With the 2007 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese we are at 438 grams of residual sugar, yet not exactly in Eszencia territory since - just as incredibly - this wine managed to ferment to a formidable 8.2% alcohol. Pit fruit distillates and fruit pit bitterness; honey, brown sugar, and cinnamon; peach preserves and vanilla extract are its defining features. The wine needs time to come into focus, although it is not as discordant as the corresponding Pfaffenberg and, surprisingly, not as overwhelmed by its sweetness, either. But it is massive and its evolution - other than the certitude that this will be measured in decades - inscrutable.
Peter Barth took over cellar duties in 2001, and direction of the entire, fabled Schonborn estate in 2006. I had not visited in all that time - only heard rumors of a revival (tales of a sort that are too often false alarms when it comes to large, underperforming, noble Rheingau estates) - so I am happy to report that the renaissance of Schloss Schonborn is for real. Ten years ago, I found Schonborn's dry wines too austere and their sweet wines exaggeratedly so. Examples of these extremes have not been eliminated, but there are plenty of gorgeous and without doubt age-worthy wines that steer a steady stylistic course. Although - like most large German estates - Schonborn has pruned the number of single-vineyard wines and styles on offer when compared with the enormous annual line-ups that prevailed until a decade ago, this has been done with sensitivity to synergistic blends, and allowing plenty of room for each of the domaine's most celebrated vineyards - in particular their monopole Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg with 12 bottlings this vintage! and Erbacher Marcobrunn - to show-off.
Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. 203-239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700
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