A first taste of 2011s ripeness and power, but watch out for the "2011 spin"!
2011 Scheurebe feinherb
Weingut Sinß*
€ 5,80
*that thing which looks like a „B“ is actually a sharp German „s“
The wine of the month is a little late this time, because I wanted to find a 2011 which is neither a thin little wine, nor is completely undrinkable because too young. On the one hand it is much too early to drink the top wines of the vintage, which will not even be bottled for several (or many) months, while on the other quite a few producers have already bottled 2011s for the sole reason that they would be sold out if they had not done so (which is not a recipe for exciting wines). But as the 2011 Scheurebe feinherb from Weingut Sinß in Windesheim/Nahe shows there are some really good 2011s which have already been bottled, live up to the reputation of the vintage and can be drunk now with pleasure.
Though only 24 years old Johannes Sinß has already proven his talent as a winemaker of modestly-priced white wines with serious character. Scheurebe is an almost century-old German vine crossing (of Riesling and Silvaner) whose wines have some similarity with both Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. In fact, I frequently prefer dry Scheurebe to Sauvignon Blanc. However, this wine is more like a super-aromatic Riesling, smelling of grapefruit and white peach with quite a vibrant acidity. This, together with the merest hint of unfermented grape sweetness, gives the wine a great juiciness and a just off-dry balance. Apart from the purity of the wine the thing which makes it stand out is its considerable ripeness and power.
Those are the hallmarks of the successful 2011s and you will be hearing a lot more about them here during the coming year. You will also get some serious analysis of how this vintage has been hyped from the moment the harvest began. The 2011 German wines are often exciting, but that doesn’t alter the fact that they have been given a lot of „spin“. By this time next year there will be enough of it to fill a history book, and I might even write that book!
€5,80 from
Weingut Sinß
Hauptstrasse 18
55452 Windesheim/Nahe
Tel: 06707 2 53
Email: rudolf.sinss@t-online.de
Web: www.weingut-sinss.de
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