Hi hi Thank again to all the people who had answered to my previous posting:) I had finalized my order of 2001 wine finally, and i got mostly Robert Weil's stuff can't wait till I get them !!

I have like a few things I wanna ask, so here they are !!

1) how was weather like in Germany 2002 ? Are the winemakers expecting a good harvest and possiblility of making good wines for 2002 vintage?

2) I had received a new list of older German wine avalible from one of the wine store, and I would like to get a few bottles from the list. However, some of those wines were made even before I was born .... and I couldn't find much information about them. Is there any place/webpage/book avalible that have information about older German wine back in the 1960s and the 1970s ? The most informative book I could find( avalible in English) is the 'German Wine Guide' by Armim Diel, but it only coveres the 96, 97 vintage.

3) I am trying to get a few bottles of port, and I am interested in the Quinta do noval. The 97 for the Quinta do noval is like $ 200 something us, and the Quinta do noval nacional is like around $1000. i am sure there must be differences between the 2, but does the 3x price worth it? I also read something quite nice about the Silval Quinto do Naval. What do you think about it and how would you compare to the Quinta do Noval?

4) A wine seller in Hong Kong suggested me a few bottles of dessert wine. Had anyone tasted them and can give me some information on them?

Kracher TBA Grande Cuvee no 12 1995
-- what are the good vintage for their wine? and how would you compare them with the German TBA ( i read about the higher the number, the more concentrated the wine is, and each no is mixed with different quality and kinds of grapes so all the differents no are different)
Guigal Condrien Luminescence 99
Ch pajzos 93 5 puttonyos for $70 us
Ch pajzos essencia ( 187ml) for like $220 us
Chaptouier Vin de Paille 96 for $200 us

hi leesunlee,

"sorry i'm in a hurry, my best friend marry today"

-weil 2001, superb selection!!!

1)
2002 , rain floodings) will taste next year

2)
don't beleve diel's tn's!!!!
old vintage - brothbent !
new - try stuart pigot

3)
yes it dos! in 30 years
noval, try 1970,94,97!,2000
silval-forget this!

4)
-i don't like kracher's wine! compare to weil TBA like a sugar-water-with honey!
-guigal, superb not expensive
-pajzos 5p., forget this!
-pajzos essenzia, try it if you never had one!
not the best essenzia but worth to try!
-chaputier, never had.

cheers!

ps.
tokaji, try, 1993 disnokö, szepsy, uri borok,
6p. + aszuessenzia!!

leesunhee

Listen to Tsunami - he's a man who really knows his sweet wines!

If you're interested, there are some good source of information on German wines on the Net.

Cellars International
http://www.germanwine.net/

This has comprehensive (some would say exhaustive) information on German wines, with detailed vintage reports for each year back to 1987 (Click on vintages in the Menu column on the left of the page)

Another site with lots of information on German wines is:
http://germanwinesociety.org/aboutgermanwine.htm

A problem with both the above sites is that the information is far, far too detailed for most people.
For example, an article on Food and Wine Pairing involves 3,626 words, twelve matrices containing 236 combinations of food and wine, plus another table defining wine types by style, taste, quality and grape varietal. Just scrolling through it all – never mind actually reading the stuff - kills any enthusiasm for the wines stone dead.

A simpler and better site (which has a Japanese option) is

http://www.germanwine.de/english/index.htm

Hope you enjoy your wines!

In answer to your question about older German vintages, 1971, 1975, and 1976 were all fabulous vintages. I believe 1969 and 66 was pretty good too. I can't attest for the older vintages. I had a bunch of 71s and 76s, but ran out about five years ago. They were magnificent, and I would expect them to still be good. Lots of botrytis and very rich. Lots auslese and better wines were made in those years. I even had a auslese Pinot Noir(!) that was great. The one wine we had that was fading was a 76 Schloss Eltz. I think the wines from the Mosel region (look for a green bottle vs brown) had a little better backbone, and are probably in better shape. I would also look for wines with a gold cap - these were the better wines.

Good luck and make sure and post any tasting notes!

You should read the 2-29-00 issue of WS if you can, which has a glowing article on '97 vintage Ports. Included is a special story on Quinta do Noval, which I'm sure contributed to the cause of its high price.

Some of the ratings from that article:

Quinta do Nocal Nacional: 99
Niepoort: 98
Quinta do Noval: 97
Delaforce; Dow: 95
Taylor; Warre: 94
...
Fonseca: 91
Quinta do Noval/Silval: 91

Nacional is in a price category by itself mainly because of the rarity. They will normally make 200-250 cases/vintage, as opposed to 1,000-1,500 of the regular Noval Vintage, & up to several thousand cases by other Port houses.
Nacional is made only from grapes from a small plot of ungrafted vines, descended from survivors of the phylloxera infestation of the 1870s. Aside from that, it is often the best Port of the vintage. Not always, though, & some vintages are not even very good ('78, '80), in which case the high price is only because of its rarity & legendary status, & obviously not "worth" it.

Quinta do Silval is one of the several vineyards included in the Quinta do Noval property. Historically, its grapes have been used in the regular Noval Vintage. Apparently in '95 they started bottling its own Single Quinta Vintage. I don't have '95 ratings handy, but I bought both the regular Noval and Silval that year.
Generally, such a Single Quinta would not have the same complexity as a blended Vintage Port, and would be expected to mature more quickly.
I guess one might call Noval a hybrid, since it is technically a Single Quinta, but has others included in its property...

If you have money to burn, by all means pay $200 for the '97 Noval or $1,000 for the Nacional. I don't & won't. I avoided buying may '97s because: 1. Prices were too high, about 50-100% higher than '94 release prices; 2. I bought a lot of the best '94s, which are generally a bit better; 3. My financial/employment situation was not as good at that time.
I saw only a couple bottles of '97 Noval for sale in Seattle area, at release, for about $150. That is ridiculous compared to the others. If you have that kind of money, it would be better spent on some of these at www.tinamou.com, for example:

'77 Fonseca, WS 100, $199
'94 Fonseca, WS 100, $169
'94 Taylor, WS 100, $159
'97 Niepoort, WS 97, $79

The '97 Silval should be around $50 or less, & a pretty good wine, too.
I recently bought some '97 Fereirra at an outstanding special price of $110 for 6 bottles.

'85 Noval (WS 86) was the first Vintage Port that I bought, about 9 years ago, on sale for $17.99.
I have tried it many years ago, loved it.

I had '63 Noval several years ago (WS 84, $90), & it was mediocre. That is a good example of a vintage where the regular Noval can differ a lot from the Nacional (WS 100).

The only other Noval that I've had was '70, WS 89, "...Bottles vary from outstanding to disappointing...." This was one of the disappointing ones, but I have a couple more.

I have one each of Nacional '82 (WS 86, $175), '83 (WS not rated, not officially declared, $196) & '85 (WS 95, $200). All are saved for special occasions, & probably the only times I'll spend that much on a bottle of wine.

Most of what I know(?) about Vintage Port has been from reading various sources...buying, drinking & discussing here.

Welcome & good luck. You might also do a search here for some past discussions, including one not too long ago about Single Quintas, LBV, etc.

hi blobby,

well 1997 ports has earnt quite alot points.

i never felt this way, sertain is, that it is a good year, but not the vitage of the century or similar!

HI JAN,

how nice reading some post of you!