Waitman Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Who's the best? Looking for something white and interesting for Thanksgiving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I'm voting Calvert-Woodley, but I'm uncertain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinoue Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Would love to know as well. We're big fans of German Rieslings, but I have yet to really find a great place to get them here. I have ordered online from Dee Vine wines in San Francisco. Amazing selection of German wines. Learned of them from the sommelier at Manresa in Los Gatos years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Would love to know as well. We're big fans of German Rieslings, but I have yet to really find a great place to get them here. I have ordered online from Dee Vine wines in San Francisco. Amazing selection of German wines. Learned of them from the sommelier at Manresa in Los Gatos years ago. I've also ordered from Dee Vine, but it's been over ten years - they were good *and* inexpensive, and did a lot of gray market stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkS Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 It is a bit of demand. I am sure all of our favorite wine stores would carry more if there was demand. I toured Rioja over the summer and am amazed the stores don't have more Spanish wine given the quality and price. All about perception and public demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoww Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Not sure about their overall German selection, but Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22207) has this wine from their newsletter that we've been happy with: "2013 Alte Grafschaft "Weisser Wertheimer" (Tauberfranken, Baden, Germany) Our Regular Price: $19.99 The "Weisser Wertheimer" is emblematic of a new breed of German wines. It is dry, but not bone-dry-- there is plenty of lip-smacking vibrant fruit. It is a versatile wine with impeccable balance of vivid fruit flavors and palate-cleansing freshness that make it a wonderful pairing with a traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey with all the trimmings." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Slater Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Pearson's on Wisconsin used to be the go-to place for German wine. Right next door is Old Europe, which has an outrageously good German wine list. Very reasonable, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waitman Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Danke! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Pearson's on Wisconsin used to be the go-to place for German wine. Right next door is Old Europe, which has an outrageously good German wine list. Very reasonable, too. Mark, the key phrase for Pearson's is "used to" - back when David Schildknecht worked there in the 1990s; the selection a few years ago was almost non-existent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Slater Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Don, they list Donhoff on their website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Don, they list Donhoff on their website. Hmm, I see 9 bottles of German wine in their entire inventory (granted, they're good producers, but the way they're listed tells me that they don't have any expertise - what's that 2006 .375, for example? At that price, it must be an Auslese, but it doesn't say anything.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ylkim30 Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 MacArthur Beverages has the best German selection in the District. It's not even close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 MacArthur Beverages has the best German selection in the District. It's not even close. Agreed (I checked Calvert's after seeing MacArthur's, and MacArthur's is much more extensive), but boy they aren't cheap. DC is not the best place to be hunting down German wine - mail order is the way to go, or perhaps take a trip to NYC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DelRayDiva Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 It's not the District but The German Gourmet in Falls Church has a serviceable selection of wine. They also host weekend tastings! I find this shop to be a hidden gem for all things German from sausage to homemade Pretzels to Wine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ylkim30 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Unfortunately, I think the pricing is the new normal. I remember getting jj prum ws spatlese for $25 ... I think the secrets out and we are never going to see that level of pricing again. The dry Riesling are pretty much in line with Austrian and Alsace at this point, and the sweeties are going to be $30 - $40 from now on, and will keep going higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Unfortunately, I think the pricing is the new normal. I remember getting jj prum ws spatlese for $25 ... I think the secrets out and we are never going to see that level of pricing again. The dry Riesling are pretty much in line with Austrian and Alsace at this point, and the sweeties are going to be $30 - $40 from now on, and will keep going higher. Yes, but the "new normal" is incredibly low. You're talking $25-50, and the prices literally could be - and perhaps *should* be - ten times that high. The German producers make 100s of cases per year of a given cuvée; Bordeaux growths make 25,000 cases per year - we're talking, literally, 100-times as much production, and 10-times the cost. What the hell? Let me say this again: A great German producer might produce 500 cases a year of the greatest white wine in the world, and it will sell for $50 a bottle (which represents a 300% increase in the past 15 years - yes, they used to cost $17 a bottle or so). A great French producer might produce 25,000 cases a year of a great - but not *the greatest* - red wine in the world, and it will sell on the retail market for $500 a bottle. (In the 1960s, it sold for under $20 per bottle.) You can slice this, dice this, cut this, slut this, and logic will never, ever prevail. It is *by no means* illogical for the greatest German Rieslings to sell for $500 a bottle and up. And I'm not talking about fairy-tale wines like Trockenbeerenauslesen; I'm talking about regular, everyday wines with which Germany uses the same strict controls as France does. See that Schaefer Riesling on your retailer's shelf for $30? They make less than 1,000 cases per year. 1989 Haut-Brion sold for $70 on release, and it's now worth over $1,000 a bottle. And they made over 20,000 cases of it. There's no order to this disorder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ylkim30 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 To be honest, Bordeaux pricing is totally fucking weird and out of whack. You can buy a perfectly aged 70s left bank claret for under $100 induction, but if you want to buy a recent release that will take 20 years to resolve, it's $500 or higher. Bordeaux pricing is so driven by prestige purchasers, many whom buy the wine for investment purposes and bragging rights. I'm pretty certain most Bordeaux that gets bought now won't ever be drunk. Agree with Riesling pricing, though. The production is small, so pricing will continue to increase. But, I don't see it ever rising to Monrachet levels. Too many people knock Riesling, so I don't think jj prum will ever be at $500 bottle. Then again. I never imagined seeing Schaefer hitting $50 and Egon Muller kabinetts hitting $100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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