André Kientzler Riesling Osterberg 2007
Posted on 6 March 2009
Today was the last day of the five-day tasting marathon I blogged on the other day. Bad lack throughout. The Menetou-Salon from Henry Pellé I much looked forward to was awfully corked. And the Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate–Le Coste 2004 was oxidative and underwhelming.
And we had another controversial Alsatian. I have never liked the wines of André Kientzler as much as some of my colleague tasters, but there is no denying this is currently one of the top domaines for dry Riesling. So expectations for their Grand Cru Osterberg Riesling 2007 were justifiably high. It’s an obviously good wine, but difficult to really enjoy. It has a pretty odd mixture of late harvest aromatic notes (raisins, peaches and honey) with a searing acidity that somehow doesn’t taste fresh at all. Alcohol is high (14%), which only adds to the searing impression. In my experience, a Riesling needs to have really superior concentration and body to sustain 14% alc. This wine, oddly, seems a little thin in texture, although it is built around a solid mineral core.
Osterberg is a vineyard with a quintessentially Alsatian mixture of soil: sandstone, limestone, gravel and even some marl. Sandstone usually yields wines that are very high in acidity, and rather quiet in their youth. Surely this shows in this Kientzler 2007. I kept the bottle open for three days and retasted it several times. Hardly any change, and hardly much pleasurability: this is intellectual, ungiving, mildly off-putting wine. It only shone when served with a dish of braised young cabbage.