Yes, that’s my handwriting on the label of this wine from Peter Lauer on the Saar!
I must apologize to you all for the lack of postings during the last couple of weeks, but I was completely distracted by work on my forthcoming e-book ROCK STARS OF WINE AMERICA #3: FLXtra in order to try and meet the deadline I set myself of publication on May 2nd immediately before I return to NYWC (New York Wine City). However, I just spent several days on the road very intensively tasting the young German wines of the 2015 vintage and I was also able to catch another bunch of them in Berlin during the week before I set off. This now adds up to a good general overview and a more detailed appreciation of certain regions whose wines are widely exported around Planet Wine.
I’m sure that this is going to disappoint many of you, but what I’m not going to do is write a shopping list of the wines that you have to buy. First of all, each of you has a different taste and such a list would only work with extensive notes, secondly any list that accurately reflects the nature of 2015 in Germany would have to be very long. This is because almost everywhere the fall was nearly perfect for an extended harvest, there being little or no rot problems (which were major in 2013 and 2014) and the acidity being very healthy (more than 2014 or 2012!) That meant even less talented winemakers made some good wines, and the high flyers could get close to the optimum possible. I am now going to disappoint the group of you looking for power wines by saying that the great majority of 2015s from the leading producers are remarkable because of their subtlety of aroma and flavor, their brightness and delicacy. There are far fewer imposing wines or showy wines than in some recent vintages. And 2015 is not only great for Riesling there are many excellent Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) and Silvaner (Sylvaner), just to name the most obvious success stories.
The biggest problem for the vintage is probably going to be that the euphoria about it (not entirely justified, because nearly all the producers who made exciting 2015s also made the best wines in 2013 and 2014 too) will probably result in most of the wines being drunk before they’ve had even a few months in the bottle to open up. Then, a couple of years down the line there will be widespread moaning about how the producers should have held back some 2015s, and how terrible it is that they don’t have many bottles even for themselves. If you want to drink 2015s in the future PUT THEM IN YOUR CELLAR!
The label above was not my idea, but it seems to be a good idea. A few weeks ago in NYWC Florian Lauer of Weingut Peter Lauer of Ayl on the Saar told me that since his mother’s recent death he had nobody to do the handwritten texts for his labels, and asked if I might be able to help him with that. This is my first attempt – part written on my NYWC desk and part on my Berlin desk – and it appears to work. I first visited this producer 25 years ago and I liked the Lauers very much for our first meeting. Florian has revolutionized the drier Rieslings since he took over the winemaking just over a decade ago and the sweet Rieslings are as good as they ever were. It is an honor for me to be able to put my swirls and curls on these labels.
