{"id":2962,"date":"2018-11-29T21:41:51","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T21:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/?p=2962"},"modified":"2018-12-01T21:14:33","modified_gmt":"2018-12-01T21:14:33","slug":"the-future-of-german-riesling-feinherb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/2018\/11\/29\/the-future-of-german-riesling-feinherb\/","title":{"rendered":"THE FUTURE OF GERMAN RIESLING: FEINHERB"},"content":{"rendered":"

The direction of German Riesling has changed dramatically over the last decade.\u00a0 There are lots of reasons.\u00a0 Part of it is market perception.\u00a0 In general, anything that is perceived to have any<\/em> residual sugar is frowned upon by the new populace.\u00a0 Sp\u00e4tlese is viewed as \u2018sweet\u2019, even though the elevated acidity strikes an amazing balance with the complex hillside fruit of traditional German estate Riesling.\u00a0 Chardonnay is \u2018dry\u2019.\u00a0 Never mind that many of the Chardonnays the populace drinks have substantial sugars woven into their makeup, and much lower acidity.<\/p>\n

The sommelier\u00a0set, particularly those in Germany that have the ears of the vintners, claim that traditionally styled Rieslings don\u2019t go with food.\u00a0 We\u2019d love to debate that but the point is that they have been demanding searingly dry, skeletal trocken<\/em> Riesling as the solution.\u00a0 Do they go better with food?\u00a0 Well some<\/em> food, as long as you don\u2019t care what the wine tastes like.\u00a0 The best examples of the genre are generally the ‘Grand Cru’ Trockens, designated as GG (gro\u00dfes<\/em> gew\u00e4chs<\/em>).\u00a0 But while they have the peripheral fruit flesh that makes the style viable, they are erratic as a genre and typically cost $50 and up.<\/p>\n

As we have stated many times, grapes should be made into the type of wine that best serves the varietal and the site.\u00a0 In this part of the world where it is colder, leaner structures and some sweetness are magic together.\u00a0 That may change with global warming, but it hasn\u2019t yet.\u00a0 In the meantime some very talented German estates have figured out what we think is a way to please everyone.\u00a0 Over the years we have seen better and better examples of what are referred to as halbtrockens<\/em> (literally \u2018half dry\u2019) a.k.a.\u00a0feinherb<\/em>, and this effort will be a game changer for a lot of folks.<\/p>\n

The feinherbs<\/em> have the firm backbone of great Riesling and, in concert with that acidity, have barely perceptible sweetness and finish dry.\u00a0 Perhaps more important is that, with just a bit more \u2018fat\u2019 on the \u2018bones\u2019, the palate feel is much rounder and there is a place where the remarkable fruit and complexity of some of these historic vineyards have a platform to express those qualities.\u00a0 To us, these are the answer to Riesling’s identity problem and a fantastic and versatile option for both food and non-food applications.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t think of making a pitch like this unless we had a\u00a0 stellar example of the breed to make our case.\u00a0 This A. J. Adam Feinherb<\/em> is uncommonly good for the genre and pretty sensational juice by any standard.<\/p>\n

While we have been big promoters of German wines since the 1980s, and have worked with some producers for that entire stretch, we only became acquainted with A.J. Adam with the 2010 vintage.\u00a0 He has since become one of our favorite H\u00e4user.<\/em> \u00a0The A J Adam Riesling Mosel in der Sangerei Feinherb 2017 <\/strong><\/a>can be considered a \u2018best of breed\u2019.\u00a0 Some folks might balk at a $40 fare for Riesling, but you can pay a lot more for wines that cannot touch this one.\u00a0 To us, this should be the future of the trocken<\/em> movement…back off the trocken<\/em> a little and make something that\u2019s both enjoyable and food friendly.<\/p>\n

Importer Terry Theise\u2019s comments on this one are, \u201cA cadaster parcel within the Hofberg, this has often been a beloved wine for me. This \u201917 is quite serious, in the vintage way, not as suave as usual but with a different kind of grip and length. Half was lost to frost, so there\u2019s just one Fuder, of an earnest, dark-toned mineral wine, with a pointed acidity that sucks up every one of the 25g\/l RS.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While perhaps less cerebral, Stuart Piggott’s comments on James Suckling\u2019s website are certainly more to the heart of the matter, \u201cSuper peachy with great brilliance and refinement. This is a great Sp\u00e4tlese that’s dry enough for the finest lobster dish, but it is also powerful enough to cope with the spiciest curry. The very long finish keeps pumping out fruit and minerals. Drink or hold…96 points.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the type of effort that will please people on both sides of the Riesling\u00a0debate.\u00a0 By the way, if you are<\/em> a fan of the more traditional Sp\u00e4tlese style, these guys make one of the best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The direction of German Riesling has changed dramatically over the last decade.\u00a0 There are lots of reasons.\u00a0 Part of it is market perception.\u00a0 In general, anything that is perceived to have any residual sugar is frowned upon by the new populace.\u00a0 Sp\u00e4tlese is viewed as \u2018sweet\u2019, even though the elevated acidity strikes an amazing balance … Continue reading “THE FUTURE OF GERMAN RIESLING: FEINHERB”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40],"tags":[9,435,436,249,437,250],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2962"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2974,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions\/2974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}