The Wine Thread

A quick note. We cracked this at the office a few days ago. I do not have that much experience with this house (I have a few bottles of 83' but they are pretty far gone at this point) but in general they are considered to have underperformed for many years (80's & 90's) Therefore, I wasn't expecting much, which often leads to pleasant surprises. Schonborn is the largest privately owned winery in the Rheingau and some of the estate vineyard sites have been in the family since 1349!




1990 Schloss Schönborn Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen Auslese
Strong aromatics right from the onset, huge petrol nose, with mixed citrus fruits and honey in the background. Medium weight with lime zest and meyer lemon, oily viscosity and surprisingly some tight acidity as a backbone. The finish continues on with citrus and a lively grapefruit note. Much better than anticipated. By no means a heavy hitter, but a lovely wine that would match nicely with foods as the sugar levels are in check. 1990 was an epic year for Germany (and most places in Europe) and it would appear Schonborn benefited from this with the Nussbrubben bottling. No clue on the current cost but Id pay in the $40s for this if available.

Cheers
~Vitis

[RichardW]

Originally Posted by Vitis

A quick note. We cracked this at the office a few days ago. I do not have that much experience with this house (I have a few bottles of 83' but they are pretty far gone at this point) but in general they are considered to have underperformed for many years (80's & 90's) Therefore, I wasn't expecting much, which often leads to pleasant surprises. Schonborn is the largest privately owned winery in the Rheingau and some of the estate vineyard sites have been in the family since 1349!

Sorry to hear that this wind has done so poorly during the last few decades. Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen was the first great German wine that I fell in love with -- a Kabinet from the late sixties-early seventies. I'll have to dig up some old tasting notes to see which house.

Thanks for the review, Marc