German Catalog 2006 USE THIS ONE.qxp - Michael Skurnik Wines

A Look At The Vineyards:
NIEDERHÄUSER ROSENHECK is a 17 hectare vineyard that is 75% steep, with a southeast exposure and typically
complicated soils based on slate (with loess-loam, stony clay and a grayish-brown sandstone: complexity,
remember?). I’d classify the site as “1er Cru” for its forthright and satisfyingly lusty style, allied with mineral
Riesling finesse. Mathern’s certainly the leading grower.
NIEDERHÄUSER FELSENSTEYER is an entirely steep 10 hectare vineyard made most famous by Crusius and
more recently by Mathern too. The book says the soil is loamy but you’ve never seen loam with that color, an
almost raspberry-ish purple.
NIEDERHÄUSER ROSENBERG brings us back to porphyry in a steep 12 hectare vineyard you drive through
if you exit Niederhausen up the hill. It’s probably a 1er Cru but in Mathern’s hands it makes Grand Cru wines.
Fine estate with super vineyards bouncing back from
mathern at a glance:
the death of its proprietor a year and a half ago.
Charismatic, racy wines and an easy confident atmosphere give hope for even better
things to come.
They are spicy and then some! Taste one of these keen,
how the wines taste:
shimmery beauties and see what we mean by the word
“racy.” They’re almost always spritzy, with clarity enough to shrink your pupils; specific
flavors vary with the site, and the very least of these is quick as a lynx, while the best, from
the oldest vines, show a confounding depth and polish beneath their taut nervy energy.
GMA-067 2005 Niederhäuser Kertz Riesling Kabinett +
This is one of the great unknown Nahe Grand Crus— because it is so small. A conglomerate
of porphyry and slate, it makes Rieslings that taste like they were hewn from
jewels. This wine is exactly what is meant by piquant; an orchid-y complexity defying
description; Riesling as ultra-violet light. Don’t think of missing it.
SOS: 2 (from 4-16 years)
GMA-064 2004 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese
Whenever I am tempted to think we’ve Made It selling German wine, I consider this:
were this a French vineyard offering such staggering quality people would be breaking
down doors to buy it from any source they could. But other than Dönnhoff’s — which
has commodity-value thanks to the reviews — there’s a general indifference. Consider:
riesling is the best grape. Hermannshöhle is without a doubt one of the 15-20 greatest
sites in which it is planted. The price is ludicrously reasonable for such pedigree. How
many should I send you, smart-guy!
The purest cassis aroma — very rare for Hermannshöhle, but this smells for all the
world as if 20% Scheurebe were involved; also white iris and cherry blossom; it enters
very glossy and smooth and then a jet-blast of salt and iron on the finish. Not very
sweet.
SOS: 1 (between six and eighteen years)
SOMMELIER ALERT!
GMA-068 2005 Niederhäuser Rosenberg Riesling Auslese
Classic site-aromas of lavender and wisteria, with a sleek minerality; a spicy porphyry
palate with botrytis, but still a food-Auslese for any dish with even modest sweetness.
SOMMELIER ALERT! SOS: 2 (8-23 years)
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RHEINGAU NAHE WINES WINES