Sunday, August 24, 2008

Baden Style, Nahe Class

Not a comparative tasting...
but tried on consecutive evenings...
The wine won 3rd prize at one of the 'Best Riesling' competitions held in Germany. The winner was...Papa Andreas Laible's Weingut. This is the top wine of this young project.
For terroir fans..father's vines are on granite..Alexander's on mainly marly soil.
Alexander Laible Riesling *** Chara 2007
Durbach, Baden, Germany
Bright, fresh...nose offers some grapefruit..a lot of citrus fruit..my wife thought orange peel...
If you froze this and sold it as an ice-lolly...you'd get complaints. This is 'real' dry..but not the mouth-puckering stuff...just a massive amount of minerals..mixed with some spice..mid-fruit...filled out as the bottle emptied. Trace of smoke..and again..a real spice bomb. Good finish.
Points 16.75 € 16

Emrich-Schönleber Monzinger Frühlingsplätzchen
Riesling trocken 2007
Nahe, Germany
To show how good the above Laible Chara is..I decided to travel north...what better way to measure quality than against a top Vineyard from the Nahe.








In 2006 the word 'Spätlese' was on the label..but the powers that be in the Nahe decided not to show it with 'trocken' wines in this vintage.

Looks like a green apple in colour...aromas of grapefruit..and..yes..you guessed it..apple. Steely..and to be expected..minerals from the top shelf. The acidity lingers while the fruit dances.....a terroir wine with vines nicely matured...juicy apple finish.
Emrich-Schönleber wines just ooze class....
Points 16.5 €14

A salad of class as well...marinated strips of sushi tuna on a bed of red beetroot.

1 comment:

David McDuff said...

Haven't had a shot at the Frühlingsplätzchen yet, Barry, but the corresponding '07 from Schönleber's slice of Halenberg is fantastic. Broad, deep and stony, already showing some of its underlying breed. Assuming similar pricing, €14 is a steal.