Although Iris Ellmann usually holds an annual tasting for press and private customers in London at the start of each year, this one in particular was also celebrating the WineBarn's 10th anniversary. The tasting notes are in alphabetical order by producer (sur)name, apart from Solter's sparkling wines, which kicked off the evening's tasting.
SOLTER, Rheingau
RS 10.6 g/l, TA 6.6 g/l. Macerated for two to three hours on the...
RS 10.7 g/l. TA 7.1 g/l. A pretty, pretty lime-blossom and apple...
50% Pinot Blanc, 50% Pinot Gris (from the south of Germany). RS...
40% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Blanc and 30% Pinot Gris. RS 4.1 g/l...
A blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay...
BASSERMANN-JORDAN, Pfalz
Bottled early Dec. A sherbety lemon/pineapple nose. Very young...
Dusty and chalky with wild-flower perfume and acacia blossom. So...
The intensity of the nose is up a little from the Estate...
Honeysuckle and lilies, perfumed. Gossamer texture, delicately...
A beautiful smoky nose and savoury, almost like lightly toasted...
Delicate honey-roast nut aroma. Blossoms in the glass. Hard to...
Pale gold. A symphony. Thrilling apricot richness, lingering...
A paean of glorious, unctuous, honeyed fig and golden sultana...
FRIEDRICH BECKER, Pfalz
Quite an odd bathroom-spray florality. Despite that, a wine with...
50% Pinot Noir and 50% Portugieser. Subtle, unusual nutty...
Not filtered. Fresh, simple but attractive fruit. (TC)
12 months in oak barriques. There is a more ‘grown-up’ nose...
This is Friedrich Becker’s favourite vineyard and he is very...
Magnum. 11-12-year-old vines. A gorgeous celebration of a nose –...
BERCHER, Baden
Rounded marzipan, a touch floral. Good punch with plenty of tang...
Volcanic soil, fermented and aged in big 30-year-old casks for...
Volcanic soil. One-third oak fermentation. A sweet rounded scent...
Loess soil. Lemon cheesecake! A mouth-watering combination of...
Volcanic soil, 100% aged and fermented in oak. Mineral and smoky...
Cherry fruit, but the oak a little domineering at the moment...
The Pinot vines are grown on volcanic bedrock and the yield is...
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Lemberger and 10% Pinot...
GÖTTELMANN, Nahe
Clean and fresh like a garden in the early morning – a real...
Crème-brûlée touch and the scent of late-harvest apples. Honeyed...
Wet-stone smell, very subtle minerality. Sweet, nippy citrus...
Tense, lithe and fleshy in all the right places. The sumptuous...
50% aged in the 1200-litre oak casks. Meursault clones. I have...
Smells like a crystal bowl full of chopped apple. Fresh and...
Apple purée. A pure acacia-honey nose. Appealing and creamy...
DR HEGER, Baden
Fermented in stainless steel and aged for two months in big oak...
Volcanic soil. RS 0.6 g/l. No malo, no temperature control and...
This is made in exactly the same way as the Weissburgunder...
The smoky/meaty smell of puy lentils, some baked cranberries. An...
Volcanic soils and burgundian clones. Very pale ruby. Liquorice...
From a vineyard planted in 1951 of vines grafted from Clos...
Vineyard was planted in 1969. Fermented in wood and aged in...
FRANZ KELLER, Baden
Fermentation and malo in barrel. RS 2.2 g/l. Young and apple...
This is their best vineyard, apparently. Fermented in a...
Aged in 350-litre French oak barrels for six months. RS 1.2 g/l...
Grapes from a single vineyard, aged for seven to eight months in...
Best grapes from the same vineyard as the straight Spätburgunder...
Aged in new oak for 16 months. Smoke and flint, and a bit of...
MEYER-NÄKEL, Ahr
This is their 'German-style' Pinot Noir, intended to showcase...
Aged in two- to four-year-old barriques. Quite fragrant and...
50% new French oak. Haunting lily perfume floats above the glass...
Intensely fragrant, sweet dark berries, a touch of truffle. This...
ST-URBANSHOF, Mosel
Bottled just a few days earlier. A blend of grapes from Mosel...
The smell of wet stone, mossy and a whiff of smoke and honey...
RS 35 g/l. Freshly baked rye bread aroma, with honey. Something...
RS 60 g/l. Sweetness and minerality. Lingering smoke and dust on...
Saar is (obviously) after the name of the river and ‘feilser’...
This is the hottest vineyard of the estate, facing south south...
A touch of gold but still very pale. Heady bouquet of lily and...
One of the more delicate Auslesen that I have tasted. Honeyed...
Only 300 bottles made. Thrilling intensity and an utterly...
Earthy and mushroomy on the nose and honey and apricot in the...
Deep gold, almost amber. A stunning brioche-and-honey nose...
SCHÄFER-FRÖHLICH, Nahe
RS 8 g/l. Clean and straight forward like a cool mountain stream...
RS 8 g/l. A touch of blossom and crystal cut. Crisp citrus...
An effusive nose with peals of exotic papaya fruit. Life and...
Totally reserved on the nose, unlike the Bockenauer Felseneck...
Again that tropical fruit showing through, but delicate, like...
SCHLOSS REINHARTSHAUSEN, Rheingau
Lemony and clean, fresh and lithe. (TC)
So floral and clean it smells like it just stepped out of a...
Pretty sullen on the nose but gorgeous long lines and tang...
Smells evocatively of mossy steps and ancient stones and mist...
This wine was a failed Grosses Gewächs. RS 40 g/l. Nutty nose...
Silver trumpets on the nose here – clear throated, bergamot and...
WINTER, Rheinhessen
Pretty light and inarticulate, but good acidity and taut green...
Stony slate smell. Pretty good smoky density with massive...
There is a deep honey and ginger timbre on the nose, as well as...
Unlike the Geyserberg there is no luxuriance on this. Fennel and...
HANS WIRSCHING, Franken
Smells of barley sugar sweeties and fruit gums. Not much...
Citrus and bramley apple on the nose. Tight and dry and neat....
RS 2.5 g/l. Much more expressive on the nose than the estate...
A beautiful nose – seems to be somewhere between Sauvignon and...
Cardamom and lime sorbet perfume floating above the glass...
Dry, with good tension and build but not thrilling. (TC)
It took 10 days to harvest the grapes for this little beauty...
WITTMANN, Rheinhessen (organic)
Goodness me! Unabashed passion fruit on the nose, pure and...
Ticks all the boxes: fresh, bursting with lime and orange, an...
Chalky, lime sherbet and tightly laced up. Translucent, bright...
Heavy clay soils. Striking density and power and weight here...
A cooler vineyard than the Aulerde – was picked 10 days later...
East-facing vineyard, which gets earlier sun, on pure limestone...
Danish pastry on the nose, very pretty. Baked apricots and...
