https://www.thewinesociety.com/shop/TastingTicket.aspx?ticketCode=TG190416&tl=T1
Anyone else planning to attend this tasting. I cannot get any of my mates to join… and always better to do these things in company. These grower tastings are really good as you get to speak to the growers and can get a general idea of the wines often across a few vintages. Expecting cracking Riesling and Spatburgunder…
I REALLY wanted to go to this one, but realised that I’ll be on my way to Alsace that day. Which is sort of a good alternative, I guess! 
Hope you can find someone from the community who is also going. As you say, these are such good events, and a rare chance to speak to growers.
I was considering this one. How many wines are likely to be available on the night, and what vintages? (Haven’t been to any of these tastings before.)
I’ve been to a couple of those, and generally speaking - there are between 20 and 45 wines (for example, the Lewes Summer Fine Wine event had 22, the Bordeaux Growers Walkaround 44, if I remember correctly). So it varies, but it’s always good fun, and a chance to speak to the growers, try new varieties/blends and pick up a few bottles at 10% discount offer for a couple days.
Not sure about the vintages, though - it depends on the event; @Tim_S might be able to help here.
Seriously tempted to make the trip up to London for this.
I just realised it is school holiday time… and cannot go. Next time I guess
How crowded are they?
Who is going to this? I am
The list of wines is to be found here https://www.thewinesociety.com/resources/downloads/tastings-notes/Germany%20Tasting.pdf
Nice line up, makes me regret not having the time to make it!
As on the wine list on the website, this gives the region for some wines, but not for others. Why? And the list of regions to search by on the website has only a few of the regions. (Not including Mittelrhein, for example, although the tasting includes a Toni Jost.) The list for this tasting implies that TWS may be starting to take German wines seriously, but there is still some way to go.
Thanks for posting the line-up. Lots to enjoy by the look of it. I don’t recall some of the wines as being, or have being, listed before. The 2003 Zilliken auslese looks tempting ( if it’s eventually listed ) !
I’ll be there too! Looking forward to some delicious wines judging by the listing, some of which I’ve already bought on the description alone - great to now be able to taste them at the start of their slumber in Reserves.
Well, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening in an amazing location and the wines weren’t bad either… It’s quite unusual to have a tasting where the majority of wines were white with only 4 red wines and quite refreshing too that the overall percentage alcohol would have been less than 10%.
The surprise of the evening for me was how drinkable these lovely wines were at a relatively young age (most were 2017 or 2015) and secondly how few of them exhibited any kerosene notes, although I expect that this would change gradually over time.
The standout wines for me were these:
Jechtinger Weissburgunder Trocken, Bercher 2017 - A lovely food wine, this Pinot Blanc’ was the best of the four examples for me - very smooth, not too much acidity.
Kreuznacher Kahlenberg Riesling Dry, Dönnhoff 2015 - The notes on this one are prefaced by three ticks, so pretty good in my shorthand quality assessment. It had great yellow-flesh plum with citrus flavours as well as some floral aromas coming through on the nose. In perfect balance, I thought.
Johannisberg V Riesling Kabinett, Johannishof 2017 - A lighter style, but still bags of flavour and sweetness balanced by the acidity. A delight to drink at only 8.5%
Haardt Scheurebe, Müller-Catoir 2017 - Unusual in being quite dry, but also a bit rich in a pinot gris or viognier sort of way and I would agree that the fragrant nose was somewhere between SB and viognier.
Riesling Trocken, Künstler 2017 - Well, the two Künstler wines were, I thought, the very best and good value too. They seemed to have the deepest and longest flavours of all, being just off-dry and reasonable alcohol at 12%.
Hochheimer Stielweg Riesling Alte Reben Trocken, Künstler 2017 This wine achieved four ticks for its great nose, intense flavours, balanced acidity and sense of fullness - very delicious!
The four reds were so unusual - All except the Künstler Spätburgunder were incredibly pale - like a dark rose rather than a red wine, but gosh, they had such amazing aromas! Not quite classic PN aromas of forest floor or wet leaves - perhaps more fruit combined with a more complex earthy smell, but nonetheless, very attractive.
My favourites were the Spätburgunder, Marienglas Unterturkheimer Gips 2014, which was incredibly light in colour, but confusingly full-flavoured. Not cheap at £35 though. The Trollinger, Fellbacher Alte Reben Aldinger 2016 was probably my first taste of this grape and I enjoyed it very much. The Assmannshäuser Spätburgunder, Künstler 2015 seemed different again, perhaps a little closed and might benefit from more bottle age, but it was the darker coloured and richest of the red wines. VGV.
The three sweetest wines were all delicious, but it has to be said that there was only one that was perfect, IMHO - Hochheimer Hölle, Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, Künstler 2015 was my first TBA and was an outstandingly delicious wine - like a kilo of clementines had been squashed and distilled down to a teaspoon of essence. It was gloriously sweet and long, then as this finished, the refreshing acidity came flooding through, cleansing the palate in readiness for the next sip.
A wine that everyone should try - I shall be putting away my £3.06 every week into a piggy bank so that in a year’s time, spending £159 on a half bottle won’t seem so extravagant… after all, some people spend this much on coffee every day. It’s positively a bargain when you think about it like that!
Thanks again to the tasting team for a lovely event - really enjoyed it.
Our pleasure @VinoVeritas and it’s always great to hear when members enjoy the events.
The Künstler TBA really was special wasn’t it. I was doing a quick quality control taste through of the wines before we started and finished on that yet I was still tasting it halfway through the event. Often when we show such expensive wines members can be underwhelmed but whilst I was only pouring this for a short time, the reactions to it were really fun to watch.
Excellent write up. Was going to check out the ones you gave multiple ticks to, and they don’t appear on the website 
strange. @Tim_S can you throw any light on this?
Also this wine Riesling Trocken, Künstler 2017, is £39 a bottle on the list of wines at the tasting and £13.50 on the web site. Same wine, wrong price or ??
Same wine. Wrong price in the tasting booklet. £13.50 is correct price and something I will be buying myself.
We are trying to find out why they are not appearing on the website but they are available if you ring Member Services and place your order through them.
Thanks for looking in to that 
@japcraw Well spotted - this was an error and flagged up at the tasting - the actual price is £13.50 which I think is very good value and have bagged a lovely case of 6 for reserves.
It’s interesting that my favourites were the drier examples, rather than the Spatlese that I thought I would be the most enjoyable.
Agree on the excellence of Kunstler’s wines. Have noticed some of the wines from the tasting are now on the list. Recently placed an order, but a lot more temptation now!
Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts, they’re appreciated.
Er, to the extent that five of those wines ended up in my latest basket. Not the TBA, mind, but I do like your buying strategy for that one !
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