Late Harvest – Page 2 – All about sweet wines

At its finest – fruit sweet Riesling from the Mosel

21. January 201913. March 2018 by Karl-Heinz Datum

Riesling develops a great deal much flavor when maturing in the cool climate. It matures very well on heat-storing soils, in sun-oriented locations. This is true to a large extent for the steep slate slopes of the Mosel wine region. On slate Riesling often develops a racy acidity, which in fruit sweet Rieslings can play a brilliant game with fruit and sweetness . That’s why fruit sweet Rieslings are among my favorite sweet wines. In the offer of the usual wine trade are usually found only a few such fruit sweet Riesling. All the more reason why I was pleased to receive an e-mail telling me that “one month ago I started an online shop for Riesling Spaetlesen“. This appealed to me so much that I immediately responded positively to the request to taste some wines from its assortment and to blog about it.

Matured sweet wines – fresh and youthful

23. January 202113. January 2018 by Karl-Heinz Datum

Hans had already opened some excellent wines to the excellent French dinner, including, for example, a 2013 Chevalier Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive and a 2005 Le Pavillon from Chapoutier. For cheese and dessert he had selected matured sweet wines, from German predicates such as Spätlese on Vin Doux Naturel to Madeira – all excellent.

1994 Niederhäuser Herrmannshöhle Spätlese, Dönnhoff
Quince, pear and white peach on the nose, delicately smoky. Very fresh on the palate, prominent acidity, mild fruit, juicy, lean, … Read more ...

Mosel Riesling 2016 – Fruity elegance

26. April 20212. November 2017 by Karl-Heinz Datum

Bernkasteler vineyards (at the upper edge from the village from right to left: Doctor, Graben and Lay) © Pixabay

Maximilian Ferger‘s passion for wine becomes clear if listening to him, the enologist and manager of the renowned winery Wwe. H. Thanisch – Erben Mueller-Burggraef, when he is speaking about his work in the vineyards and in wine cellar.
Talking with him about Riesling and Pinot Noir on the phone, I had the impression that he speaks of the vines as his children. Just as you give children the best you can, in any case, he wants the best for his vines. In doing so, he pursues an ecologically oriented, sustainable path, which also includes the renunciation of herbicides and botryzides – a path that will soon be completed

Majorca – Vi blanc dolç

22. January 201920. August 2017 by Karl-Heinz Datum

Majorca had more than 10 million visitors last year. The least of them probably drink Majorcan wine, because the amount produced there annually of about 6 million bottles would not be enough.

Only 10% of the area of Majorca is planted with vines. 2,500 hectares of vineyards are spread over four wine growing areas. Almost two-thirds of the areas claim the Vino de la Tierra – Majorca and Serra de Tramuntana – Costa Nord, the rest is shared by the higher quality DO (Denominación de Origen) Binissalem and the DO Pla i Llevant, located in the southeast.

Anyone who has already drunk Majorcan wine could have already made the acquaintance of one of the indigenous grape varieties of the Balearic Islands. Above all, these are the red varieties Manto Negro, Callet and the white variety Prensal, also called Moll.

Melsheimer – Riesling from feinherb to fruity sweet

17. October 20204. October 2016 by Karl-Heinz Datum

steillagen-bei-traben-trarbach — Steep vineyard in Traben-Trarbach

Around half of the vineyards of the Melsheimer winery in Reil are extremly steep slopes, Mr. Melsheimer senior told us in mid-April this year when he showed us around the winery and brought us closer to history, vineyards and vinification of the Melsheimer winery. There are now many steep slopes on the Moselle, but only 5% of them are among the steepest – with a share of 50% probably a challenge in viticulture. Mr. Melsheimer senior renounced various plant protection products, which his son Thorsten consistently continued, first by converting to ecological, then biodynamic viticulture and then in 2013 finally with the Demeter certification.

Around 3/4 of the slightly more than 11 hectares of vineyards, which all are exclusively planted with Riesling, are in the vineyard Mullay-Hofberg, situated directly above the river Moselle. Their southeast orientation together with the barren slate soil ensure long-lasting, excellent ripening conditions.

Mineral Kabinett – Expressive Late Harvest

30. January 20212. January 2016 by Karl-Heinz Datum

Besides excellent dry wines, Hans seems to store an incredible variety of sweet wines in his very well stocked wine cellar. In addition to Auslese, Beeren- and Trockenbeerenauslese, this also includes Late Harvest and Kabinett. At his last wine tasting, after a nice comparative tasting of the 2008 vintage of the Van Volxem estate wines, he presented us a range of cabinet and late harvest wines. These included the Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett 2005 from the Egon Müller winery and the … Read more ...

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