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+--- Thread: New Here With A ? About Reislings (/thread-17500.html)
- cheeps - 01-07-2004
Hi everyone. I just joined as I would like to learn more about wine and someone recommended this site to me. Please excuse any spelling errors, as I'm just beginning and not familiar with alot of the names. I recently bought The Wall Street Journal's 2004 guide to wine which was recommended to me as a good start to begin learning. I haven't started it yet, so I'll keep my questions to a minimum until I do. I know I like rieslings, sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, sharaz, and merlot, but I know nothing about differences between brands, years, etc. I just know I've had these types of wine and I liked what I had.
Anyway, as a starting question, I was wondering about the differences in rieslings. I know I like rieslings, but I'm confused by what "spatlese" and "kabinett" means. I'm assuming kabinett is German for Cabernet? As I said, I know I like riesling but I've only ever bought one kind - Dr. Fischer. I bought a bottle and liked it, so I just stick to that brand. Some years it's good, some years it's not so good, but I don't know enough to choose anything else. That's another thing I'm confused about. I know a ton of things influence the wine - how much rain fell, what the weather was, etc. so year to year things change. But how do you know this is a good year and that is a bad year? Is it all trial and error? How do you know a particular wine won't be good to drink for another 2 years, or 5 years or even 10 years?
I'll stop now before I post another 15 questions lol!! I meant to just ask about the rieslings! TIA!
Lisa
[This message has been edited by cheeps (edited 01-07-2004).]
- Springer29710 - 01-07-2004
Hi Cheeps
I am very new to this Wine Board too. Try the link below on good reading regarding your questions.
http://www.sbwines.com/usenet_winefaq/agingwine.html
- wondersofwine - 01-09-2004
Welcome to the board. Come back often. Reading is a good way to enter the wine world (along with tasting).
Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese are designations about the ripeness of grape at harvest and sugar content (before winemaking I believe). While a winemaker can make a dry Spatlese Riesling (almost no residual sugar after fermentation) as a general rule German Spatlese are off-dry (somewhat sweet) unless the bottle says Trocken (dry). A QBA or Kabinett wine is usually drier than a Spatlese. Spatlese indicates "late picked" grapes-thus riper grapes. Auslese indicates specially picked grapes where determination is made cluster by cluster and perhaps pickers go through the vineyard several times picking the grapes at optimum ripeness.
Price goes up as you go from Kabinett level to Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, etc.
By the way, Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Spatlese and Auslese were my favorite wines when I lived in Germany. I understand that the winemaker from those days died (at a relatively young age) and his widow is managing the property now. There has perhaps been a decline in the quality of the wines since his untimely death. 2001 was a good vintage in the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer area of Germany. I bought six bottles of the Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Spatlese only to read on another website that they thought the 2001 Kabinett was better than the Spatlese. If you can find it, Dr. Wagner Ockfener Bockstein is also quite good usually. Others you might like from the Mosel area are Urziger Wurzgarten, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Piesporter Goldtropchen, Erdener Treppchen. Some reliable producers are Christoffel, Fritz Haag, Monchhof, Dr. Thanisch, Selbach-Oster (known also for their dry Rieslings).
A knowledgable wine retailer can assist with vintages or you can check this website:
www.winespectator.com and click on Vintage Charts on the left. It has vintage ratings for California wines, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Germany, etc.
If you look thread the threads here such as Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, etc. you will see descriptions of wines others have enjoyed and may be able to find them to buy. Also, if you can arrange wine tastings with friends, or attend a wine tasting at a wine shop or special event, that will help you expand the wine preferences. Take some kind of notes about who produced the wine you like--i.e., liked St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc, didn't care for Silverado Sauvignon Blanc, etc. That can guide further purchases or restaurant choices.
[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 01-09-2004).]
[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 01-09-2004).]
- wineguruchgo - 01-10-2004
"But how do you know this is a good year and that is a bad year? "
I generally peek at Wine Spectator on line. If you look on the left hand sides of the website you will see Vintage Charts. That's a good place to start and easy to print out.
Rule of thumb between years. Great producers will produce great wines even in bad years. That doesn't mean that the wines will always be the same, but it means that it will be the best of that year. Does that make sense?
- Thomas - 01-10-2004
..and, there is nothing to stop a wine from being produced badly in a good vintage year. Knowing the vintage is just the beginning--as ww says, know the provenance too.
- cheeps - 01-12-2004
Thank you everyone! I'm going to save your response wondersofwine and add it to my notes so next time I shop I can "translate" what the bottles mean. I had assumed Kabinett was drier than Spatlese, but I wasn't quite sure as I didn't know what the names meant. And thanks for that link Springer - it answered alot of my questions. Thanks again!
Lisa
[This message has been edited by cheeps (edited 01-12-2004).]