Hi there did anyone from team JR happen to attend yesterdays Howard Ripley dry white, Prum and reds tasting?
Thanks,
Les
Yes, I did.
Hi Julia does that mean that you will publish tasting notes in due course? Thanks, Les
Yes but the article is not yet scheduled.
We always publish our notes - if not in an article then at least as standalone notes that can be accessed via the database.
Ah ok thanks Julia.
Sorry to ask as I’m sure everyone is very busy but may I please ask when the notes are likely to be posted? Thank you!
Apologies, Charles. I know we have failed you this time in not getting these notes posted by the time the offer was sent out and finalised. I was in Austria tasting all last week and the scheduling has been complicated because we wanted to combine my GG notes from the Howard Ripley tasting with the many more GG tasting notes that Paula took at the VDP tasting in Germany. We do our best to publish notes in a timely way but clearly this was not helpful to you this time. Scheduling notes from many different tastings and quite a few tasters is not straightforward.
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Thank you so much for your kind reply, Julia. I totally understand and am grateful to you, Paula and the rest of the team for all the tasting, the insights and the broader articles.
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Thanks to our very hard-working team of uploaders, my 50+ notes on the non-Grosse Gewächse wines from the Howard Ripley tasting are now in our database. These include all the latest J J Prüm releases and all their auction wines. So you can search for these by name in the database. (Or you can use the search filters: Standalone / Julia Harding MW / Germany / date tasted 3 September 2024. That gives you these results.)
In due course (current publication date is 2 October but that could change), these will also be published in an article for easier access. Sometimes we have so many articles to publish there is a bit of queue for both uploading and publication …
All the Grosse Gewächse (GG) wines that I tasted chez Howard Ripley (not including those Paula had already tasted) will be included in Paula’s article on Riesling GG, set for publication this Thursday, based on the VDP tasting in Mainz earlier this month.
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Magnificent, Julia and team. Thank you all so much!
And thank you for reviewing the Auction wines! 
Great Julia thanks v much. Les
Final , Schäfer-Fröhlich 23 is stunning
ARA , Spätburgunder DIEL 19 excellent
Lauer GG , the Kabinett from Clemens Busch and Seb Schäfer und the wines of Willi Schäfer stunning- but did not taste all the auction wines.
Recently had some 22 Pinots blind :
Hundsrück Fürst and Morstein Gutzler were my favorite wines- both graceful, well structured and simply fantastic! Love the best Pinots of vintage 22 a lot!
Happy weekend!!!
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Thank you, Julia, for the thoughtful reply!
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And thank you, Charles, for taking the time to read, reply and engage with the content. Without readers like you, we are nothing.
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If I may, a question on the tasting notes for the Jülg Kammerberg GG. Does this exist per VDP rules? I see Jülg lists „Sonnenberg“ with two GG plots „KT“ and „KB“ because the VDP will not let them use the names of plots on the French side. Seems a bit precious. Was the tasting note for the „KB“ or „KT“?
Hi David. Let me check with Sebastian Thomas at Howard Ripley. This is how it was presented in their tasting booklet.
Sebastian Thomas replied:
It’s a grey area. We can list the wine in a catalogue as GG, but the label may not currently describe it as such, as the vineyards are in France. The Kammerberg is KB. Kostert is KT
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Thanks. I took a detour yesterday through the north of Alsace, Pfalz and Rheinhessen on my way back to Frankfurt, stopping off at Jülg and Raumland. Schweigen where Jülg is located is literally right on the border. I was told that Friedrich Becker is labelling his Kammerberg with the word Kammerberg struck out and marked „censored“ because VDP rules do not allow the name to be used.
I had been told that the Weissburgunders at Jülg were some of the best in Germany. The Pfarrwingert 1G was quite peachy and spicy but I found the GG was heavy on the oak and a bit flabby. I preferred the Weißburgunder at Salwey where the style is leaner. The Spätburgunders at Jülg were very impressive- the Gutswein was fresh, red fruit and some spice - a snip at 15 Euro. The KB and KT GG were wonderful. The KT was more brooding, dark cherry fruit with a chalky finish. The KB was more inky, towards red fruit with some iodine. Both labelled as Sonnenberg. Not sure that the VDP is helping here. But Howard Ripley seems to have found a great addition to its portfolio.
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Same question as last year about the renamed Ripley wines tasting which was yesterday I think. Did anyone go and what stood out. Thanks Les