schiller-wine

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Top 100 German Wines of 2019 - James Suckling

Pictures: Tasting at Weingut Dönnhoff, Oberhausen, Nahe. with Anne Dönnhoff - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

On December 18, 2019, James Suckling released a list of his top 100 German wines of 2018. The list was put togather by Senior Editor Nick Stock and Contributing Editor Jack Suckling.

Until last year, Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor, a leading German wine and Riesling expert, was in charge of the list. However, Stuart Pigott left the James Suckling team in March 2019. Among others, he is now Riesling Ambassador for the renowned Gut Hermannsberg Estate in the Nahe Region.

Below find James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of Germany 2019. The list ist available on JamesSuckling.com. Available on JamesSuckling.com are also introductory remarks.

Pictures: Tasting at Weingut Jos. Jos. Prüm in Bernkastel-Wehlen, Mosel, with Amei Prüm - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

Top 100 Wines of Germany 2019
Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Senior Editor Nick Stock and Contributing Editor Jack Suckling tasted more than 800 German wines on a weeklong trip to Germany this year. They also visited dozens of wineries and spoke to even more winemakers. They were impressed with the overall quality of the 2018s they tasted and were slightly in awe of numerous beerenauslesen as well as trockenbeerenaulesen despite the vintage being deficient in high amounts of botrytis. Many dry rieslings were equally inspiring, which were easier to produce because of the relatively consistent and hot growing season and clean fruit.

The top-rated wines, as always, were from wine producers’ best vineyard sites, Grosses Gewächs (GGs) or grand crus. Many tuned their viticulture to the extremely hot and dry growing conditions and made an extra effort in the vineyard. But those who did not struggled to maintain acidity and elegance. They found some dry rieslings to be a little phenolic and broad, so consumers should be aware of this.

Nonetheless, our German wine of the year is the Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Morstein GG 2018. Keller remains the benchmark for German’s dry riesling scene and the 2018 Morstein is gorgeous with astonishing minerality, depth of flavor and vibrant combination of zingy acidity and ripeness. But there were many other great GGs and they also appear in the list.

We also list all of our top scoring, super-rare sweet wines including auction lots and other reserve wines. Last year, former editor Stuart Pigott chose only wines that were readily available in the market, but this year we decided to choose from all the wines we tasted no matter the number of bottles made.

As always, it’s hard to generalize about a vintage like 2018 with so many different regions and producers as well as differences in grape types, quality levels and sweetness, but the hot growing season and low acidities of 2018 suggest early drinking for most of the wines. The wines were very approachable and transparent when we tasted them a few months ago. By comparison, the 2018s don’t have the depth or intensity of the 2017s we rated last year but they are going to be crowd-pleasers now and in the future.

The great producers of Germany appear to have really dialed in the quality even in super-sweet wines where they harvested grapes at fantastic ripeness levels. It was this combination of dried fruit and light botrytis that delivered the incredible quality of the wines at the highest levels from beerenauslese to trockenbeerenauslese. And they are all in this list.

The top 20 wines are very much dominated by the ultra-sweet bottles, and these are wines that will be famous for decades to come. They have such strong aging potential and immense power and concentration with striking purity. Eight wines achieved a perfect 100-point rating at the top of the list and 12 achieved a near-perfect rating of 99 points. And while the extremely rare BA and TBA bottlings are justifiably high in price, you’ll also discover some great value wines close to the top of this list.

Wilhelm Weil of Weingut Robert Weil summed up the vintage and what we tasted this year pretty well: “2018 was the hottest growing season ever recorded but it was still possible to make great cool climate wines in the best sites. We learned a lot in this season. The limited water actually slowed the activity of the vines so we had clean grapes, good acidity, moderate alcohols and good hang time. The sweet wines are some of the most intense and most balanced we have ever seen.”

Pictures: Cellar Tour and Tasting at Weingut Robert Weil in Kiedrich, Rheingau, with Jan Christensen - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

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Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Morstein GG 2018
Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Pettenthal GG 2018
Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert) Riesling Mosel Abtsberg Auslese 68 Lange Goldkapsel (Auction Wine) 2018
Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert) Riesling Mosel Abtsberg Beerenauslese 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Trockenbeerenauslese Gold Cap 2018
Schäfer-Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Felseneck Trockenbeerenauslese 2018
Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Rheingau Purpurlack Beerenauslese 2018
Carl Loewen Riesling Mosel Klostergarten Beerenauslese -8° Celsius 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Dellchen GG 2018
Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Nahe Frühlingsplätzchen Beerenauslese 2018
Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Nahe Halenberg Auslese 2018
Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Nahe Halenberg GG 2018
Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Nahe Halenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2018
Joh. Jos. Prum Riesling Mosel Bernkasteler Lay Auslese Long Gold Cap 2017
Joh. Jos. Prum Riesling Mosel Graacher Himmelreich Auslese Gold Cap 2017
Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Abtserde GG 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Auslese Gold Cap 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Beerenauslese 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Beerenauslese Gold Cap 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Turmberg Beerenauslese 2018
Schäfer-Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Felseneck GG 2018
Schloss Johannisberg Riesling Rheingau Violettlack Eiswein 2018
Wittmann Riesling Rheinhessen La Borne trocken 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Hermannshöhle GG 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Oberhäuser Brücke Beerenauslese 2018
Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Riesling Pfalz Kirchenstück GC 2017
Dr. Loosen Riesling Mosel Erdener Prälat Auslese Gold Cap (Auction Wine) 2018
Dr. Loosen Riesling Mosel Ürziger Würzgarten Eiswein 2016
Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Nahe Halenberg Spätlese 2018
Joh. Jos. Prum Riesling Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese Gold Cap 2017
Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Hubacker GG 2018
Künstler Riesling Rheingau Kirchenstück Beerenauslese 2015
Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert) Riesling Mosel Abtsberg Auslese 87 2018
Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert) Riesling Mosel Abtsberg Auslese 89 2018
Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert) Riesling Mosel Herrenberg Auslese 91 Goldkapsel (Auction Wine) 2018
Müller-Catoir Rieslaner Pfalz Herzog Trockenbeerenauslese EL 2018
Ökonomierat Rebholz Riesling Pfalz Im Sonnenschein GG 2018
Peter Lauer Riesling Mosel Kupp Auslese Gold Cap GL 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Gräfenberg Auslese 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Turmberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2018
Schäfer-Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Felseneck Beerenauslese Gold Cap (Auction Wine) 2018
Schäfer-Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Halenberg GG 2018
Wittmann Riesling Rheinhessen Morstein GG 2018
Carl Loewen Riesling Mosel 1896 (Gray Label) 2018
Carl Loewen Riesling Mosel Maximin Herrenberg Auslese Goldkapsel (Auction Wine) 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Felsenberg Felsentürmchen GG 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Höllenpfad im Mühlenberg Trocken 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Auslese 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Oberhäuser Brücke Auslese Gold Cap 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Oberhäuser Brüke GG 2018
Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Riesling Pfalz Langenmorgen GC 2017
Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Nahe Auf der Ley GG 2018
Eva Fricke Riesling Rheingau Krone Trocken 2018
Fritz Haag Riesling Mosel Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Auslese #12 2018
Gut Hermannsberg Riesling Nahe Hermannsberg GG 2017
Haart Riesling Mosel Ohligsberg GG 2018
Hexamer Riesling Nahe Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2018
Hexamer Riesling Nahe Sobernheimer Domberg Eiswein 2018
Heymann-Löwenstein Riesling Mosel Röttgen GG 2018
Joh. Jos. Prum Riesling Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 2017
Julian Haart Riesling Mosel Ohligsberg 2018
Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Kirchspiel GG 2018
Keller Riesling Rheinhessen Nierstein trocken 2018
Knebel Riesling Mosel Uhlen GG 2018
Künstler Riesling Rheingau Berg Rottland GG 2018
Künstler Riesling Rheingau Hölle GG 2018
Künstler Riesling Rheingau Weiss Erd GG 2018
Markus Molitor Riesling Mosel Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (White Cap) 2017
Maximin Grünhaus (von Schubert) Riesling Mosel Herrenberg Auslese 72 2018
Müller-Catoir Riesling Pfalz Bürgergarten Im Breumel GG 2018
Prinz Riesling Rheingau Jungfer GG Trocken 2018
Robert Weil Riesling Rheingau Kiedrich Turmberg Auslese 2018
Schäfer-Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Felseneck Auslese 2018
Schäfer-Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Frühlingsplätzchen GG 2018
Schäfer-Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Stromberg GG 2018
Schlossgut Diel Riesling Nahe Burgberg GG 2017
Wittmann Riesling Rheinhessen Kirchspiel GG 2018
A.J. Adam Riesling Mosel Dhroner Hofberg Auslese 2018
Carl Loewen Riesling Mosel Maximin Herrenberg GG 2018
Carl Loewen Riesling Mosel Ritsch Auslese 2018
Carl Loewen Riesling Mosel Ritsch GG 2018
Christmann Riesling Pfalz Idig GG 2018
Christmann Riesling Pfalz Meerspinne GG 2018
Clemens Busch Riesling Mosel Marienburg Auslese 2018
Dönnhoff Riesling Nahe Krötenpfuhl GG 2018
Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Riesling Pfalz Pechstein GC 2017
Dr. Loosen Riesling Mosel Erdener Treppchen GG Alte Reben 2018
Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan Riesling Pfalz Hohenmorgen GG 2018
Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Nahe Frühlingsplätzchen GG 2018
Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Nahe Halenberg R 2016
Fritz Haag Riesling Mosel Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Auslese 2018
Gut Hermannsberg Riesling Nahe Bastei GG 2017
Gut Hermannsberg Riesling Nahe Felsenberg GG 2018
Gut Hermannsberg Riesling Nahe Steinberg GG 2018
Haart Riesling Mosel Goldtröpfchen Auslese 2018
Haart Riesling Mosel Goldtröpfchen Spätlese 2018
Heymann-Löwenstein Riesling Mosel Uhlen Laubach GG 2018
Jakob Schneider Riesling Nahe Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Magnus Trocken 2018
Jakob Schneider Riesling Nahe Norheimer Dellchen Trocken 2018

Pictures: Tasting at Weingut Dr. Loosen in Bernkastel-Kues, Middle Mosel, with Ernie Loosen - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

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Tasting at Weingut Dönnhoff, Oberhausen, Nahe. with Anne Dönnhoff - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

Tasting at Weingut Jos. Jos. Prüm in Bernkastel-Wehlen, Mosel, with Amei Prüm - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

Cellar Tour and Tasting at Weingut Robert Weil in Kiedrich, Rheingau, with Jan Christensen - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

Tasting at Weingut Dr. Loosen in Bernkastel-Kues, Middle Mosel, with Ernie Loosen - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

Monday, February 3, 2020

Tour and Tasting at Château Lafite-Rothschild, Appellation Pauillac, 1ière Grand Cru Classé - Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2019, France

Pictures: Tour and Tasting at Château Lafite-Rothschild, Appellation Pauillac, 1ière Grand Cru Classé - Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2019, France

Château Lafite Rothschild was the most prestigious estate we visited during the

Total Immersion in Bordeaux: World Class Wines and Exquisite French Gourmet Cuisine - Bordeaux Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours, France

The wine-searcher average price of the Château Lafite Rothschild2004, which we tasted during the tour, is US$ 822 (before taxes). We spent about 2 hours there.

Château Lafite Rothschild (Berry Bros. and Rudd)

Château Lafite Rothschild is one of the most renowned wine properties in the Médoc. Owned by Baron Eric de Rothschild and Lafite Rothschild is also one of the largest Médoc estates.

The vineyards of Ch. Lafite are found at the northern tip of the Pauillac appellation, just below the boundary with St. Estephe. There is evidence of an estate on this site as far back as the 14th century, and of exports of wine to the UK in the early 17th century. The current owners, the Rothschilds of the famous banking dynasty, bought the property in 1866, but this is a different brand of the family from that which purchased Ch. Mouton-Rothschild. For many years the Rothschilds’ control of Lafite was very much exercised at a distance, compared to the hands-on influence of Baron Philippe at Mouton, but since the Second World War this has changed somewhat, with the current owner, Eric de Rothschild, presiding over an extensive programme of investment in both vineyard and cellar.

With a base largely of gravel the vineyard is unsurprisingly dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon (71%) with the balance comprising Merlot (25%) Cabernet Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (1%). Grapes are hand-harvested, and vinified parcel by parcel. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel vats, after which the wine is run off into barrels, 100% new for Lafite itself, a mixture of new and one-year-old barrels for the second wine.

The Grand Vin volume varies greatly according to the vintage, but is frequently less than half the total crop, and is usually no more than 20,000 cases. The second wine, Carruades de Lafite, has a slightly higher percentage of Merlot than Lafite and is in consequence more approachable in youth. Up to 30,000 cases are made. Wine deemed not worthy of inclusion in Carruades is sold off as generic Pauillac.

Throughout the 20th century Lafite was dogged by periods of inconsistency, often producing sublime wines but also failing to live up to its billing in other years. Since 1994, however the estate has been under the control of Charles Chevallier, and he has brought about not just an admirable level of consistency but has also been responsible for some truly brilliant wines often vying for the title of “Wine of the Vintage”.

In style the wines of Lafite are often described as having a perfumed elegance and finesse, to contrast with the more masculine power and structure of Latour or the more exotic and intense flavours of Mouton. What is sure, however, is that at its best it represents a hedonistic experience for the consumer, and has the ability to age, in great years, for minimally 50 years and often for longer.