2011 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling Spätlese

We had sushi on friday. I've read many recommendations for the combo of sushi and riesling spatlese so I thought this was a good day to try it. Haven't had much spatlese before so I was excited to try it out. Started easy with a basic spatlese from Weil.

Tasting note for the 2011 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling Spätlese:
The nose is dominated by honey, but also has a dash of lime. The honey dominates on the palate as well. I also get some oranges and some lime. Ok acidity on the back end. Decent length and ok balance. 87 points

The wine doesn't blow me away. It is not very complex, quite one dimentional actually, but it matches the sushi very well. Given the nice price of this wine, I do think it has a pretty good qpr.

Weingut Robert Weil is a producer located in the Rhengau region in Germany. His top cuvees are very sought after. The wine I had is a standard spatlese whith a very nice price.



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Buying wine is like using drugs (I think)

No, I have never used drugs, but I've heard it's easy to get addicted. The same goes for buying wine. I haven't been a wine geek for more than a year. I actually went from not interested in wine to wine geek in one day I think. But during this first year there haven't been many days where I haven't found a new wine I would like to buy.

As a newbie in the game I feel like there are so many great vintages out right now. I feel like it is a "once in a lifetime" oppurtunity. I just can't not buy wines now and regret it for the rest of my life, beceause there is no telling when the next great vintage will be.

I write down all the wines I want to buy in a spreadsheet. Currently I have 45 wines on the list. 45 wines with an average cost of aproximately $50 and an average of 4 bottles per wine makes the cost of that list $ 9,000. When your in your late twenties, that is a substantial amount of $.

Maybe it would be cheaper to start using drugs instead?

2010 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly

I haven't had a lot of white Burgs yet, mainly because I love Rieslings but also because the dry Rieslings are way cheaper than the wines from Burgundy. That said, some of the bottles I've had, have been very good. I need to invest more in this category.

I had this Hubert Lamy wine 3-4 weeks ago:
Sitrus and crushed stones on the nose. Good acidity and crispness on the palate with taste of sitrus, crushed stones and honeydew melon. Gains some weight in the finish with more time in the glass..The minerality in this wine really stands out. 91 points

Hubert Lamy isn't one of the most prominent producers in Burgundy and Saint-Aubin is, as I understad it, a well known value play for white Burgs. This wine delivers. I am sure this easily can be put in the cellar for a few years, but it's actually drinking nicely already.

Check it out on:
Wine-Searcher
Berry Bros & Rudd

2009 Domaine Pavelot (Jean-Marc et Hugues) Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Gravains

It's tough to be a wine rookie. Every day i read about wines that I must buy or the vintage of the century. I don't know if it's just luck that I got into wine exactly at the time where all vintages from the major European wine countries are great, or if this is just how the wine industry works; the next vintage is always the wine of the century?

So, even though I'm new in the game, it's been impossible to not hear/read all the hype about the red 09's and 10's from Burgundy. Until now, I haven't been drinking a lot of red Burgs, but recently I've bought some village and premier cru wines from both 09 and 10. I want to taste some of them before they go to sleep and wake up again in 5-10 years (I don't have the experience with Burgs going to sleep and getting tight, but I've read about it so I guess it's true).

The tasting note:
Strawberries, cherries and some alcohol on the nose. The strawberries and cherries are also found on the palate. Full bodied. Ends with a nice acidity, cherries and a fist of dirt. Nicely balanced wine. 91 points

This is probably not a wine for the hardcore burgundy fans. It's ripe, which i guess is because 09 was a warm vintage, but I like it. It's got lots of fruit. Again, as I write this, I feel that I scored this wine a bit too high. It's good, but it lack a bit complexity and finesse. If I'd score it again i would probably be more 89-90 points.

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Wine-Searcher
Woodland Hills Wine Company

2007 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Leather and blueberry pie on the nose. Follows up with chocolate, blueberries, pencil and oak on the palate. OK length with soft tannins. Medium to full body, but lacks some acidity to balance it completely. The oak is at this stage not well enough integrated. 89 points

When I look back at this note and remember the wine I feel that I overscored the wine. It's not a wine that rocks my palate. A bit too oaky and lacking the acidity to balance the wine, but there were some delicious fruit flavours there that kindof got me excited. I have 2 more bottles in the cellar. I am probably going to sit on those for a couple of years to see if the oak integrates a bit more, but I do not believe that this wine ever will be amazing.



 Check it out on:
Wine-Searcher
Wine.com

2010 Kühling-Gillot Qvinterra Riesling Trocken

My first tasting note. I'll give each wine I taste a score based on the Parker scale. There is no reason why anyone should actually pay attention to my scores because as I've said, I know very little about wine so far.
That said, here we go:

Tasting note for the 2010 Kühling-Gillot Qvinterra Riesling Trocken:
On the nose I get green apples and tropical fruit. On the palate there is some apples and orange zest. Minerals and nice acidity on the finish. Towards the end of the finish I pick up some of the orange zest that I also got on the nose. Goog length. Lacks some complexity, but it's really a good example of a basic riesling trocken. 88 points

I had this wine 7-10 months ago as well. Back then I thought the acidity was a bit too much. This time I love the acidity. I do actually think that the wine's acidity has  settled down a bit since last time I had this, but it is also sure that I love this type of acidity in Rieslings way more now than back then.

Check it out on Wine-Searcher

The Rookie Starts Blogging About Wine

I am nowhere even close to being a wine expert. I am just an amateur who got into wine about a year ago. Since then I've tried to drink more wine than before, but more importantly, I've tried to taste wines in a way that I've never done before. I will try to publish some of my notes on the wines I drink on this blog, and hopefully there will be 1 or 2 people out there who reads it.

Why would I do this when I know I have zero knowledge on wine? Do I have anything to tell the world that it doesn't know already? Nope. I'm just hoping that some will miraculously finds this blog and comment on how I write my notes and how I describe wine, because I want to learn more.

So sit back and enjoy the show - cause my blogging days are about to start!