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

These are the south-facing slopes on a mélange of soils,
most prominent the red soil that makes Nierstein
famous. Without stumbling upon it—or exploring quite
diligently—you couldn’t infer it was there. Unless you
see the whole great sweep from the south, as you can if
you’re on the Kaiserslautern-Mainz autobahn and aren’t
screaming by at a zillion m.p.h. If there weren’t any vineyards
on that great wide bowl, you’d look at it and think
“grapes should grow there.”
Alex picked a difficult first year to go organic, but
once the commitment is made there’s no turning back.
Big changes afoot as son Alexander Gysler takes control. The
gysler at a glance:
new wines are slimmed down, streamlined and modernized,
jazzy and full of crispy, primary fruit. Prices, though, remain un-real for the time being!
how the wines taste:
His 2005 crop is very small even in this famously short
vintage’s context. “2005 was really a vintage where you
could tell who worked hard in the vineyards and who
didn’t,” he said. “It’s seldom so dramatic.” Weinheim is
just far enough south in Rheinhessen that the difficult
face of `05 started to show. Not in his wines, far from it.
But the sudden heavy rain and warm temperatures that
followed in early October made for a quick harvest of
stringently selected grapes — and not much wine. The
Auslese you see below was the entire crop from a little
over an acre of vineyard: 800 bottles!
In transition from the juicy forthright style of before to
the streamlined clarity of the steely now.
GGY-046 2001 Weinheimer Scheurebe Sekt Brut “Bundle Of Scheu”
I was having lunch at The Slanted Door in San Francisco when who should walk in but
a quartet of Austrian growers who proceeded to sit at the neighboring table. Well this
called for something or other! So I sent them a bottle of this wine and watched their
faces. Austrians aren’t too fond of Scheurebe, and I saw a lot of politely bemused looks
at the table — until they tasted the thing with their food. Then it was perfect. Perfect. Boy
do I love this fizz. It has wonderful focus and cassis tones and is just crazy-charming—
it was an effort of will to spit-there’s elegance and complexity and admirable varietal
purity, and pink grapefruit and bergamot tones, refinement and I’d give it 163 points on
my 150-point gulp-o-meter. I do very little Sekt any more, having been spoiled by everyday
access to great Champagne, but this wine is incomparable, and a GREAT VALUE.
GGY-059L 2005 Weinheimer Silvaner Halbtrocken, 1.0 Liter
CORE-LIST WINE. Dudes and dudettes, lissen up. If there were an international contest
to determine the single-greatest wine value on earth, I’d enter this wine with every expectation
of winning. It is that damn good. A return to the form of the great `02, more density
and focus than `03 and riper than `04; this is high-toned and perfumed, but juicy and
charming, and it tastes more firm and upright than its on-paper acidity says it should.
SOS: 1 (now - 5 years)
GGY-058L 2005 Weinheimer Scheurebe Halbtrocken, 1.0 Liter
Oh-KAY! This takes the elderflower charms of previous vintages and adds a jet-blast of
sage and grapefruit and violet; palate is a dynamo of lusty spicy charm, dense and
fluffy but pointed and focused, as if you’d blended Sancerre with Furmint; rosewater
and gooseberry. THIS IS AN INSANE VALUE!!!
SOMMELIER ALERT: POUR THIS KITTEN! SOS: 1 (now-5 years)
GGY-057 2005 Weinheimer Riesling Kabinett
CORE-LIST WINE. As usual bright and snappy, an old-style wine with upfront sweetness,
but loads of smoky kirsch-y charm and mid-palate saltiness; a playful whirl of
activity; sweet entry, salty middle, dry finish; hints of malty botrytis — in fact a
Spätlese-Auslese blend, and why yes, we are spoiled.
SOS: 2 (4-12 years)
GGY-060 2005 Weinheimer Mandelberg Riesling Auslese
A very flowery Auslese, plum and cherry blossom; more berry than fruit; uncomplicated
and tasty.
SOS: 3 (8-18 years)
GGY-061H 2005 Weinheimer Kapellenberg Huxelrebe TBA, 12/375ml
160º Oechsle (so not gargantuan, which is actually a bit of a relief), 9g.l. acidity (not
bad!); classic Huxel nose of sweet-hay and white raisin; a lot of botrytis and some of it
“exotic” but I’m fussy that way and you’ll probably like it; certainly lavish and juicy
and more vinous than many “dessert” wines.
SOS: 4 (8-28 years)
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RHEINHESSEN WINES