The wine presents itself with a brilliant gold color and a nose of honeyed apples, alongside some diesel smell typical of aged Riesling. In the mouth light and refreshing, with lemon like acidity that leaves the mouth salivating for a while. The finish is discreet, with a sweet dried pineapple aftertaste that linger for a long time.
Although this is neither a particularly rich nor complex example of a mature Riesling, I can understand why this grape is prized for delivering age-worthy wines.
Riesling is an aromatic grape variety of German origin. Its primary home is the lower Mosel and the middle Rhein, where Riesling vines cover the steep hillsides of the rivers. In Europe, beside Germany, Alsace and Austria are also important Riesling regions.
Riesling is a grape that ripens quite early and thrives in cool climates. When planted in a hot climate its juice can be overripe and flabby long before any interesting flavours have developed in the grapes.
One of the fascinating attributes of the Riesling grape is that it has a singular ability to be made in a wide range of sweetness levels, from bone dry to lightly sweet, to sticky sweet.
Throughout history Riesling has been valued for its intense fruit flavors, its diversity of styles, its ability to show where it has been grown, and its ability to age for decades. Unfortunately, after World War II the German dumped a flood of cheap, lifeless wines of on the world market and Riesling fell out of favour. Nowadays plenty of Riesling winemakers delivers again extraordinary wines of great character and elegance.
Due to their austere profile, I generally find difficult to truly appreciate Riesling wines. Their pronounced acidity is simply too much for my personal taste. Despite this, I enjoyed this old Riesling wine more than others I tried while cruising the Mosel with my son. The fascination for the venerable age probably played a significant role. Although, unlike in Bordeaux, the 1982 vintage in the Mosel has been far from remarkable, I consider that after almost forty years this wine still drinks very nicely.
For this bottle I paid 9 EUR “ex Château”, directly by the producer in Zell. A real bargain. Although not as complex and devoid of the earthiness that characterize the best examples of aged Rieslings, I find this wine very alluring and I’m impressed by its apparent youth. Most likely mainly thanks to the crispiness that tends to put me off.
Country: Germany
Region: Mosel
Grapes: Riesling
Type: White
Vintage: 1982
Producer: Weingut Heinrich Mayer jr.
Price range: Economic (<15 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 4/5