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  • May 21, 2013
  • Issue No. 91

  • by Lars Carlberg

cover_91_aoe2In the current issue of The Art of Eating, number 91, I wrote a short piece about A.J. Adam’s 2011 Hofberg Riesling feinherb. It can be found under the heading "Why This Bottle, Really?"

Although I first wrote in my draft that feinherb is "barely off-dry," I changed this to merely "off-dry," as in my glossary of terms. The 2011 Hofberg has good ripeness and about 30 grams of sugar per liter, which is at the higher end.

It's been several months since I last had a bottle. Yet I still remember tasting it from tank the January before last and on several other occasions after bottling. For the food pairing, I had dinner with Andreas Adam and Johannes Haart (Weingut Reinhold Haart) at Brunnenhof Café & Bar in Trier last summer. We sat outside in the beautiful 11th-century courtyard, where, Marco Gruben, owner of the bar-restaurant, recommended the spinach-stuffed poultry dish. ♦

Cover courtesy of Edward Behr.

  • Daniel Melia says:

    Congrats, Lars! I’m looking forward to tracking down a copy.

  • Paul Lewakowski says:

    Lars, really pleased that you’ve published a piece in AoE, such a great publication. I’ll be looking for it in the next issue. Also looking forward to the blanquette de veau article…

  • Andrew Bair says:

    Lars –

    Thank you for the the post. Glad to read that you got to do a piece for The Art of Eating.

    At any rate – I have only had the 2008 and the 2009 vintages of the Adam Dhronhofberger Feinherb. Both times, it has been excellent. My question is if you thought that the 2011 was any less dry than in the past? Perhaps my idea of ‘off-dry’ is mistaken, but my hypothetical dictionary would have a “classic” Kabinett next to the definition for ‘off-dry’, and I would have agreed with the original definition in your glossary. My recollection is that both the 2008 or the 2009 tended closer to Trocken than to a classical Mosel Kabinett. I’d reckon that the 2011 and 2009 vintages have some common threads.

    Is my perception of the idea of ‘off-dry’ incorrect, or would you say that the 2011 Adam Feinherb is slightly sweeter than it has been in the past? Then again, as long as it displays the same great minerality and balance, the dryness or sweetness isn’t as important to me.

    Anyway, I like Pelaverga as well – if you’re ever inspired to track one down, I highly recommend both Burlotto and Fratelli Alessandria. That grape makes a good, lighter red for the warmer weather.

    • You’re welcome, Andrew. Thanks for your reply. As for A.J. Adam’s 2011 Hofberg feinherb, it has about 30 grams of sugar per liter, 8.5 per mil acidity, and 12 percent alcohol. The residual sugar is much higher than in 2008 or 2009 for this bottling. In addition, a so-called classic Kabinett or even Spätlese had more often than not 30 grams in the past.

      In my two-part Kabinett piece, I talk about how wine authors and critics, as well as many growers, describe the fruity Kabinetts (that is, those not labeled trocken and halbtrocken/feinherb) as “off-dry.” In my opinion, most present-day Kabinetts tend more towards sweet than “off-dry,” with well over 50 or 60 grams of sugar per liter. In the past, they had between 20 and 30 grams. Today, I like a wine such as the 2010 Günther Steinmetz Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett feinherb. This is light and has less than 30 grams. Of course, I don’t want to restrict myself to those wines that are labeled Kabinett. In fact, many Gutsweine, or basic “estate wines,” and Ortsweine, or village wines, are off-dry and well balanced.

      I’ll look for a bottle of Pelaverga from G.B. Burlotto. You should buy a bottle of 2011 Falkenstein Spätburgunder from Chambers Street Wines. The wine will be back in stock at the end of June.

  • As a follow-up to my piece on A.J. Adam’s Hofberg feinherb 2011, his 2012 comes from the same 0.35-ha plot, near the foot of the hill and further in the side valley, past the village of Dhron. In the future, Andreas plans to make his Hofberg feinherb from the site known as “in der Sängerei.” He says Sängerei doesn’t usually have enough acidity for producing a sweet Spätlese and too much alcohol for a dry Riesling.

  • I re-tasted the 2013 in der Sängerei with Andreas on a recent visit to A.J. Adam. This is an old place name in Dhroner Hofberg. On the 1868 Saar und Mosel Weinbau-Karte (4th edition, 1906), it’s listed as “in der Sengeray.” Today, the cadastral map of Hofberg has the named section, or Gewann, of “in der Sängerei,” which is now on the front label instead of “Hofberg.” Andreas could officially register the place name of “in der Sängerei,” as per the new wine-labeling regulations in Rhineland-Palatinate, rather than have it on his front label as a “fantasy name.” Florian Lauer of Weingut Peter Lauer does the same with Schonfels, which is technically Ayler Kupp since the 1971 Wine Law.

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