2009 German Auction Wines – Pre-Arrival Sale

Good news, oh ye Lovers of German Auction Wines!

Dee Vine Wines is again offering pre-arrival discounts on the rare wines purchased at the four 2009 German wine Auctions.  Our cargo container arrives in late August, but it’s wise to reserve now –  insure your order can be filled and enjoy today’s 10% discount!

CLICK HERE to see the auction wines currently on their way.

For your reading enjoyment, here is Dade’s summary of the 2009 auctions:

Bernkasteler Ring: Thursday, September 24, 2009

This event is held annually in the chapel of an old monastery called “Kloster Machern”, just across the Mosel from the twin towns of Zeltingen/Rachtig, and serves as a preamble to the larger VDP auctions that follow it.

As one would expect with a world economic downturn, the attendance was a bit down from the previous year, although certainly not as sparse as anticipated.

Essentially, we attend this sale to offer support for the few estates from our book that are members of the Bernkasteler Ring: Reinert, von Beulwitz, Schmitges, Knebel.

The newest member of our inventory is the small Saar estate of Joh.-Peter Reinert (Kanzem). We purchased a modest amount of his only entry, a 2008 Ayler Kupp Spätlese “Alte Reben” (old vines), with a retro-label from the first half of the 20th century. The wine is classic Saar: elegant, mineral-driven, racy acidity, and perfect balance with plenty of complexity derived from vines in excess of 60-80 years of age! In Germany, when they say “old vines” they mean it.

Next we picked up a few bottles of the 1999 Kaseler Nies’chen Auslese, von Beulwitz. Herbert Weiss maintains good library stocks of older wines, which are generally obtainable from his hotel’s restaurant wine list. He offered a mere 60 bottles at this auction, but has more available should the need arise. Well, that may very well happen as the wine was a delicious example of a beautifully aged Ruwer: rich yet offset by brilliant acidity and botrytis-infused complexity. This is a wine one can drink alone, or with smoked meats, an array of drier cheeses, or even fois gras dishes.

Also from von Beulwitz came the 2008 Kaseler Nies’chen Auslese “Alte Reben”–no kidding, try 110 year old vines! This wine will outlive the majority of the people in the salesroom that day, including me! A stunning structure: extract, clean, zesty acidity together with mineral/honeyed botrytis notes. A fine example of the potential of this already down-played vintage, and a wine that needs a minimum of 5-7 years bottle age before one can begin to experience its full potential.

As we had surmised, given the level of interest in the 2007 vintage, several estates offered late-picked wines that were not yet ready for market at this time last year. Andreas Schmitges of Weingut Schmitges in nearby Erden brought a mere12 half bottles of his truly remarkable 2007 Edener Prälat Beerenauslese. Wow!  This wine was so unbelievably youthful, and showed such potential that drinking it at this juncture seemed a crime: intense concentration and viscosity, yet not at all cloying or ponderous. Unlike many of the other late-harvest wines at this sale, the Schmitges was not at all oxydized, but rather showed an uncanny freshness and elegance, despite the obviously high oechsule degree…tropical fruit flavors, honey, and lime notes with and endlessly layered finish that resonated in the mouth for minutes after swallowing. Leave this one in the cellar for no less than a decade–you won’t be sorry!

The final lot of the sale was the finest wine of the whole gig…another stunning 2007 late-harvest monster from Weingut Knebel in Winningen. Beate Knebel is the queen of the “stickies”, and she coddles her carboys full of TBA like a overly-protective mother. Although you’d never guess it from her appearance, she celebrated her 50th birthday in July, and this wine is truly a tribute to her immense talents! Her 2007 Winninger Röttgen Trockenbeerenauslese (when a wine is this monumental it deserves the full spelling of the designation TBA!) is a beautifully crafted albeit gargantuan wine that will drink superbly when she celebrates her 100th birthday in 2059! It literally defies description other than to say that it blew the room away. Everyones’ eyes were wide open and mouths aghast as we sipped one of the greatest examples of Riesling nectar ever produced in this region. We were fortunate enough to procure 6 half bottles of this ambrosia so please don’t expect it to be inexpensive, but you can certainly expect it to be one of the finest late-harvest drinking experiences of a lifetime!

Grosser Ring: Friday, September 25, 2009

The main event for us, anyway, is always the Grosser Ring auction, which takes place in the heart of Trier, Germany’s oldest city. It normally features all the major VDP Mosel estates, however, this year was vastly different from any other previous year, at least in my experience. Due to the world economic crisis, many notable producers did not attend this auction at all: Schloss Saarstein, von Hövel, Grans-Fassian, Heymann-Löwenstein, S.A. Prüm, Wagner, Dr. Fischer, Wegeler, Dr, Weins-Prüm. When we visited Germany in the spring, many top estates expressed fear that the auctions would not be well attended, and that the prices would be far too low for the quality of the wines. But, thankfully, tradition won out over the downturn, and in fact, all the auctions were very well attended, and prices were not unusually low at all. In fact, they were quite similar to those of last year’s sales, which featured the more highly-touted 2007s. The reason being that, regardless of vintage, one must bear in mind that these are still the very finest cuvees of the top estates, and the primary difference between 2007 and 2008 was size of the harvest and availability of late-harvest wines.
2009 marked the 101st Grosser Ring VDP auction, and despite the relatively low attendance by producers, the “big boys” were all there: J.J. Prüm, Fritz Haag, Egon Müller, Geltz-Zilliken, Karthäuserhof, Willi Schaefer, Dr. Loosen, Dr. H.Thanisch, and a couple of new estates for DVW: Schloss Lieser and Clemens Busch.

Manfred Prüm offered a superb Spätlese from Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and a pair of very impressive Auslesen from Graacher Himmelreich: an Auslese Goldkapsel along with a Lange Goldkapsel. These wines he compared in quality to somewhere between 2004 and 2007!
Erni Loosen brought only his Ürziger Würzgarten Spätlese Goldkapsel, which is yet another superb example of this mighty vineyard site. This marked the first year in over a decade that he did not bring his Erdener Prälat Auslese Lange Goldkapsel to Trier; which is essentially his finest cuvee, and always of TBA caliber.

The splendid 2008 collection of Haag wines were rather closed up at the morning pre-tasting, but when we tasted them during the auction later that afternoon all was well with these classic, mineral-driven Rieslings. Oliver Haag featured his Spätlese Goldkapsel #14 and Auslese Goldkapsel #13 from the Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr…both fabulous wines with enormous aging potential!

For the first time, we purchased a wine from Oliver’s older brother, Thomas, of Schloss Lieser. Again, a Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Auslese Goldkapsel that is a borderline Beerenauslese…yet very finely structured and beautifully balanced. Seriously, one of the best wines of the entire auction…very impressive, indeed!

Another wine we’ve not purchased regularly, but really thought highly of, was the Berncasteler Doctor Spätlese from Dr. H. Thanisch (More on this venerable estate later!) This is classic middle Mosel with plenty of opulent fruit, yet with the vibrant acidity that one finds throughout 2008. Yes, the Doctor is in!

Weingut Clemens Busch recently joined the VDP, and showed their wines at the Mainzer Weinbörse last spring. His Marienburg vineyard featured a Spätlese and Auslese, which we found very impressive with plenty of flesh to support its refreshing acidity. Both wines showed extremely clean, ripe fruit components, and showed both excellent balance, and a very promising future!

Year in and year out, we make our annual pilgrimage to this auction in order to buy the Spätlese Goldkapsel, and Auslese Goldkapsel from the Graacher Domprobst first growth vineyard of our good friends at Weingut Willi Schaefer, and we are never disappointed in either the wines or the prices. No, they are not inexpensive, but true quality never is! These 2008s are as fine a Mosel Riesling as one will ever encounter…the epitome of minerality, fresh apple-blossom fruit, and clean, zesty acidity! BRAVO!!!

Egon Müller produced a rather impressive albeit modest array of classic Saar wines beginning with his second estate, Weingut Le Gallais in Kanzem. His Wiltinger braune Kupp Auslese Goldkapsel was a superbly layered, almost Beerenauslese wine that resonated on the palate long after one swallowed it…a wine that will no doubt last decades! The wines from his primary estate from the Scharzhofberg vineyard, were up to the expected high standard. His Kabinett will be very expensive, but justifiably so, and certainly as good as any young white Burgundy one will ever taste.  (Who needs oak, anyway?) The Auslese Goldkapsel was another dimension altogether with layers of rich, botryised flavors of honey and very ripe apricots. If anyone is skeptical about the potential quality of 2008, just let them taste this wine, and they will see just how wonderful this vintage can be!

Two other notable wines were the Spätlesen from the Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg of Christoph Tyrell, and the Saarburger Rausch from Geltz-Zilliken. Both wines epitomized the character of their respective regions, and both wines were very reasonably priced.

Hattenheim/Erbach, Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Rheingau VDP  auction follows the Trier sale, and takes place in the 12th century monastery known as Kloster Eberbach. Previously, this auction featured exclusively Rheingau VDP estates, but now, with reduced attendance of these estates, it has been combined with the Staatsweingut auction to form one sale. As we are doing less business with Rheingau estates, and more with those of the Mosel, the amount of wine we purchase is based primarily on lots of rarities, and showing support for the handful of properties that we still work with.

We purchased small amounts of wine from Barth, Robert Weil, Schloss Johannisberg, Prinz, Schloss Schönborn, Schloss Vollrads, and the Staatsweingut. The highest Prädikat was Auslese…Weil and Schloss Johannisberg only. The Weil is another astounding late-harvest wine from their flagship vineyard Kiedriech Gräfenberg. Yet another example of the potential to be found in the best wines of the 2008 vintage. The Schloss Johannisberg was another no-brainer wonderful 2007 that was offered in minute quantities (a mere12 half bottles!), but the good news is that we may be able to get more. In fact, that is essentially the buying m.o. for all of these wines. With the exception of Fred Prinz, who offered 300 bottles of his Kabinett Goldkapsel, most other producers only put up a total of 120 bottles! The idea is to establish a price from which to sell the majority of the wine later directly from the estates. Also, many held the opinion that the auction would be very poorly attended due to the less-than-healthy world financial markets. However, much to the amazement of most, the attendance at this auction was the largest ever–normally about 400/450, but 2009 boasted a record number of over 650!

According to Dieter Greiner, director of the Staatsweingut, the dearth of rarities offered by the Staatsweingut, which has vintages in its cellars going back to the mid 19th century, was due to the low expectancy of potential high-end bidders.

Bad Kreuznach, Sunday, September 27, 2009

The final auction occurs on Sunday morning, and, over the years has come to be known as the “Dönnhoff Auction”, because of its most notable participant.

This year said most notable participant had just celebrated his 60th birthday at his winery in Oberhausen two nights before! Yes, even the optimistic Helmut Dönnhoff  himself decided to heed the handwriting on the wall, and bring only one wine to the Römerhalle in Bad Kreuznach, but what a wonderful wine it was…a 2008 Oberhäuser Brücke Eiswein “Januar”!

With the inclusion of a few select Rheinhessen and Rheinpfalz estates (as of two years ago), our friends from Weingut Keller have given Herr Dönnhoff a run for the money. This year, for the first time, Klaus-Peter sent a Spätburgunder to auction, and what an impressive example it is! Since Klaus-Peter worked a harvest some years ago at Domaine Armand Rousseau in Burgundy, he was able to arrange the acquisition of 2nd year La Tache barrells from the more famous Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. Suffice it to say, that given the quality level of his Rieslings one can expect a rather similar result from his red wine. Otherwise, in terms of quantity, it was overall a rather modest auction. A handful of rarities were also offered, but the highlight was a single bottle of 1945 Edelbeerenauslese from Schlossgut Diel, which was purchased by someone in Paris! As in the Rheingau the previous day, quantities were very limited, amongst them an outstanding Auslese Goldkapsel from Schäfer-Fröhlich, and an absolutely stunning 2007 “Abtserde” TBA from Keller.

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