German Wine Society

Shane's Notes

Jen and I joined the San Francisco Chapter of the German Wine Society and attended our first event on April 6, 2007 at the Fort Mason Gatehouse. We joined because we love German Rieslings. In fact, German Riesling is my favorite wine. So, we had to laugh when we saw the list of wines for this tasting – the list included everything but Rieslings. We have always figured that Riesling is the only German wine worth drinking and this event, while featuring a few interesting wines, did little to change our minds. Here are our recollections on a few of the wines we did enjoy (we didn’t take any notes).

2003 Bad Durkheimer Feuerberg Portugieser, Josef Friedrich (Pfalz). This was the first wine we tasted and it got the evening off to a good start. This wine reminded me of a light Gamay and was a decent quaffer.

2005 Fruhburgunder (Pinot Madeleine), Weingut Meyer-Nakel (Ahr). This was one of the two wines that I really enjoyed. The tasting notes we were given mentioned that Pinot Madeleine might be a Pinot Noir clone. After tasting it, we agree that this could easily be the case. In fact, in a blind tasting, I probably would have called it a Pinot Noir. It had a mild dark fruit flavor and a medium length finish. I might actually buy a Pinot Madeleine if I ever came across one.

The event included several Scheurebes (a Riesling/Silvaner cross) and they were drinkable, but they didn’t have us standing up and cheering. The exception was the 1976 Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Beerenauslese, Weingut Muller-Catoir (Pfalz). This was clearly the best wine of the tasting. It looked like apple juice in the glass and was so sweet that you would swear those tartrate crystals were actually sugar crystals. This wine tasted like a sugary, cinnamon apple. It was magnificent. Judging by the other, younger Scheurebes we had, botrytis and age do wonders for this varietal.

The food at this event was incredible. We had dinner at the Asqew Grill prior to the event (and, if we are honest, we have to admit that we went to the Nectar Lounge after dinner and pre-loaded with Champagne and Savennieres). However, we could have easily made a meal of the wonderful hors d’oeuvres which included a variety of sausages, cheeses and bread.

Normally, Jen and I aren’t the most sociable couple, but we really enjoyed talking to the other members. People were genuinely enthusiastic about the wine and regaled us with stories of fabulous vacations. This of course gave us a chance to talk about our magnificent Italian honeymoon. We can’t wait for the next event.