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

Wonderful new discovery making fine
hoffmann-simon at a glance:
Piesporters at sensible prices! Modern,
spritzy style closer to Kesselstatt than Reuscher-Haart.
They’re not as leesy-plump as Reuscher-Haart but more
how the wines taste:
so than, say, Kesselstatt. Not as squeaky-clean as
Kesselstatt, but more so than Reuscher-Haart! In Piesport there are two ways you can
go. You can make lavish, sensual voodoo-wines that barely taste like Riesling at all, or
you can make wines as compact as this terroir will give—which isn’t very. Hoffmann’s
wines lean in the compact direction, focusing the Piesport fruit but not resisting it.
GHS-033 2005 Estate Riesling
“We picked nothing under 90 degrees Oechsle,” and this is unchaptalized, and, well:
here goes. Far too good and too serious for its category — we’ll need to wait at least
a year for another arms-open come-hither drink me wine, but this dryish, solid
chewy Riesling is the least `05 will do from good growers. You’ll have to be serious
for a little while!
SOS: 1 (now-6 years)
GHS-030 2005 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett
Even with 43 g.l. RS it tastes feinherb — like Auslese feinherb — the wine is really a tarte
au quetsch in liquid form; the plums, the buttery crust, the slight agreeable hint of tartness;
half-a-ton of mineral shimmer here; all the `05 solidity, and a kindly vaporous
apple-minty finish.
SOS: 1 (7-19 years)
GHS-031 2005 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese
105 Oechsle, and it underwent partial malo, though I shouldn’t have told you because
only a bloodhound could discern it; it’s the first of these to display its sweetness, as well
as some clean botrytis; this is gaudy and extravagantly fruity with a finish, odd as this
sounds, of really ripe cherry tomatoes.
SOS: 3 (9-25 years)
GHS-032H 2005 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling TBA, 12/375ml ++
I have no idea what possessed him to do this in a new barrique, but I love the result!
Call it a quirk, but as much as oak irritates me in most white table wines, I have a drooling
slutty lust for it in very sweet wines — it gives them yin, somehow. This smells
almost like Jurançon, and drinks like a dream. DRINKS! It isn’t a syrup; it’s a multifaceted
wine; it’s for those who, when faced with a dessert choice of chocolate, caramel
or fruit — always choose fruit. Tropical-malt, panna cotta, I adore it. It’s almost like
those incredible Bründlmayer stickies.
SOS: 4 (any time!)
77
MOSEL WINES