Four Rieslings from Nahe, Mosel and Rheingau plus Monte Bello Chardonnay resulted in a nice evening. Life is good!
The Heymann-Löwenstein 2011 Winninger Uhlen Riesling R (Rothlay) is from one of the best producers at the Moselle. With black tea, nutmeg, lime and orange zest it is rather a character Riesling than a classic one. With full-body, a perfect balance and a slightly sweetness, it is dense and complex with enourmous power and a long finish. Wow. 19/20 points. Heymann-Löwenstein produces 3 different wines from the vineyard Winninger Uhlen B (Blaufüsserlay), L (Laubach) and R (Rothlay), each representing a special soil. R is the most powerful and complete, but B and L are on the same level.
Luckily this is our second bottle from Emrich-Schönleber 2010 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling R in a short time and if possible we would drink it many more times. One of the sexiest Riesling ever, it has orange zests, apricot, peach and blossoms and with aeration also white chocolate and exotic fruit. With almost full-body, it is spicy and etremely juicy with minerality, lime, a bit of nutmeg and a medium to long finish. Perfectly balanced, it has a perfect interplay of acidity and a light sweetness. 19.5/20 points.
This bottle of Peter-Jakob Kühn 2010 Riesling Schlehdorn was either bad or this wine slides slowly away. It has herbs and orange and it is mineralic and spicy but with a slightly bitter note and an unusual dryness. It is a little bit sparse. 16.8/20 points. All of the bottles, we drank years before, got a much higher score above 18.
Years ago the Baron Knyphausen 2010 Hattenheimer Wisselbrunnen Riesling Auslese Goldcap was only dense and sweet. Now it is very elegant and complex with roasted caramel, honey, blossoms, butter and butterscotch. With aeration it also gets wax. Full-bodied, dense, with a medium long finish, it is oily and complex. 18.5/20 points.
The red Monte Bello is more famous but for us the Ridge 2015 Monte Bello Chardonnay has the same quality level. Starting with vanila and butter, it needs a lot of aeration to get white chocolate. It is full-bodied, mineralic, spicy and has an oily consistency and lots of glycerine. The finish is medium to long. It starts very modern, but has a classic structure and gets more and more "European" with aeration. 19/20 points.
