April 17, 2025 • 31 mins
German Riesling demystifies the often confusing terminologies found on labels by breaking down quality classifications based on ripeness levels at harvest and their relationship to final sweetness. We unpack the intricate world of German wine labels to help you navigate these complex yet incredibly rewarding wines.
• German quality wine is ranked based on grape sugar levels at harvest, not final sweetness
• Kabinett (11.5% potential alcohol) features citrus, green apple, and high acidity
• Spätlese (13% potential alcohol) shows more ripeness with red apple and apricot notes
• Auslese (14% potential alcohol) often includes some botrytis influence with marmalade character
• Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese represent noble rot-affected and dried botrytis grapes
• Eiswein (ice wine) offers concentrated sweetness without botrytis, yielding just 50 liters per ton
• Alcohol level on the label indicates residual sugar – lower alcohol means more sweetness
• VDP eagle symbol on bottles indicates membership in an elite producer group
• Vineyard designations like "Grosses Gewächs" represent single-vineyard, high-quality wines
• Wines with residual sugar provide perfect balance to high natural acidity
• German Rieslings can age beautifully, developing complexity while maintaining freshness
Next week: Is Nebbiolo the next Sangiovese? We explore whether this Italian variety is becoming Australia's next big alternative grape variety.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel.
We are here to help younavigate the world of wine.
I'm Mel Dillacruz, joined byMaster of Wine Meg Brotman.
Meg, what are we doing?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, I'm sitting up very straight because I've been
told that my posture was crapand you couldn't see my mouth.
We are doing, we're going to do.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Because we're recording, because I need to put
videos on social media.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, Sorry, we are doing German Riesling,
specifically focusing on thewords yes, I think, isn't it the
?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
terminology yes, the labelling terms.
So we did get a message and I'msorry, friend, I can't find the
original.
I can't remember if it was dmor email or whatever, but I
remember there was a messagefrom someone saying that, um,
they, I don't know if they'll doit, I think they must be doing
wesset.
And the thing that they werestruggling with it's hard was
all the terminology yes, whenyou have to learn terms like
(01:05):
schrock and bierenosch, lazy,it's not that easy.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
No, german language is hard to start with, but just
be grateful that you don't haveto learn ambergibierte, because
we used to have to teach that inWSET.
So that's basically a number onthe bottle of wine
qualitetswein ambergibiertesaying that it's been tasted and
that it's been approved.
We don't do that anymore.
(01:29):
It's a QBA wine, anyway.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, if you are looking to get into German
Rieslings and want to know whatall the different labelling
turns are, this will be theepisode for you.
But first, Meg, what are youbeing drink?
Oh, I had.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
You sound excited.
I did I just.
I do love Aldi and I know thatI talk a lot about it, but I had
a.
I'm just trying to find it.
I photograph it now so that Iknow what I'm doing.
Hang on, I'm just scrollingthrough the photos.
A 2023 limited releaseChardonnay from Margaret River,
13% alcohol, and the brand wasBlackstone Paddock.
(02:05):
Okay, so it was an Aldi winethat they had sent us and we
didn't do it in the episodebecause I think we did the
episode for quick Christmasdrinks from Aldi how to drink
well without breaking the budget.
You'll have to have a look atthe price.
It was again, which is what wesaid in the Aldi episode
Margaret River.
(02:25):
It's like someone said bottleme a Margaret River wine.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And this is just the skill of their buying team.
That would be a good job.
I reckon.
Buying for Aldi It'd be tricky,it'd be clever.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It actually would be very hard and it'd really test
your skills.
It would.
They make all their winesexemplify a place.
Yeah, but doing that at a pricerange that they can sell it for
$8 is some crazy stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I imagine this is probably more than $8, but it
was just delicious beautiful,balanced oak, some peach sort of
character, nectarine, moderateacidity.
I don't know if it had malo.
I didn't feel like it had maloI didn't feel like it had
malolactic characteristics, butit wasn't a high acidity from a
cool climate.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I feel like healthy wines don't often have high
acidity.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
You're probably right , because it's more general
public kind of yeah,approachable wine, really,
really delicious, and again, oneof those wines that I think, if
you're looking into ageingwines, put it down for five
years.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It's not going to be the greatest wine, but it's
going to show you some of thatcomplexity of aged Chardonnay
character.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You heard it here first McBrutman MW says that you
can age Aldi Chardonnay.
Yeah, for sure.
Anyway, we love an Aldi Recobecause he lives.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I know it's just crazy at the moment.
I'm sorry, it's ridiculous andI'm one of these people that
just ignores prices pretty much,but I'm just like, oh no, I
know, the price is everything.
Yeah, I've even reverted togoing back to Costco.
That is sad, I know.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Okay, fun fact.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
OIV World Wine Production in 2024 is estimated
to be the lowest since 1961.
production in 2024 is estimatedto be the lowest since 1961.
Yeah, even lower than theprevious record low in 2023.
It's not well.
It's obviously changingeconomic conditions, in that
people are drinking less, butalso climactic conditions.
There's been a lot of droughtaround, there was a lot of frost
, there was a lot of storms.
(04:20):
It's good.
I think we need to be inbalance, but you know, you see
that Bordeaux is ripping out.
What's it?
8,000 hectares or somethingcrazy that they're ripping out.
Oh my God, I mean they've got124,000 hectares.
Okay, so it's big.
But yeah, I think we need toget back to that balance and
just concentrate on I soundFrench, but that regionalisation
(04:45):
where this is good for thevolume, and I'm talking even
countrywide.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Regionalisation.
Yeah, those French.
They're not very good at theirregionalisation, are they?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Well, they are.
But you know, the Languedocshouldn't have so many bloody
wines that they do, and theyshould just focus on doing wine
well at a good price.
But yeah, we are definitelydrinking lower.
But the US, interestingly, theymaintained their harvest levels
and I know that they're rippingout vines in the Napa, so I
(05:15):
don't think they're getting themessage.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
No, no, no Things is.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well, the tariffs are going to hit them pretty hard.
Anyway, we won't go into that.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I could talk about that for hours.
No, but I have a feeling thatour next wine news we might be
who knows?
Anyway.
So let's get to it.
Do you want to give us theoverview first?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Right.
So the Germans have 13wine-growing regions, right from
which you can make quality wine.
So qualitats fine.
Within those 13 regions, theyrank the quality of the wine
based on the sugar level atharvest.
(05:59):
It's got nothing to do with howsweet the wine is, it's just
got to do with the ripeness ofthe grapes at harvest.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Right, so even if it is picked with a higher ripeness
, it could still be fermented tocompletely dry.
Yes, so we are talking aboutsugar at harvest.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Harvest, not sugar in wine.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Despite how it comes out as the final one, the
finished product.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So the lowest level is Cabernet.
With a K, it equates to about11.5%.
They work in Erkshla, which isa different scale of sugar that
we measure, but I'm equating itto Bome or percent of alcohol to
make it easier.
But it does vary region toregion, so Mosel will be
(06:50):
different to Rheingau, but I'mgoing to say about 11.5%.
So I'm using Riesling as anexample.
This applies to all the grapevarieties that are called a Tetz
vine.
Riesling at 11.5%.
What's your flavour profile?
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Riesling at 11.5%.
What's your flavour profile?
Riesling at 11.5%?
Lime lemon, like pithy,grapefruit, floral notes, green
apple, green apple, high acidity.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So 11%, you know generally Not a lot of
concentration, generally lightbodied.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yes, but yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see
where you're going with this.
So if it was Australia and Isaw 11%, I'd say, yeah, this
hasn't been picked very ripe.
It's going to be super citrusyand mineral and stuff, exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
But gotcha, yep, but if they leave the sugar in the
wine, the alcohol on the labelwill naturally be lower, because
for Qualitats wine you can'tadd sugar to sweeten the wine
when the wine has finishedfermentation, so you might want
(07:56):
to leave the wine with somesugar in it.
So what we have here is aSchloss Vollrads cabinet
Riesling Semi-Dry.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yes.
So, Harb Trocken, Should we doa quick overview?
We're going to talk about whatsix?
Should we talk about six terms?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, we'll keep going, we'll keep going.
So as you move up the ripenessscale, you start with Cabernet,
then you move to Spatlaise.
Spatlaise just sort of means alittle bit sort of later harvest
.
Riesling is riper, so yourfruit profile may start to be
moving into a little bit ofapricot.
(08:42):
There'll still be some greenapple but you may have some red
apple.
So more riper characters.
They can be dry.
Spadlese wines can be dry.
Then you move to Auslese.
Now in Germany they have prettymuch long dry summers.
Most Auslese wines have alittle bit of botrytis fruit in
(09:05):
them.
That's not the point.
But because they've beenhanging out for so long it's
getting colder.
It's later in the harvest.
Sometimes there's a little bitof botrytis, so you may see some
marmalade, but it's theripeness of the grapes at
harvest.
So Spätlesie is around 13%,auschlesieies around that 14%.
(09:27):
So most ouch lazies areactually have some residual
sugar in them, not added, justfinished ferment.
Before it's dry They'll havemarmalade, pineapple, maybe
apricot, ripe, ripe Rieslingcharacter.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Then you move to Trocken.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Beren aus.
Schlese Beren aus Schlese soberen basically means betritised
yeah, betritised grapes, sothis is a definite sweet wine.
Well, beren means berry,doesn't it?
I don't know German.
It's Petrido's grapes, soyou're going to have that
marmalade.
It's going to be a rich, prettyunctuous wine.
(10:14):
Trocken Berenau Schlese isPetrido's grapes that have dried
out, so they've sultanate.
So you've got Berenau Schleseand then trocken, which means
dried, dried Berenaslese, andthen Trocken, which means dried,
dried Berenaslese, so sultanagrapes.
So even more concentration ofsugar.
And then the last one is Icvine.
(10:35):
Although does Icvine sit beforeTrocken Berenaslese?
I think it might Icvine.
In my head it's at the end.
Yeah, it might be, I can'tremember.
Icvine is when the grapes havefrozen on the vine, but they
haven't been affected bybotrytis, and that is key, all
right.
So you've got BirrenauSchlaeser, trocken, birrenau
(10:56):
Schlaeser as botrytis grapes.
You then have this amazingexpression of pure Riesling,
where it has frozen, because thewater has frozen, it's
concentrated the sugar, so youpress it frozen.
So I'll give you an exampleNormal yield from a ton of
grapes is 700 liters of wine.
(11:17):
Yield from ice vine is 50liters per ton.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, yeah, it's bonkers.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So it's basically you're just pressing out sugar.
Yeah, but it has no botrytis.
So it has this amazing Riesling.
It's like a Clear ValleyRiesling with low alcohol,
usually about 6% high levels ofresidual sugar, but no botrytis
character.
So none of that marmalade.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
It's so beautiful it is so beautiful, it's hideously
expensive.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It is such a wonder, like it is just one of those
things that oh yeah, so the keyto remember is that it is based
on the ripeness of the grapes,the sugar level in the grapes,
all right.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Now Can I do a quick recap?
Yep, just so everyone'sfollowing, because I feel like
that was a lot of information.
Let's separate them into, saylike three categories.
So you've got six.
Your first three aren'tnecessarily maybe a little bit,
but first three aren'tnecessarily noble rod, they are
(12:20):
botrytis.
So you've got cabinet auslese,cabinet, spätlese, auslese,
cabinet, spätlese, auslese, andso they're the first three that
you remember.
So you remember K-S-A.
I just remember by the firstletter.
That's how I did it when Ilearned.
Yeah, so your acronym.
If anyone remembers Tony Abbott, if you say it all out loud,
(12:43):
the first letter, it sounds likeKiss Abbott, and I would never
want to kiss Tony Abbott.
So that is how I alwaysremember the right order that
they go in it's kiss Abbott.
So if you can remember thosethree separate.
And then you remember your beerand Oshlaizee and your
chocolate beer and Oshlaizeejust remember that the longer
one is the riper one.
And then ice wine is such acool thing that you should be
able to remember.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, and ice wine sort of does sit apart, but
we're talking about sugar levelsin the grapes at harvest, so
hopefully breaking it down thatway helps, but then that doesn't
mean that the wine is sweet.
So we currently have, like Isaid, the Schloss Wohlrad's
Winkel Riesling 2022, cabinetsemi-dry Rheingau.
So they're telling you on thelabel because the Germans know
(13:28):
that none of you understandlabels 10% alcohol.
So my guess this has probablygot about 18 grams of oh, so
semi-dry in Germany is higherthan semi-dry in the Loire.
I think it can be 18 to 25.
It's all based on differentclimatic zones, but I can't
(13:49):
remember that.
That was a long time ago,people.
It's got 10% alcohol.
This is the key.
If you want to buy Germanraisins and you want to include
the sugar and they haven't toldyou anything, look at the
alcohol on the back.
If it's 13, wine's dry.
If it's an 11.5 and it'sSpatlese or Auslese, it's going
to have some residual sugarbecause they've got a pick riper
but they don't ferment all thesugar out, so this says semi-dry
(14:13):
.
This is the acidity.
What they've done here isthey've left that sugar in
because they've gone.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
holy crap if we don't no one's going to have any
enamel on their teeth.
And this is probably the pointwhere I mean, if you've listened
for a long time, you know this.
But it does need to be mythbusted that, like sweet wine,
can be amazing wine.
I think a lot of people who arenew to their wine journey don't
realise that that is superb andthat would age so well.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
So these people are VDP producers, so in Germany
they have this very.
I really hate this symbol.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
You can't just do that without commentating what
you're doing.
Right, Meg is showing thecamera.
Can you see there's a?
It's like an eagle.
Not necessarily all this isgoing on.
I'm going to choose 30 seconds.
Go and have a look.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Look up VDP emblem.
So VDP means, to translate, itbasically means true German
producer.
So it's like a qualificationsystem.
I'm not going to use verbogendeutscher, blah, blah, blah, but
basically it means you've got ahigh quality producer.
(15:24):
So it's like a crew, aclassified producer, anyway.
So this is 5.9 drinks perbottle.
Would age beautifully, I think33 to 35.
It's yum, it's so yum.
These guys are big, yeah, youknow, but they're good.
(15:44):
Yeah, although it needs a goodGerman fatty sausage to have
with it, it does.
It's so like floral and musky,yeah, although it needs a good
German fatty sausage to havewith it.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
It does it's so like floral and musky.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, alex, just got back from Prague.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Is Elliot home?
No, oh, oh right, alex stillPrague holiday.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Dublin Heading off to Sweden next week, and then just
booked a trip to the Milano inApril.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Oh my God Must be nice, elliot.
Your son Took the trip to theMilan in April.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Oh my God Must be nice, elliot Travelled all that
way to do six hours a week ofcontact, he's having the best
time.
Yeah, well, he's just figuredout life, hasn't he?
Hey, he saved up the money, soI don't care, it's on his coin I
will join.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
If he ever starts a cold, I'll join in.
He's just got things figuredout.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
The rest of us can really learn from him.
So now we have the sameproducer, schloss Volrads
Spatlese Riesling, and I thinkit's the same vintage.
I think it's 2023.
So what we've done?
So the first wine had sort ofgreen apple lemon, a little bit
of minerality, a little bit ofwhite flowers.
It's quite simple in its fruitflavour profile.
Yep, we've moved up theripeness spectrum, which means
(16:59):
not only have we got more sugarin the grapes to turn into
alcohol, we also have riperfruit.
So we should be looking at someapricot.
Apricot is exactly it Apricotkernel.
This is a 2021.
Can you just turn it around tosee the alcohol, please?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yes, it is Eight.
Okay, oh, yeah, there it is 8%.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
So this is going to have sugar, because it tells me
on the label, spatelese, it'sripe, it's about 13% you know
what's interesting?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
You know how, in Australia, wines can smell so
fruity than when you taste themin their bone tray.
So far these German Rieslings.
They don't smell as sweet asthey taste.
It's like the opposite.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Okay, you can't smell sugar, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
You can smell ripeness, but you can smell
fruit, yes, and fruit registersin your brain as sweetness, yes,
which is why people getconfused.
So these don't have like.
For me, I think there's so muchminerality and still citrus
that they don't smell likethey're going to be.
It's not like when you smelllike a Gewurztraminer.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
No, that's right.
Yeah, yeah, and it's like ifyou smell a Petridae semion, you
can smell that marmalady fruit.
So it's giving triggers to yourbrain, it's giving signals to
your brain that this is going tobe sweet.
The thing is, this has probablygot 8%, 13%, 5%, 50%.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
It's probably got about 50 grams per liter of
residual sugar.
Wow, that's a lot.
That is a lot.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
It doesn't even taste like 50 grams of sugar, but all
it is is it's just a littlewave to knock back the acid.
And this is where GermanRieslings are so effing
delicious, because you registerthe sugar but all it's doing is
ameliorating the acid and it'sgiving a little bit of weight to
(18:53):
the palate, but you've got ariper fruit spectrum so you are
a little bit.
I get a little bit of likedried mango in there as well.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Yeah, and I guess that is what makes it different
to your mum friend who drinksGossip's Moscato.
Exactly, I thought you weresaying no.
Then I was like, oh, exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
People equate sweetness to sickliness.
Yes, yes, this is.
Oh, it's just just.
I love these styles of winebream um creek out of tassie.
We're doing I don't know ifthey still do, we're doing a
style like this and it was about10 and a half percent alcohol
and I fought so hard once in awine show to get it up to gold.
(19:38):
I don't think they wantanything, you know, bigger than
gold, but it's just one of myfavorite styles of wine.
Like this would be one of mydesert island not necessarily
this particular producer, butone of my desert island wines.
So look at the ripeness levelthat they're telling you on the
label and then look at thealcohol on the back and just
(20:00):
work on literally cabinet 11percent, and just work on
literally Cabernet 11%,spratlaise 13%, aushlaise 14%.
It varies between regions, butthat's kind of a good way to do
it.
The other thing about these twowines is they're from the Rhine
Gow, so the Rhine Gow is theonly part of the Rhine River
(20:22):
that actually runs east to west.
It doesn't run north to south.
So if any of you have beenthere, it's very steep hills,
absolutely stunning and for me,produces the most mineral
rieslings in Germany Mosel andNa, a little bit more floral.
You move further down to the.
(20:43):
Oh, this is from Nick's no thisis from Dan Murphy's.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Oh, that's weird.
I can't find it.
Do you remember how much itcost?
About $35 as well.
That's so crazy.
It is it's $35.
Okay, so people, if you haven'ttasted this, it's like drinking
something so special, it's likegold.
It goes in your mouth and youjust know it's special, don't
you?
No matter how educated you arein wine, I think anyone who
tastes it that could recogniseit's something special, and this
(21:10):
is what amazes me.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
When we show these styles of wines in WSET,
people's eyes are just becauseyou can see them going oh, this
is going to be shit.
This is going to be nana wine,yes, and you see their eyes just
light up.
Yeah, the same with Barolo.
Barolo is not a friendly wine,no, but when people taste it,
they can kind of, they just kindof get it.
(21:32):
And this is, yeah, you just getit.
I love, I absolutely loveGerman Greece thing.
I just All right.
Okay, what's next?
The next one we have.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
We need the.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Coravin.
We need the Coravin.
I just keep trying to drinkthat and also it's a slow
alcohol.
It's 8%.
I could knock that bottle offtonight and feel absolutely fine
tomorrow.
Guys, don't stab your finger inthe Coravin and we are
promoting safe.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Drinking?
Yep yeah, just smash a bottle,just don't drive home, just do
it when you're already home yeah, yeah, I don't go out anymore,
I just stay home and drink, it'smuch more fun.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Well, the thing is, you know, right?
So the next thing we have let'snot go there.
Well, yeah, I just thought, nah, nah, don't give away too many
of your trade secrets, carry on,okay, even though I do
overshare pretty much.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, you do overshare.
When I was talking to someonethe other day who said you were
a bit scary when they startedLevel 3 with you and they're
like on the podcast she lookslike a you know, she's so chill.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Because they're putting in their belief system.
I'm not scared, I am blunt, butI'm not scary you are blunt.
This is true.
Okay, so what we have here is a2019 Clemon Bush Auschlese from
the Mosel right.
(23:01):
So Auschlese riper fruit, it's2019, so it's going to have a
little bit of possibly agecharacter.
The germans don't really lovethe kerosene.
This is only seven and a halfpercent, so we know alcholese is
coming in riper, so potentialof 14 percent.
Just so you know, one percentof alcohol is 18 grams per liter
(23:24):
of sugar.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, so if you work on 20, so we're gonna have, oh
my god, 80 grams you smell thatand you smell three things, and
you smell it again, you smellthree more things.
It's like you keep smelling andit just keeps changing and
evolving and there is so much inthat glass to To be fair it was
$149.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Can that explain some things?
It was $139 or something.
I wanted something.
I wanted something.
Ashley's is hard to find.
I had been at the Prince onSaturday, but anyway I should
have bought it there, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
It's so funny how much your personal taste impacts
this podcast.
When I was like get us someMellos, you came in.
They're all $9.
I'm like get us some GermanRiesling, you come in with a
$150 bottle.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I mean, where's your mother-in-law?
Fuck it, life's short.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Okay, well, this is something absolutely very
special.
You can tell straight away.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
So that's much sweeter, but it still finishes
fresh and that is definitelyripe apricot dried apricot dried
.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Pineapple dried mango , the first thing I get is sea
spray.
That is the first thing I get.
I go sea spray, a bit ofminerality and then all those
things come through.
There's a salty spray.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, but this is the thing 7.5% alcohol, and so it's
sweet.
It's specifically sweet, but itfinishes Like if you're doing a
dribble test, you're doing alevel three dribble test thing.
It finishes with so much acidthat it's fresh and delicious
and these are the best wines todrink before a meal.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, so the dribble test is when we're testing acid
in a wine.
A way to objectively help youassess is if you have a taste.
You spit or swallow and thenlean your head forward with your
mouth shut, and just thatmovement of like triggers your
glands, I guess, to acid, what'sthe word?
To salivate, salivate, and thatis how you can tell how acidic
(25:32):
a wine is.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
And it takes away your bias, because you might be
a lemon loving kind of person.
Yeah, so it takes away the bias.
You can just actually startmeasuring how much spit you've
got in front of you.
I say that.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Keep your lips closed .
All you people who signed up tothis wine course thinking
you're going to be fancy, youare in for a shock.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Wine tasting is really unattractive.
We had you know old Bon fromGermany complaining about the
slipping and slurping.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Oh, we slurp, we measure our saliva.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So here we have an Alschlese, 7.5% alcohol, toffee
Residual sugar, so ripe.
But to add insult to injury,we've got one more Apple, one
more label term.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I haven't even tasted it yet.
Sorry, you keep going.
I'm just like having a momentwith you.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, I'll just leave you to enjoy your moment with
your Riesling.
So the Germans decided, a fewyears ago now, that they were
not focusing enough on singlevineyard wines.
And why should the French onlyhave, you know, the Cru, the
single vineyard wines likeBurgundy?
So they have developed a systemcalled Grossgewach.
(26:47):
So it basically translates asGrossgewach what I don't know,
it's a very spitty language.
It translates as Premier Crew,okay.
And then there's Grosslager noGrosslager, premier Crew, so
this's Gross Lager.
No Gold Crew, premier Crew, sothis is Gross Lager.
(27:08):
So from Mosul.
So I'm guessing Marienburg,which is Marienburg Auschwitz,
is the name of the vineyard, ofthe vineyard.
So to have the classificationby vineyard you have to be a VDP
(27:33):
producer, so you have to havethe kind of crazy eagle dude on
your capsule and then you havethe vineyard.
But I mean, that is, I love itbecause it's kind of a daggy
blue bottle, like it's real.
It's quite old, 70s.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
So is that the one that we're having now, mm oh.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I mean, the packaging does not scream quality.
No, it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Not at all.
It's very simple.
I didn't realise that's what itwas.
I thought when you were gettingout the fancy one it must have
been yeah, truck and beer andAuschlese or something.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
It's our Auschlese Riesling 2019.
It's Auschlese, so it's 20,it's six years old 2019.
Not a hint, not a hint, nothing, nothing, nothing of kerosene.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
No, you're right.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
And not a hint.
Nothing, nothing, nothing ofkerosene.
No, you're right, and that'sthe other German reasons.
Don't tend to develop thekerosene character.
My understanding is that thekerosene character tends to
develop in sunburnt grapes morerapidly.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
No way, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So in hot climates, and in hotter vintages because
they don't have that.
Yeah, because when I was at uniyou know that kerosene
character was the big thing.
Yeah, we wanted that, we wantedthat.
But now if it comes in, like Isaid, if it comes in too early,
it's considered a bad thing andit is associated with warmer
(29:00):
vintages.
If it starts earlier in thedevelopment, it's associated
with warmer vintages.
Okay, so earlier in thedevelopment, it's associated
with warmer vintages.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Okay, so we don't have kerosene, but maybe let's
go through what were a few ofthe other things that we did.
Now, aged whites, we had like atoastiness, like a dairy yogurt
type thing, but see, I justdon't know.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Even the toastiness isn't that strong, it's not very
aged.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
This is the thing, you could call a marmalade.
Yes, you're right, marmalade,but you could stretch to a
preserved lemon, but probablynot yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
And maybe a dried apricot.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yeah, so it's there, oh, and kind of an apricot
yogurty character.
Yeah, okay, but yeah, it's verydifferent.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
We're looking for it.
It's not the first thing thathits us when we taste the wine.
Yeah, that is bloody delicious.
It's unreal.
We'll have to 50-50 that bottlebecause you know it's a bit of
a treat for everyone.
So that's, I hope youunderstand.
It's based on the ripeness ofthe grapes.
Yes, yeah, hope you understand.
It's based on the ripeness ofthe grapes.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yes, yeah, hopefully that helped, and if you're ever
in a Wesset exam, just think toyourself.
I don't feel like kissing TonyAbbott and that's all you need
to know.
Are you concerned that I'vebeen teaching like I'm part of
the group?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
teaching our wine leaders of tomorrow.
No, I think it's great.
That is.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
That's what I'm in it with, but I think you might
need to find a more currentreference than Abbott, because
he's been a woman.
Yeah, that's true.
I'm really stuck with it.
It just sounds like it when yousay it or don't kiss an Abbott,
what's an Abbott, one of theheads of the monastery, kind of
things.
(30:45):
Oh, yeah, okay, don't do that.
Okay, that's all we've got foryou, unless it's Stanley Tucci
in Conclave.
Yeah, okay.
Next week I presented Meg witha theory, and that was is
Nebbiolo the next Sangiovese?
So it felt like after PinotNoir, everyone started getting
around Sangiovese Everyone kindof.
In Australia.
It became the next bigalternative grape that everyone
(31:08):
kind of knows.
And now all of a sudden, neband Neb is everywhere it is.
So it seems to be the next bigthing that people are getting
around.
So is Neb the next Sangiovese?
We will find out next week.
Until then, enjoy your nextglass of wine and drink well.
Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel.
We are here to help younavigate the world of wine.
I'm Mel Dillacruz, joined byMaster of Wine Meg Brotman.
Meg, what are we doing?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, I'm sitting up very straight because I've been
told that my posture was crapand you couldn't see my mouth.
We are doing, we're going to do.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Because we're recording, because I need to put
videos on social media.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, Sorry, we are doing German Riesling,
specifically focusing on thewords yes, I think, isn't it the
?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
terminology yes, the labelling terms.
So we did get a message and I'msorry, friend, I can't find the
original.
I can't remember if it was dmor email or whatever, but I
remember there was a messagefrom someone saying that, um,
they, I don't know if they'll doit, I think they must be doing
wesset.
And the thing that they werestruggling with it's hard was
all the terminology yes, whenyou have to learn terms like
(01:05):
schrock and bierenosch, lazy,it's not that easy.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
No, german language is hard to start with, but just
be grateful that you don't haveto learn ambergibierte, because
we used to have to teach that inWSET.
So that's basically a number onthe bottle of wine
qualitetswein ambergibiertesaying that it's been tasted and
that it's been approved.
We don't do that anymore.
(01:29):
It's a QBA wine, anyway.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, if you are looking to get into German
Rieslings and want to know whatall the different labelling
turns are, this will be theepisode for you.
But first, Meg, what are youbeing drink?
Oh, I had.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
You sound excited.
I did I just.
I do love Aldi and I know thatI talk a lot about it, but I had
a.
I'm just trying to find it.
I photograph it now so that Iknow what I'm doing.
Hang on, I'm just scrollingthrough the photos.
A 2023 limited releaseChardonnay from Margaret River,
13% alcohol, and the brand wasBlackstone Paddock.
(02:05):
Okay, so it was an Aldi winethat they had sent us and we
didn't do it in the episodebecause I think we did the
episode for quick Christmasdrinks from Aldi how to drink
well without breaking the budget.
You'll have to have a look atthe price.
It was again, which is what wesaid in the Aldi episode
Margaret River.
(02:25):
It's like someone said bottleme a Margaret River wine.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And this is just the skill of their buying team.
That would be a good job.
I reckon.
Buying for Aldi It'd be tricky,it'd be clever.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It actually would be very hard and it'd really test
your skills.
It would.
They make all their winesexemplify a place.
Yeah, but doing that at a pricerange that they can sell it for
$8 is some crazy stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I imagine this is probably more than $8, but it
was just delicious beautiful,balanced oak, some peach sort of
character, nectarine, moderateacidity.
I don't know if it had malo.
I didn't feel like it had maloI didn't feel like it had
malolactic characteristics, butit wasn't a high acidity from a
cool climate.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I feel like healthy wines don't often have high
acidity.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
You're probably right , because it's more general
public kind of yeah,approachable wine, really,
really delicious, and again, oneof those wines that I think, if
you're looking into ageingwines, put it down for five
years.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It's not going to be the greatest wine, but it's
going to show you some of thatcomplexity of aged Chardonnay
character.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You heard it here first McBrutman MW says that you
can age Aldi Chardonnay.
Yeah, for sure.
Anyway, we love an Aldi Recobecause he lives.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I know it's just crazy at the moment.
I'm sorry, it's ridiculous andI'm one of these people that
just ignores prices pretty much,but I'm just like, oh no, I
know, the price is everything.
Yeah, I've even reverted togoing back to Costco.
That is sad, I know.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Okay, fun fact.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
OIV World Wine Production in 2024 is estimated
to be the lowest since 1961.
production in 2024 is estimatedto be the lowest since 1961.
Yeah, even lower than theprevious record low in 2023.
It's not well.
It's obviously changingeconomic conditions, in that
people are drinking less, butalso climactic conditions.
There's been a lot of droughtaround, there was a lot of frost
, there was a lot of storms.
(04:20):
It's good.
I think we need to be inbalance, but you know, you see
that Bordeaux is ripping out.
What's it?
8,000 hectares or somethingcrazy that they're ripping out.
Oh my God, I mean they've got124,000 hectares.
Okay, so it's big.
But yeah, I think we need toget back to that balance and
just concentrate on I soundFrench, but that regionalisation
(04:45):
where this is good for thevolume, and I'm talking even
countrywide.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Regionalisation.
Yeah, those French.
They're not very good at theirregionalisation, are they?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Well, they are.
But you know, the Languedocshouldn't have so many bloody
wines that they do, and theyshould just focus on doing wine
well at a good price.
But yeah, we are definitelydrinking lower.
But the US, interestingly, theymaintained their harvest levels
and I know that they're rippingout vines in the Napa, so I
(05:15):
don't think they're getting themessage.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
No, no, no Things is.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well, the tariffs are going to hit them pretty hard.
Anyway, we won't go into that.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I could talk about that for hours.
No, but I have a feeling thatour next wine news we might be
who knows?
Anyway.
So let's get to it.
Do you want to give us theoverview first?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Right.
So the Germans have 13wine-growing regions, right from
which you can make quality wine.
So qualitats fine.
Within those 13 regions, theyrank the quality of the wine
based on the sugar level atharvest.
(05:59):
It's got nothing to do with howsweet the wine is, it's just
got to do with the ripeness ofthe grapes at harvest.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Right, so even if it is picked with a higher ripeness
, it could still be fermented tocompletely dry.
Yes, so we are talking aboutsugar at harvest.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Harvest, not sugar in wine.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Despite how it comes out as the final one, the
finished product.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So the lowest level is Cabernet.
With a K, it equates to about11.5%.
They work in Erkshla, which isa different scale of sugar that
we measure, but I'm equating itto Bome or percent of alcohol to
make it easier.
But it does vary region toregion, so Mosel will be
(06:50):
different to Rheingau, but I'mgoing to say about 11.5%.
So I'm using Riesling as anexample.
This applies to all the grapevarieties that are called a Tetz
vine.
Riesling at 11.5%.
What's your flavour profile?
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Riesling at 11.5%.
What's your flavour profile?
Riesling at 11.5%?
Lime lemon, like pithy,grapefruit, floral notes, green
apple, green apple, high acidity.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So 11%, you know generally Not a lot of
concentration, generally lightbodied.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yes, but yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see
where you're going with this.
So if it was Australia and Isaw 11%, I'd say, yeah, this
hasn't been picked very ripe.
It's going to be super citrusyand mineral and stuff, exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
But gotcha, yep, but if they leave the sugar in the
wine, the alcohol on the labelwill naturally be lower, because
for Qualitats wine you can'tadd sugar to sweeten the wine
when the wine has finishedfermentation, so you might want
(07:56):
to leave the wine with somesugar in it.
So what we have here is aSchloss Vollrads cabinet
Riesling Semi-Dry.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yes.
So, Harb Trocken, Should we doa quick overview?
We're going to talk about whatsix?
Should we talk about six terms?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, we'll keep going, we'll keep going.
So as you move up the ripenessscale, you start with Cabernet,
then you move to Spatlaise.
Spatlaise just sort of means alittle bit sort of later harvest
.
Riesling is riper, so yourfruit profile may start to be
moving into a little bit ofapricot.
(08:42):
There'll still be some greenapple but you may have some red
apple.
So more riper characters.
They can be dry.
Spadlese wines can be dry.
Then you move to Auslese.
Now in Germany they have prettymuch long dry summers.
Most Auslese wines have alittle bit of botrytis fruit in
(09:05):
them.
That's not the point.
But because they've beenhanging out for so long it's
getting colder.
It's later in the harvest.
Sometimes there's a little bitof botrytis, so you may see some
marmalade, but it's theripeness of the grapes at
harvest.
So Spätlesie is around 13%,auschlesieies around that 14%.
(09:27):
So most ouch lazies areactually have some residual
sugar in them, not added, justfinished ferment.
Before it's dry They'll havemarmalade, pineapple, maybe
apricot, ripe, ripe Rieslingcharacter.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Then you move to Trocken.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Beren aus.
Schlese Beren aus Schlese soberen basically means betritised
yeah, betritised grapes, sothis is a definite sweet wine.
Well, beren means berry,doesn't it?
I don't know German.
It's Petrido's grapes, soyou're going to have that
marmalade.
It's going to be a rich, prettyunctuous wine.
(10:14):
Trocken Berenau Schlese isPetrido's grapes that have dried
out, so they've sultanate.
So you've got Berenau Schleseand then trocken, which means
dried, dried Berenaslese, andthen Trocken, which means dried,
dried Berenaslese, so sultanagrapes.
So even more concentration ofsugar.
And then the last one is Icvine.
(10:35):
Although does Icvine sit beforeTrocken Berenaslese?
I think it might Icvine.
In my head it's at the end.
Yeah, it might be, I can'tremember.
Icvine is when the grapes havefrozen on the vine, but they
haven't been affected bybotrytis, and that is key, all
right.
So you've got BirrenauSchlaeser, trocken, birrenau
(10:56):
Schlaeser as botrytis grapes.
You then have this amazingexpression of pure Riesling,
where it has frozen, because thewater has frozen, it's
concentrated the sugar, so youpress it frozen.
So I'll give you an exampleNormal yield from a ton of
grapes is 700 liters of wine.
(11:17):
Yield from ice vine is 50liters per ton.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah, yeah, it's bonkers.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So it's basically you're just pressing out sugar.
Yeah, but it has no botrytis.
So it has this amazing Riesling.
It's like a Clear ValleyRiesling with low alcohol,
usually about 6% high levels ofresidual sugar, but no botrytis
character.
So none of that marmalade.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
It's so beautiful it is so beautiful, it's hideously
expensive.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
It is such a wonder, like it is just one of those
things that oh yeah, so the keyto remember is that it is based
on the ripeness of the grapes,the sugar level in the grapes,
all right.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Now Can I do a quick recap?
Yep, just so everyone'sfollowing, because I feel like
that was a lot of information.
Let's separate them into, saylike three categories.
So you've got six.
Your first three aren'tnecessarily maybe a little bit,
but first three aren'tnecessarily noble rod, they are
(12:20):
botrytis.
So you've got cabinet auslese,cabinet, spätlese, auslese,
cabinet, spätlese, auslese, andso they're the first three that
you remember.
So you remember K-S-A.
I just remember by the firstletter.
That's how I did it when Ilearned.
Yeah, so your acronym.
If anyone remembers Tony Abbott, if you say it all out loud,
(12:43):
the first letter, it sounds likeKiss Abbott, and I would never
want to kiss Tony Abbott.
So that is how I alwaysremember the right order that
they go in it's kiss Abbott.
So if you can remember thosethree separate.
And then you remember your beerand Oshlaizee and your
chocolate beer and Oshlaizeejust remember that the longer
one is the riper one.
And then ice wine is such acool thing that you should be
able to remember.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, and ice wine sort of does sit apart, but
we're talking about sugar levelsin the grapes at harvest, so
hopefully breaking it down thatway helps, but then that doesn't
mean that the wine is sweet.
So we currently have, like Isaid, the Schloss Wohlrad's
Winkel Riesling 2022, cabinetsemi-dry Rheingau.
So they're telling you on thelabel because the Germans know
(13:28):
that none of you understandlabels 10% alcohol.
So my guess this has probablygot about 18 grams of oh, so
semi-dry in Germany is higherthan semi-dry in the Loire.
I think it can be 18 to 25.
It's all based on differentclimatic zones, but I can't
(13:49):
remember that.
That was a long time ago,people.
It's got 10% alcohol.
This is the key.
If you want to buy Germanraisins and you want to include
the sugar and they haven't toldyou anything, look at the
alcohol on the back.
If it's 13, wine's dry.
If it's an 11.5 and it'sSpatlese or Auslese, it's going
to have some residual sugarbecause they've got a pick riper
but they don't ferment all thesugar out, so this says semi-dry
(14:13):
.
This is the acidity.
What they've done here isthey've left that sugar in
because they've gone.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
holy crap if we don't no one's going to have any
enamel on their teeth.
And this is probably the pointwhere I mean, if you've listened
for a long time, you know this.
But it does need to be mythbusted that, like sweet wine,
can be amazing wine.
I think a lot of people who arenew to their wine journey don't
realise that that is superb andthat would age so well.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
So these people are VDP producers, so in Germany
they have this very.
I really hate this symbol.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
You can't just do that without commentating what
you're doing.
Right, Meg is showing thecamera.
Can you see there's a?
It's like an eagle.
Not necessarily all this isgoing on.
I'm going to choose 30 seconds.
Go and have a look.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Look up VDP emblem.
So VDP means, to translate, itbasically means true German
producer.
So it's like a qualificationsystem.
I'm not going to use verbogendeutscher, blah, blah, blah, but
basically it means you've got ahigh quality producer.
(15:24):
So it's like a crew, aclassified producer, anyway.
So this is 5.9 drinks perbottle.
Would age beautifully, I think33 to 35.
It's yum, it's so yum.
These guys are big, yeah, youknow, but they're good.
(15:44):
Yeah, although it needs a goodGerman fatty sausage to have
with it, it does.
It's so like floral and musky,yeah, although it needs a good
German fatty sausage to havewith it.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
It does it's so like floral and musky.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, alex, just got back from Prague.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Is Elliot home?
No, oh, oh right, alex stillPrague holiday.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Dublin Heading off to Sweden next week, and then just
booked a trip to the Milano inApril.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Oh my God Must be nice, elliot.
Your son Took the trip to theMilan in April.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Oh my God Must be nice, elliot Travelled all that
way to do six hours a week ofcontact, he's having the best
time.
Yeah, well, he's just figuredout life, hasn't he?
Hey, he saved up the money, soI don't care, it's on his coin I
will join.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
If he ever starts a cold, I'll join in.
He's just got things figuredout.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
The rest of us can really learn from him.
So now we have the sameproducer, schloss Volrads
Spatlese Riesling, and I thinkit's the same vintage.
I think it's 2023.
So what we've done?
So the first wine had sort ofgreen apple lemon, a little bit
of minerality, a little bit ofwhite flowers.
It's quite simple in its fruitflavour profile.
Yep, we've moved up theripeness spectrum, which means
(16:59):
not only have we got more sugarin the grapes to turn into
alcohol, we also have riperfruit.
So we should be looking at someapricot.
Apricot is exactly it Apricotkernel.
This is a 2021.
Can you just turn it around tosee the alcohol, please?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yes, it is Eight.
Okay, oh, yeah, there it is 8%.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
So this is going to have sugar, because it tells me
on the label, spatelese, it'sripe, it's about 13% you know
what's interesting?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
You know how, in Australia, wines can smell so
fruity than when you taste themin their bone tray.
So far these German Rieslings.
They don't smell as sweet asthey taste.
It's like the opposite.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Okay, you can't smell sugar, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
You can smell ripeness, but you can smell
fruit, yes, and fruit registersin your brain as sweetness, yes,
which is why people getconfused.
So these don't have like.
For me, I think there's so muchminerality and still citrus
that they don't smell likethey're going to be.
It's not like when you smelllike a Gewurztraminer.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
No, that's right.
Yeah, yeah, and it's like ifyou smell a Petridae semion, you
can smell that marmalady fruit.
So it's giving triggers to yourbrain, it's giving signals to
your brain that this is going tobe sweet.
The thing is, this has probablygot 8%, 13%, 5%, 50%.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
It's probably got about 50 grams per liter of
residual sugar.
Wow, that's a lot.
That is a lot.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
It doesn't even taste like 50 grams of sugar, but all
it is is it's just a littlewave to knock back the acid.
And this is where GermanRieslings are so effing
delicious, because you registerthe sugar but all it's doing is
ameliorating the acid and it'sgiving a little bit of weight to
(18:53):
the palate, but you've got ariper fruit spectrum so you are
a little bit.
I get a little bit of likedried mango in there as well.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Yeah, and I guess that is what makes it different
to your mum friend who drinksGossip's Moscato.
Exactly, I thought you weresaying no.
Then I was like, oh, exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
People equate sweetness to sickliness.
Yes, yes, this is.
Oh, it's just just.
I love these styles of winebream um creek out of tassie.
We're doing I don't know ifthey still do, we're doing a
style like this and it was about10 and a half percent alcohol
and I fought so hard once in awine show to get it up to gold.
(19:38):
I don't think they wantanything, you know, bigger than
gold, but it's just one of myfavorite styles of wine.
Like this would be one of mydesert island not necessarily
this particular producer, butone of my desert island wines.
So look at the ripeness levelthat they're telling you on the
label and then look at thealcohol on the back and just
(20:00):
work on literally cabinet 11percent, and just work on
literally Cabernet 11%,spratlaise 13%, aushlaise 14%.
It varies between regions, butthat's kind of a good way to do
it.
The other thing about these twowines is they're from the Rhine
Gow, so the Rhine Gow is theonly part of the Rhine River
(20:22):
that actually runs east to west.
It doesn't run north to south.
So if any of you have beenthere, it's very steep hills,
absolutely stunning and for me,produces the most mineral
rieslings in Germany Mosel andNa, a little bit more floral.
You move further down to the.
(20:43):
Oh, this is from Nick's no thisis from Dan Murphy's.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Oh, that's weird.
I can't find it.
Do you remember how much itcost?
About $35 as well.
That's so crazy.
It is it's $35.
Okay, so people, if you haven'ttasted this, it's like drinking
something so special, it's likegold.
It goes in your mouth and youjust know it's special, don't
you?
No matter how educated you arein wine, I think anyone who
tastes it that could recogniseit's something special, and this
(21:10):
is what amazes me.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
When we show these styles of wines in WSET,
people's eyes are just becauseyou can see them going oh, this
is going to be shit.
This is going to be nana wine,yes, and you see their eyes just
light up.
Yeah, the same with Barolo.
Barolo is not a friendly wine,no, but when people taste it,
they can kind of, they just kindof get it.
(21:32):
And this is, yeah, you just getit.
I love, I absolutely loveGerman Greece thing.
I just All right.
Okay, what's next?
The next one we have.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
We need the.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Coravin.
We need the Coravin.
I just keep trying to drinkthat and also it's a slow
alcohol.
It's 8%.
I could knock that bottle offtonight and feel absolutely fine
tomorrow.
Guys, don't stab your finger inthe Coravin and we are
promoting safe.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Drinking?
Yep yeah, just smash a bottle,just don't drive home, just do
it when you're already home yeah, yeah, I don't go out anymore,
I just stay home and drink, it'smuch more fun.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Well, the thing is, you know, right?
So the next thing we have let'snot go there.
Well, yeah, I just thought, nah, nah, don't give away too many
of your trade secrets, carry on,okay, even though I do
overshare pretty much.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, you do overshare.
When I was talking to someonethe other day who said you were
a bit scary when they startedLevel 3 with you and they're
like on the podcast she lookslike a you know, she's so chill.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Because they're putting in their belief system.
I'm not scared, I am blunt, butI'm not scary you are blunt.
This is true.
Okay, so what we have here is a2019 Clemon Bush Auschlese from
the Mosel right.
(23:01):
So Auschlese riper fruit, it's2019, so it's going to have a
little bit of possibly agecharacter.
The germans don't really lovethe kerosene.
This is only seven and a halfpercent, so we know alcholese is
coming in riper, so potentialof 14 percent.
Just so you know, one percentof alcohol is 18 grams per liter
(23:24):
of sugar.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, so if you work on 20, so we're gonna have, oh
my god, 80 grams you smell thatand you smell three things, and
you smell it again, you smellthree more things.
It's like you keep smelling andit just keeps changing and
evolving and there is so much inthat glass to To be fair it was
$149.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Can that explain some things?
It was $139 or something.
I wanted something.
I wanted something.
Ashley's is hard to find.
I had been at the Prince onSaturday, but anyway I should
have bought it there, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
It's so funny how much your personal taste impacts
this podcast.
When I was like get us someMellos, you came in.
They're all $9.
I'm like get us some GermanRiesling, you come in with a
$150 bottle.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I mean, where's your mother-in-law?
Fuck it, life's short.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Okay, well, this is something absolutely very
special.
You can tell straight away.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
So that's much sweeter, but it still finishes
fresh and that is definitelyripe apricot dried apricot dried
.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Pineapple dried mango , the first thing I get is sea
spray.
That is the first thing I get.
I go sea spray, a bit ofminerality and then all those
things come through.
There's a salty spray.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, but this is the thing 7.5% alcohol, and so it's
sweet.
It's specifically sweet, but itfinishes Like if you're doing a
dribble test, you're doing alevel three dribble test thing.
It finishes with so much acidthat it's fresh and delicious
and these are the best wines todrink before a meal.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, so the dribble test is when we're testing acid
in a wine.
A way to objectively help youassess is if you have a taste.
You spit or swallow and thenlean your head forward with your
mouth shut, and just thatmovement of like triggers your
glands, I guess, to acid, what'sthe word?
To salivate, salivate, and thatis how you can tell how acidic
(25:32):
a wine is.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
And it takes away your bias, because you might be
a lemon loving kind of person.
Yeah, so it takes away the bias.
You can just actually startmeasuring how much spit you've
got in front of you.
I say that.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Keep your lips closed .
All you people who signed up tothis wine course thinking
you're going to be fancy, youare in for a shock.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Wine tasting is really unattractive.
We had you know old Bon fromGermany complaining about the
slipping and slurping.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Oh, we slurp, we measure our saliva.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So here we have an Alschlese, 7.5% alcohol, toffee
Residual sugar, so ripe.
But to add insult to injury,we've got one more Apple, one
more label term.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I haven't even tasted it yet.
Sorry, you keep going.
I'm just like having a momentwith you.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, I'll just leave you to enjoy your moment with
your Riesling.
So the Germans decided, a fewyears ago now, that they were
not focusing enough on singlevineyard wines.
And why should the French onlyhave, you know, the Cru, the
single vineyard wines likeBurgundy?
So they have developed a systemcalled Grossgewach.
(26:47):
So it basically translates asGrossgewach what I don't know,
it's a very spitty language.
It translates as Premier Crew,okay.
And then there's Grosslager noGrosslager, premier Crew, so
this's Gross Lager.
No Gold Crew, premier Crew, sothis is Gross Lager.
(27:08):
So from Mosul.
So I'm guessing Marienburg,which is Marienburg Auschwitz,
is the name of the vineyard, ofthe vineyard.
So to have the classificationby vineyard you have to be a VDP
(27:33):
producer, so you have to havethe kind of crazy eagle dude on
your capsule and then you havethe vineyard.
But I mean, that is, I love itbecause it's kind of a daggy
blue bottle, like it's real.
It's quite old, 70s.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
So is that the one that we're having now, mm oh.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I mean, the packaging does not scream quality.
No, it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Not at all.
It's very simple.
I didn't realise that's what itwas.
I thought when you were gettingout the fancy one it must have
been yeah, truck and beer andAuschlese or something.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
It's our Auschlese Riesling 2019.
It's Auschlese, so it's 20,it's six years old 2019.
Not a hint, not a hint, nothing, nothing, nothing of kerosene.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
No, you're right.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
And not a hint.
Nothing, nothing, nothing ofkerosene.
No, you're right, and that'sthe other German reasons.
Don't tend to develop thekerosene character.
My understanding is that thekerosene character tends to
develop in sunburnt grapes morerapidly.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
No way, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So in hot climates, and in hotter vintages because
they don't have that.
Yeah, because when I was at uniyou know that kerosene
character was the big thing.
Yeah, we wanted that, we wantedthat.
But now if it comes in, like Isaid, if it comes in too early,
it's considered a bad thing andit is associated with warmer
(29:00):
vintages.
If it starts earlier in thedevelopment, it's associated
with warmer vintages.
Okay, so earlier in thedevelopment, it's associated
with warmer vintages.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Okay, so we don't have kerosene, but maybe let's
go through what were a few ofthe other things that we did.
Now, aged whites, we had like atoastiness, like a dairy yogurt
type thing, but see, I justdon't know.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Even the toastiness isn't that strong, it's not very
aged.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
This is the thing, you could call a marmalade.
Yes, you're right, marmalade,but you could stretch to a
preserved lemon, but probablynot yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
And maybe a dried apricot.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yeah, so it's there, oh, and kind of an apricot
yogurty character.
Yeah, okay, but yeah, it's verydifferent.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
We're looking for it.
It's not the first thing thathits us when we taste the wine.
Yeah, that is bloody delicious.
It's unreal.
We'll have to 50-50 that bottlebecause you know it's a bit of
a treat for everyone.
So that's, I hope youunderstand.
It's based on the ripeness ofthe grapes.
Yes, yeah, hope you understand.
It's based on the ripeness ofthe grapes.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yes, yeah, hopefully that helped, and if you're ever
in a Wesset exam, just think toyourself.
I don't feel like kissing TonyAbbott and that's all you need
to know.
Are you concerned that I'vebeen teaching like I'm part of
the group?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
teaching our wine leaders of tomorrow.
No, I think it's great.
That is.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
That's what I'm in it with, but I think you might
need to find a more currentreference than Abbott, because
he's been a woman.
Yeah, that's true.
I'm really stuck with it.
It just sounds like it when yousay it or don't kiss an Abbott,
what's an Abbott, one of theheads of the monastery, kind of
things.
(30:45):
Oh, yeah, okay, don't do that.
Okay, that's all we've got foryou, unless it's Stanley Tucci
in Conclave.
Yeah, okay.
Next week I presented Meg witha theory, and that was is
Nebbiolo the next Sangiovese?
So it felt like after PinotNoir, everyone started getting
around Sangiovese Everyone kindof.
In Australia.
It became the next bigalternative grape that everyone
(31:08):
kind of knows.
And now all of a sudden, neband Neb is everywhere it is.
So it seems to be the next bigthing that people are getting
around.
So is Neb the next Sangiovese?
We will find out next week.
Until then, enjoy your nextglass of wine and drink well.
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