December 19, 2015 | News | Vintage

Mosel Vintage 2014 | A Look-Back

End of the Year: Time for an unashamed look-back at the 2014 vintage with the full benefit of hindsight. As we said early on, 2014 delivered must-buys for any Mosel wine lover ... but one needs to be choosy.

Mosel Vintage 2014 | Riesling ... From Top to Bottom

Clearly, the Mosel Vintage 2014 proved incredibly challenging. Winemakers had to bring in their grapes quickly, probably as quickly as never before. Unfortunately, this showed in the result: Overall, we have never experienced such a heterogeneous vintage in the Mosel, even within collection, even at some top winemakers.

Despite the best efforts of the growers, many wines were unfortunately affected by volatile acidity, flavors of rosewater, saffron or mushroom, and sometimes powdery tannins.

So much for the bad news. Now to the good news: At the top, those wines made from clean or pure grapes prove simply stunning. Take out the rot and the 2014 vintage was actually pretty amazing: What is there not to like about ripe grapes, moderate sugar levels and zesty but ripe acidity?

Mosel Vintage 2014 | A Great Vintage ... at the Top!

We shared the above analysis already in June and we stick to our guns, also looking back at the vintage: 2014 is a great vintage ... at the top!

The best wines of the vintage offer a stunning return to the great classic balance of the 1990s and are must-buys for any Mosel wine lover.

Great Riesling wines were produced in all stylistic directions (dry, off-dry, Kabinett, Spätlese or noble-sweet) as our lists of “Vintage Highlights” underline nicely (see links at the bottom of the page).

Mosel Vintage 2014 | The Mosel Fine Wines Reports

More than for any other recent vintage, tasting before buying or reading what the wines taste like is critical to find the jewels in the 2014 vintage as wine styles range from clean over tropical to possibly downright “off.” Buying blind is never a good idea, it is downright suicidal in 2014.

Our Reports on the 2014 vintage with over 650+ detailed tasting notes of recommended wines from 70 different Estates may help you navigate through the offers.

• 2014 Vintage Report Part I (270+ tasting notes from over 40 Estates)
• 2014 Auction Wines (with 30+ tasting notes from leading Estates)

• 2014 Vintage Report Part II (with 350+ tasting notes from over 40 Estates)

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