Eight wines from Weingut Andreas Laible in the 2009-vintage tasted at a VdP-tasting in Stuttgart on September 13th-2010.
Durbacher Plauelrain riesling kabinett trocken 2009
Fresh and spicey nose. Some minerality. Powerful kabinett in the mouth with fresh acidity. Lots of fruit and slightly fat. Quite big kabinett. Yellow fruits, some spice, some minerality. Fine acidity refreshes the wine. Good length. A little coarse style, but fine depth. Good.
Durbacher Plauelrain riesling “SL” 2009
A little riper on the nose. Yellow fruits. More intensity. Finer minerality. Good depth. More power in the mouth. Bigger wine with riper fruit. But this also shows a lot of depth and very fine minerality. Again fine acidity. Dry finish with more alcohol. Very good.
Durbacher Plauelrain riesling grosses gewächs 2009
Fine nose. Mineral, limey hints. Some peach. Quite typical and a little ripe grosses gewächs-style. Finer structure in the mouth. This shows more elegance, despite it’s intensity and ripeness. Hints of lime and peach. Fine minerality and depth. Again also a very fine acidity that refreshes the taste and gives the wine a good length. Very good. My favorite from Laible.
Durbacher Plauelrain grauer burgunder grosses gewächs 2009
Lightly limey nose. Hints of banana and minerality. Bigger and fatter wine in the mouth. Fine minerality. Limey fruit with hints of banana. Primary and young fruit. Lower acids. Dry finish. Good length. Not as fine in the mouth as the Riesling, but this also shows interesting minerality.
Durbacher Plauelrain Chardonnay trocken S 2009
Yellow fruits on the nose. Minerality. Fullbodied and quite fresh chardonnay in the mouth. Very fine balance with good acidity. The fruit shows some minerality and yellow fruits. But this lacks some of the depth found in the riesling and grauer burgunder and is a simpler wine. Very good.
Durbacher Plauelrain spätburgunder trocken S 2009
Fruity and young spätburgunder on the nose. Red berries, anise-notes. Medium bodied, young and refreshing spätburgunder in the mouth. Simple style. Red berries, anise. Light oak. Fine acidity and light tannins in the back. Nice enough, but forgettable style.
Durbacher Plauelrain gewürztraminer spätlese 2009
Typically sweetish flowery nose with hints of spices and litchi. Fullbodied and lightly sweet gewürztraminer in the mouth. Clean and bright with surprisingly fine acidity and structure for this grape. Grapetypical and fine fruit. Flowers, spices. Alcohol finely balanced on the finish. Very good stuff.
Durbacher Plauelrain scheurebe auslese 2009
Lightly tropical nose. Hints of grapefruit, nettle, some bitternotes. Fullbodied and quite sweet mouthfeel. Clean and fruity style. Grapey. Tropical, grapefruit-hints. No depth to speak of. Fine acidity. Refreshing style. Lightly bitterness on the finish. Good for it’s pure fruitiness.
Good wines from Laible. I especiall liked the riesling grosses gewächs and the gewürztraminer. The 2009-vintage shows quite some ripeness
in the aromatics. The wines are very fullbodied and smooth, but with fine acidity. Very good, more than great, they especially lack elegance.
That said, it is wines that would be happy to drink again.
Arnt Egil Nordlien
Tasting note: Sep-10