Big Bang - the very beginning...

The horror. The h o r r o r... The STIGMA. I can't seem to escape it...

Once upon a time I could post a tasting note without people referring to lift-offs, rotors, mid-air refueling, Black Hawk Down, zippers and blaming the cold, Swedish winter. I might as well play along with it. It all started on a cold winter's day in March in Stockholm a few years ago, with an innocent post on eBob:

I'm sorry, but I'll have to do the "helicopter" now...

I'm really sorry for this. I appologize. Grown-up men shouldn't do this. Especially in front of persons of the opposite gender. It's childish, I know. But yet again, it seems the only appropriate way of expressing the wonderful joy of drinking this German riesling.

2005 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Kabinett AP 4
It's salty, it's mellow, it's ultra-fresh, yet it's succulent and spicy and herbal in a wonderful cornucopia so astonishing words sometimes fail me. I love the nose with it's combination of the usual suspect flavours like citrus, green apple and grapefruit combined with more complex notes of herbs, flowers and peach. Even some tropical fruits althoug only as a nuance behind the fresh wall of fruit and minerality. On the palate...ahhh, I just love the BALANCE of this wine. It's not big, it's not fluffy, it's not supercharged, NO, let me rephrase that - it IS supercharged with flavours, yet it's extremely focused and rich in it's underlying, precise beam of concentrated fruit. What it creates is this wonderful combination of being light on it's feet, like a ballerina dancer, yet packed with an astonishing concentration of fruit and flavours. A wonderful interpretation of the vineyard. A real sense of place. In a typical Dönnhoff style. No wonder Christoph & Willi are good friends of Helmut Dönnhoff. Here, they are certainly giving Dönnhoff a run for his money in the Kabinett range. He will be envious... And that damn bitterness...!! Am I the only one feeling it? It has such a seducing element of bitter tonic together with that salty minerality that makes it so mindboggling fresh when combined with the herbs, spices and fruit components. This is the very idea of freshness. An absolutely wonderful BALANCE. I love this wine... 93+ points.

I can't help it, but this is as much joy I can take. When wonderful wines like this creates sunshine in my soul I just cannot prevent myself of doing the "helicopter". That's when you take out that particular male part of your body, hold it in a firm grip, and swirl it around in the air like helicopter rotors. Out of pure joy, of course... Although abviously frownded upon in a social context, still...what else can one do? 

And again, I cannot help smiling with pleasure from the fact that astonishing people make astonishing wines. Willi & Christoph Schaefer are the kindest, most sincere, most generous and most witty people I know of. Period. It creates joy and sunshine in my heart to conclude that they make wines as special as they are as persons.

Miran