This was a fun video considering the wine bug that bit me was a spätlese riesling by Maximin Grünhauser. It’s always fun to go back to your first love! Germany is well known for its white wines, particularly riesling, but is coming into its own with light bodied reds such as lemberger, pinot noir and more! This flight included 2 wines from the 2013 vintage, Darting Weissburgunder Sekt and Schnaitmann Riesling Götzenberg Grosses Gewächs. Weingut Aldinger Trollinger Trocken 2013 and the previously mentioned GG are both from Württemberg.
I was so excited to taste the Schnaitmann that I opened it about 3 or 4 days before I filmed the video. When I first opened it, it had significant petrol and lime aromas as well as some jasmine.
After opening up a day or two later, ripe pineapple and smooth crème notes were revealed on the palate. One of the most impressive things about this wine is the obvious character of ripe grapes, but with absolutely no sugar (in reality, it probably clocks in at 2-3 g/l). GG’s are required by the VDP to be dry wines from Grosse Lage (similar to Grand Cru) vineyards. Since the VDP is driven by quality and vineyard site, there is a tendency for the Prädikatswein classifications to be left off of the labels. For instance, If you want to know if your GG has grapes ripened to Kabinett level, unless they indicate it somewhere on the label, you will have to do more research. You could easily look up the Oechsle (measurement of the density of grape must) of the wine on a tech sheet, but this is less convenient for consumers. I myself am always looking for supreme Auslese Trocken styles (83-100 degrees Oechsle). This wine delivered the goods!
Darting’s Weissburgunder Sekt was made in the traditional method similar to Champagne. This is indicated on the label as, ‘Klassische Flaschengärung’ which means ‘classic bottle fermentation.’ The mousse was frothy, yet silky smooth and the palate was full of golden apples, lemon curd and vanilla pudding. Very pleasing!
Last but not least was the VDP.Gutswein red by Weingut Aldinger! This was a trocken style of the grape variety trollinger, also known in NE Italy as schiava. It was light bodied, but with a nice amount of concentration on the palate. Cherry and earth dominated, but the nose was a bouquet of purple and red flowers. Beautiful!