Lyle Fass wrote:Keith,
I expected all from you except I am puzzled with Adam. I love the wines but have had more misses than hits. But when they hit, they hit me over the head they are mindbogglingly good. A 2007 Hofberg Spatlese was average and lowish in acidity last night.
Rennaissance is a must for anyone who hasn't tried it. I saw someone commented there was no CA love. Rennaissance is top notch and easily the most interesting earth-driven California Cabernet out there,
Keith, If I also may ask, a brief one or two sentence on why you like each guy on your list. Always a treat coming from a wordsmith such as yourself.
Haven't really had a miss from Adam yet although I will admit that their drier wines are more distinctive and interesting than the standard sweet Spatlesen, and it's on that basis I'd pick Adam if I could have no other German producer in my cellar. They don't use sugar for the slutty appeal but have enough sugar to give them perfect balance and avoid the uber-trocken trend. I think the pendulums on both sweetness and trockens have swung too far in their respective directions and Adam is the only producer that seems to get it "just right" in that Goldilocks sense for me.
So here's my requested commentary on the rest...
Alzinger - could also have picked Knoll, but went with Alzinger on the basis of recent Steinertals and the value pricing of their lower-end bottlings. Every time I have one of these wines I wonder why people waste their money on Clos Ste. Hune. It's basically a tax on people too lazy to learn about Austria.
Clos Rougeard - if Le Bourg were in Bordeaux it would cost $1,000 a bottle.
DRC - Even when it DOES cost $1,000 a bottle, it's almost worth it.
Haut-Brion - Pepys' 17th C. description of a "good and most peculiar taste that I never met with" is still on the money. No other wine tastes like it, not even La Mission. (The closest thing to a poor-man's version is probably the pre-Magrez Pape-Clements.) The other FG's taste like Bordeaux, just a little better (or a little worse) than others, while Haut-Brion (and Cheval-Blanc) taste like their own thing.
Lopez de Heredia - bottle variation is admittedly frustrating but when it's on you wish like every wine you opened could be like it.
Renaissance - what I just said about Haut-Brion in Bordeaux is equally true of Renaissance in California.
Giuseppe Rinaldi - I give Rinaldi the edge over Conterno. Conterno might be more finessed but Rinaldi is as close as it comes to the picture of Barolo in the dictionary.
Salon - It's not Champagne, it's Salon!