Steffen Christmann, president of the VDP and winegrower at A. Christmann in the Pfalz region of Germany: "North of us, acidity is much more steely, south of us less definition."

"Our estate, 75 percent Riesling, 20 percent Pinot Noir plus some Weißburgunder. Pfalz had success with dry Riesling in their domestic market because the tradition has always been for drier wines. The German today market prefers dry wines." Christmann is a biodynamic grower and uses treatments 500 and 501. 22 ha. All of the grapes at Weingut Christmann are picked by hand.

For me, I want to be a grower first. If I have more vineyard I will have to be a salesman. At this size, I am a grower first.

2009 A. Chrismann Pfalz Riesling - Dry but soft and perfumed. Very balanced with moderate alcohol.

We believe Riesling should be a lower alcohol wine.

2008 A. Christmann Deideshimer Paradiesgarten - The '08 has more acid, is more detailed, very mineral and long. Great tradition of winegrowing in Deidesheim. Paradiesgarten should be a very mineral wine. "I want in this wine a tough saltiness, a tough minerality". From sandstone soil. Salty and mineral. Lime leaf. Some reduction. Great balance. Medium finish.

2007 A. Christmann Pflaz Riesling Idig GG - Spectacular aromatics. Very intense minerality. Lime/limestone. Dense and crunchy on the palate.Very long and lingering. High complexity and still very youthful.

2008 A. Christmann Pfalz Riesling Idig GG - Christmann: "Idig is a very special place. We know who in 1365 was the grower in the Idig. A long history of winegrowing." Rich, appley sweetness. Very aromatic and perfumed. "Nearly a monopole of ours." Just two other owners. Quite steep for the Pfalz. Pure limestone soil. Normally, the Pfalz is sandstone. Great minerality in the wine. 2007: a very good vintage in quantity and quality. 2008: even more minerality, more etched.

Steffen: "wines from the 80s and 90s do not age well. We are using better techniques now and lower yields. Our wines today age more like the wines of the 50s and 60s.

2008 A. Christmann Spatburgunder - Perfumed, sweet, crunchy nose. Soft and cola like. Very light, dry and softly fruited. Mineral and long on the palate. One of the very best Pinot Noir producers in Germany. "3, 4, 5 xs used barriques and some large cask." Konigsbach has been growing Pinot Noir for a long time. Christmann:"Best terroirs in Germany for Pinot Noir are the Pfalz and Baden".

Tom S., the great Jura enthusiast and old wine drinker, had originally planned his annual Jura blowout known as the "Hobbits Dinner" (I do not know why he calls it the Hobbits Dinner) for the spring but moved it to the fall. We've also been exchanging e-mails about the wines of Philipp Wittmann who, along with Keller, are helping to raise the profile of the Rheinhessen.

We met at Tom's favorite restaurant last night for a sort of Arbois/Wittmann mashup. Tom supplied the two Arbois wines which were both quite old and from a now defunct négociant named Louis Cartier. Such disparate wines can be a challenge for any restaurant to cook to and Chef Kulik and his staff at The Boiler Room did a great job of adjusting the menu so the wines would show their best.

We tasted the 1949 Louis Cartier Arbois Blanc first and decided to roll with it for the first course: crudo of escolar, radish and lovage. While this was not such a successful pairing, the wine on its own was simply spectacular. Very fresh with an oxidative profile that seemed to be harmonious and complete rather than a distraction. Very complex with a distinctive black truffle quality that I've only previously encountered in very old and well-stored top-quality white Burgundy.

The 2007 Wittmann Riesling Aulerde Grosses Gewächs was my wine of the night. Stunning structure and length. Gorgeously complex with something Beth described as an orange oil flavor and Tom S. described as pink grapefruit. Grosses Gewächs wines like these are some of the most exciting dry white wines being produced in the world today and I am completely flummoxed by the lack of attention they receive in the United States.

The Wittmann was paired with croquette of tête de cochon with mustard seed and an English pea purée. A jaw-dropper of a dish and a fine pairing.

The 2001 Wittmann Riesling Spätlese Aulerde was paired with Fusilli pasta with botarga and mint. A constant theme throughout all of the Wittmann wines was a certain herbal note and this was really set off by the mint in this dish. Though a bit weird, this pairing ended up working really well on a lot of levels.

The final savory pairing was a 1945 Louis Cartier Arbois Rouge. I am really surprised that a wine like this (we believe it was mostly based on Poulsard) can have this much color, sweetness of fruit, and weight at over 60 years of age. Floral, complex and a pleasure to drink. Paired with rabbit leg and spinach sformato with a dusting of dried and smoked morel mushroom powder. A dish that had a few too many ingredients for my taste but was really seamless with the wine.

Wittmann and Klaus-Peter Keller share some of the same vineyards in the southern part of the Rheinhessen near Westhofen in the Wonnegau region. Westhofen is a few kilometers inland from the banks of the Rhine and far from the famed Roter Hang area where Gunderloch long producer their fabulous Nackenheimer Rothenberg Rieslings.

One specialty particular to Wittmann is his Albalonga. The 1998 Wittmann Westhofener Steingrube Albalonga BA was our final wine. Albalonga is a Silvaner and Rieslaner hybrid which is rarely seen. It makes outstanding sweet wines with very high acidity and lush texture. It is a wine that is way too young to consume but way too delicious not to drink.

The 2009 German Rieslings are wines I’ve been geeked to taste ever since the vintage reports started to flow and the teaser Destination Riesling tasting back in May. You can read Terry’s entire vintage report here but to my palate, these wines show a similar balance of fruit and acidity found in the exceptional 2007s but with riper acidity and maybe a bit more flesh. The wines seem built, with good structure, tension, and seem very long on the palate (my kind of vintage). Of the wines present at Monday’s tasting, the Nahe sort of stole the show with Rheingau Spätlesen following close behind. Wines I absolutely wouldn’t miss would be Selbach-Oster’s micro-parcel wines: Rieslings Anrecht, Schmitt, and Rotlay—they’re ridiculously good. One of Terry’s Nahe producers, Kruger-Rumpf, showed a couple of stellar dry wines and I have a feeling that the various Grosses Gewächs / Erste Gewächs / Erste Lagen wines could be very, very good in this vintage. Now, where to find some?

Terry has classified the vintage as “excellent” and you’ll find his notes consistent with the other reports I’ve read. A few key points from Theise on how the 2009 wines actually taste (from Terry’s 2010 Terry’s Germany Catalog):

• In the Pfalz and parts of the Rheinhessen the ‘09s grow more powerful yet not more opulent as they get riper. They show a sinewy strength, sturdy yet juicy. 
•  As you go north, ’09 starts looking more like a classic Riesling vintage of great detail and shimmering delicacy. 
•  The vintage absolutely craves oxygen…aromas start to emerge after 5-10 minute. 
•  There wasn’t much botrytis, and I cannot recall any gnarly or unwelcome rot in any wine I tasted. 
• 2009 is a Spätlese-lover’s dream. 
• (On the Auslesen wines) They are in fact the signal genius of the vintage…drinkable masterpieces, at laughably low prices.

 

Lovely Tuesday in San Francisco--no haze and the air smelled like flowers--hardly ever happens. The Westin St. Francis on Powell hosted Destination Riesling this afternoon. I'm never eager for trade tastings, but today was great--smallish crowd, sunny room with bay views, (Alexandra's on the 32nd floor) and a stylish line-up. It set a new standard, as far as I'm concerned. 27 producers and just a handful showed '09's, which seemed like a wise decision, as the ones I tasted showed quite a bit of sulpher. David Shiverick of Langdon Shiverick Imports expects 2009 releases in the US in the Fall and I'm excited to try them. Showing particularly well included Rheingau producer Robert Weil--elegant and balanced-- and Schloss Schonborn--clean, mineral driven and awesome Silvaner under the Graf v Schonborn label; Rheinhessen producer Weingut Wittmann--petroly and pure--; Mosel delivered  blue-chips Dr. Thanisch and St. Urbans-Hof and new to me, Max. Ferd. Richter.