2021 at Schneider Is Andi’s Greatest Vintage And The 2021 Domberg Is The Feather In His Cap
– An Ethereal, Cerebral, Contemplative Riesling – Nothing Can Be Compared To It
– At $27.99 On A Case I am Struggling To Think Of Another Dry Riesling Value This Good. Maybe Ever.
2021 K.H. Schneider Domberg Riesling Trocken
– 94 Points, Stuart Pigott
– Nose: Etherial
– Super Mineral
– Wet Stones
– Very Refined and Precise
– Unreal Mineral Perfume
– Sea Air, Confectionary Aromas
– So Elegant and Refined
– Tight, Focused and Lemony
– Vivid Citrus and White Cherry Fruit
– Salty
– Lithe, Lacey, Expressive and Sparse /CASE PRICING $27.99
Sven Enderle’s (And Mine) Favorite Dy Riesling at Schneider
I just had this the other night and I am offering it again as this is one of the most thrilling wines of the vintage and perhaps the best Grand Cru QPR. I adore this site as it creates some of the most complex, texturally compelling and effusively mineral wines in all of Germany. It is just so complete and is truly a cerebral German Riesling as it’s subtle yet if you peer into the abyss of this Riesling it peers back at you. It is the consummate overachiever. While the Marbsch has fruit and minerality and superb aromas the Domberg has all those, less the fruit but it’s in perfect black and white Kodachrome. It’s such a stunning wine and will only get better and better. I’ll admit that Pigott, who I adore dearly for his German wine scores and reviews, does go a bit nuts when it comes to grade inflation, so wines like that only get a 94 tend to get overlooked. This is a 9.7-9.8 wine currently since Pigott tasted it shortly after I did when he gave it a 94. Also in a lineup of Schneider wines I can see how this would be overlooked by Marbach/Konigsfels and Felsenberg which are flashier. But this is a top 5 wine of the vintage for me and needs to be bought by the case.
Andi Schneiderrl – He Had the Talent, He Had the Quality, Now He Has the Scores
If I’ve got one producer among my German Riesling producers that has risen to the top except he hasn’t quite gotten the right acclaim (and price per bottle) it’s Andi Schneider. That has now changed (the acclaim part). Andi has gotten huge score love from Stuart Pigott who has forgotten more about German wine than I will ever know. That counts for a lot to be honest as I fondly remember drinking many a great Riesling with Stuart at an epic after party one night where he supplied the wines from his own cellar. I’ve also attended many seminars he has hosted on German Riesling. In Germany he is as respected as Parker was at his highest influence in America. He is the one who actually introduced me to Andi Schneider’s wines through something he had written a few years back about Andi Schneider and he said in his own inimitable way,
Andi kind of reminds a bit of the position that Hofgut Falkenstein was in for many years before he was catapulted into fame. Andi Schneider is in a better position than Falkenstein was in when I was selling them on the Upper East Side. Andi has been given very high praise and write-ups by Stuart Pigott for his 2016/2015/2017/2018 collections as well as his 2019s/2020s and 2021s His 2021 dry and sweet wines are stunning examples of Andi’s electric mineral, high acid style. These wines will wake you up. It’s Nahe so the fruit is more red/white cherries and a bit riper, but honestly when these wines are young, the fruit is not really what they are about. They are about terroir, the amazing energy of Riesling and the insane minerality of Andi’s special nook in Sobernheim which is not as famous as Bockenau or Niederhausen but that will change. Andi is putting Sobernheim on the map.
These are among the best values we sell. Especially with Stuart’s reviews.
I don’t know if many of you have had the 12 Domberg recently but I highly recommend opening a bottle as these are drinking terrific right now and starting to show the insane fruit Andi can get. It takes time though. I had ’07 and ’09 Marbach as well at the estate and they were both stunning. Age is this wine’s friend. Now in 2021, he has made the best wines in his own style. Andi seems to contain the ripeness of the Nahe and express the thunderous minerality in a unique and striking way. There is a deft purity to these incredibly crafted wines. He also has rip roaring high acids like Muellen or Schätzel. He is using 100% spontaneous yeasts and ages his wines in old large oak barrels. They have a texture to them that is like nothing else. Dense and pithy but so elegant and weightless and with an electric acid backbone. So detailed. I love drinking these wines and they last incredibly long. Andi made his most elegant and weightless wines in 2020 and he crushed it and made massive/high acid wines in 2021 that will need longer than normal. He has outdone himself in 2021. He has a longer elevage than most and his “GG” wines have just been bottled in the last few months. Along with Martin Muellen in the Mosel, Andi Schneider is making Grand Cru wines for a song. A pittance. The prices are criminal as Andi is NOT in the VDP which means his wines are seriously underpriced. Producers making world class wine from Grand Cru sites that are not in the VDP are where the value is at in German Dry Riesling today.
Usually the Marbach is the star for me out of all of Andi’s wines. And it was insane in 2021. But in 2021 the Domberg was the star of the show. It left Sven Enderle speechless which is hard to do as Sven talks a lot. Domberg is the most geeky of Andi’s wines as it’s got insane acidity, thunderous minerality and fruit, which there is some, but not much plays a supporting role. The fruit is like Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs in that he is only on screen for 15 minutes but his looking presence is felt the entire movie. That’s like the fruit in Domberg.
The Wines
Today is the 2021 K.H. Schneider Domberg Riesling Trocken for $29.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack and $27.99 on a 12 bottle case.. This is Grosses Gewachs/Grand Cru quality from a site that Andi is making famous. It is from very poor soils (60-80 cm, slate/quartzite) which makes the vines struggle and produce better, more complex tasting fruit. Small grapes are harvested and they come in very compact bunches which gives the wines great aromas and serious structure, density and backbone. I adore this site as it’s likely the site that yields the most mineral wines we sell in all of Germany. And in 21 it’s has reached its magnum opus and the true potential of this “great nobody ever heard of it” GG site has been realized.
The nose is just ethereal.Beautiful. Super mineral, earthy and rocky with loads of wet stones. Some fresh cut grass and smoke only add to the allure. A hint of fruit but dominated by its quarry like minerality. It’s very refined and precise nose. After air it gets going oh boy does is get going. Intensely complex, funky and mineral as par for the course for Domberg. The geekiest of the KH Schneider wines. Unreal mineral perfume. Wide open. Dripping with liquid minerality. Startlingly pure aromas that are focused and vivid. Sea air, confectionary aromas. Just amazing.
The palate is just an exercise in brilliance and restraint. It’s so elegant and refined and has a straight linear quality like fine edges on a piece of modern architecture. The palate is the best German engineering has to offer and there is much more clear-cut Riesling fruit apparent than on the nose. Palate is a monster! Tight, focused and lemony. Real grip and focus. Just so linear. Closed yet has unlimited potential. Such a funky nose. Funky but clean. Not like young Schafer-Frohlich. Almost tannic and really has intense mineral grip. Finish is a bit clipped right now but has persistence but needs to fill in. Nose is more floral and lemony with air. Just stunning. It has the intense acidity one expects but also vivid citrus and white cherry fruit that develops with air. There is also beautiful minerality that really is the star of this wine. Amazing persistence and grip. Extraordinary balance. Complexity and pitter patter tannins.Salty. The length is very impressive and the mineral persistence makes this wine just so special. It is so mineral you will not believe and the massive mineral concentration is off the charts. Unreal wine. This is not a fruit bomb Riesling but lithe, lacey, expressive and sparse.
9.4 to 9.7 overnight. This is the best Domberg yet. It’s complex, chewy, compact and mineral. Finishes very dry and has so much of a rock quarry vibe. So fresh and such insane length. Terrific. Some mild citrus on the finish. Super deep and voluptuous. Very sappy and pure. Juicy and very very long.
This got 94 points from Stuart Pigott but got a 97 from me, but it had to air 24 hours to go from 94 to 97. His review is below.
“What a beautiful nose of peaches and ripe citrus this generous and zesty Nahe dry riesling has. Stacks of fruit and wet stone minerality easily marries the crisp acidity. The long, sleek and focused finish suggests this will age well. Drink or hold..”– 94 points, Stuart Pigott
Please call Cheryl at 949 378 5251 after emailing with your firstorder if you are a first time customer (we prefer not to receive credit card numbers over E-Mail).
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I love drinking and selecting wines – but my passion for teaching people about wine is almost as big. I’m happy to announce a block of time each day where people can call me just to chat about wine in general. These blocks are NOT intended to sell wine (I do that all day). This is to talk to me about wine pairings or great producers or how long to age wines or styles of wine making or the latest wine controversy. My goal is to help people learn more about wine and enjoy it more. Call me at 917-912-4355 from 4-7EST Monday – Friday.
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