Two Bottles Mehling
We drink two slightly matured 2016 Rieslings Ungeheuer and Ölberg from the Mehling Winery.
Now that it is slowly foreseeable to travel again or just to go somewhere to have food, we reminisce a bit more about past short trips. The Palatinate is close and so it is also close to us to go there often and if you are there, then every time at least a small stopover in Deidesheim is planned. The Mehling Winery is located in the middle of Deidesheim in a courtyard. Between the big names in town, it is probably not easy for a winery to hold its own. It definitely helps if the names of the vineyards on the bottles can also be found among the big name wineries. Mehling makes three wines from famous sites in and around Deidesheim as the top of its Riesling collection. We already had the wine from the Kalkofen in our glass some time ago, now the other two wines follow: one comes from the Forster Ungeheuer and the other from the Königsbacher Ölberg. The vines are worked by hand, the wines are produced organically. Since 2014, the certification has been completed and the organic seal can also be found on the bottle. The wines today are from 2016.
Unfortunately, we have a bit of bad luck and the first bottle Ungeheuer took a frontal cork hit and goes directly towards the sink. Luck of the draw is that I had bought two bottles at the time. And it is exactly this wine of which we still have the second bottle in our cellar. So run down stairs, run up stairs again and pull another cork. This one is fine. Phew.
The Ungeheuer starts off creamy on the nose. The fruit is more towards pome fruit with ripe red apples and freshly peeled apple skin. Not as lightly fermented as many Naturals have but really freshly peeled from the apple. In contrast, it is still quite silent on the tongue. Needs a bit of air, perhaps. With just that air, the wine nevertheless remains the quieter representative of the two bottles this evening. The acidity is nice and brings a lot of freshness, the fruit is elegant, both on the nose and on the tongue, but it never really gets rid of the more closed impression.
A day later, things look different. The wine totally gains length overnight, acquires an intense mineral note and the fruit also becomes clearer. Despite the years on the bottle, this Ungeheuer needs more time after opening. But then we really like it.
The wine from the Ölberg seems more mature on the nose. Discreet yellow fruit and if you swirl the glass and then hold your nose directly in you can also smell also a good portion of nail polish remover mixed with honey. This does not translate to the tongue yet. There, the Riesling seems very fresh, has a lot of acidity and some structure out the back. And at the very back, after swallowing down, a buttery creaminess lingers on the tongue. The fruit intensifies towards the end of the evening and a bitter citrus note joins in. Actually, the whole wine becomes more intense. More spice, more minerality and together with the nice creaminess out back, it really suits the wine.
It stays that way a day later. In contrast to the Ungeheuer, no great further development takes place. But that does not matter, they now both play at the same level. Sure, I wouldn’t put them up there with the absolute top Rieslings right now. For that, complexity and depth are lacking a bit. But measured by the 15 and 18 euros that we paid for the two bottles at the winery, you have a lot of Riesling in the glass. Riesling that can mature nicely and is now just at a stage where we really had a lot of fun. The next stopover in Deidesheim is surely planned.