Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Jodokus, Hades & Petrus

Drautz-Able Jodokus trocken Hades 2001
Württemberg, Germany
I purchased this 'oddity' on our vacation...I say oddity because of the vintage available...why was it still available? For 'foreigners'....one thing you have to know.....Baden is Baden....and Württemberg is Württemberg. It's like England & Scotland...or Germany and Austria.....and no doubt you will have your own comparison. I asked Herr Hodapp at Gasthof Rebstock in Waldulm (BADEN!!!) about adding to his wine-list....we chatted about the Ahr and the Pfalz..and I mentioned maybe a wine from Württemberg...he was not exactly shocked...but that look said all...I had to grin...OK..I understand...just not done.
I like the wines from the 'north'....they have a savoury earthiness...and I can usually tell them blind...but have very rarely had the chance to taste an 8 year-old example. Drautz-Able is in the town of Heilbronn. Jodokus Drautz founded the property 4 years after Columbus 'discovered' America (work it out..answers please on a post card...first prize..the last drops of this bottle)
A 'killer' for me..is when you open a bottle..and the whiff gets your loins vibrating...well...something like that....this was such just a wine. But..first things first...medium colour with a pale orange rim..danger if I hadn't gotten that pre-smell. OK..enough of chit-chat...nose in.....super...delicate...sweet cream...this spends 3 years in oak. The palate showed almost no tannins...although there was a holding spice thats strokes the soft 'fruity' fruit...fine gentle earthiness...dry cigar....there is Cabernet Sauvignon in this Cuvée..along with the, in this area, popular Lemberger. Perfect maturity....and would fit nicely on any 'Badische Weinliste'. My wife had made a light yellow Thai curry with chicken..the curry hitting the back of the throat and not the tongue. Curries can be a no-no for any tannin....so this was just perfect. Don't tell anyone....but there is only a drop left in the bottle. Sometimes 'Petrus' looks after his own. I'm glad I bought this.....
Points 17.25 or maybe 17.5....

1 comment:

Priory said...

I just found your post.

Like you I bought this wine (in my case 1997) as a result of a trip to Germany - one in which I had the wine with a dinner at an up-market German restaurant. I later bought 18 bottles of this plus 12 of another wine. I echo your own tasting notes. The nose is still there - or at least it was with a bottle I opened 2 months ago.

I'll confess that the only reason I found your post was that I've decided to sell the 6 bottles I still have and was looking for info for the merchant.