David Schildknecht via www.erobertparker.com:
Gernot Kollmann picked most of his best parcels in the third week of October, although botrytis pressure forced him to attack some vines earlier. Even with such a relatively late harvest and a vintage this ripe, he has been able to bottle wines with finished alcohol between 12-12,5%, in keeping with a continued goal of achieving levity. Vine age, genetic diversity, and lack of grafts have much to do, in Kollmann’s (and many another Mosel vintner’s) view, with their fruit ripening at relatively low must weights. These wines display the sort of balance thal long-time (and last family) proprietor Georg Immich adored, although I regret that one certainly cannot credit as prohpetic his belief that halbtrocken would, before the last century was out, become the sensible and aesthetically norm among „dry“ German Rieslings! (Perhaps one day still, though.) He has managed to secure significant numbers of wholesome used barrels of 300-liter capacity, substituting these increasingly for classic 225-liter barriques; but reports that, sadly, he cannot locate suitable used 500- or 600-liter demi-muids nor, for the time being, afford to introduce newly constructed fuders on the classic Mosel model. (For more on the recent evolution – indeed, veritable resurrection – of this venerable estate, please consult my reports in issues 199 and 192. The first, strikingly delicious Chardonnay-dominated wine has appeared from Weingut Rinke’s dramatically-steep and -restored mussel-chalk terraces on the Upper Mosel, a Kollmann project about which I’ll write further in future, though that arguably belongs in the context of covering neighboring Luxemburg, or even Champagne.)
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2011 Immich-Batterieberg Riesling C A I
A Riesling Dry White Table wine from Enkrich, Middle Mosel, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany Review by David Schildknecht eRobertParker.com
# 199 and 192 (April 2013)
Rating: 90
Fifteen in part geographically disparate contract lots informed the 30,000 bottles of Immich-Batterieberg 2011 Riesling Kabinett C.A.I., including – as in 2010 – a majority of Dhronhofberger from Kohl-Staudt Weinhofgut Amtsgarten, considerable Oberemmel and Wiltinger Riesling courtesy of Moritz Gogrewe, plus contibutions from Kinheim, Kröv, Wolf (all near-by) and Enkirch itself. Genuinely dry- though not labeled as such – this is consistent with the standards set by its two predecessors, emphasizing levity, precision of flavor, and genuine interactivty. The vividness and lusciousness of flower-garlanded white peach and lime are every bit as much Mosel archetypes as are this wine’s mouthwatering salinity, wet stone understone, and shimmering sense of transparency to nuances that can only – for lack of any better covering term – be called „mineral.“ This exceptional value should serve well for at least the next 3-4 years (The 2010 is even more exciting today than it was a year ago.)
2011 Immich-Batterieberg Riesling Escheburg
A Riesling Medium Dry White Table wine from Enkrich, Middle Mosel, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany Review by David Schildknecht eRobertParker.com
# 199 and 192 (April 2013)
Rating: 89
The Immich-Battieberg 2011 Enkircher Riesling Escheburg – a mid-range cuvee drawn on this occasion from around 40% Ellergrub, 40% Batterieberg, and 20% Steffensberg, and not stinting on old, ungrafted vines – is, like the intro-level negociant cuvee „C.A.I.,“ legally dry, though not labeled as such. There’s also a rahter austerely stony, ashen understone, which sets-off the tropical ripeness of fruit flavors, favoring melons, passion fruit, mango and peach. Kollmann seeks to assure me that there was no botrytis in this fruit but it was extremly ripe. A slight majority of the vinification was in tank, which may have enhanced freshness but may also have underscored the wine’s austere side. The charm or interactivity and saliva-inducement of the ostensibly lesser „C.A.I.“ would be welcome here, too, but this is still an excellent and persistent performance that may with a few years acquire other, compensatory virtues.
2011 Immich-Batterieberg Enkircher Steffensberg Riesling
A Riesling Dry White Table wine from Steffensberg, Enkrich, Middle Mosel, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany Review by David Schildknecht eRobertParker.com
# 199 and 192 (April 2013)
Rating: 90+
Drink: 2013 – 2017
Peppermint, cassis, and struck flint pungently inform the nose of Immich-Batterieber’s 2011 Enkircher Steffensberg Riesling; then join hints of spice from barrel as well as grapefruit and kumquat oils in accenting a juicy reserve of white peach. Palpably dense and phenolically pronounced, this, nonetheless, serves for ample refreshment, and its prolonged, wet stone-underlain finish offers a welcome sense of buoyancy. It seems to me quite easy to imagine that were only another half percent of alcohol present, this wine’s bitter elements would be too reinforced and its sense of buoyancy compromised. I am inclined to anticipate this being best drunk over the next 3-4 years. Kollmann cautions me, though, that Steffensberg was more expressive before as well as immediately following bottling than the corresponding wine from the Batterieberg, and that it might well be suffering more from its recent bottling. As for the wine’s pungently reductive cast, I can testify from my experience in the 1980s with Georg Immich’s wines that it is at least partly associated with Steffensberg terroir.
2011 Immich-Batterieberg Enkircher Batterieberg Riesling
A Riesling Dry White Table wine from Batterieberg, Enkrich, Middle Mosel, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany.
Review by David Schildknecht eRobertParker.com
# 199 and 192 (April 2013)
Rating: 92
A greenhouse- or florist’s-like amalgam of laefing and flowering things joins with intimations of alkalinity and wet stone in the nose of Immich-Batterieberg’s 2011 Enkircher Battierberg Riesling. Its juicy lemon and lime brightness enlivens a complex matrix of white peach, apricot and crabapple suffused with fruit pit, diverse flower petals, crushed stone, mustard seed and freshly-milled grain on a subtly satiny palate. This finishes with lift and shimmeringly interactive intensity of floral, herbal, fruit and mineral components. I would expect it to perform well for a least 15 years.
2011 Immich-Batterieberg Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling
A Riesling Dry White Table wine from Ellergrub, Enkrich, Middle Mosel, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany Review by David Schildknecht eRobertParker.com
# 199 and 192 (April 2013)
Rating: 94
The Immich-Batterieberg 2011 Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling is fascinatingly and alluringly floral, incorporating musky narcissus and peony, chamomile and lavender, as well as sweet scents of honeysuckle and apple blossom. These, along with mint and hints of citrus oils, garland succulently juicy white peach which – like the impression of liquid floral perfume itself – is beautifully underscored by a subtle hint of sweetness from 17 grams of residual sugar on a seductively silken yet invigorantingly juicy palate. A cyanic hint of peach kernel, nutty bitter sweetness of almond, kiss of wet stone, and saliva-drawing salinity help intriguingly extend a buoyant, kaleidoscopically-interactive, and refreshing finish. This beauty should dazzle for at least two decades.
2011 Immich-Batterieberg Enkircher Zeppwingert Riesling
Riesling Dry White Table wine from Zeppwingert, Enkrich, Middle Mosel, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany.
Review by David Schildknecht eRobertParker.com
# 199 and 192 (April 2013)
Rating: 93
From old vines immediately adjacent to the Batterieberg yet always giving distinctly different vinous results, the 2011 Enkircher Zeppwingert Riesling is the only „dry“ wine in its collection whose fruit was influenced by botrytis. Quince, white peach and bittersweet liquid floral perfumes cavort against a background of wet stone on a silken, expansive, deeply rich, yet still-refreshing palate, nuances of peach kernel, almond, black tea, and ginseng adding to the dynamically interactive finish of a Riesling that manages to at once sooth and enervate. As one has come to expect from Kollmann, this wine is adroitly-balanced, its 22 grams of residual sugar entirely supportive yet leaving behind only the subtlest impression of sweetness per se. Look for at least two decades of satisfaction.