Monday, September 26, 2011

2010 Mosel Acidity

Just had to quickly tell you this:

What they're saying about high acidity in the 2010 Mosel Rieslings...I think they're not exaggerating. Last night I had dinner with a few friends, including Dan Melia of Mosel Wine Merchant. Dan is my very good friend, and even though there is a potential conflict of interest here, as I want him to do well in his business, I think you know by now that I would never write about something and say that I love for any reason other than that I really love it.

We drank many interesting wines, among them three wines from the 2010 vintage by Immich-Batterieberg. We drank CAI, the "entry level" wine in the portfolio, although it is patently absurd to think of this wine in those terms. It is a Kabinett, it is very serious wine, and it is completely delicious and compelling. I loved it in 2009 and to me it seems as though the 2010 will be even better - more focused and precise, more mineral, more of everything, including balance and harmony. At about $23, this is something to buy a lot of. We also drank the single vineyard wines Batterieberg and Ellergrub. I still do not have the Riesling context to say anything intelligent about them, other than that they were also very delicious. For what it's worth, I heard people at the table crowing about Batterieberg and how perfect a wine it is, how it is so pure that it "tastes like nothing." Trust me, this was said with the greatest of admiration. These wines will cost more than CAI, but I'm not sure how much more - perhaps $50 a bottle.

We opened many wines, more than might be wise on a school night, and I'm pretty sure that everyone went home with something to taste in the following days. Just now I was just making a quick dinner after a long work day, and I poured myself a small glass of both CAI and Ellergrub to taste them after 24 hours open. Still delicious, profoundly so. The point of this post, however, is to tell you that my teeth, after just those two small glasses before dinner, feel exactly as they did after a day of tasting vin-clair in Champagne with Peter Liem! Sensitive, painful to chew even a small bite of red pepper, as though they had been stripped of their enamel. These 2010's...no shortage of acidity here. I see this as a very good thing.

1 comment:

Redbird said...

Nice to read about the other Immich-Batteriebergs. I had the C.A.I. last night, kick in the teeth acidity, but was blown away by its complexity. Day 2 is more soft and lemon-curd. 2010 Mosel is insane!