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Weingut Albert Gessinger
Moselstrasse 9
54492 Zeltingen / Mosel
www.weingut-gessinger.de
Member - Bernkasteler-Ring
Mr. Gessinger sends wine to Britain. Delivery costs €25 per case and is very rapid. Payment is through bank transfer only.
House Style: Mr. Gessinger's wines always seem to reflect the characteristics of the vintage, whether fresh and fruity as in 2004, or heavily botrytised as in 2005: he is pretty much traditional in his winemaking, and I applaud him for that. In general his style is very rich and super-ripe. His *spätlese is equal to many winemakers auslese, his **spätlese are equal to many GKA, and his *** auslese are equal to many Beerenauslese, or even some Trockenbeerenauslese. Over 90% of Mr. Gessinger's vines are ungrafted, and some are said to be over 150 years old.
2008 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett €5.00
Alk. 8.5 %, Säure 7 g/l, Restsüße 48g/l
Pale Gold. One of the few Kabinett wines from 2008 that is really a declassified Spätlese. Fairly high natural acidity with good fruit, and fairly spritzig, with quite good elegance. In some respects it's quite similar to the Spätlese 'Tradition' below, but the acidity is far better integrated. Given the very low price this is a very good bargain.
17/20 now, will improve to 18/20 in about 3 years.
2008 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 'Tradition' €5.60
Alk. 8,5% Vol., Säure 9.1 g/l, Restsüße 48.1 g/l
Mid Gold. Very spritzig (effervescent). The acidity is noticeable even on the nose. It's quite high, but probably entirely natural, and although the wine is quite sweet and fairly well balanced, this wine has an interesting characteristic: the acidity and sweetness are not presently at all integrated. This will almost certainly change over the next 2-3 years. Given the very modest price of this wine this is something of a bargain.
16/20 at present. Will probably improve to 17 or maybe even 18/20 in about 3 years time - but I'll be very interested to see if it does indeed do this.
2008 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese** 'Der Mineralische' €10.20
Alk. 7,5% Vol., Säure 9,1 g/l, Restsüße 80,2g/l
Very pale gold. Quite spritzig. Excellent fruity nose with a good degree of floweriness. Far better integrated (mid Sept 2009) than the 'Tradition' wine above, this wine does indeed have far more minerality and fruit as well. Very well balanced with great elegance, poise and fruit. A very fine wine.
18/20 now, will improve to 19/20 in about two years time, and last for at least another 3 years after that.
2008 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese** €14.00
Alk. 7.5% Vol., Säure 9.2 g/l, Restsüße 95.1 g/l
Pale gold. Excellent flowery nose with good fruit (apples & pears) on the nose. Excellent fruit on the palate, with apples and pears followed by mango, peaches, etc. Good, fairly complex minerality, but not as complex as the 2004 equivalent. Very elegant.
18/20 now, will improve for about three years to 19/20, and will last for at least another five after that.
2007 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese*** €30 Auction wine
Mid gold. Slightly muted on the nose at present (Nov. 2008), and noticeably spritzig in the glass. Probably added artificial acidity - this wine is one of those that reminds me of 'sherbet lemons', a sweet I enjoyed as a child, but is not as obvious as some that I've tasted. Very big and forthright, but with slightly exaggerated flavours. This wine comes very close to being great, but it's really only the added acidity that stops it. I'd have loved to have tasted this wine without it.
17/20 Will probably last for at least 10 years.
2007 Zeltinger Eiswein €20 375ml
Tasted Oct. 2008
Mr. Gessinger's pricelist states that this is Zeltinger Himmelreich, but the label simply says 'Zeltinger'.
Mid Gold. Good nose, great power on the palate as is usual with Mr. Gessinger's eisweins, excellent red and yellow fruit and quite good acidity. It's possible that there's slight added acidity, but I'm really not sure - it's quite low and well done if at all . This wine is very good indeed, though not quite as superb as his 2004 eiswein.
18/20
2007 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese** €14
RZ 148g/l, acidity 8.5 g/l, Alc. 8%
Tasted Oct. 2008
Mid gold. Excellent nose and palate. This wine is very impressive indeed, big powerful and rich in Mr. Gessinger's usual style, and bearing all the hallmarks of a true Zeltinger wine, but I'm fairly certain that there's slight added acidity. It isn't done to great excess and I have to admit I could just be wrong. If so this is even more of an acheivement, as this wine is indeed very impressive.
Drinking now, will last for at least 5-10 years
18/20
2007 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese** €10.20
RZ: 95 g/l, Acidity 8.3 g/l, Alc 8%
Tasted July 2008 onwards.
Very pale gold. Apples on the nose with possibly artificial acidity, very fresh on the palate, again with probably artificial acidity. Very elegant, good fruit and complex minerality, and very impressive, though sadly this seems to be at least in part due to the artificial acidity. I didn't notice this when I first tasted this wine (at a tasting at Mr Gessinger's house), but on drinking a full bottle it seems fairly obvious, though quite well done - I've tasted many worse examples than this. The balance is slightly tilted towards the acidity.
17/20 If you are less aware of artificial acidity you may well rate this wine more highly.
2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese* €7.80
RZ 70.2 g/l, acidity 7.5 g/l, alc. 8.5%
Tasted August 2006
This wine is bottled with a 'Stelvin' screwcap, and is available in America from www.timelesswines.com, as are several of Mr. Gessinger's other wines.
Huge flowery nose with lots of apples, apples on the palate again, with pears followed by hints of strawberries. Good acidity - completely natural - with a noticeable 'spritzig' character, and good concentration with good balance, but it doesn't have the massive fruity complexity that made Mr. Gessinger's best 2004's so special for me. This wine is really an auslese, and a fairly high-grade one at that. I don't think there's much botrytis in this wine, but I could be wrong on that. I like this wine a lot, and this is a very good price indeed.
Drinking now, but will improve for maybe one year, and last for 3-5
18+/20 as a spätlese, 17+ as an auslese
2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese** €10.20
RZ 89.4 g/l, acidity 6.8 g/l, alc. 8%
Pale gold, apples on the nose with apples and especially pears on the palate. Really this is an 1-2* auslese, as can be seen from the chemical analysis. The balance isn't as good as the *spätlese, however, as the acidity is a bit low and rather soft, with the balance tilted towards the sweetness, though not as much as the 2005 **auslese. I'd much rather have this than added artificial acidity, however.
Drinking now, will last for 3-4 years.
17/20
2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese * €11.50
RZ 98.6g/l, acidity 7.0 g/l, alc. 8%
Rather closed on the nose at present (early Sept. 2006), with pears on the palate. Very rich, probably quite a bit of botrytis but not really showing yet. The acidity is a bit low, but not too much. There isn't a great deal of complexity to this wine, however, with little other than pears on the palate.
Drinking now, will last for about 4 years.
18/20
2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** €14.00
RZ 119.4, acidity 7.0 g/l, Alc. 8%
Tasted August 2006 onwards
Slight but noticeable botryitis on the nose, even at this early stage. Pale gold at present, this will deepen with age. This wine is very big and rich indeed with much creaminess that reminds me of the best wines of Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr, and with good fruit, (pears, peaches, and later strawberries), but without the immense fruity complexity that Mr. Gessinger's best 2004 wines had when young. This wine will develop into a monster botrytis wine, and is legally of Beerenauslese ripeness. The acidity is rather low for me, but thankfully it's completely natural, and has come out of the slate of Zeltingen, not a chemical factory in Frankfurt or Dusseldorf. The finish lasts for ever.
Needs 2-3 years, and will last for another 3-5 years after that.
18/20 now, will improve to 19/20. This will become a very fine wine indeed in the super-rich botrytis style.
2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese*** €30.00 - auction wine
RZ 196.8 g/l, acidity 9.0 g/l, alc. 8%
Even a conservative reading of the chemical analysis suggests that this wine is almost of TBA ripeness, and a less conservative reading suggests it's well into that category.
Mid Gold. Rather closed on the nose at present (Sept. 2006). Excellent fruit with considerable complexity, but in the more normal subtle fashion, as opposed to the extreme 'in your face' complexity of the 2004 ***auslese, with yellow and red fruit and lots of it. The acidity is quite high for the vintage, but is entirely natural, thankfully. Although this wine is super-rich, it doesn't really taste it, as the acidity is high enough to keep this wine pretty much in balance. It has a very creamy texture, and I'm sure there's a lot of botrytis here.
Needs 5-8 years to develop the honeyed flavours of botrytis, and will last for another 5-10 after that.
19/20
Very good indeed, as I was expecting. What I wasn't expecting was to enjoy it as much as I did, as I'm not that much of a botrytis fan.
2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese 375 ml €25.00
RZ 246 g/l, acidity 10.1 g/l, alc 7.5%
This wine is clearly a TBA in all but name.
Mid gold. Slightly closed on the nose at present, but with a slight scent of Botrytis, which will doubtless develop much further in a few years. Very rich indeed, but with enough acidity to remain pretty much in balance. Excellent red fruit, with a very long finish. Very elegant for such a sweet wine, and a very good price indeed.
Will improve for maybe ten years, but is very good already.
19+/20 This wine is very big and forthright.
2004 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese ** €9.80
RZ 78g/l, acidity 8.6 g/l, 8.5% Alc.
Tasted Feb 2006 to present
This shouldn't really be a spätlese - it's really an auslese, and a very good one at that. But then that's the kind of winemaker Mr. Gessinger is - generous. Very pale gold with pronounced hints of green. Excellent appley nose, reminiscent of the Saar. Excellent concentration of the kind all too rarely seen these days, wonderful exotic fruit, and great fruity complexity with poise, balance, and elegance. Noticeably spritzig, this wine demonstrates the fine art of winemaking almost perfectly. Hugely recommended, especially at such a good price.
Drinking now. will improve for 3-5 years
This wine gives difficulties in rating it - as a spätlese, or as an auslese? As a spätlese, at least 19/20 without question. As an auslese, 18/20
Will improve for 3 years, and last another 3 years after that - the wines of Zeltingen are traditionally fast to mature and fast to die.
No longer available - I bought the last five cases.
2004 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** €11.50
RZ 88.4 g/l, acidity 8.4 g/l, alc 8%
This is the less expensive of the two **auslese that Mr. Gessinger produced in 2004, and bears the legend 'Alte Reben'
Tasted Feb 2006-present
Good fruit and fairly good concentration, without the fruity complexity of the other 2004 **auslese or the 2004 ***auslese, this is fairly rich with quite good but rather soft acidity.
Drinking now. will improve for 3 years
17/20
Update May 2009: I still have several bottles of this wine left, and I'm astonished by the development since I last tasted this wine. It now shows an almost averwhelming fruitiness with good fruity complexity and concentration. Lots of yellow and red fruit on the palate. Revised score: 18-19/20
2004 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese **€14.00
RZ 79.4 g/l, acidity 8.8 g/l, alc 8.5%
This is the more expensive of the two **auslese that Mr. Gessinger produced in 2004, and bears the legend 'Von Den Rotlay schieferterassen und Uralten Rieslingstöcken' which means 'From the red slate terraces and ancient Riesling vines'. The word 'ancient' is well-chosen: some of Mr. Gessinger's vines are over 150 years old, and although they look rather scrawny and produce tiny amounts of wine, the quality is excellent.
Tasted Feb 2006-present
Apples and pears on the nose. Excellent fruit and concentration - apples and pears again, with good fruity acidity. Very rich and luscious with great fruity complexity, this is more of an auslese than the *** below, with very good concentration but not as great as that one.
Drinking now. will last for 5 years.
A very fine wine at a very good price.
19/20
2004 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *** €25.00 - auction wine.
RZ 119 g/l, acidity 9.4 g/l, alc 8%
Tasted Feb 2006
Great fruit and concentration. Very rich and luscious with great fruity complexity, this is as as rich as some beerenauslese, yet still with a degree of the apple-acid tang of an auslese.
Drinking now. will last for 5-7 years
19+/20 Exceptionally good.
2004 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Eiswein** 375 ml €20.00
RZ 194g/l, acidity 13.9 g/l, Alc. 8.5%
Tasted from August 2005 to present.
Wonderful exotic fruit and elegance, great fruity complexity, with excellent concentration. Strongly recommended, this is a great price. No botrytis. Very fresh and fruity.
Will improve for 5 years, and last for another 10 at least.
19+/20 - Highly recommended.
2003 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *** €20 - auction wine
RZ 122 g/l, Acidity 8.1 g/l, Alc. 8.5%
Tasted Aug 2005-present
Very rich - this is as sweet as many producer's Beerenauslese - yet with a reasonable balancing fruity acidity. Not perhaps as fruity or quite as concentrated as the 2004 wines (2003 was very hot indeed) but still excellent. Very luscious. Little botrytis.
18/20
2003 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** €11.50
RZ 81 g/l, acidity 7.5 g/l, Alc. 9%
Very similar to the 2003 *** auslese above, though without quite the same richness. The price is excellent for a wine of this quality. In a comparative tasting of about 30 Spätlesen and Auslesen in August 2005, this was my favourite.
18/20
2002 Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Eiswein** € 20 375 ml
RZ 190.2, acidity 14.4, alc. 8.5%
Tasted Aug. 2005 to present
Another very fine eiswein from Mr. Gessinger, with excellent fruit and concentration, though perhaps not quite the exotic fruit of the 2004 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Eiswein** above. Very very fine nonetheless. Very high acidity gives this wine great elegance and staying power.
Will improve for 5-10 years.
18/20
2000 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** €11.26
Alkohol 8,5 % Vol., Säure 9,4 g/l, Restsüße 76,6 g/l, mit Weinstein
Perhaps a little too full-bodied for me, good fruit and acidity, very rich (I'd have guessed the residual sugar was higher than this), but this isn't my favourite among Mr. Gessinger's wines, and I'm not sure I can put it into words why it isn't.
Unlikely to improve, but will remain drinkable for many years.
17/20
1995 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *** €18
Tasted Jan 2007
Fairly deep gold. Very fruity, flowerey nose. Slight loss of complexity with age, but surprisingly little. Excellent white, yellow and red fruit, with good, well integrated acidity. Very rich, but the fairly high acidity maintains a very good balance. Excellent.
Probably was 19/20, now 18/20
1994 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *** €18
Tasted Feb 2006
Now displaying the signs of age - a loss of complexity. Still very fine, excellent fruit, very rich.
Probably was 18 or 19/20, now 17/20
1976 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese €70 375 ml
Tasted 2004 and Dec. 2005.
This wine is still available in April 2006.
Very, very rich. Masses of botrytis, typical of that vintage, have given this wine the flavour of honey. This is a very big, forthright wine, full of flavour and essence. I may be mistaken, but the first bottle I tasted of this wine seemed slightly fresher - it may have been stored in slightly cooler conditions. Now showing signs of age, it will remain drinkable for many years to come. I have given a bottle each to the two young daughters of a very close friend of mine in Germany, as their wedding presents. These bottles will probably be over 50 years old before they are drunk.
WAS 20/20, now only 19/20
1959 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Feine Auslese €70 - this was bottle no. 505 out of 514. Tasted June 2007.
Pale gold, not showing signs of age. Slight petrol/kerosene nose with a fair amount of fruit. Still astonishly fresh on the palate with good fruit (esp. lemons) and good acidity (still!) and a moderate petrol/kerosene edge. I would never have guessed that this wine is as old as it is - I'd have said fifteen years at most. I'd say that by modern standards this is a 1 star auslese.