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By Manos Angelakis
The first major tasting in New York City for the new season, took place on August 22. Michael Skurnik Wines, an importer/distributor of fine estate wines, held their Grand Portfolio Tasting to introduce the new vintage availabilities from an assortment of producers from California, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary and even Slovenia.
Now, this massive a tasting attracts hundreds of trade and press people, and the Puck Building Ballroom, where the event was held, was full. Many producers and winery owners were present to personally show their wines and I had the chance to have a few minutes with Johannes Selbach owner and winemaker of one of my favorite and absolutely classic Riesling wineries, Weingut Selbach-Oster.
Johannes comes from a winemaking family with a very long tradition. They have been producing exquisite Riesling wines since 1661 in vineyards located in the Mittelmosel, the heart of the Mosel wine country. Currently, he cultivates 41 acres on south facing mountain slopes, in the districts of Zeltinger, Wehlen, Graacher, and Bernkastel. The vineyard names, Sonnenuhr, Schloßberg, Himmelreich, Domprobst and Badstube are known worldwide for the extremely high quality of grapes they produce, and the Selbach-Oster parcels are in some of the best locations of these vineyards. His cellars still use the traditional German oak Fuder, giant old oak 1000 liter barrels that do not impart woody flavors to the wine, as well as stainless steel and a few fiberglass tanks; this way he ensures the preservation of freshness in the wine and the delicacy of aroma.
The vineyards, are steep to very steep, with gray-blue Devonian slate over a subsoil of loam and decomposed slate. The best parts are close to the water of the Mosel.
The wines are elegant, crisp, with low-alcohol but full flavor. The grapes are hand picked at the peek of ripeness, pressed at low temperature and the juice is gravity-fed and fermented in a cool cellar, mostly with wild yeasts. The only time yeast is added, is for wines that have to be fermented to total dryness. Depending on the vintage, the wines produced range from extra dry to very sweet (Trockenbeerenauslese) and in years when there is frost in the vineyards, ice-wine.
At the tasting, I sampled wines from the 2005 and 2006 vintages. Now, the 2006 vintage was very difficult for Germany (see Harvest Report 2006), but the samples of the sweeter wines, Spätlese and Auslese were truly remarkable. I also tasted a Beerenauslese (BA) that had almost the characteristics of a Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) and, price-wise, is one of the best deals for a recent German noble wine.
Standouts were:
2006 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese. A rather creamy Riesling with ripe apple, lime jest and hints of vanilla and white flowers on the nose. Slightly oily, and lemony palate with traces of apricot preserves, honey, raisin and wet slate.
2005 Domprobst Auslese. A classic Riesling with smoky apples and citrus on the nose; honey, dried sweet apple and ginger on the palate. The finish is slightly oily, honeyed and spicy with a hint of botrytis.
2006 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese. Archetypical Riesling dominated on the nose by green apple, tropical fruit and vanilla. A vividly creamy palate with accents of flowers, brown sugar and honey with hints of very ripe pineapple. Long, juicy, complex finish with hints of wet slate and a touch of salt. The contrast between the sweetness at first attack and slight saltiness of the finish is remarkable.
2005 Zeltinger Schloßberg Beerenauslese. The closest one can come in this year to a classic icewine (the mild ’05 weather was not cold enough in December or January for the grapes to freeze on the vine). Aromas of honey, candied citrus and smoky botrytis. A palate of grapefruit jest, vanilla, marzipan and fresh juicy apple. Long, remarkable finish of honey, ginger and raisiny smoke.
I would rate the Spätlese and Auslese wines between 94 and 96 points, and the BA at 97 or 98 points. All these are currently available, in limited quantities, and if you are a Riesling aficionado, these are trophy wines, must-haves for a well-rounded cellar.
© September 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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