2001 Georg Breuer Rauenthaler Nonnenberg Riesling QBA (Monopol) - Germany, Rheingau (2/15/2007)
ArieS brought this bottle to an offline at Pinot Envy's home last Saturday. I was looking forward to this wine. This estate has an excellent reputation as a Rheingau producer of world class dry whites. The Nonnenberg vineyard is a monopole site for Breuer (they own 100% of the vineyard). It is a South facing 5 hectare vineyard and Breuer considers it as producing their most complex fruit. 2001 was a classic vintage in Germany (perhpas more so in the MSR than the Rheingau).
Although very good to outstanding, this wine did not live up to my expectations. As expected it was vinified dry and came off as such. Bracing acidity. Notes of green apple and crisp white fruit. Fine mineral backbone which did add some complexity. However, I found this wine to be somewhat steely. In hindsight, I think that may have been due to the fact that it was served too cold. It was put on ice when ArieS arrived. Breuer's website specifically warns against serving this wine too cold and also suggests that it be decanted when young. Both suggestions would have benefitted this wine in my opinion and would probably result in 2-3 extra points. Personally, I also think that German trocken wine shows much better with food (which is another suggestion on the Breuer website for this wine). Therefore, I am giving this wine a + in its score. 89-90+ points.
Thanks for sharing this special wine ArieS.
VM
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