December 22, 2015 | News | Vintage
End of the Year: We look back at how noble-sweet Riesling fared in 2014 and share our list of highlights from the vintage.
The spreading of botrytis allowed for the production of some noble-sweet wines, if one was ready to take the time and effort (many producers admitted that they did not even consider the idea as they were already busy enough saving the bulk of their harvest).
The best noble-sweet wines from 2014 are truly remarkable, not only aromatically speaking but also from a mere production point of view. Selecting clean botrytis and discarding the rot in the challenging 2014 conditions was in fact quite an achievement!
Two masters at botrytis excelled at their art in 2014: Weingut Egon Müller and Weingut Dr. Hermann. Both produced some staggering noble-sweet wines of majestic finesse and elegance. Also, many of the leading VDP growers “delivered” and produced tiny quantities of “auction lots”, including Geltz-Zillliken, Fritz Haag, Reinhold Haart, Schloss Lieser, Dr. Loosen and Joh. Jos. Prüm (read here for an introduction to the annual Trier Auctions).
Overall, the Erdener Prälat underlined once more why it is such a prized vineyard, as no less than three growers, Karl Erbes, Dr. Hermann and Weingut Dr. Loosen crafted (six!) noble-sweet highlights of the vintage out of this vineyard!
All the Estates on the list are well-known over-achievers of the Mosel and the challenges of 2014 only underlined their craft. In this context, the outstanding performance of the Weingut Gessinger, which is probably less well-known to most, is most remarkable: It produced a stunning noble-sweet wine out of old holdings in the Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, which actually did not break the bank at the Auction.
Here our list of not-to-be-missed "Vintage Highlights":
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.
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© Text by Mosel Fine Wines "The Independent Review of Mosel Riesling ... and beyond!"
Disclaimer: Mosel Fine Wines is an independent publication and has no commercial relationship with any Estate, association or organization featured in this article.
