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

Though I went at first looking for Auxxerois, this has
bernhard at a glance:
turned out to be a Riesling and Scheurebe agency, offering
excellent value especially for Scheu.
It depends on the soil. Rieslings from the volcanic por-
how the wines taste:
phyry soils taste like Nahe wines under a sun lamp, complex
and intricate. The wines from the clayey Kirchberg site are real gob-stuffers;
they’re not elegant (though far from clumsy) but rather concentrated and chewy. Each
year Hartmut inches closer to his pinnacle.
GCB-068 2005 Hackenheimer Kirchberg Scheurebe Spätlese
It starts out all grapefruit and papaya and ends up like a custard of meyer-lemon; tasted
colder it showed more mint and herb, but at every temp it has wonderful length and
it’s a citric circus on the finish, all the little Scheu clowns performing their bumps and
pratfalls. Laughing is good.
SOS: 2 (1-5 years)
GCB-064 2005 Frei-Laubersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Trocken
Unchaptalized “QbA”; super quality and a whole lotta breed (“I’m gonna give you
every inch of my breed . . .”) for everyday Riesling; classic porphyry tang, aromas of
cracklings, with fine structure and length.
SOS: 0 (now - 4 years)
GCB-065 2005 Hackenheimer Kirchberg Riesling Kabinett
The 2005 density makes this even chewier than in most vintages, when it’s already
plenty chewy; what Riesling would be if it were trying to be a lamb-shank.
SOS: 2 (4-13 years)
GCB-066 2005 Hackenheimer Kirchberg Riesling Spätlese
Firmer and even smokier; indeed this is like liquefied bacon and toast, with Mirabelle
and stayman apple; the finish shows receding smoke and an oolong-narcissus flower;
the overall effect is enormously charming.
SOS: 2 (7-20 years)
GCB-067 2005 Frei-Laubersheimer Fels Gewürztraminer Spätlese
As a rule the Germans don’t do Gewürz very well, and so I thought the successes
among 2004s were a fluke of the vintage. As indeed they were — except here. Hartmut’s
Gewürzes used to be earthy and blatant, but the last two vintages he seems to have
accessed their inner-feminine, and this `05 is surprisingly graceful. He blended two
casks, one of them dry and vigorous and the other rich and creamy: the resulting wine
has 30g.l. RS, and it’s typically rose and lychee; the palate is all freesia and talc, and
markedly long; the finish really clings; the wine is elegant and fine but with substance.
SOS: 2 (now- 5 years)
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RHEINHESSEN WINES