News and events

On January, 29 a comparative-introductory degustation of auction and museum wines took place in Gessen state winery.

Gessen state winery was founded back in the beginning of the 12th century by Cistercian monks, who came from Burgundia and brought vines of black grape, nowadays known as Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir).

Originally the Monastery produced wine for sacral needs only, but industrious and ingenious monks quickly realized, that wine is Rheingau’s gold and turned it into merchandise of first rake. This played a great role in development of wine-making in the regions, and the Romance arches of the Monastery have become the symbol of Erstes Gewachs – Rhine wines of Grand Cru class.

The term Kabinet, generally accepted in modern Germany, came into existence thanks to such a fact: Kloster Eberbach (the monastery) once allotted a special room, the ‘Cabinet”, to store wines from the best vineyards, where they were kept to mature for 6-28 years and then sold with a corresponding note on the label.

The degustation was hold privately, for only 8 people from different European countries, including our compatriot Anton Panasenko, who arrived at the invitation of a well-know German sommelier Marcus Del Monego.

16 samples of Riesling wines, from dry to very sweet, such as Trockenbeerenauslese, and 4 samples of rare variety of ice-wine, made of Spatburgunder, were presented at the degustation. All the wines were of outstanding yields in the range of 2005 to 1920.

The degustation lasted 5 hours, that gave an opportunity to follow up leisurely the evolution of wine in the glass. Before the degustation itself the guests had a splendid chance to taste extremely fresh and young 1937 Assmannshauser Hollenberg Spatburgunder Cabinet vintage, that demonstrated a very interesting 2,5- hour evolution in the glass – from fruit taste, so unexpected of 70-year-old wine, to the flavor of “a cool fireplace”, without “stooping” to oxidation even at the very end. It just lost almost all its flavor – and that’s it.

Dry 1909 Eltviller Taubenberg Riesling, tasted at the winery’s “treasury”, was not at all less interesting.

Unfortunately, nobody knows where Taubenberg vineyard is situated: the information about its location perished after the two wars and as the time passed.

But dry (!) wine from this vineyard, preserved till present days, not only proved to be lively , but also demonstrated the dominating taste and flavor of mint and melissa, instead of oxidation tones, fully expected in this case.