I had this last night with broiled talapia filet, wild rice and string beans.
The color was a light, clear yellow with a slight greenish tint. The nose showed a really interesting range of aromas including ripe peaches, key lime, honey, and red delicious apple. On the palate, it was surprisingly thick, viscous and oily with a boatload of what I initially took to be zippy acid. But tiny bubbles were continually forming on the sides of the glass, so I suspect that residual CO2 might have been responsible for at least some of that zippiness. The fact that the zippiness wore off pretty quickly (leading to a plumper, more rounded palate) seemed to support that conclusion. In any case, the range of flavors on the palate echoed the nose, adding an herbaceousness, some minerality and a touch of white pepper on the intense finish.
Now, while all these elements might sound good, I thought the wine was – clumsy. Maybe it’s too young and still needs some time in the bottle, but it didn’t seem at all light on its feet to me. I kept expecting a more ethereal experience, but what I got seemed much more workmanlike and plodding.
So far, this is the hardest 2001 German Riesling for me to rate. While I generally agree with WS’s written description of the wine, I don’t see it as a 92 pointer. More upper, mid-80s right now… but it could blossom into something tremendous if all the disparate parts come together with some bottle age and the wine somehow develops an elegance it now seems to lack.
While it’s a decent buy now at $15/btl., I don’t think I’ll load up on more than a few of them…

Bottomfishr,

Your notes certainly made this wine sound more like a Spatlese level wine or higher than a Kabinett. I would not expect a heavy/oily texture from a Kabinett. I agree that you should give it some time. Thanks for the note.

VM