The Greene Grape Blog

Last week’s NYTimes wine column raved about auslese rieslings calling them “an unexplored jewel of a territory.”  Though they showed the category a lot of love, they found the wines they tasted from the oddball 2010 vintage underwhelming.

We know Mike’s a huge riesling fan so we figured he’d have an auslese from a better vintage in stock.  But we were surprised to find a 2006 Heymann-Lowenstein Gold Cap Auslese - a wine that was priced at $88 upon release in 2008 and retails for around $119 today - on hand and priced at $49.  When we called up Mike to tell him it had been mis-priced, he sheepishly admitted it had not. The wine had appeared on a clearance list about a year ago and Mike has been slowly buying up the stock and putting it on the shelf so that he could have it available for his own personal consumption.

We asked if we could offer the Heymann via email for anyone who wants to try a perfect example of an auslese from a cult producer and Mike grumbled something about whether we’d ask Scrooge McDuck to share his gold (the ‘Gold Cap’ designation is the holy grail for riesling fans).  But once we okayed the purchase of the rest of the available bottles from the importer, he agreed to let us dip into his stash.

The Heymann-Lowenstein auslese is exquisite, with notes of citrus marmalade, apricot, honey, cinnamon and spice and should drink well now through 2030. Think ahead for Mother’s Day!  Even if she’s a score keeper, she’ll be pleased – the Heymann gold cap scored better than even our $200 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, a wine regularly served at the White House.

Only 20 bottles in stock, call us at (718) 797-9463 to order Heymann-Lowenstein Winninger Uhlen ‘R’ Roth Lay Riesling Auslese Gold Cap 2006 ($49).  Like most auslese 375 ml half bottles, the Heymann packs a lot of intensity into a small package.