moreover ended up as blending material.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300