Jancis Robinsons’ Purple Pages
Germany’s alluring 2009s

7 Jul 2010 by Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding MW

We hope that even if you have never bought German wine, you will consider experimenting with the 2009s. Compared with their counterparts from Bordeaux, they are terrific bargains and the quality is really outstanding.

Germany has been blessed by an extraordinarily long run of successful vintages. The 2003s may have been rather riper and flabbier than usual, and the 2002s rather less concentrated, but it is difficult to think of a really disastrous year in living memory.

This century 2009 joins 2007 and 2001 as potentially the greatest vintages so far. See my overview of 2009, outlining its strengths and weaknesses and listing those UK merchants making special offers, but the chief characteristic of the wines is how alluring they are even at this early stage. One contributory factor was the poor flowering that left bunches loose and irregular, as shown in this photograph taken by Klaus Peter Keller of Rheinhessen.

We are delighted to add these 170 tasting notes, based on wines tasted in London in the last month or so, to Michael Schmidt’s nearly 200 tasting notes made in Germany in late April and published in May, and hope to top them up with notes on the top dry wines, the Grosses Gewächs, when they are released in early September.

Tasting notes are presented in alphabetical order by producer (sur)name and then for each producer in roughly ascending order of sweetness.

EVA FRICKE, Rheingau

Eva Fricke, Riesling trocken 2009 Rheingau

16.5 Drink 2011-2013 Water white. A hint of red pepper and real interest on the nose. Really dry finish – a wine that stands and falls on its extract rather than any smoothing over the cracks with sugar. Still a little chewy. 12.5% £13.99 The Winery

Eva Fricke, Lorcher Krone Riesling 2009 Rheingau

17 Drink 2010-2014 Pale greenish. Very fresh and bright on the nose. So clean and racy. Yet with ample fruit. Soil is Hunsrucke slate like Mittelrhein. Hint of lychee. Not that dry but beautifully balanced. 400-500 bottles. £tbc The Winery

Eva Fricke, Seligmacher Riesling 2009 Rheingau

17 Drink 2010-2015 Dense and very much alive with hints of dried herbs and very ripe grapefruit. Wonderfully intense fruit but the overall impression is of a dry wine. Very fine. 13% £28.99 The Winery

Eva Fricke, Lorcher Krone Riesling Spätlese 2009 Rheingau

16.5 Drink 2012-2015 Round and sweet and a bit soft. Is this yet another wine that demonstrates that modern German growers are reserving their best fruit for dry wines? £tbc The Winery

De wijnen van Eva Fricke zijn in België te verkrijgen bij Wijnhuis Vinikus&Lazarus

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