International Press book
Schlossgut Diel Vintage 2004
Stephen Tanzer´s International Wine
Cellar, USA
Issue 124,
January/February 2006:
by
Joel B. Payne
Armin Diel’s
reputation as a restaurant critic, wine writer and outspoken maverick often
cloud people’s perception of his wines. Those who like him love them; those
who do not will always find fault with something. To his credit he promoted
the wines of Helmut Dönnhoff and Werner Schönleber at a time when, although
few had ever heard of them, their wines were perhaps better than his own;
but few who have tasted the last four vintages here can question that this
estate has now fully emerged as the third big gun on the Nahe. Like the
man, though, these wines from the lower stretches of the river are more
full-bodied, perhaps closer to the Rheingau in style, but that does not mean
they lack in elegance. Quite the contrary! That is what the 2004s, which are
in their own way every bit as good as the excellent 2003s, are all about.
(Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections; imported by Michael Skurnik
Wines, Syosset, NY)
2004
Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Eiswein ($176):
Explosive aroma of white peach, citrus oil and smoke. Sleek, clean fruit
with excellent
balance of vibrant acidity and luscious residual sugar. Both exciting and
serene on the palate.
Pure, yet devilishly long. 96
2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Auslese Gold Capsule:
Rich aromas of apricots, quince and sweet spice mingle above the
botrytis. Complex,
unctuous tropical fruits and a salty minerality provide lift and elegance.
Perfectly balanced
and extremely long. One of the best Auslese of the vintage. 94
2004 Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Auslese ($74):
Bright aromas of grapefruit, honeysuckle and sweet spice. Luscious,
velvety fruit remains
delicately sweet. Intense clarity and spice on a long, elegant, yes almost
lascivious finish. 93
2004 Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Trocken Grosses Gewächs ($54):
Heady aromas of tropical fruit, wisteria and grapefruit zest. Intense,
full-bodied fruit almost
muscles its way over the palate, but gives way to a flinty minerality that
masks the depth. Rich, concentrated finish. A bit closed today, but the this
is the dry Riesling for the long haul. 93
2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Trocken Grosses Gewächs:
Lifted aromas of white, acacia blossom and sweet spices. A crisp, almost
crunchy pear fruit brings, with the subtle saltiness on the palate, a
vibrant character to bear. Pure and clean, a long spicy character lingers on
the finish. The most elegant of the estates dry Rieslings at present. 92
2004 Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Spätlese ($43):
Resplendent aroma of papaya, pineapple and oyster shell. Dense, juicy
texture and finely
spiced acidity hold your palate in check. Impressive concentration and
length. One of the finest Spätlese of the vintage. 92
2004 Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Spätlese ($41):
Elegant aromas of ripe peach, kiwi and a hint of vanilla. The silky
sweet fruit texture remains delicate in spite of the richness. An almost
salty minerality animates the finish. Invigorating style. 91
2004 Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Kabinett ($29):
Subtle aromas of apricot, white lime and sweet spices. The refreshing
acidity make this Spätlese appear light and superbly elegant. Piquant fruit
and lively spice animate the finish. 89
Also recommended:
2004 Dorsheimer
Goldloch Riesling Spätlese 90
2004
Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Trocken Grosses Gewächs 90
2004
Riesling Pittermännchen Kabinett 88
2004
Riesling Kabinett 87
2004
Riesling Classic 86
Robert M. Parker´s WineAdvocate, USA
Issue
161, October 2005
by
David Schildknecht
2004
Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Eiswein 96
2004 Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Spätlese Gold Capsule 95
2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Spätlese 93
2004 Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Auslese 92
2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Gold Capsule Auslese 91+
2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Grosses Gewächs 91
2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Kabinett 91
2004 Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Spätlese 91
2004 Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Spätlese 90+
2004 Scheurebe Spätlese 90
2004 Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Kabinett 88+
2004 Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs 88
2004 Riesling Eierfels 88
2004 Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Grosses Gewächs 87+
2004 Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Kabinett 87+
2004 Riesling Classic 86
Armin
Diel was his usually enthusiastic self when it came to verbalizing the
virtues of this latest collection which he ranks as comparable to 1996 or
2002 and, as usual, his wines walked the walk. Before tasting the bulk of
the collection, incidentally, I sampled from barrel the pinot noir and
(minority) chardonnay components for an eventual 2004 vintage Sekt that bids
fair to be truly remarkable.
Diel´s
introductory-level 2004 Riesling "Classic" smells of ripe pear and
red currant, offers a juicy, glossy, satisfyingly fruit filled and
mineral-tinged palate and finishes with a nicely judged if scarcely
taste-able touch of residual sugar, fresh citricity, and wet stone mineral
character.
This
year, Diel declassified a portion of his dry Burgberg and Goldloch
Rieslings, utilizing the name of an egg-shaped rocky outcropping that lies
between those two sites. The resulting 2004 Riesling Eierfels
combines aromas and flavours of slightly bitter black fruits, pineapple,
cumin, and a smoky, waxy Chenin-like note. There is a textural graininess
and faintly bitter notes of lemon zest and peach kernel here, but also a
very juicy fresh fruit and lovely lingering black fruits and nut oils. This
developed very nicely with aeration and displays considerable class as
befits its origins.
Diel´s
2004 Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Grosses Gewächs offers an
unusually low-toned aroma of toasted nuts, peach kernel, and wet stones. The
palate impression here is compact and austere the opposite of juicy and
ingratiating - but impressively nutty and stony, with persistent,
palate-staining peach kernel and toasted nut finishing flavours. I'd give it
a few months to open up.
The
2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Grosses Gewächs is expansive and
generous on the palate when compared with the relative severity of the
Pittermännchen. Scents of almond, white peach and peach kernel set the theme
for what follows. Fruit pit and citrus rind notes accent but don¹t render
bitter a juicy, citric, bright yet at the same time creamy-textured palate
impact. White peach, nut oil, subtle smokiness and diverse mineral notes
combine for a discrete yet ravishingly layered and long finish.
Two
hearts seem to dwell in the breast of Diel´s 2004 Dorsheimer Burgberg
Riesling Grosses Gewächs. On the one hand, the wine is so brothy, meaty,
and saturated with chalky, stony minerality that it could be white Burgundy;
on the other hand there is a bright, almost sharp citricity. The nose too
exhibits some of this duality, along with a heady, musky floral bouquet. In
any event, this is impressively complex, long wine that will appeal to rock
hounds if quite a bit less to fruit lushes. I´m sure this needs some time
to collect itself in bottle, where it had been for only two weeks when I
tasted.
Diel´s
sweet 2004 variations on his top sites constitute a formidable group of
wines, profoundly reflecting his post-1980s conversion to the religion of
residual sugar and the collaboration of Mosel-trained cellarmaster Christoph
Friedrich. The 2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Kabinett offers
aromas of pear and white peach. On the palate it is uniquely creamy for a
Kabinett yet delicate and wafting, finishing with pure white peach, fresh
red raspberry, peach kernel nut oils and delicate but diverse mineral
shadings. This remarkably poised and elegant wine is the stuff of dreams in
more than one sense. Sit down with a bottle and float off into reverie.
Diel´s
2004 Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Kabinett delivers aromas of toasted
nuts, milled grain and chalk dust along with a considerable primary Prüm-like
yeastiness and fermentative overlay. The palate impression is subtly
bittersweet in its suggestions of buckwheat cakes and citrus rind. The
finish is impressively chalky with a tactile dustiness, although one
suspects that the formidable concentration and fine balance of sweetness
here will ally with a more juicy fruit character given a little time. I
began to suspect as well at this point
that the vineyard
personality of the chalky Burgberg is simply expressing itself less well at
this early stage than is the conglomerate and weathered "Rotliegenden"-dominated
Goldloch.
The 2004
Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Kabinett smells of ripe peach, herbal
distillates, and mothballs. The palate is smoky, meaty, and malty, with a
cider-like expression of ripe apple and peach and a distinctively earthy
minerality underlying a quite sweet finish. This is the most concentrated of
Diel´s three 2004 Kabinett Rieslings but arguably the least "Kabinett"-like.
In any event, it needs time to digest its residual sugar.
Diel
characterizes the 2004 vintage as a "classic Spätlese year", and in fact no
facet of his current collection is any more formidable than the phalanx that
follows. I admit it was hard to approach Diel´s 2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch
Riesling Spätlese with an open mind and nostrils, given that site´s
stellar performance thus far. I am compelled to report that all of the pure
white peach fruit, creaminess of texture, elegance and poise of the Kabinett
are enhanced here with the effect of a light drizzle of honey and a dusting
of piquant spice. Sheer density of "stuff" and ripeness of fruit are here
shown to be compatible with ravishing delicacy.
Also
consistent with the performance of its Kabinett sibling, the 2004
Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Spätlese exhibits smoke-tinged, estrous
aromas of apple cider and applejack. A burst of juicy fruitiness on the
palate is underlain by an adamant chalky substrate, and the long finish
takes a turn toward apple jelly, peach preserves and herbal and red-fruited
candy. As the wine opens, it becomes evident that some of the smoke and high
tones here are attributable to botrytis. Yet, this wine remains rooted in
its sappy primary fruit and deep chalky mineral substrate. Chock full of
both fruit and mineral matter, here is a Spätlese that is almost certain to
open up delicious and exciting new vistas as its sweetness resolves, as well
as to cellar well for a couple of decades.
Predictably
given its terroir, the 2004 Dorsheimer Pittermänchen Riesling Spätlese
A.P. #13 is both more minerally in a wet-stone way and more vivid,
citric and berry-toned in its expression of fruit than its two Spätlese
stable mates. Aromas and flavors of strawberry, quince, lemon oil, brown
spices and honey mingle with mineral manifestations. The silken, creamy,
faintly oily texture and prominence of quince, honey and spice suggest
Auslese, but the wine remains fundamentally juicy, with the deft and
satisfying interplay of pure, refined fruit and mineral flavours that
epitomize high class Spätlese.
A 2004
Dorsheimer Pittermänchen Riesling Spätlese Gold Capsule is significantly
creamier and richer than its twin, with the sort of concentration that can
only be born of a combination of nobly shriveled berries with that of tiny
golden Riesling berries subjected to frost. The two corresponding pickings
in roughly equal volume - have married beautifully. Gorgeous aromas of
spiced peach jam and quince preserve are subtly laced with a citrus-like
expression of ripe acidity so intense it manages to handle far more residual
sugar than Diel´s "regular" Spätlesen, yet ends up tasting less sweet.
Polish, ennobled richness dominate the show, as waves of honied, oil-slicked
fruit crash in the finish. I´m too in awe to are ask "Is it really a
Spätlese?" Certainly you can expect this auctioned wine to age well for two
or more decades.
I was
delighted, but also surprised especially given its showing on the heels of a
gold capsule Spätlese to encounter Diel´s 2004 Scheurebe Spätlese,
from a parcel of quarter-century old vines he has acquired in the Hölle
vineyard. Blueberry and black currant jam aromas and flavors are alluringly
tinged by pungent sage oil and botrytis spice and drenched with honey in a
long and juicy if almost candied sweet finish. This elixir of Scheurebe
would make a formidable or perhaps an unwelcomingly intense! aperitif, or
you could sit on some bottles for a few years and wait for the sugar to
back off.
This being a
show directed by Armin Diel, there is another glorious act testing the
limits of concentration achievable with noble rot and plummeting mercury.
Diel´s 2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Auslese is scented and flavoured with
white peach jam, quince jelly, banana oil, honey and marzipan. Creamily rich
yet elegant like its Spätlese predecessor, with a long, honeyed finish, it
narrowly misses the clarity of flavours or the remarkable sense of wafting
delicacy that accrues to the best wines of this year's collection. But I
would not scorn an opportunity to cellar it for the long term.
The 2004
Dorsheimer Pittermänchen Auslese smells of yellow peach jam loaded with
lime peel and brown spices, and exhibits an amazing degree of creamy
richness on the palate. For all of its richness, it also exhibits the
wafting delicacy of the best wines in this collection as well as a
remarkable and refreshing salty expression of minerality and shimmering
curtain of fruit in the finish.
Enormous influence
of botrytis marks the 2004 Dorsheimer Goldloch Auslese Gold Capsule,
which exhibits an ethereally honied, oily-rich sweetness both in the nose
and mouth. Sweetness and honey and quince flavors dominate a formidably
concentrated, long finish, and this wine simply needs time to emerge from
its silken, honey-filled cocoon.
Diel´s 2004
Riesling Eiswein brings together pickings from several gentler, deeper
soiled Dorsheim sites that are year by year the principle source of this
estate's frozen Riesling harvests. At once almost overwhelmingly citric and
sweet, enormously dense and intense, this wine bottled the day I visited was
not really in a fit state to judge but nevertheless is clearly formidable
and merits serious future consideration.
Also bottled the day
I tasted, but I suspect simply so great a wine as to overcome any adversity,
the 2004 Dorsheimer Pittermänchen Riesling Eiswein picked partly mid
November and the rest on December 21 - is a superconcentrate of quince, pear
nectar and pineapple, shot through with honey and nut paste. Through it waft
ominous and pungent clouds of smoke and an almost smarting acid rain of
citrus and spice. The finish would demand a stopwatch if I kept one and if
that weren¹t sacrilege. This wine literally brought tears to my eyes. Even
if it proves hazardous to your health and pocketbook, you should make a
point to experienced this wine, particularly after it recovers from
bottling.
Incidentally,
readers with the requisite disposable income are urged to explore Diel´s
2003 T.B.A. (from the Pittermänchen), which was unfortunately also being
bottled the day I visited. Also recommended: 2004 Riesling Kabinett
($30.50; 85). Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by
Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300
elected the world´s 113 best wineries outside of France.
One of eight from Germany is Schlossgut Diel
by Michel Bettane
Armin Diel not only owns this fine estate, but is also the most well-known wine writer in Germany. With his partner Joel Payne he publishes each year the German Wine Guide, the authoritative work on that country's wines. The leading estates on the Nahe would nary allow their spiritual guide a single mistake in the vineyards, but he surpasses even their expectations.
Not only are the vines perfectly manicured, but the wines irreproachable. Never before have the steep, weathered slate slopes of Dorsheim produced such fine Rieslings, which combine the aromatic finesse of the Mosel with the succulent depth of the Rhine. The exceptional site Goldloch generally produces the most unique wines, but occasionally the neighbouring Pittermännchen vineyard is equally good - and all of the Grands Crus are classic in style, with low alcohols and sugar levels that are perfectly balanced by the acidity.
The Riesling ice wines are even finer. The white burgundies, which are matured in wood, are equally highly praised in Germany. The French consumer would certainly find them less German, but would not hesitate to drink them in a fine German restaurant. however, we are not liable for any virus contamination. |
„A top estate.“
Wine Spectator „Weine von Weltklasse.“
Wine-Plus Internet-Weinführer „Diel a fait exploser la qualité.“
Michel Bettane - Revue du Vin de France „Phänomenale Auslesen und Eisweine.“
Hugh Johnson „One of the most serious proprietors in Germany.“
Robert M. Parker - The Wine Advocate „Auf allen Ebenen mehr als nur bemerkenswert.“
Capital-Weinkompass „La renaissance d‘un grand vignoble allemand.“
Le Rouge & Le Blanc „Eines der renommiertesten Weingüter Deutschlands.“
Stuart Pigott – VIF „A frontrunner from the 1990 vintage onwards.“
Clive Coates - The Vine „Berühmt für seine herrlichen Rieslinge.“
Südwest-Weinführer 2001 „Selbst die Franzosen applaudieren.“
Die neuen Rezepte der Schweizer Köche Schlossgut Diel Riesling Eiswein 2001
96 Points Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Auslese 2001
95 Points Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Auslese 2001
94 Points Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Auslese 2001
94 Points Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Pittermännchen Riesling Spätlese 2001
92 Points |
