Josef Friederich ~ Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen Auslese 1997
Jun 10 '01
The Bottom Line Wow. What a beautiful wine this one was. I've tried a dozen German wines in the past month, and this one ranks near the top.
I have tried quite a few German wines in the past month, but, wow, this one was someting special.
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Josef Friederich - Since 1794
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Officially incorporated in 1794, this winery has traditions that reach back further into history. It is located in the old Roman town of Zell, in the Mosel River region of Germany.
Website: http://www.eurowein.de/pages/deutschland/friedrich/
Zell is the home of the Zeller Schwarze Katz legend, which I described in my previous review of the 1999 Dr. Beckermann Zeller Schwarze Katz Riesling. (http://www.epinions.com/content_1504878724)
A beautiful picture of the Josef Friederich site can be seen here:
http://www.njc-net.co.jp/njc/profile/wine/wine_eg.htm
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Details About This Wine
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Josef Friederich is the wine's Abfüller (bottler), which means that the grapes were grown elsewhere, but bottled by Josef Friederich, which in turn vouches for its quality.
The grapes for this wine were grown in Oppenheim, which is located south of the city of Mainz, and southwest some 40km from the Frankfurt International Airport. This town of about 7,000 citizens is the home to the German Viticulture Museum.
The vineyard's name is Krötenbrunnen (the famous "Toad Well"). Other famous vineyards in this region include Sackträger and Herrenberg.
Auslese: High natural sugar content; grape is harvested late -- the grape bunches are specially selected (that's what the term Auslese means) and contain very ripe fruit. Wines of this kind are intense in bouquet and taste, and are usually sweet.
Qualitätswein mit Pradikät (QmP): Wines that are the product of exceptional growing years -- these wines are made from ripe, very ripe or sometimes overripe grapes (that are high in fruit sugar). Wines with this designation are of a higher quality and are usually priced higher than other German wines.
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Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen Auslese ~ 1997
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This wine pours with a bright, yellow color with a faint green tinge at the edges. The nose of this wine presents an unusual, highly perfumed smell. It's such a complex amalgam of scents: flower petals, peach skins, green straw, some noble rot aroma. In the mouth... wow. Sweet, structured, fruity. A blend of honeydew, cantaloupe, apple, white grape and honeyed apricots. This is a well-structured, sweet wine that is balanced by fruity acidity.
Alcohol: 10% alcohol by volume, although I have seen some '97'ers with a 9% ABV.
My bottle's AP Nr. 4 907 092 55 99 -- in Germany, every batch of wine that is bottled is quality inspected and numbered.
Residual Sugar: not sure, but must be close to 5% or higher
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Price and Availability
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I purchased a 750ml bottle of this wine for about $13.50 -- a typical price for a hard-to-find Auslese. I bought this wine at the "Alpine Village" in Torrance, California (a funky kind of German town in deep decay). They do have some interesting German, Hungarian and Eastern European wines there. They have a unique selection of wines that are hard to find elsewhere.
This wine is imported by Chrissa Imports, Ltd., of South San Francisco, California.
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Recommendations
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Serve this wine chilled at about 10°C or 50°F. I like this wine as dessert wine -- and you can serve this before, with, or even after dessert. For most, it is too sweet to serve as an apéritif.
If you like sweet wines, and don't mind paying about $15 a bottle, then this is definitely one to seek out. Hard to find, but definitely very tasty... a very fine and very interesting wine.
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Epinions.com ID:
4-1-1
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 - Top 50 |
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Member: Tom Carr
Location: Southern California
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