You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Ulenspiegel,
Geography is on your side in this case. Austrian wines are not so common where I live. They must be sought out. As a result, like German wines, I find they represent exceptional value for what you get.
I have never heard of a rose referred to as Spatalese before. I would very much like to try one. Pardon my ignorance, but I was always under the impression that was a classification for Riesling. I am a big fan of certain Auslese and Spatelese Rieslings. The fruity sweetness and the crisp citrus finish just blows me away. They age well too. I am just getting around to my 2000s and 2001s.
Spätlese (lit. late harvest), Auslese (selected harvest) and Eiswein (ice wine) are classifications of sugar content of the grapes plus other restrictions like number of nights with low temperatures.
Therefore, you get Spätlese from different grape varieties. Some like Schilcher are, however, quite rare. Riesling in Germany has high sugar content and gives a lot of Spätlesen and are popular in the USA.
As dessert wine with a strong black coffee a Muskateller or Morio Muskat Spätlese is really really good, too. :-)
Most of the Austrian rose wines are of course table wines or sold as table wines, but clarly fight above their weigt class. A normal rose should be drunk within two years. No chance that they age well from my limited experience.
Ulenspiegel,
Geography is on your side in this case. Austrian wines are not so common where I live. They must be sought out. As a result, like German wines, I find they represent exceptional value for what you get.
I have never heard of a rose referred to as Spatalese before. I would very much like to try one. Pardon my ignorance, but I was always under the impression that was a classification for Riesling. I am a big fan of certain Auslese and Spatelese Rieslings. The fruity sweetness and the crisp citrus finish just blows me away. They age well too. I am just getting around to my 2000s and 2001s.
Posted by: nick b | 15 July 2015 at 08:46 AM
nick b,
Spätlese (lit. late harvest), Auslese (selected harvest) and Eiswein (ice wine) are classifications of sugar content of the grapes plus other restrictions like number of nights with low temperatures.
Therefore, you get Spätlese from different grape varieties. Some like Schilcher are, however, quite rare. Riesling in Germany has high sugar content and gives a lot of Spätlesen and are popular in the USA.
As dessert wine with a strong black coffee a Muskateller or Morio Muskat Spätlese is really really good, too. :-)
Most of the Austrian rose wines are of course table wines or sold as table wines, but clarly fight above their weigt class. A normal rose should be drunk within two years. No chance that they age well from my limited experience.
Posted by: Ulenspiegel | 15 July 2015 at 12:13 PM
:-) some things don't change do they? That's a good thing in this mad world
Posted by: Kerim | 15 July 2015 at 03:00 PM
Here is another scene that always moves me. From the 1977 movie, "March or Die".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=582dUJQPuqU
Posted by: Dave Speck | 16 July 2015 at 11:47 AM