Friday, July 12,2002

Very Old and Rare German Wine 

by cellar Master

Vintage information.
Some extracts from the great vintage Wine book 11 by Michael Broadbent and another authors rating of the vintages.

" A top class vintage in Germany, as for white wines elsewhere in Europe.  Magnificent wines, full of fruit concentration , acidity.
The best still excellent if well stored.  Unquestionably my favorite German vintage"  *****- Michael Broadbent
*1937 excellent quality - an exceptional year.

1938 good harvest, average quality but some exceptional wines.

" A very hot year with half the normal rainfall.  Very rich soft wines of high quality." **** - Michael Broadbent
*1947 abundant, very good quality.

" A beautiful vintage.  Perfectly balanced wines.  By 1949 the vineyards had recovered, and so had the trade.  A very popular vintage."*****  - Michael Broadbent
1949 average quantity, excellent quality.

" Good but totally different in style to the '64; paler, firmer, more steely, good sustaining acidity.  A relatively small crop, harvested late due to gold and rain at the end of an otherwise well balanced growing season.  Few sweet dessert wines made save for some very late picked grapes made into Eiswein"  ***- Michael Broadbent
1966 average harvest; good, sometimes very good quality.

" Fairly ordinary in the lower quality range but some excellent, late picked, Edelfaule (Botrytis)-affected sweet wines due to the switch back climatic conditions; very variable spring retarded growth, lovely summer but high hopes dashed by heavy rains in Sept which washed out many vineyards.  Those great estates that hung on for the late autumn sunshine made superb TBA's"  * to *****- Michael Broadbent
1967 moderate quantity, excellent quality.
 

" A magnificent vintage.  More on a par with the '49 and '53, rather than the heavyweight' 59 and the sweet ripe '64.  Early flowering and well formed; fine summer, with sunshine and warmth from early July through to the Autumn, the lack of rain concentrating the flesh.  Perfectly healthy, fully mature grapes picked in ideal conditions.  Arguably the most perfect in the Mosel and its tributaries, the best Saar and Ruwer for decades, the early morning mists providing nourishment and burning off to continue the ripening" ***** - Michael Broadbent
"Powerful, elegant, suberb structure; long lived.  97 /Classic" Winespectator.
*1971 the outstanding year of the century. (this the first vintage the new wine law is applicable)

"As far as we can see, up to now the years 1911, 1920, 1921, 1937, 1945, 1949 and 1971 will go down in history as Wines of the Century"
 
 

TASTING
1938 Niersteiner Schnappenberg QbA
1960 Niederhaeuser Hermannhoehle QbA

1937  Dienheimer Grober Falkenberg Kabinett
1947 Ruedesheimer Berg Burgweg Hellpfad Kabinett

1937 Bodenheimer Burgweg Spatlese
1937 Niersteiner Flachenhal Spatlese
1949 Freiherr von Fahnenberg Spatlese
1971 Ruedesheimer Bischofsberg Spatlese

1966 Kreuznacher Brueckes Trteppchen Auslese
 

Meal
2000 Victor de Diel    4,800 *2
1999 Vitus Grauburgunder Barrique (Dr Heger) 2,900*2
1999 Mimus Spaerburgunder (Dr. Heger) 4,900*2
 

Dessert.
1967 Dalsheimer Buergel Beerenauslese 350ml *4