French and German wine labels can be tricky–every time I think I know what everything means I realize I actually have no idea--so I’ve decided that when we drink them, I’m going to start breaking them down so eventually I know what the hell I’m doing.
2003 is the vintage.
Joh.. Jos. Christoffel Erben is the producer.
Erdener Treppchen is the vineyard.
Riesling is the grape.
Spätlese is the QmP (let’s simplify it as “sweetness level’) designation.
There you have it.
This one was $20 which is more than a typical day to day wine, but I had a hankering for a Riesling and this was the only thing I had handy.
This was described to me as a “wine drinker’s wine” and I’m going to agree. This punches you in the face with acid with a bit of sweetness to balance it out. Lots of time I talk about Rieslings that are sweet with enough acid to balance it–this is the opposite.
The nose has some grapefruit and something else, but I can’t put my finger on it–something non-fruit, which I’m still not good at detecting.
Fran gets pineapples on this with a touch of grapefruit on the finish. I completely disagree. To me, this is all grapefruit–-pink grapefruit, sweet and tart with some minerals for good measure. There’s some spice on this that reminds of Gewurtztraminer. As the finish lingers, I get notes of honey and pear....the finish on this wine is one of the longest I can remember having with a Riesling.
Spicy, acidic, sweet–pretty much all the best qualities I look for. I’d buy this again without hesitation.
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