Instead of our usual comprehensive offering of German
& Austrian Wines, we decided to have our resident German & Austrian expert,
Ted Clark, pick out a bunch of favorites. Now.... remember that Ted
breathes, bleeds, and sleeps German wines. He has cultivated quite a
following at Pop's for all his
recommendations.
The following are in stock and ready to ship.
German Wines
"The return to the old classic form is complete now. Our old friend "Draggie"
had gotten a wee bit sweet around '03-'04, and it's been coming back down
ever since. I tasted a bottle right off the bottling line; a lovely and
again savory fragrance; the palate is bright and salty; has some of the
flint and kirsch of the site but also wisteria and mint, all in a suave
context. This, by the way, is all Johannes' own fruit again. A tank-sample
tasted alongside showed an '09 eucalyptus note which may or may not
reappear. But this is potentially the best Dragonstone in many years."
Terry Theise, German Catalog 2010
2009 DRAGONSTONE, RUDESHEIMER DRACHENSTEIN
RIESLING, LEITZ, 750ML
$15.50 - Good Wine Stores
$13.95 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$12.40 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$139.50 - Pop's Case Price
"I am very sure I'm the only dude offering a Demeter-certified Liter
Silvaner at a price anywhere near this. The '09 is one of the ripe ones, in
the sweet-hay direction like the '99. And like that vintage, I expect this
will go chamomile and beexwax with 2-3 years bottle age. The wine is
attractive and amenable, more discreet than the higher-chi Scheu coming up."
Terry Theise, German Catalog 2010
2009 SILVANER HALBTROCKEN, GYSLER, 1L
$14.49 - Good Wine Stores
$13.04 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$11.59 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$130.41 - Pop's Case Price
"We blended two casks (17 and 103, if you must know) and it was the
best cuvée available from four possible lots; shows style, nobility of
fruit, slatiness, and no edges; this is apple, white peach and subtle
saltiness; vigorous and lively, and seeming drier than it's been the past
few years."
Terry Theise, German Catalog 2010
2009 ERDENER TREPPCHEN RIESLING KABINETT, MEULENHOF, 750ML
$16.55 - Good Wine Stores
$14.90 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$13.24 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$148.95 - Pop's Case Price
"After all the tongue-numbing work of blending it, we ended up with a
fairly simple cuvée of three tanks. We waffled; one blend was really fennely
(and Kevin likes fennel) but the other, we agreed, was more suave, with more
polish and repose. Not that it lacks energy; it has a fine minerality and
its roasted-corn typicity has less scallion than usual. Elegantly long
finish."
Terry Theise, German Catalog 2010
2009 NIERSTEINER BRUCKCHEN RIESLING KABINETT, STRUB, 750ML
$15.50 - Good Wine Stores
$13.95 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$12.40 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$139.50 - Pop's Case Price
"Cool slatey fragrance, less minty than usual, but the palate goes
very green, wintergreen and tarragon; taut and zippy and brash in a nice
way."
Terry Theise, German Catalog 2010
2009 RUDESHEIMER KLOSTERLAY RIESLING KABINETT, LEITZ, 750ML
$17.05 - Good Wine Stores
$15.35 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$13.64 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$153.45 - Pop's Case Price
"This was the wine we labored over most - because I want it to be so
good that all kinds of people will like it. It has one-third each of an
Orbel (so we get the red-soil savor), Paterberg and a Brückchen "Auslese"
that was picked very late. The final wine is a little drier than Dragonstone
- to which it compares fascinatingly. It's the roundest and most overtly
mineral of the 4 extant vintages; granular, salty, meaty, with embedded
notes of sorrel and sandalwood, with a smoky length. With its new low low
price it's getting into the realm of insane values."
Terry Theise, German Catalog 2010
2009 SOIL TO SOUL, RIESLING KABINETT, STRUB, 750ML
$13.45 - Good Wine Stores
$12.11 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$10.76 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$121.05 - Pop's Case Price
"And quite ravishingly impressive! Noble and clear and gorgeously
integrated; relatively full-bodied but by no means over-endowed; a pure and
utterly classic Würzgarten. Want to see what "Kabinett" means these days?
98º Oechsle, well into Auslese, 68g.l. rs, 8.2g.l. acidity. This would have
been Auslese in the 80s...."
Terry Theise, German Catalog 2010
2009 URZIGER WURZGARTEN RIESLING KABINETT, JOH.JOS CHRISTOFFEL ERBEN,
750ML
$23.25 - Good Wine Stores
$20.93 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$18.60 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$209.25 - Pop's Case Price
"Next time anyone trots out the hoary old cliché about "German wines
don't sell because no one can pronounce them," I'll tell them how much of
this guy we sell. Though in fairness, even Leitz himself refers to it as
"Maggie," (and so can you!) The basic profile here is apples and a soft
stoniness, and the '09 adds balsam to the euphoric mix. It has the serene
fruit you've come to expect, and the stubborn clinging finish of the
vintage."
Terry Theise, German Catalog 2010
2009 RUDESHEIMER MAGDALENENKREUZ RIESLING SPATLESE, LEITZ, 750ML
$19.65 - Good Wine Stores
$17.68 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$15.72 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$176.85 - Pop's Case Price
Austrian Wines
"The first wine I "officially" sampled this year. Wow, what a euphoric
fragrance, beans, sorrel, tonka; the palate is light, fresh and transparent
yet with a pointed, focused and clinging finish. A bright, tasty and useful
wine that finally delivers just that little bit more than it first seemed.
The best since the overachiever 2006."
Terry Theise, Austrian Catalog 2010
2009 GRUNER VELTLINER, CARNUNTUM, AUSTRIA, GLATZER, 750ML
$11.89 - Good Wine Stores
$10.70 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$9.51 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$107.01 - Pop's Case Price
"The 2nd-label. The first wine we tasted in the big blind tasting,
after running through the wines of a well-regarded property in the Kremstal.
Right away we knew we were in a different world. And this wine was 2nd-best
in the flight-of-six and by far the least expensive. I wrote "fine, precise,
long, mineral." And tasting it more deliberately a couple days later, it was
so pointed, focused and shady, with so many green-tea notes you don't know
where to start. I mean, a perfect GrüVe fragrance, this wine RAWKS in ripe
years; it's like the Mini-me of Steinsetz, and it leaves a taut snappy
finale. It's the '06 skinny-dipping in a cold pond."
Terry Theise, Austrian Catalog 2010
2009 GRUNER VELTLINER, KAMPTAL, GOBELSBURGER, 750ML
$13.45 - Good Wine Stores
$12.11 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$10.76 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$121.05 - Pop's Case Price
"The second among my liter wines I tasted, and I was starting to glean
that somethin' wuz up with these '09s, because this showed remarkable weight
and grip fo the "simple" wine. Even its 12.5% alc was higher than normal,
and the wine is super-tasty and true, in the sorrel and rhubarb dialect."
Terry Theise, Austrian Catalog 2010
2009 GRUNER VELTLINER, LANDWEIN, WEINGUT SCHWARZBOCK, 1L
$11.89 - Good Wine Stores
$10.70 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$9.51 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$107.01 - Pop's Case Price
"The best vintage yet, and a fantastically limey, bright Riesling,
with detail and charm and a fine mirabelle fruit."
Terry Theise, Austrian Catalog 2010
2009 RIESLING, KAMPTAL, GOBELSBURGER, 750ML
$17.05 - Good Wine Stores
$15.35 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$13.64 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$153.45 - Pop's Case Price
 "The best vintage ever of this, and a super-pretty, sleek and elegant
GrüVe. Insanely refined and expressive at this price - for more than this
price; aristocratic texture, meltingly lovely fruit, even-tempered, gracious
and lingering. Amazingly good!"
Michael Skurnik Website
2009 RIESLING, KAMPTALER TERRASSEN, WEINGUT BRUNDLMAYER, 750ML
$21.19 - Good Wine Stores
$19.07 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$16.95 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$190.71 - Pop's Case Price
"Yes! A red organic Liter, and it's perfectly simply yum-may, with
perfume and substance and no redeeming social value."
Terry Theise, Austrian Catalog 2010
2008 ZWEIGELT, LANDWEIN, BIO-WEINGUT H.U.M. HOFER, 1 LTR
$11.39 - Good Wine Stores
$10.25 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$9.11 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$102.51 - Pop's Case Price |
