Sips and Samples #2 – Pain and Pleasure

One tasting this week … Languedoc 2005 and Mosel Auslese 2001. What a mix of “pain” and pleasure! The Tasting was held on November 1st 2011 in Copenhagen.

Languedoc 2005

I must say I find it very hard to appreciate red Languedoc wines, and this occation was sadly no exception. In my opinion red Languedoc are good wines for drinking with the local cuisine, and I can enjoy these wines, if they are resonably priced.

The Languedoc wines are rather simple without the complexity of wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy and yes even the Rhone valley.

At the tasting we had a range of Languedoc wines from the 2005 vintage. The wines were according to experts among the best wines from this area – and while they were all drinkable, not a single wine impressed me. The tasting included the following wines (as far as I recall).

• Domaine Padie, Ciel Liquide, Côtes du Roussillon Villages 2005
• Chateau des Estanilles, Clos du Fou Faugères 2005, Coteaux du Languedoc 2005
• Prieuré de Saint Jean de Bébian, Coteaux du Languedoc 2005
• Clos Marie, Metairies du Clos, Pic Saint Loup 2005
• Mas de Daumas Gassac, Vin de Pays de l’Herault 2005
• Grange des Pères, Vin de Pays de l’Herault 2005
• Leon Barral,Valiniere, Faugères 2005
• Clos des Fées, Le Clos des Fées, Côtes du Roussillon Villages 2005
• Clos Marie, Les Glorieuses, Pic Saint Loup 2005
• Chateau se la Negly, Clos des Truffiers, Coteaux du Languedoc 2005

There were some variation in the quality level, but I can’t se any of these rather simple wines reach more than a Very Good to Fine rating. Overall good wines, but not a single wine I would acquire.

Mosel Auslese 2001

The 2001 vintage in Mosel is a great year. The wines have all the elements of a legendary vintage – good acidity, very good concentration, fine balance and freshness. The wines are not heavy botrytis wines, but a fine expression of the terroir and the riesling grape.

The 2001 is sadly also a vintage that needs time, and while the 6 ausleses tasted good, it was very hard to appreciate all the qualities in the wines – as they are very concentrated and tight structured around the core of wonderful ripe riesling fruit.The best wine of the evening was Fritz Haag GK #9 by quite a margin, while the J.J. Prum was strangely unfocused.

• Selbach-Oster, Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, Auslese* 2001
• Karl Erbes, Ürziger Würtzgarten, Auslese** 2001
• Dr. Loosen, Erdener Treppchen, Auslese 2001
• Fritz Haag, Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr, Auslese GK #9 2001
• Reinhold Haart, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Auslese 2001
• J.J. Prüm, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Auslese, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 2001

The Haag wine were more developed than the example I had in Juli 2011 (from a cold cellar). My tasting note from that occation can be found here.

The tasting confirmed that the 2001 vintage is one of the best in recent time, some vintages may have produced bigger and more heavy wines, but the 2001s are a very refined and balanced expression of the the riesling grape. Keep them in the cellar .. they need time!

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