On September 19th 2008 we went a short trip to Castell to buy some of their very fine older bottles of wines and taste some from the
new vintage. Castell is one of Frankens older producers and is said to be the first producers to plant Silvaner in Franken in 1659. They
have a great track record for producing many of Frankens best wines that also have aged very well. In the cellar in Castell you still find
bottles of most of them and they are still for sale. Today they are a member of the VdP. Castell own around 70 hektars of vines in the
Steigerwald, grown on Keuper. The einzellagen at Castell are Schlossberg, which is the only grosses gewächs, Hohnart, Reitstieg, Kugelspiel,
Kirchberg, Trautberg, Bausch and Feuerbach. Today Schlossberg and Reitstieg are the two einzellagen that has the highest reputation.
Looking more historically Hohnart seems to have had more fame. Our visit at Castell was quite short and we only tasted a little selection
of their wines available.
Casteller Kirchberg in front. Behind is Schlossberg and Reitstieg
Casteller Bausch müller-thurgau kabinett trocken 2007
Aromatic and flowery nose with a slight hint of spice and some minerality. Dry and mineral müller-thurgau in the mouth. Lightly aromatic.
Quite simple fruit. Citrusy finish. Decent müller-thurgau. Price: 8,50€
Casteller Kugelspiel silvaner kabinett trocken 2007
Vegetal and obvious silvaner on the nose with fine intensity. Lighly earthiness. Touch minerality. Medium bodied and quite intense
silvaner in the mouth. Elegant style. Grapey fruit. Vegetal, citrusy. Decent acidity and length. Only 11% alcohol. Good.
Price: 9,25€
Casteller Kugelspiel silvaner kabinett trocken 2006
Riper nose. Leafy with a light minerality. A fuller and fatter style in the mouth. Lower acids and more alcohol. Still is able to maintain
a fair balance, but fruit is not as interesting and taste is shorter. Price: 8,75€
Casteller Kugelspiel, well-known for it's shape.
Casteller Hohnart silvaner kabinett trocken 2007
11,5% alc/vol. More leafy nose here with fine minerality and a touch of tropical fruits. Medium bodied and very elegant silvaner in the mouth. Fine
minerality and good depth. Slight touch of tropical fruits. Crisp acidity and good length. Perfect silvaner kabinett. My favorite of
these. Price: 9,25€
Casteller Hohnart silvaner kabinett trocken 2006
This has one of the most interesting of noses among the '06-vintage. Sweet dark bread-notes, minerality, some fine fruit notes. Fullbodied
wine in the mouth with a fine minerality and fresh style for a '06. Unfortunately the alcohol is way out of balance. This wine has 14%
which is way to much for any kabinett. Price: 8,75€
Casteller Hohnart.
Casteller Trautberg silvaner spätlese trocken 2007
12% alc/vol. Shows a little more ripeness on the nose. Still vegetal and mineral wine with a citrusy edge. Fuller in the mouth with more intensity.
Fine fruit. Silvanerish with a fine minerality. Medium acidity and length. Good. Price: 12,80€
Casteller Kugelspiel silvaner trocken Edition Graf-Ferdinand 2007
The Edition Graf-Ferdinand are also dry single-vineyard-wines. The difference I was told was that this line has a little more residual
sugar (although still trocken). On the nose this reminds quite a lot of the Trautberg. It has a little more fruit on the nose, with some
vegetal notes and minerality. In the mouth the slight more residual sugar is noticable. Fruitier style and perhaps a little simpler in
the fruit. The minerality is not as obvious here. Good. Price: 9,70€
Casteller Kirchberg weissburgunder trocken Edition Graf-Ferdinand 2007
13% alc/vol. Fine nose. Hints of peach, citrus, leafs. More fat style in the mouth. Fullbodied and quite fruity styled. Lacks a little of
the minerality. Medium acids. Higher alcohol on the finish, but the wine balances it. Good. Price: 12,90€
Casteller Hohnart riesling trocken Edition Graf-Ferdinand 2007
12,5% alc/vol. Lightly aromatic, underripe riesling on the nose with hints of bitter flowers, citrus and minerality. Medium bodied in
the mouth. Mineral fruit. Elegant style and again crisp acids. Good length. Very good. Price: 12,90€
Casteller Schlossberg silvaner Grosses gewächs 2007
13% alc/vol. Again a typical silvaner with a little more ripeness on the nose and a fine minerality. A little more depth. More powerful in the mouth
with more fatness in the front. Leafy and typical with complex minerality. Good depth. Medium acids and the alcohol is a little higher.
Very good, but pricey. 24,-€
Casteller Schlossberg silvaner Grosses gewächs 2006
More vegetal, sweetish nose with hints of dark bread and ripe notes of woodland strawberries.Thicker silvaner in the mouth. Fat style with
lower acids. Fine fruit-notes. Very silvanerish on the ripe and sweet side. Not the nicest finish with high alcohol. Far behind the '07
in quality. Price: 24,-€
The steep Casteller Schlossberg.
Casteller Schlossberg riesling Grosses gewächs 2007
13% alc/vol. Bitter flowers on the nose with fine minerality, more ripeness and some tropical notes. Dry riesling in the mouth with a
fine structure. Mineral approach with good depth. Young wine that needs time to open up. Good acidity and length. Very good and a tad
better than the silvaner. Price: 24,-€
Silvaner trocken "10.Apriles anno 1659" 2001
12,5% alc/vol. Aged in oakbarrels. Green-yellow colour. Oak and vegetal notes on the nose. Quite fat silvaner in the mouth with lots of
oak showing. Overpowers the fruit. Hints of vanilla and vegetal silvaner-fruit. Lacks the minerality and depth. Fine acidity and length.
Decent quality. Price: 21,50€
Casteller Trautberg traminer spätlese 2006
Grape-typical aromatic nose with hints of sweet flowers, litchi and spices. Fullbodied and lightly sweet traminer in the mouth. Typical
fruit; sweet flowers, spices, litchi. Fine, but lacks depth. Medium acids and a little noticable alcohol in the finish. Decent wine.
Price: 9,85€ (0,5 L)
Rieslaner Spätlese 2006
Lightly flowery nose with hints of rhubarb and tropical notes. Not as intense as the traminer. Sweet/acidic in the mouth. Fruity
one-dimensional style. Appealing and tropical. Fine and quite crisp acidity. Alcohol a little noticable in the finish. Fine rieslaner from
this vintage. Good. Price: 9,85€ (0,5 L)
So this ended the tasting at Castell. Our emosions at the end were a bit mixed. No doubt there were some good wines here. But there seems
to be a lack of focus and direction at Castell nowaday. There are many different lines of wines. Too many and they are unclear. There is
the Lagenweine - which are dry single-vineyard wines either kabinett or spätlese. And there is the Edition Graf-Ferdinand - which also are
dry single-vineyard wines, but as I am told dry, but not that dry as the Lagenweine. There are also many other lines that does seem to
equal to make any sense to me. On the contrary there is only made one silvaner kabinett and one riesling kabinett from such a fine vineyard
as Hohnart. Why? To me I think Castell would be much better off cutting down to 2 lines (one basic estate line and one single-vineyard-line)
and start to focus more on the individual vineyards. Because there are some very fine vineyards and today it seems like the only
one marketed at a higher quality level is the Schlossberg. The Schlossberg is the most minerally complex of these vineyards
and a very fine einzellagen indeed. But to me the Hohnart is not far behind and it's crisp structure makes it a wine that deserves to be
better known.
Arnt Egil Nordlien
Tasting note: Sep-08
