The third and final workshop on the second day of the Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting in Sydney.
This workshop focused on Riesling from the new and old world, in an off-dry style.
Dry River “Craighall” 2004
Slightly less pungent nose than the 2005 I tried the previous day, but still had some sweaty, funky elements as well as crisp green apples, lemons and lime. There is a good balance between sweetness and structural acidity. Nice drinking and will probably provide enjoyment over the next 2-3 years, but was just seeming to lack something special to take it up to the next level of quality.
88/100
Cave Spring “CSV” 2004
The nose is fresh and shows notes of florality and grape juice. Palate shows very aggressive acidity that disrupts the line and length of the wine. I don’t know if it’ll settle down with time, but on this showing it was very difficult to drink.
84/100
J. L. Wolf Forster Pechstein Spatlese 2004
In contrast to the 2004 Spatlese Trocken that I tried from this maker in workshop two, I thought this was quite good. It has a very floral, perfumed nose with apples, pear, steel, slate and minerals. Shows excellent palate structure and has a lingering finish. The sweetness is restrained and plays only a background role.
88/100
Wittmann Westhofener Morstein Spatlese 2004
Pure citrus peel and lime scents on the nose. Acid is aggressive on the front of the palate, but then drops away in the middle and leaves cloying sweetness on the finish. This wine seemed to be struggling to find balance on this occasion.
85/100
Bonny Doon “the Heart has its Rieslings” 2005
Has to be a contender for one of the most cringe inducing names I’ve encountered. Had a nose of lime, lychee, slate, grapefruit and pear. Palate shows good length but needs some additional acid in order to avoid the sweetness dominating and to find balance.
87/100
Clusserath-Weiler Trittenheimer Apotheke Spatlese 2004
Pungent, powerful, slightly over the top nose of washed rind cheese, yeast and sulphur. The palate is good, balanced and long – but it’s hard to drink when your nose is sending you a signal that you don’t really appreciate in your Riesling.
85/100
Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtropfchen Spatlese 2004
Has a reductive nose, minerals, sulphur and phenolic characters. Biting acidity on the palate comes in over the top of the sweetness. Hard to judge at the moment, it may calm down with additional time in bottle.
86/100
Weingut Clemens Busch Pundericher Marienburg Spatlese 2004
A nose of good purity – steely, slate and minerals. Balance and length suffer from cloying sweetness on the back palate.
87/100
Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Halenberg Spatlese 2004
Old wet sweaty boots along with struck match sulphur. Acid dominates the palate. I was not too fond of this wine.
80/100
Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Spatlese 2004
Like freshly squeezed lime juice on the nose. The palate is tight and elegant, with sweetness present but cooperating with the other elements of the well-structured palate. I could see this getting better with additional time in bottle.
89/100
Weingut Josef Leitz Rudesheimer Berg Schlossberg Spatlese 2004
Aromas of slate, petrol and apricot on the nose. A really good acid structure and balance to the rich palate, seamless integration of components and a lingering finish. It should be very good with time to develop.
89/100
Dr. Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten Spatlese 2004
Icing sugar, slate, earth, lime and violets form the nose. Displays an elegant palate with tight focus and superb depth of flavour. It is delicious to drink now, but give it 10-15 years and it should be brilliant.
91/100
Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Spatlese 2003
This looked a bit out of place as a product of the 2003 vintage alongside the previous 2004 wines. On the nose it had ripe peaches, mango, pineapple, a floral candy like element and concentrated raisins. A rich and slightly broad palate, with the acid struggling to keep to the tempo of the rest of the elements.
86/100
Pegasus Bay “Encore” 2004
Grapefruit, passionfruit, honey, apricot and a fair hit of botrytis. Palate exhibits very high richness, excellent flavour depth and fruit concentration, but the core acid structure reins things back from being cloying. Lacks complexity at the moment, but could improve if given another 3-4 years.
90/100
Mount Horrocks “Cordon Cut” 2004
Lemon meringue, pineapple and some sulphurous notes. Palate lacks acid and the sweetness seems cloying as well as exhibiting harshness on the finish. This was not nearly as good as the excellent 2005 that I had on general tasting. Sealed under screwcap, but I wonder if there was something slightly off about this bottle.
82/100
You’ve been doing some serious drinking there Cam.