Dönnhoff yeah! It's amazing that the entry Rieslings from Nahe, Rheinhessen and Pfalz are relatively cheap in Germany since they offer a lot of wine. I'm blessed, it's only a few hours drive to get there. )) Keep up the good work Matthew, always enjoying your video's. Looking forward to your Barbera tasting.
Recently someone in my street put a box full of aged Wittmann wines in front of the appartement complex with a sign: "Zu verschenken" (for free). I was surprised to see a lot of Erste Lage (1G / Premier Cru) Rieslings from 2012-2020. Things like this can only happen in Germany 😂 I buy a box of Morstein, Kirchspiel and other GGs every year and they are outstanding after a few years of bottle age.
Something similiar you can also see in a lot of german supermarkets. People working in the wine section put like 20-50% off the Price for some GG or fine german Riesling, Chardonnay or Pinot Noir wines. Many shopper doesnt know anything about wine and only buy stuff for less than 10€. I just recently bought Philipp Kuhn Pinot Noir Reserve for 10€, normal price is around 30-35€. Also a neighbour of me gifted me once a 1976 Ürziger Würzgarten from Mosel, because he bought a garage with some old wines sitting in there...
Great video and I love that you offered more wallet friendly alternatives to JS Top 100 list. Since I already shared my favorite wines of 2023 in another post I just want to comment on this list. JS is an interesting individual in the wine world, yes he does score his wines a tad high; but nothing like Luca Maroni or some others. He is a wine critic and taster, but also a business person; so we have to view him differently that wine RU-vidrs or other critics. Like yourself I do take off around 3-5 points if I am looking at JS scored wines and I have been disappointed with a few of the wines he rated. But not enough to make a definitive call if his palate and mine align or are totally different. One major positive about JS is that he is highlighting lesser known regions and countries, Austria, Chile, China, Hungary, etc. Also he is big champion of Riesling, which is something that you don't see that much of on WS, WA or Vinous. Which is a big boon for those countries and their image and placement on the international market. With him reviewing more and more Hungarian wines and wineries it's made me seek out smaller family and boutique wineries in Hungary. Although St. Andrea is one of the top wineries in Hungary, we visited there in 2016 and their Aldas is a great quality QPR Bull's Blood.
My issue with JS is the descriptions he writes are more like an attempt at poetry, laid on extra thick. I guess we're not really his target audience. I get it. But I never found his descriptions useful. You, Agnese and Peter Koff actually tell me something...even if half of it is over my head sometimes. 😅
The Carl Loewen Alte Reben is a great shout. Great wine at an even better price. I'm drinking one of my best wines this year right now: Egon Müller Scharzhof 2015. I've had a lot of Saar Rieslings lately and this certainly delivers. An excellent wine and extremely youthful still at eight years old. The others I've had have all been much more recent. I want to mention Peter Lauer, Zilliken (Saarburger Rausch OMG) and Falkenstein as the top among the other producers but all have been very good (von Othegraven, Stefan Müller and von Kesselstatt). Other top wines this year have been: - Confuron-Cotetidot Vosne-Romanée "Les Suchots" 1er Cru 2012, probably the best red wine I've ever had, closely followed by - Valenti Etna Rosso "Puritani" 2014 (also their Etna Bianco "Enrico IV" was great) - Sattlerhof Gamiltz Sauvignon Blanc 2020 - Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage "Mise en bouche" 2016. Insane QPR at 12.90€
My favourites on this list are the Herrmannshöhle that isn´t even that expensive here in Munich nor are the Moric which I drink probably more of than I should but with roast veal that Blaufränkisch is hard to resist. Also respect to you for also suggesting some affordable alternatively to try the producer/style without paying fantasy prices.
James Suckling has a heavy hand with points...so i take the scores with a fair dose of scepticism. No one can deny that he has been around for many years and tasted beyond the classical regions of wine. I share his love for German and Austrian white wine but again he's been the voice of tuscan wine through his reviews and scores without worrying too much about sounding independent. I guess the italian charm got him ;) Leaving aside the points his Top 100 list is usually more diverse and fun than his colleagues at Wine Spectator.
Great video and thank you for highlighting a number of interesting wines. I totally agree with you on the La Rioja Alta Alberdi, great value for that price.
The thing I like about James Suckling is that he designed a range of glasses for Lalique and the Burgundy glass in particular is superb. Normally wine glasses from the old French crystal houses are terrible to drink from….
The Tesch Mond Riesling from the Nahe region really surprised me this year. Another wonderful Riesling is the Jakob Jung Hohenrain GG from the Rheingau.
I was expecting your review to the Gran Enemigo Gualtallary 2019 that suckling and parker rated at a perfect 100 points. Cab Franc is becoming one of my favorites wines right now.
I've been stocking up some Alta 904 recently. I recently bought a case of 2004 from a London retailer which was in bond. The price worked out at about £60 a bottle. The prices of a lot of aged Spanish vintages have peaked and you can buy them at about the same prices as current releases. Good quality stuff like 904. Believe it or not, I can get the Alberdi for £16 a bottle at a local U.K supermarket.
@@drmatthewhorkey the 2015 94 here costs less than 50€. I wasn´t that keen on though in fairness. It promised at lot on the nose then the palate didn´t deliver much before seeming a bit short to me.
Hmmm some of my memorable wines this year have been a 2019 Domaine Serene Winery Hill Pinot..reminded me of Xmas. Another memorable was a 2021 Cristom Viognier.
I agree. If he scores a wine 93-94, then he has my attention. I do appreciate that he is seemingly everywhere in the world looking for the interesting wines.
i saw, and it was great, so i was curious to the suckling top 10 as well, i saw there were some STELLAR wines there, including some that i have the privelge to own (and on a few already taste).
@@drmatthewhorkeyyes i saw this but the spectator top 10 is NOT the same as the suckling top 10. The suckling top 10 contains beauties like burklin wulf pechstein FX pichler uendelich Laurent Perrier grand siecle Giovanni Neri brunello El enemigo etc. Those wines would be cool to see your reaction to! Anyway cheers for the great content!
Matthew, was wondering whats the reason in these videos you don't show the places you visit? Frankly , it's a bit boring seeing you in the same room , video after video? Could you mix and match them up?
