Wine as a product is something to be shared, especially good wines, great wines and also exceptional wines. Specifically, what that also means is that when two people (or more) that like to drink wine meet, they have to, and will eventually open a bottle of wine. Often that bottle will be of, at least, good quality, but eventually some people will sit down together and open exceptional wines. These people, however many of them, often sit at home and stare at their collection of wines and think to themselves: „I could never drink this alone, nobody would believe me if I told them“.
Under that premise I crawled out of the confines of my own home and decided to venture into the unknown. I packed up a few bottles that I believed were worth it, and then there was no turning back… it was a hard and difficult journey, through rain and wind, through snowstorms and droughts, it truly was the journey of my lifetime. And then about 2.5 hours later I arrived at my destination. I might have gone a bit overboard with my description, because it was actually really easy to get to the place I needed to be. That being Bonn, the ex-capital city of germany and the place to be for… well I don’t know any reason to go to Bonn other than the things that I had planned. I met a good friend in that city. Online, that being on instagram, he goes by the name of ‘Abazaarencounter’, a name that just so fittingly describes the way that he buys his wines; second hand, like on a Bazaar or Flea Market.
Taking the matter serious however, we had a great time together. We drank some great wines, including my first Mouton-Rothschild and a great Riesling by Klaus Peter Keller, on the second day we had great Bordeaux and another wonderful sweet Riesling that was among the best we had to this day. However reality often times has to it and show us that not all that glitters is gold, we had at least one wine that was amongst the worst that I could recall having had in my life. But alas, I should start at the beginning.
The first day; The wines!
We began this tasting like any good party should be started; with Champagne! This was the Brut Premier by Louis Roederer, a dry sparkler which probably had the lowest classification at the house back when it was produced. It is the absolute base of what Roederer has to offer, and is probably not meant to be stored away for too long. Wherever and whoever my friend got this bottle from apparently didn’t care too much for the common consensus of drinking the low levels when they are young, and decided to store away a wine that they possibly bought in the 90s or early 2000s for some 20-odd years. I am still unable to make up my mind about my opinion on this wine. I’m not sure if it should have been stored for this long, or I should rather say that I most certainly wouldn’t have stored it this long. The wine wasn’t bad per se, in all actuality it was in great condition and was somehow still drinkable and even enjoyable. But did I like it? The nose was a bit hearty, smelling old and somewhat basement-esque, but there was fruit as well, oranges and orange peel, then it was salty and a bit nutty. It was overall a very complex aroma but with a certain ‚old‘ touch to it. The taste was similar but I frankly have a hard time recalling the details of it. I guess I liked it a bit. I won’t ever buy this for myself, I didn’t like it enough to a point where I’d want it in my life, but it was interesting non the less. The most surprising thing about this bottle was that it was still somewhat carbonated, even though those left over bubbles were gone basically immediately after pouring the wine. We suspected this wine to be either from the 90s or early 2000s.
-Wow, what a weirdly bombastic opener to this evening.
The next two wines were bangers in all ways. Mouton Rothschild needs no introduction and according to the new hip movements in the modern german wine world Klaus Peter Keller is the one true Riesling god, a machine among man in what wines he produces, unmatched and unrivaled. I cannot comment on that and I would be better off not saying anything to that before I try any other of his wines.
First things first. The Mouton Rothschild was great. We didn’t do any food pairings with it, but it performed well enough just by itself. What we ate was Leberkassemmel, a typically southern german dish, made of meat and bread rolls, sweet mustard and any other toppings you like with it. It’s very simple but beautifully delicious if done well, it can contain a variety of herbs and spices and it’s super addicting but also very filling.
As for what the wine was like, I believe it is hard to compile the whole flavor profile of this wine within one paragraph or even just within this post, it was an everchanging experience that lasted over the whole evening. We tasted it several times all the while we decanted it to let it breath and change.
The first glass was poured straight from the bottle and I should note that it was a half bottle. Some readers should probably be a bit more intrigued now because half bottles are usually marked down as being notoriously bad for aging wine. Ontop of that the 1990 Mouton is notorious for not living up to the estates usual hype value, some critics have called it outright bad, while others were merely under the assumption of it being the worst amongst the ‚big‘ Chateaux in Bordeaux. I am not able to distinguish between the different first growths within Bordeaux because I never had any of them, but I can very well distinguish between a good and a bad wine, and therefore I’ll speak my own judgement: The 1990 Mouton Rothschild poured from a half bottle and tasted on the 7th of June of the year 2024, was absolutely fantastic. The nose was closed up at first and it was immediately obvious that it should require some time to properly express itself. And that we gave to it. The first impression however was massively revealing. The wine was immediately there to an extent, it was spicy and herbal and meaty, iron, blood, dimm but fresh fruits, excellence at first sight. The smell more present then the taste at first, super pronounced and pungent. Great stuff.
Now should come the easier part:
Klaus Peter Keller – AbtsE Riesling Spätlsese Goldkapsel 2016
Imagine a table of Riesling nerds or fans or lovers, everybody brings a bottle of wine and you are the one that puts this mans name onto the table. Klaus Peter Keller. This name shatters through the air like a plane breaking the sound barrier. The people will suddenly quiet down and everything will revolve around your bottle and you, because you are awesome and have the best taste in wine. And then you wake up and it was all a dream…
It doesn’t matter if you like Klaus Peter Keller or not, it’s undeniable that he has a presence in the modern wine world that is almost unrivaled and unmatched. This wine was my first of his, and not a bad wine. My tasting notes won’t be long because this wine was very young and very closed off, it also couldn’t develop throughout the evening because it was way too delicious for us to be this patient with it. The nose was typically Riesling, peaches and limes and lemons, very fruity, but there was always this lingering minerality in the background that gave it depth and length and made it interesting. The palate was sweet and mineralic, high acidity with a lot of balance, more fruit and a lot of depth. Beautiful. I have another bottle that I’ll wait with before tasting it again. I bought two of them in one go, each for about 75€ on an auction, closing the circle back to my friend who likes to buy a lot of wine on auctions, just like the Mouton and the Champagne we had earlier that day. Not a bad deal for me considering that one bottle of this Riesling can usually only be found for more than 200€. Great wines so far!
Oh these wines were also a thing. I’d like to keep this segment short because none of these were truly exceptional to me, or anyone really. I’ll start with the better of the two:
Deutzerhof – Mayschosser Mönchsberg Spätburgunder Trocken
Dry german Pinot Noir from a vintage that I don’t quite recall in what I believe to be the early 2000s, was it 2002 or 2003? I don’t know. The Mönchsberg is a pretty nice vineyard that we actually visited the next day and I managed to snap a few photos that I have yet to review, the next post will go more indepth about the second day. The vineyard is like an Amphitheater at the northern end of the village Mayschoss, the most prominent vineyard in the town and the only one with a perfect southern exposition. The wine was quite alive and ripe, I recall some fruity bits here and there, but it was mostly tertiary (meaning notes that develop with age), there was dust and there were pencil shavings, it was somewhat light but it had it’s character. It was enjoyable but in a way it was somewhat boring, nothing I’d drink again but a wine that I wouldn’t deny when given the opportunity to taste. So far so good.
After that came the:
Freiherr ‚Langwerth von Simmern‘ – Eltviller Sonnenberg 1985
Another dry german Pinot Noir, this time it’s close to 20 years older. Although, 20 years older and still 30 years too old; this was easily the worst wine of the year for me, and it (2024) is half done already. This wine smelled and tasted rotten and overripe in all possible ways. It was old, dry meat but not the kind that has been carefully prepared to be a real treat for dinner, but a kind that has either been forgotten or has been prepared by an overconfident beginner that decided to let his meat dry age for way too long without the proper equipment. It was an absolutely ghastly experience that was reminiscent of another wine that I tasted last year, coincidentally given to me as a taste by the same friend. I am starting to sense a pattern here. These Langwerth von Simmerns are still regularly sold on sites like Ebay and usually go for rather low prices, but alas, no price is worth these fermented grapes, never.
And now… How did it end with the Mouton Rothschild? All I can say is that it became glorious, a great wine, umatched in it’s power and changing, diverging and growing by the minute, this product was so much more than just a wine, it was power, it was full and it was exceptional. I’ll say one thing however, as someone who doesn’t drink a lot of Bordeaux it is easy for me to say that this was the best Bordeaux I ever had, but it was not the best wine I’ve ever had. And that’s what I’ll leave it at for now. You know, I gotta retain readers somehow and I believe a cliff hanger does that best, does it?
Summary?
Here I am sitting now, writing this and reminiscing of the time we had, and then I notice that I forgot one wine that we opened on this day. It seems I am not fit for writing these texts from the back of my mind, yet I actually believe this to be the perfect opportunity to add it to part 2 of this write up. I’ll do that, I hope.
I must remember!
So, how was it? I believe this to be the evening of the year so far, we had some wonderfully great conversations and of course we did things beyond just tasting wine. We went to the local supermarket and then we made dinner altogether (we were three people in total), we were joking around and even involuntarily listened to some bangers in the german musical party scene. I am saying involuntarily because the music actually wasn’t our choice but stemmed from a somewhat local festival/event type of thing, some of the music was incredibly lackluster and boring, some was annoying and some was legitimately fun. The crowd at the event was load and singing at the top of their lungs as well, so their mood eventually moved towards us and we started to party aswell; for other reasons, but we partied. Wooooooooonderful! The wines were great, the mood was great, the conversations was great and I even learned a thing or two about wine and some things about the people behind it. Repeat this day asap!
This was part 1 of 3 of my write up, I hope you enjoyed it! If you read everything I’ll call myself impressed…
Cheers and until the next post!
Find my friend here;
https://www.instagram.com/abazaarencounter/
