Just last evening I returned form my annual trip to Germany. By the end of
this weekend most of the harvest will be over. It looks like a truly
outstanding year for the MSR and Rheingau. I visited with most of the
estates shown on your list and all were very happy with what is coming in
from the vineyards. While it is really too early to give a definitive
reading on the results of the harvest it appears that there will be a
limited amount of QBA and Kabinett wines because of the very high must
weights. This might be mitigated by some of the better producers who will
declassify some of their wines. This year for the first time German Wine Law
will allow producers to acidify their wines. All of the producers I visited
said that they will not do this as they want the wines to be just what they
are. I suspect that some of the lesser and bulk producers will do this to
get their Kabinetts and QBA. I tasted many outstanding vintage 2002 wines
and while they, for the most part do not have the extract of the 2001 wines
I find many of them are more elegant than 2001. This view is also shared by
many of the producers I visited in the Rheingau. As to the J.J. Christoffel
wines; they are all being made by Robert Eymael at his estate. All of the
barrels and equipment that Hans used were moved to Robert Eymael's estate. I
was there when the move was made. and spent time with both Robert and Hans.
Hans still, with some difficulty, is still trying to oversee the wines that
bear his name. While still very good they are not the same.



"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Dale Williams" > wrote in message
> ...
> > But I'd be especially interested in any wines to look out for from:
> > Christoffel
> > Selbach-Oster
> > Kerpen
> > JJ Prum
> > Dr. H. Thanisch (Erben)
> > Dr. Fischer
> > Meulenhof
> > St. Urbans-Hof
> > Reichsgraff von Kesselstatt
> > Mönchhof
> Hi Dale
> I usually seek out the best from the minor producers which at times even
> surpasses the above mentioned that tend to be rather more expensive... :-)
> So, this time I didn't actually have any of these, I'm afraid.
> Fwiw, some of my sources claim that Christoffel and Mönchhof (same owner)
> both are in a slight decline while Selbach-Oster, von Kesselstatt and St.
> Urbans-Hof are performing very well. Meulenhof has been a bit off form
> lately but did well in 2001 I've seen.
> Apart from these I had a very good Graacher Himmelreich Auslese 2002 from
> Kees-Kieren at 11Euro. Their ** Auslese was even a little bit better at
> 18Euro and might be found in the U.S? If you see any Kanzlerhof of Pölich
> there is a good buy! So is Becker-Steinhauer of Mülheim - but I guess
they
> won't be available where you are.
> The Eiswein from Martin Conrad at Brauneberger Hof (a Veldenzer Kirchberg)
> is outstanding (38Euro for a half bottle) but limited (100litres in
> total...) so I'd guess very little if any goes beyond Germany :-)
> Finally, Willy Schäfer of Graach has been somewhat off form in 2000 and
2001
> and spotty in 2002 - the Domprobst Auslese 2002 is excellent however, but
> rather pricey at 32Euros.
> Anders
>
>
>