After
Vertus we drove back towards
In out way came also a slovenian family
running out of gas on the freeway. We helped them out and lost an hour time. So
we arrived later than planned at Traben-Trarbach. A very short time was then
spent with Martin Müllen and
tasting some of his wines. Martin Müllen is a very nice man with a good
philosophy in his wine-making. The wine-making is as natural as possible, being
traditional and using natural yeasts only. Unfortunately the wines have had a
tendency to be to rustic and lacking some of the refinement one finds in top Mosel-riesling.
But he is a hard worker and IMO makes better wines every year. In 2002 his
trocken wines were great, especially his pride the Trarbacher Hühnerberg. 2003
was quite a different animal and Martin Müllen experienced severe problems in
the Hühnerberg with wild boars, eating it’s way through the vineyard, he lost a
large portion of his grapes. Later Daniel Vollenweider said this had become
even a larger problem this year with wild boars even in the Wolfer Goldgrube
eating grapes. Daniel said he considered putting up electrical fences around
the vineyards as he had lost a lot of great grapes this year. New at Müllen for
the 2003-vintage is that he has started bottling separat plots aka Vollenweider
and Clemens Busch in some of his vineyards; like the Steffensberg, Letterlay
and the Paradies. Müllens wines in the 2003-vintage showed some of the problem
one finds in this warm vintage. The dry wines were hard to balance and showed
less elegant than earlier. This year I found the sweeter wines better here,
although here they were a bit heavy on the sweetness in the balance. The
Trarbacher Hühnerberg 2003 spätlese was as always one of the more impressive
wines, but the selections from the Paradies was also interesting. The Kröver
Paradies “Jippi” riesling Spätlese** 2003 was a very good wine made from wines
harvested in a small strip of vines close to the river.
Then we
went off to Daniel Vollenweider
and arrived 15 minutes late. Here are the notes from the 2003-vintage:
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese feinherb
2003, Ap: 02 04
This wine
is this year made from the Portz-block in the Goldgrube. It is typical 2003 and
shows some of the problem of the drier wines in this vintage. The nose being
nice with hints of flowers and honey. In the mouth the entrance is fullbodied
and some fatness with some honey and apricot, then this hollowness in the
middle before a mineral finish with more alcohol than usual. The wine helds
12,5%, usually it’s at 10%. It’s a decent wine, but the most disappointing
feinherb I have tasted at Vollenweider. Daniel actually agrees and says it was
very hard to make this wine. Strangely it is the first vintage of the feinherb
that Armin Diel found good enough to include in the Gault Millau-guide.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling kabinett 2003, Ap: 01 04
Light straw
colour. Floral, lightly slatey wine with impressive acids, but here some of it
comes from the high spritz. It is very full-bodied for a kabinett and not
exactly true to that style, the must holding auslese-weight. But it is an
impressive kabinett that probably will do well with aging. If you drink this
now, I would suggest to not decant it, to keep the spritz which helps balance
the sweetness.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese 2003, AP: 03 04
This is the
“straight” spätlese bottling. It is more distinct flowery than the kabinett,
but perhaps lacking some of the slateyness. It is powerful, sweet and rich in
the mouth with decently balanced acids. But it is not more interesting than the
kabinett. Perhaps even less.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese 2003, AP: 04 04 (Reiler)
This is
from the Reiler-plot which was IMO perhaps Vollenweiders most impressive wine
in 2002. The colour is light straw/greenish. Quite sweet and a bit tropical
nose, but shows great depth and also some greener notes. Balance is also better
with more balanced acids and better length. This does not fail to impress in
2003 and was my favourite spätlese this year too.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese GK 2003, AP: 05 04 (Jon)
This wine
is made from a block that Daniel Vollenweider has not bottled seperately
before. The block is situated in the steep part of the Goldgrube straight
across the bridge from Wolf and named Jon (“sjonn”). In 2003 this was the
spätlese that showed the most impressive structure with finely balanced acids
for this vintage. The nose showed some of the same tropical elements as the
Reiler, but seemed more straightforward and lacked the same depth and interest,
although not far behind in quality.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese GK 2003, AP: 06 04 (Goldgrube)
From the
original Goldgrube-block. This wine showed more intencity and more extract than
the two previous wines. The nose was more honeyed and showed also some more
slate. It is powerful and a concentrated wine. Fruit mostly honeyed and a bit
shut down at the moment. A different animal than the Jon, but not less
interesting.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling auslese 2003, AP: 07 04
The first
auslese Daniel made which does not have 100% botrytised grapes. This have 80%.
Daniel decided to do this, as the must-weights was very high, yet contained so
little botrytis this year. The wine has a Straw/green colour. A bit closed
nose, but shows some botrytis and raisins. In the mouth it is a powerful and
concentrated wine, but with beautiful balanced acids and good length. Some
botrytis and quite closed down fruit. Great potensial. Daniel tells that he
really liked the way the higher prädikat-wines turned out in 2003. The only
thing was that he had to let his philosophy about auslese = 100% botrytised
grapes go. But the slightly cooler (late) autumn of the 2003-vintage and the
long abscense of botrytis made the grapes keep much of the freshness as the
grapes shrivelled. So according to Daniel 2003 is a vintage for the sweeter
wines. This also seems to be my impression from what I have tasted. The next
wine should be an even better example of this.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling auslese LGK 2003, AP: 08 04
The Lange
GoldKapsel had an Oechsle-weight of 170° when harvested. The nose shows more
botrytis than the auslese with more intence honeyed nose. In the mouth the
entrance shows the fatness of botrytis and is intence, powerful and rich. The
acids manage to balance beautiful and keeps the finish fresh and very long. A
great and intence wine from Daniel Vollenweider and perhaps one of the finest
wines he have ever made. Only 100 liters made.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling auslese TBA 2003
We had a
little taste of this wine that is still ferminting and has reached an alcoholic
level of 3,5%. Hard to comment much on the yeastful aromas this wine gave, but
the structure in the mouth seemed to be tremendous with high and cleansing
acids. I think this is Daniels first TBA and he will make about 100 liters from
it. Really something to look out for.
Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling kabinett 2000
Later we
had a taste of this wine which is coming around nicely. Especially the nose is
nice shoing petrolly, but with nice floral and mineral intencity. In the mouth
it is a quite soft kabinett with nice mineral depth. Perhaps lacking a bit of
“cut” in the finish, but good length.
The tasting
at Daniel Vollenweider confirmed that the 2003-vintage is giving quite mixed
results and perhaps shows a bit differently than one first thought. The drier
wines (halbtrocken and drier) really has huge problems balancing the sweetness
from the ripeness and the high alcoholic levels. The balance in these wines are
very weird. Perhaps things will sort out with aging, but IMO I would be very
careful buying these wines. The stars of the vintage is the wines with high
oechsle-weight, starting with the more powerful spätlesen and upwards. Daniel
really likes these wines and says the weather-conditions and the lack of
botrytis made these wines balance better than one should think. The tasting
confirmed this IMO.