Andrew McIntyre

9.5

Could smell this out of the bottle directly after popping the cork! Lemon, petrol, smoke and crushed stones. Palatte was all about minerality for me with light tones of ripe melon. Salty finish with perfectly balanced acidity. Cracking wine — 2 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.1

Wow. Fresh as a daisy.

Nose explodes with minerals. So fresh. Very slatey

Palate is green apple with a hint of tropicality. Very mineral. Incredibly fresh. As this opens like crunchy rocks.

Terrific estate trocken. I mean really good.

Bought from fass selections. — 3 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.4

This is an schwarzen hergott auslese. Which is a sweet wine. The dry wine is a grosses gewachs.

Nose is so clean. Hint of botrytus. But it’s just an element.

Palate is so fresh. Green apple and a hint of tropicality. Mineral. Juicy. So good.

Bought from fass selections — 3 years ago

Wilhelm Post

9.0

Lovely forest rasberries and strawberries, sandalwood and a hint of smoke — 4 years ago

with Johanna

Aaron Tan

9.1

Wish I could tell you that I tasted the TBA, but silly me (and CW) decided we'd wait until we've tasted all the drier wines before moving on to this... then poof! None left. Sigh. Heard that it's amazing though and the hammer price seems to indicate so - 1020€ 0.375L, 2750€ 0.75L, and 18000€ 1.5L. Insane!

As for the GG, that I did taste. Again, take my notes with a grain of salt given how brief the occasion was. Very fruit driven, ranging from yellow stone fruits to exotic fruits, both on the nose and palate. Nose is beautifully touched by herbal notes. Noticeable sweetness on the palate. Excellent acidity, but I felt the finish was somewhat muted by a touch of warmth in the finish. Needs time to bring more balance. I thought it was a good GG, but trumped by the 18' ADL that it was tasted with on both occasions. 200€ 0.75L

NB: The usual suspects (at least for me) delivered the best dry rieslings at the Nahe VDP auctions. Some brief notes and in order of my favourites:

1) Emrich-Schonleber 18' Auf der Lay: My wine of the auction. Such a beautiful nose - Stone fruits, citrus, just the right amount of greenness (fresh cut herbs and grass), and a real chalky feel. The palate is just so saline, intense, deep, and balanced. Amazing drive. Almost as good as the 17'! 270€ 1.5L and 720€ 3.0L

2) Philipp Kuhn 18' Philippsbrunnen: Wow wow! Surprise of this auction. Precise, elegant, juicy, and so mineral. The nose is airy and cool. Multi-layered palate with sufficient extract. Gentle power comes to mind with this wine. I absolutely adored it and definitely one of the best buys this auction. 105€ 0.75L

3) Keller 18' Pettenthal: What can I say? The terroir is just so strong (taste any producer producing Pettenthal and you'll know) and KP does a great job at turning up the dial to 150%! Admittedly, the doesn't have the electricity of the 17' :( 800€ 0.75L

4) Wagner-Stempel 18' EMT: Better than the 17' I feel, but definitely still on the austere side. Some noticeable phenolics on the palate, but the density and depth is just plain impressive. Excellent value if you ask me. 100€ 0.75L

Lastly, something needs to said about the Wittmann La Borne and Battenfeld-Spanier Zellertal Kreuzberg - I don't get why people are paying so much for these wines (270€ and 210€ respectively). — 5 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.1

Spicey nose. Complex and mineral. Awesome. Juicy and complex but a bit low acid. 17 is rough for grau/weiss I’ve found. Good freshness from minerality and very pure and balanced. — 5 years ago

Geoff Franz

9.0

Delicious. Better than the Keller Feuervogel IMO and costs a third as much. — 2 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Stunning nose. Saffron, rich honey and spices. Tangerine honey. Super rich, yet focused. Smells very rich and exotic. Wow, stunning palate. Rich yet so fresh with so much energy. Amazing purity and saline on the finish. Wow. Decadent yet so linear and energetic. Loads is citrus and guava. Perfect ripeness. A stunning Auslese. — 3 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.6

Nose is lemon flower and mineral. So pretty

Palate is candied lemon. Petrified and crushed lemon. So “sweet”. This is insanely delicious.

As this opens sleek and elegant. Less fresh crushed rock and more powdery. Lovely internal aromatics.

Bought from fass selections — 3 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.5

Awesome.

Bought from fass selections. — 4 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.7

@delectable battenfeld spanier frauenberg auslese

Wow. This will sound awful but “dessert wine for smart people”. Sorry. It’s the best description I can give.

Apparent sweetness is minimal. Nose is holy shit. Apricot. Mineral. So intense.

Palate is so mineral for an auslese. Dense apricot. Perfect balance. GOD this is good. No botrytus. So clean.

I had this with ricotta honey sour orange zest and pignoli. I am prepared to go to my maker. — 4 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Stunning nose. Citrus, confectionary, tangerine, so aromatic. Tight, complex and citrusy with lovely acidity. So fresh. Intense structure. Deep. Needs 5 years. — 5 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

Wow what a nose. Tropical, apricot, peach juice, saffron and earth. Honeyed overtones as well. Super pure and clean. Palate has amazing acidity and freshness and finished almost dry with incredible finesse and length. Very complex already but will gain with more time. Stunning finish. — 5 years ago

Thijs Hendriks

9.4

@ delectable: Kirchenstuck trockenbeerenauslese
Vintage 2008 — 5 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.4

Wild. I love this.

Nose is rich old crazy.

Palate is rich. Dense. Flits with grapefruit.

Bought from fass selections. — 2 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

Nose is a bit quiet. Some wet stones but surprisingly quiet. Maybe too cold? Palate is electric. Wow. Just a big zing of fresh mouthwatering minerals. Really long. Really closed. Unusual for it to be this closed but it’s all there. Needs to come together! Some sugar snap peas and florals with coaxing. Really long and mouthcoating. So pure and energetic. Wow. Really great. I’ll be back.

Really coming around now. Expansive and herbal aromas. Floral and so delicate. Ripe, juicy, long. Salty. Great structure. — 3 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

What a wine. Genius. Brilliant. But that’s 2019. Insane nose of honeysuckle, caramel nougat, spice, mineral, confectionary notes, apricot, peach skin and superb head spinning mineralIty. What a palate. Elegant, spicy, tons of apricot and peach skin, and so juicy and energetic. Pure and sappy. So nimble but also has energy and substance for days. Citrus, marmalade flavors develop after some minutes. Juicy and so clean. Unreal. So pure. Sappy and dense. Balanced and long. This has serious stuffing. What a wine. Perfect ripeness balanced with scintillating minerality and energy. Chewy. Wonderful. After some air one gets lost in the nose and aroma. Dizzying. The best honeyed aromas. Pitted fruits now and more incisive minerality. So long. A stunner. — 4 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

Unreal wine. Best Battenfeld Pinot GG ever. Unreal nose. Spicey cherries, sour cherries, mid season cherries, hint of cassis, loads of earth, mineral and limestone. Smells like Red Riesling. Palate is just gorgeous. So so so red Riesling. Gorgeous sweet cherry fruit. Caressing. The palate spacious and squeezes gorgeous elegant and ethereal fruit. Mid season cherries galore. Energetic and pure, with stunning balance and depth. So so elegant and clean. Amazing mouthfeel and the most elegant and refined tannins. What a finish. Concentrated and deep with lovely ripe cherry skins lingering on the finish. Just awesome. A masterpiece. After 1 hour this is incredible. Super elegant. Very high qualify stuff. — 4 years ago

Jordan Wardlaw

9.3

This 2014 is a lovely Spätburgunder with lots of Burgundian character. Showy fruit on the nose (cherry, rhubarb, orange peel) with hints of anise, bergamot and baking spice. Very Chambolle-like. Outstanding. — 5 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

This is like if Coche-Dury made Riesling! The richness combined with the freshness in this wine is just not fair. It is so, so good. I'm not going to introduce a new Riesling estate if it's not the goods and the top of the tops. This is still the newest one in the last two years and I've tasted a lot. The Koberner has more blue slate and this wine is like a lower Mosel interpretation of a Middle Mosel wine. A lot of the classic Mosel thing you get is from blue slate. So this is by far the most mineral of all the wines that Materne and Schmitt make so naturally I had to offer it as it's shockingly great and in 2017 it's the best value Riesling I've had in ages. Stunning nose. Drop dead. Rich yellow fruits. Lovely racey herbal aromas with profound purity and depth. After some air gorgeous white flowers. Huge minerality that is super penetrating. It's so refined and straight as an arrow. Really just wonderful aromas. The palate is incredibly juicy and rich with jaw dropping purity. Terrific ripeness and a brilliant texture. Oh man is this silly good. Like a cross between Battenfeld Moelsheim and Coche Dury! Wow what an insane texture worth endless depth. Stunning. Beautiful freshness and acidity allied with richness it is just to die for. Incredible palate staining length. Wow oh wow oh wow. This wine is why I opened this company. Exquisite balance and so, so pure. After 45 minutes the minerality takes over. So sappy with incredible dry extract. It has it all. What a wine. — 5 years ago