Auto' Red from Auto country: Weingut A. Hofmann Tauberschwarz Röttinger Feuerstein R 2007, Franken

But it did not went down the gullet AUTO'matically … ! 

It was more like a steep hill to climb. But first:

Hi there everybody! Today’s wine might be more unusual to my trusty Russian, French and American readers out there. Not to mention all the others readers from more than 35 different countries. For my German and especially my Franconian readers it might get a bit boring today. Sorry! Next time I will write about something from the Middle-East.
The A. Hofmann winery is one of the few wineries in Franken region who dedicated themselves to the rare Tauberschwarz varietal. Tauberschwarz is a autochtonous, spicy and dark grape varietal from Tauber river in the South-West of Franconia. This Röttinger Feuerstein R was aged for 14 months in Röttinger oak (local production) and is probably one of the best and most complex, as well as varying, examples on the market. This very bottle is the Reserve from the vineyard.

Let’s start! In my glass I detected very dark red and clear reflexes. But not quite black like the name of the wine might implicate (Tauberschwarz = Tauber - name of a river - black). It appeared to be rather juvenile. No brown’ish tendencies on the rim at all. As always, the fragrance was getting more interesting. I smelled a fair amount of blueberries, hazelnuts, milk chocolate, forest berries, slight gentle oak, imaginary flint stone and after a while scents of cherry and juniper joined the club.
Well, that sound rather nice, doesn’t it? Right now, after I have already finished the bottle, I would concur!
However, my first tasting impression wasn’t positive at all. In the first 3 to 4 hours the flavours in my mouth were bitter, smoky, far too lean and some hyper acidic blueberry x cherry + whatsoever earthy-mineral flavours. It appeared to me as a very unbalanced and harsh wine without a convincing body. Somehow it reminded me of young, light bodied and too classical Chianti with far too much acid!?
Well, that sounds crap, doesn’t it? At this very stage I’d agree again. But not so fast, please! After the already mentioned 3 to 4 hours the face of the Tauberschwarz changed completely. The acid tamed, but did not vanish completely – the freshness preserved, the harsh bitterness sodded off, the quite strong mineral character remained and all over sudden some extraordinary creaminess evolved. The tannin structure was strong, but civilized. The accessibility of the wine improved with every minute. Maybe too a bit too exaggerated, but this stage made me so happy, please forgive me for my cheesy and overwhelmed soupçon of madness. The actual body appeared to gain some muscles, too. Very strange shift indeed! The fruitful flavours shifted more to the cherry / bramble side without eradicating my first impression of blueberries and some other forest berries. The traces of juniper from my nose detection centre hopped into my mouth as well. A miraculous metamorphosis to a very enjoyable and unique tasting wine! So, my advice for this wine: Open the bottle, take a good sip and leave it alone for the next 4 or more hours. On the second day it got even-chocolaty better ;-) Steep hills need time to summit …