2007 German Rieslings for August

We love the 2007 vintage in German riesling. It was the longest growing season that anyone can remember. It was a very warm spring, followed by cooler weather in July and August, and then perfect weather in September and October allowed growers to select the optimal harvest point in each of their parcels. The wines are richly fruited and also show laser-like focus and acidity. Some of our favorites show resoundingly perfect balance, pungent and complex, and still delicate and graceful.These are wine that unfold gradually and provide several different experiences in the same glass. Here are a few of our favorites from the 2007 vintage:

Heike and Ernst Clusserath grow grapes and make wine in Trittenheim, in the Mosel. Their parcels are mostly on weathered slate at a turn in the river as it begins to flow north. They prune heavily for better fruit, cultivate natural herbs to encourage insect bio-diversity and natural balance. Only natural yeasts are used.

Ernst Clusserath Riesling Classic - A shy nose that comes out with a little encouragement, and then it's very pretty lime, apple skins, and honey. It hits immediately on the palate with a very awake bold character and was absolutely ripped with acids. As we recently drank this, some one said "Wow, there is no doubt you have wine in your mouth." Nicely, this avoided robust fruit flavors and gave more the impression of summer fields, flowers turning into something woodsy, very savory. Finishes and washes away very cleanly. This wine to us suggests earthy foods - morels maybe. Now that would be an interesting pairing...

Ernst Clusserath Trittenheimer Altarchen Kabinett - This was immediately open and friendly, showing a sign of matured mellowness. Aromas of dill, coconut, fresh honey, warm quince and grasses. Underneath all of that is butter, real creamy butter from the crock. As expected then, it hit the palate graciously, silken with a prickle here and there of lime like acids. It breathed a bit of petrol and the skin of clementines, and gave the gentle reminder that there was some residual sugar here. The acids played a nice supporting role but in the long, long finish, the sugars made the final statement, opening up the fruit on the sides of the gumline. Delicious!

Jurgen Schwabb of Domaine Sankt Anna farms 4 hectares of slate and schist soils in Erden, in the middle Mosel. All of his vineyards are farmed sustainably.

Sankt Anna Classic - Right from the bottle this is mmediately fragrant, with candied fruits, flowers, and pink grapefruit. Behind it was a tone of nut butter, distinctly pistachio and a scent of fresh dairy cream. The palate is fierce, fiery and distinctly perky right through the fat of the wine. It avoids the lacquering fruit texture in lieu of pink grapefruit zest, and it comes across very dry. Only a tiny feeling of sugar slipped around the palate. As the wine breathed along, it showed green, savory tones, something akin to spring ramps and intense savory herbs. It was full of intensity and very awkening to the palate.

Sankt Anna Kinheimer Rosenberg Kabinett - The nose shows a curious scent of smoky campfire, with white peaches and fresh grated ginger. The fruit is right upfront, almost like peach preserves. These aromas carry through on the palate and then the with evolves and shows smokey dried grass and then grapefruit flavors. There is a stunning combination of richness and very jumpy acids, clean and so stony, very refreshing. This wine is big and dynamic for a Kabinett, and there is a lot to say in the glass.

Gunter Scheu took over at Weinhof Scheu in 1996. His vineyards in the Pfalz are located near the French border in Alsace and northward, mostly near Sonnenberg. Scheu wants to make wines that reflect individual microclimates and show detailed terrior expression. His vineyards are mostly heavy clay soils with limestone deposits. Yields are extremely low and planting is at high density for the greatest concentration in fruit.

Weinhof Scheu Riesling Feinherb - This shows class and refinement with lean pit fruits with a curious warm wooden tone, and dry cheese. It reminds us of a French wine. It hit the palate with a neutral weight, very proper and squared off. The wine is dry and tactile, leaving a obvious minerality and mild pleasant astringency. It is bold and focused, not open and showy, with a pretty almond flavor. This is a seriously beautiful wine.

Latitude 50 Riesling Kabinett Feinherb (Rheingau) - This opens with a mature autumn nose, loaded with pure grapey aromas, overtly ripe and ready. Still, there is a sense of something zesty, flinty.As it opens there are baked dough or biscuits, perhaps something like Chinese fried noodles. The wine is extremely soft all the way around the palate, with dense full fruit. The acids are just strong enough to keep it clean and lifted. It tastes of pure ripe autumn pears, lemon oil and fresh honey that evolves into a mild sense of mineral stoniness.


All of these wines are very well priced right now and will be further promoted in August - please contact savio@savioselections.com for more information.

Jura Wine Tasting with Philippe Bornard and Domaine de L'Octavin

Please join us tomorrow for a wonderful tasting of wines from the Jura. Click here to view the tasting announcement. Please rsvp to jura @ carbonniercommunications.com to get your name on the list.

We are especially excited about this tasting because several of our growers/producers will be present, pouring and discussing their wines. Come and meet Alice Bouvot and Charles Dagnan of Domaine de L'Octavin (above photograph).

Rock-star wine maker Philippe Bornard will also be at the tasting. Chardonnay, Melon Queue Rouge, Poulsard, Trousseau, and perhaps even a Pinot Noir or two...these are the good things you might encounter at this tasting. They are looking forward to sharing their wines with you. Stop by, say hello, and enjoy some Jura wine.

Gary's Loft
28 West 36th Street, Penthouse
11:00 - 5:00

Rosé Wines are Here.

Warm weather is (basically) here and the mood is playful. People sit outside at the café after work, talking, enjoying the weather, and drinking a glass of rosé. They open a bottle when they get home and sit by the window or on the deck, and feel the spring slowly turn towards summer.

We have some fantastic rosés this year for you to share with your customers. Wines of pure and easy drinking joy, wines that unfold a bit more slowly, even a cult-favorite sparkling wine. Some of these are rather limited, so reserve yours now.

Domaine Sainte Lucie Côtes de Provence MiP* (Made in Provence), 2009 - This is simply a great wine at a great price. Stack it by the cash registers, pour it by the glass, get it out there because the people love it! It's a beautifully fruited and spicy Provençal rosé that compliments anything on the spring and summer table, and sips perfectly on its own too.

A blend of 60% cinsault, 20% syrah, and 20% grenache, all harvested in the cool night time air from the marly limestone and gravel soils in vineyards at the foot of Mount Sainte Victoire. These great vineyards benefit from southern exposure and also from the constant winds that keep the grapes free of rot.

Domaine des Diables Côtes de Provence "Lessez-Vous Tenter," 2009 - Made by Virgine and Guillaume Philip, the same team that recently took over wine making duties at her father's Domaine Sainte Lucie. This wine is about deep summer fruit and steely minerals, and it shows the spice you would expect from a syrah-based rosé (60% syrah, 20% grenache and 20% cinsault). This is far more limited than MIP*, although the pricing on the wines is essentially the same - as low as $15 or $16 on a retail shelf.

Here's a rosé that we are bringing in for the first time, a dry wine from the upper Mosel in Germany at only 11% alcohol! This wine is made from the roter elbling grape, a forgotten variety that resembles Poulsard in that it is a red grape that is vinified as a red wine, but can make only a pale rosé colored wine. Mathias Dostert Rosay, 2009 - this is a special and unique wine - a lovely nose of sweet fruit (think kumquats), pine trees, spices, and flowers. It is well balanced and very refreshing. It comes from 30 year old vines on deep limestone soils, and it is serious and delicious rosé. Retail price on this one can be as low as $10. Only 300 cases imported, and it's already moving fast.

Wilfred Rousse Chinon Rosé de Saingée, 2009 - Wilfred Rousse is quietly making some of the most delicious wines in Chinon. This rosé is made from free-run cabernet franc juice and it is very fresh, a bit wild, untamed. There are aromas of spicy strawberries and the wine has a subtle concentration, great acidity, and shows complexity of fruit and hints of the dried green leafiness that distinguish it as a wine of Chinon. This is a very fine wine and it should retail for $14-$16. Again, only 300 cases imported.

And then there is Bandol. Bandol rosés have the potential to be among the very finest in the world. This one more than meets that potential, and at an attractive price (should cost between $19-$23 retail). Domaine Castell-Reynoard Bandol Rosé, 2009 - 75% mourvedre, 25% grenache. It is that beautiful pale onion skin color that happens with mourvedre. Well structured, very savory, very mineral, very complex. Jean-Marie Castell plows the soil, harvests by hand, ferments this wine in 50 hl oak barrels, and bottles unfiltered. This one keeps unfolding in the glass and should age very well. A rosé for the dinner table.

We also offer very small quantities of the amazing Philippe Bornard Ploussard Rose Petillant Naturel (2009) - this cultish sparkling ploussard is sheer joy, made by one of the superstars of the Jura. Bornard's wines are getting great reviews everywhere you look, and this one vanished quickly last year. Reservations recommended.

There are other rosés too - please contact savio@savioselections.com for more information.

Spring Portfolio Tasting !!

Please join us at our 2010 Spring Portfolio Tasting.

Come taste the wines of Philippe Bornard, Axel Prüfer, Andrea Calek, and many many more.

Open to the press from 11:00 - noon.
Open to the trade from noon - 4:30 pm.

Wined Up Wine Bar
913 Broadway, 2nd Floor
rsvp: savio@savioselections.com

See you there...