1998 Dr. Burklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Rechbächel Riesling

[djewesbury]

Spätlese Trocken (not enough room to write this in the thread title).

A deep golden straw colour. The nose is very soft and quiet - a slight, very slight, grassy peachiness, with melon and a slightly bitter lychee note. In the mouth what we have is a very layered unfolding of flavours and notes. It begins with white grapes, which seems simple enough and seems to die away; there's a momentary threat that this will be very short and very uninteresting. But then a fresh, slightly bitter tone turns up on the top of the palate, the ghost of Riesling slatey minerality with a mango / lychee tone, followed by rounded melon fruitiness that arrives at the end and lingers in the finish, edged with minerality.

What a mouthful! Delicious. Thank you André.

I have once drunk an early 1970s Riesling that had really fallen apart - literally, dis-integrated - into radically disjointed component flavours, most of which were quite foul (perhaps because they were all so unexpected). This wine, a little 'separated' but still whole, helps me understand what had happened with that frail old bottle.

I didn't get any petrol notes though!

[AW77]

You're welcome. I'm surprised that there was no petrol in the nose. Did you serve it as cold as a young Riesling? I think white wines that are older than 15 years should be served a little warmer for the flavour to show properly.
But anyway it seems I still have to find a bottle with petrol notes for you.
I will open my bottle on Thursday and post my TN here.

[djewesbury]

You're welcome. I'm surprised that there was no petrol in the nose. Did you serve it as cold as a young Riesling? I think white wines that are older than 15 years should be served a little warmer for the flavour to show properly.
But anyway it seems I still have to find a bottle with petrol notes for you.
I will open my bottle on Thursday and post my TN here.

We chilled it a little but not too much. We have a bottle-chiller around it (we are still savouring it) which keeps it cool for a while but then starts to lose effect.
I'm beginning to wonder whether I know what petrol smells like at all. All those years of solvent abuse wasted.

[AW77]

First of all, you're right. There are no petrol notes in this 16-year-old Riesling, which is remarkable given it's age.

Here is my TN:
- Right after opening the bottle: golden colour, smells mineral, of quince and a little bit of apricot, light-bodied, tart nut flavour in the mouth, hardly any acidity, short finish
- After 20 minutes open: has more body now and a longer finish (but still not enough of both)
- After 30 minutes open: now the acidity is coming, has some acidity now, but not really much, the finish has a sour note now, that reminds me of kiwifruit

Nevertheless, the wine reminded me more of a Pinot blanc than of a Riesling. It should have been drunk years ago, when there was still acidity left.