The third annual tasting at the Klitzekleine ring was held in the cellars of Julius Kayser in Trarbach on the 22d of September 2007. The 11 members of the ring was joined this year by guest Andrzej Greszta that just has started a small operation with vines in Kröver Steffensberg. Let's start with some notes:


Richard Böcking

Riesling "V" qualitätswein trocken 2006
A little shy, earthy and slightly rustic nose. Dry and more flowery in the mouth. Again a touch of earth. Quite simple fruit of decent concentration and balance. Drinkable quality.

Trarbacher Burgberg riesling spätlese trocken "alte reben" 2006
More flowers, slate and white fruits on the nose. Dry riesling in the mouth with better concentration and finer fruit. Slatey, flowery and some citrus in the finish. Fine acidity. Nice little wine.

Trarbacher Burgberg riesling kabinett feinherb 2006
A little shy nose again. Hints of flowers and slate. Sweet flowers in the mouth. A feinherb on the drier side with better acidic structure. Some minerals showing. Good kabinett without too much depth.

Trarbacher Ungsberg riesling spätlese feinherb 2006
Also a little shy on the nose. Slate and citrus on the nose with more minerality. Fuller and more concentration in the mouth. Flowery fruit, slight botrytis showing. A little more elegant style, but lacking a little depth. Good.

Trarbacher schlossberg riesling beerenauslese 2005
Nose shows apricot and botrytis. A little earthy, mushroomy. Not very thick style for a BA in the mouth. Apricotty fruit and fine acidity and structure. Good, but not very exciting.

Richard Böckings selection this year shows wines that are nice. There is a better consistency than previous years. But the wines fail to reach any large heights. Normally to me the Ungsberg is the most exciting wine, but in 2006 this was a little disappointment and the Burgberg kabinett was perhaps my preferred wine.


Weingut Clemens Busch

Pündericher Marienburg riesling kabinett trocken 2006
Sweet flowery nose with some slate. Still a dry wine in the mouth. Medium bodied with a fine acidity. A little simple and flowery fruit. Fair quality.

Pündericher Marienburg riesling spätlese trocken 2006
The nose shows more raisins, honey and botrytis. It is dry in the mouth and much fuller with more concentration. Flowery fruit, fine structure, but a little wich in alcohol. Good.

Riesling vom roten schiefer 2006
Sweeter nose with more flowers. Slate and some botrytis. Quite fullbodied wine in the mouth with some sweetness - feinherb-style. Better balance here. Quite refreshing style with fine acidity. Fine fruit. Interesting wine. Very good.

Pündericher Marienburg riesling spätlese "Rothenpfad" 2006
Honeyed nose. Sweet flowers, botrytis. A little more rustic. Not as sweet as I first thought in the mouth. Some nice minerality, but the botrytis is a little pronounced. Again quite high alcohol. Good.

Pündericher Marienburg riesling auslese "Falkenlay" 2006
Sweet flowery nose again with more botrytis and hints of citrus. Sweet and quite intense riesling in the mouth. More botrytis, but this shows cleaner and more focused here. Fine slatey hints in the fruit. Good acidity and length. Very good wine.

I might sound a little negative on each wine here, but I actually liked the results at Clemens Busch in 2006. They are rich, but with quite fine focus. Some are a little rich in alcohol to my taste. The auslese is very fine.


Weingut Johann Lenz

Pündericher Marienburg riesling kabinett trocken 2006
Clean flowery nose, some slate. Medium bodied and dry kabinett trocken in the mouth. Simple and flowery fruit with some slate. Fair acidity. A bit short taste. Forgettable.

Pündericher Marienburg riesling kabinett feinherb 2006
A little more intense nose here. Sweeter notes of flowers and slate. A little more sweeter mouthfeel also. The fruit shows sweeter flowers and more concentration. Lightly slatey and citrusy finish. Better acidic structure and longer taste. Quite refreshing and nice.

Pündericher Marienburg riesling auslese halbtrocken 2006
Flowery nose with hints of hoeny and botrytis. Fullbodied riesling in the mouth in an off-dry style. Good concentration of flowery fruit. Some slate and honey. Decent botrytis-character. But lacking depth here. A little low acids and length. Drinkable.

Pündericher Marienburg riesling auslese feinherb 2006
The nose here is a little shy. Shows more honey and botrytis. Also slate. The botrytis is finer. This is a quite ripe wine in the mouth with a light fat up front. Noticable botrytis and quite flowery fruit. Noticable alcohol. Drinkable quality.

Enkircher Ellergrub riesling auslese 2005
A little shy nose here also. Quite flowery with hints of slate. In the mouth this is a little lacking. The concentration seems a little low. The fruit simple and flowery. The acidity and length is a little short. Drinkable.

To me Johann Lenz makes wines that have no faults. There has been a good selection of grapes for the 2006-vintage. But the wines fail to reach any depths and all wines seems rather forgettable and flowery rieslings. To me the kabinett feinherb was the best wine.


Weingut Melsheimer

Reiler Mullay-Hofberg riesling spätlese trocken 2006
Flowery nose. some fine white fruits and a touch of botrytis and slate. Rich style in the mouth. Fine concentration. Quite flowery fruit, but also some slate and minerality. Medium acidity and length. A little high alcohol. Good wine.

Reiler Goldlay riesling spätlese 2006
Sweet flowery nose with some botrytis showing. Fullbodied in the mouth. Flowery fruit with decent botrytis-character. The acids are soft and there is a slightly rustic dryness in the finish. Fair quality.

Reiler Mullay-Hofberg "Schäf" riesling spätlese 2006
Flowery nose with fine slate and mineral hints. Also more botrytis. Rich and sweet spätlese in the mouth. Big. The fruit is very fine; tropical and citrusy with fine botrytis and fine slate notes. The structure here is excellent for the vintage. Great and refreshing acidity. Good length. This is a superb effort from 2006. A wine that will appeal to lovers of Willi Schaefer. Very good wine.

Reiler Mullay-Hofberg riesling auslese #38 2006
This is quite reductive on the nose with lots of sulphure. It is a lot fatter with more pronounced botrytis in the mouth. Slight minerality showing. Fruit a bit hard to judge right now. Too reductive. The acids are lower than the "Schäf" and the wine is a little creamy in style. Good.

Reiler Mullay-Hofberg riesling beerenauslese 2006
This was a fruity and sweet BA on the nose with fine botrytis for this vintage. It is rich in the mouth but nicely done balance and fine botrytis. Very good BA.

I think Melsheimer has made very fine wines in 2006. There seems to have been done a good job in the selection of the grapes, which is a crucial factor for making good wines in this vintage. Overall 2005 might have been a finer vintage, but the wines from Melsheimer really shine in '06. I think the "Schäf" might be the single finest wine I have tasted from this estate.


Weingut Artur Mentges

Mentges riesling qualitätswein trocken 2006
Simple tutti-frutti-like nose. Some flowers. Dry and round wine in the mouth with medium concentration. Fine balance, but the fruit is a little artificial. Not good.

Mentges riesling qualitätswein halbtrocken 2006
More flowery nose here with the same touch of tutti-frutti. Also round wine in the mouth here with some residual sugar, a little more flowery fruit and the same tutti-frutti-component a little more in the background. Fair balance. Modest quality.

Wolfer Goldgrube riesling auslese feinherb 2006
Nose shows some flowers and mushroomy botrytis. It is a fuller wine in the mouth with some residual sugar. Quite round and kind style. The fruit shows a not very fine botrytis and flowers. Not good.

Kinheimer Rosenberg riesling auslese 2005
Despite the vintage this showed an even worse botrytis. Especially on the nose this shows earthy, rustic and rotty aromas. In the background there is the hint of tutti-frutti again. It is soft and creamy in the mouth. Too sweet and with a unclean and not nice fruit. A disaster. Should not have been released.

Artur Mentges have always been among the producers of the klitzekleinen ring with the most modest quality. There does not seem to be an intension in making higher quality. For such a year as 2006 where there is needed to do a lot of work the quality is very low. Let's hope coming vintages will bring better results.


Weingut Paul Moog Nachf.

Trarbacher Kräuterhaus riesling kabinett halbtrocken 2006
Flowery and simple nose. Quite dry riesling in the mouth, simple flowery fruit and a decent balance. Nothing wrong, but a forgettable wine. Fair quality.

Trarbacher Schlossberg riesling spätlese feinherb 2006
Nose shows flowers and some more slate-notes. In the mouth this is a rounder and milder wine with a little more sweetness, some more concentration and a little milder acidity. Fruit shows a slight earthiness. Fair quality.

Trabener Gaispfad riesling spätlese 2006
Lightly flowery and citrusy nose. In the mouth this is not the sweetest spätlese. The fruit is medium concentrated and quite simple flowery. The acids are a little higher and more refreshing. Slight bitter-notes in the finish. Nice quality.

Trarbacher Schlossberg riesling auslese 2006
Sweet and more fruity nose here. Some botrytis. Medium bodied in the mouth. Sweet and quite simple, more earthy character in the mouth. Soem botrytis-hints, not the cleanest. Decent acidity-balance, slightly bitterness in the finish. Fair quality.

Paul Moog also showed wines of quite modest quality this year. Overall the wines lack any depth There are not much faults in them, but they are uninspiring. They can use more precision both in the fruit and in the balance.


Weingut Martin Müllen

Trarbacher Hühnerberg riesling spätlese trocken 2006
A little shy nose on this one. Some hints of an underlying minerality, smoke, flowers, apricot. Dry riesling with good concentration in the mouth. Lots of minerals. Fruit is young, closed and a little hard right now. Maybe from bottling. Acidity a little low in the balance with the alcohol a little high for my taste on the finish. Good wine.

Kröver Paradies riesling spätlese** trocken 2005
This has spend 13 months on the lees completing the fermentation. The nose shows more honey, flowers and a very fine citrusy botrytis. It is a fullbodied dry riesling in the mouth. Mineral, slight sur-lie-like charater. Flowers in the fruit. Fine acidity and long slightly hot finish. Rich in alcohol. Very good wine.

Trarbacher Hühnerberg riesling spätlese* trocken 2005
This has spend 15 months on the lees completing the fermentation. It shows more sur-lie-like nose with lots of minerality. Hints of apricot, flowers. Fullbodied dry riesling in the mouth. Very mineral and sur-lie-like fruit. Controversial for a riesling. Fullbodied, yet elegant style. Fine acidity and length. Interesting and a great wine.

Kröver Paradies riesling spätlese "Jippi" 2003
This was always one of my favorites of the 2003-vintage, so it was fun to retaste. Highly complex nose. Mineral, petrol, flowers. Quite evolved at this stage. Fullbodied wine in the mouth. Fine fruit starting to evolve. Sweet and rich, but with a very fine acidity and balance for this vintage. On the soft side. Good length. Starting to drink very nicely now. Great wine.

Trarbacher Hühnerberg riesling auslese 2006
Hints of apricot. Flowery, botrytis in the nose. Fullbodied auslese in the mouth, but not very sweet. Good concentration. Botrytised fruit. Clean and fine. Does not show that much right now. Some dryness in the finish. Fine acidity. Very good wine.

Trarbacher Hühnerberg riesling auslese** 2006
More botrytis, intense nose. Hints of apricot and honey. Thick and rich auslese in the mouth. Sweet and quite heavy style. Lots of botrytis, but quite fine and clean. Fine honeyed fruit. Medium acidity. Great wine that needs time.

This was a very fine selection from Martin Müllen. I did a larger tasting of the 2006-vintage at Martin Müllen's house later. So more comprehensive notes will follow. IMO the most interesting wines on this tasting was the late released 2005's and above all the 2003, which showed a great development.


Weingut O.

Trarbacher Kräuterhaus riesling spätlese feinherb 2006
A little sulphury and reductive nose, but a fine flowery and mineral nose underneath. Hints of citrus, slight touch of spice. Off-dry style in the mouth. Good concentration. Again fruit a little closed, but seems mineral and very fine indeed. Round style. Fine acidity and length. Some citrus in the finish. Very good wine.

Trarbacher Kräuterhaus riesling spätlese 2006
Again a little reductive nose, but this shows more it's mineral side. In the mouth it is sweeter, but with a great balance with it's refreshing acidity. Good concentration. Young fruit, mineral. A little closed. Some dry extract in the finish. Good length. Very good wine with a potensial of greatness. I prefer this slightly to the feinherb.

Trarbacher Ungsberg riesling auslese 2006
This is a highly mineral effort. Even shows complexity now. Some citrus. Fullbodied in the mouth, but slimmer than most '06-auslese, which is a good thing. Citrusy and clear botrytis. Again very mineral and complex fruit. Some dry extract on the finish. This is an elegant auslese from not an elegant year. Great wine and overall one of the better auslesen I tasted from this year.

Trarbacher Ungsberg riesling beerenauslese 2006
This was a very young and hard to taste BA. It shows some fruity character on the nose. In the mouth it is fullbodied and a bit on the creamy side. This has some fat to loose. The fruit seems nicely done. The acidity a little soft for the fat. Needs more time. Will be interesting to retaste in a year or two. Potensially great.

Trarbacher Kräuterhaus riesling beerenauslese 2005
This one year older BA is much more open. Quite spicy nose with hints of petrol and citrus. Fine botrytis. Thick and rich BA in the mouth, but with the structure to match it. Fine balance. The fruit has developed some complexity and is quite open now. Good length. This is a BA that provides great pleasure right now. Great wine.


Weingut O. continues this year with a very fine selection from a tougher year. The wines from 2006 are very young and seem to need a little time in the bottle to shine. But the quality is highly noticable. Olaf Schneider now has some vines in the Ungsberg, which gives wines of a deeper minerality. The two wine from here shows a lot of promise. The Ungsberg auslese was one of the finest auslesen I have tasted from 2006 in Mosel and a bottle worth seeking out. A producer to watch out for in the future.

Weingut Staffelter hof

Magnus riesling trocken 2006
Citrus and slate on the nose. Dry and quite light riesling in the mouth. Slatey fruit. Some citrus in the finish. Quite simple, but with a fine refreshing character. Good balance. Nice wine.

Dhron Hofberger riesling spätlese 3/4 trocken 2005
Nose here is a little earthier. Hints of slate, citrus and minerals. More interesting. Quite dry wine in the mouth. Richer style with some earthiness in the fruit. Also flowers and slate. Fine acidity, alcohol a little high in the finish. Slightly rustic feel. Still this is a good wine.

Kröver Letterlay riesling spätlese halbtrocken 2006
More flowery fruit here with fine hints of slate. Sweet and slatey in the mouth. Round and kind style with lower acids. Fine flowery fruit. A bit simpler than the Dhron Hofberger. Medium acids. Good, but I preferred the Dhron Hofberger.

Dhron Hofberger riesling beerenauslese 2005
Honey, botrytis and some mushrooms in the nose. This is a very thick and rich wine in the mouth. Concentrated BA. Fruit shows apricot, some honey. Some development. Fine acidity and length. This also has the structure. Great BA.

Staffelter hof is making better and better wine. They rightfully have one star in the weinguide.de. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to taste all the wines from them this year, but what I tasted showed a more stable and higher quality. The 2006 were fine for the vintage. The beerenauslese was a stand-out in quality.


Weingut Vollenweider

Wolfer Goldgrube riesling spätlese feinherb 2004
Mineral and slightly petrolly nose. Some citrus, fine mineral depth. Slimmer wine in the mouth than many of those 2006's, but there is a good concentration and body. Citrusy fruit with a fine minerality. Fine structure and balance. Very good.

Vollenweider spätlese 2006
There is a new selection from Daniel Vollenweider this year labelled Volenweider spätlese (there also is an auslese). The grapes in this comes from the Kröver Steffensberg. The wine has a more pronounced sweet flowery and fruity nose. In the mouth it is a typical Vollenweider-wine with a fine sweetness well balanced by acidic backbone. The fruit is a little simpler, lacking the depth of the Wolfer Goldgrube and the Shimbock. More flowers and peach here. Good for a standard spätlese.

These were the only two wines I tasted at Daniel Vollenweiders stand. As I was doing a tasting back at his house later I skipped tasting the rest as time was a bit short. More notes will follow later. But the overall impression of Vollenweider's 2006 wines is that they are a huge succuess for the vintage. They are rich in style, but there has been a great selection of the grapes and all wines shows fine aromas. They will be interesting to follow as they with time loose some of the fat.


Weingut Weiser-Künstler

Enkircher Ellergrub riesling feinherb 2006
Fine nose with hints of slate, citrus and minerality. Slim and mineral style in the mouth. Round, quite elegant and well-balanced feinherb with some noticable sweetness. Very good.

Enkircher Ellergrub riesling kabinett 2006
Again a fine nose with hints of slate and minerals. Sweet kabinett in the mouth, but again a slim feeling and a wine with a fine and pure minerality and fine slate-notes. It is concentrated and with a good acidity. Citrus in the long finish. A very good kabinett from 2006.

Enkircher Ellergrub riesling spätlese 2006
This shows more sweetness on the nose. Hints of flowers, honey and botrytis. Fullbodied, sweet and softer wine in the mouth. Rich and a bit heavy balance. The fruit is flowery, but also shows some minerality and botrytis. It is a very good wine, but it is not better than the impressive kabinett. Very good.

Enkircher Ellergrub riesling spätlese "Weiser-Künstler" 2006
This is a special spätlese-cuvee from 2006. There is a lot of mixed opinions about this wine. Some like it a lot, others are more critical. I belong to the latter. This shows more botrytis on the nose with an earthy note and flowery fruit. This shows a lot of fat for a spätlese in the mouth with typical balance of a wine with a lot of botrytis. The fruit seems a little unfocused to me with a more earthy and botrytised fruit. There is a good structure however with good acidity and a long citrusy finish with some dry extract showing. Good.

Enkircher Ellergrub riesling auslese 2006
A little more shy nose here. Some honey and botrytis showing. Rich and creamy style in the mouth. Concentrated fruit. But simpler. Sweet, flowery and honeyed. This is heavy for the structure right now with the acidity seeming a bit low. Maybe better when it looses some fat. Very good.

Enkircher Ellergrub riesling beerenauslese 2006
This is a very young BA in a fruity style with lots of botrytis showing. Thick and rich in the mouth. But again quite fruity and more on the elegant side. The botrytis seems quite clean and fine. The structure is fine. Fine length. Great BA.

Weingut Weiser is this year joined by Alexandra Künstler. After the extraordinary fine first vintage of 2005 from this estate, the 2006 shows that this estate will place itself among the top producers in Mosel. Still the results from 2006 are more mixed than the overall very fine wines from last vintage. To me the finest wines are the ones with the lower oechsle-weights. Especially the kabinett is a great effort and one of the finest kabinetts of the vintage. The weighter spätlesen and auslese however fail to impress this year with a little lacking in the final touch to get things right in this difficult vintage. There is a very fine beerenauslese here this year though.


Weingut Andrzej Greszta

Kröver Steffensberg riesling spätlese trocken 2006
Slate and mineral nose. Subdued and "slim" feeling. Also slim and dry riesling in the mouth. Medium concentration. Mineral approach with fine hints of slate. Pure and elegant style. Fine acidity and length. Good balance. Good dry riesling.

Kröver Steffensberg riesling spätlese feinherb 2006
This shows also slate and minerals on the nose. But also a light touch of flowers and earth. It is typical feinherb-style in the mouth with just a touch of sweetness. Mineral approach with a touch of flowers and earth. Fine acidity and great balance. Very good feinherb indeed. Great effort.

Kröver Steffensberg riesling auslese 2006
This shows more botrytis and apricot on the nose. It is a sweet and fullbodied auslese in the mouth. Rich with some fat. Sweet botrytised fruit. Hints of raisins. A bit simpler than the drier wines. Round style with decent acids in the finish. Good, but not as interesting.

This is Andrzej Greszta's first vintage and a very fine start in a not too easy year. Andrzej Greszta has earlier worked for Daniel Vollenweider, but has now started his own little weingut. Greszta will concentrate on a drier style of riesling. To me the 2006 feinherb was a special wine indeed. Managing to find it's balance just perfectly correct. Just where the feinherb should be. This can be another interesting name to follow.



Arnt Egil Nordlien
notes: Sep-07

To frontpage