The 2005 Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling trocken – a relative heavyweight Mosel at 12.5% alcohol – displays baked apple and site-typical charred, smoky aromas. Brothy, rich, and full, suggesting wet stones, charred wood, and toasted nuts in the mouth, this also delivers loads of juicy, clear citrus fruit. A solid, palpably extract-rich finish of liquid slate, nuts, and citrus manages not to betray its alcohol. This can be enjoyed anytime over the next decade. The dry wines here are receiving a few hours of skin contact to give them more buffering, and picking and vinification are done with an eye to not exceed 12.5% alcohol and become excessively voluminous or warm. That approach certainly succeeded here. As a negative demonstration, a 2005 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese trocken – the first of its kind that I have tasted chez Selbach and weighing in at 13.5 alcohol on account of the sheer ripeness of this year's raw material – proved to be superfluously voluminous and warm, the only Selbach wine of the vintage that I judged unsuccessful. “For me, 2005 is a singular vintage in my career,” says Johannes Selbach, “in that it is ripe, multi-faceted, and has excellent acidity. You can pick any of the other recent classics – 1975, 1990 ... . Each of the benchmark years is great in its way, however here you have a combination that is fun to drink now, ten years from now, and in thirty years as well. It remains to be seen, but I think 2005 is in another league.” Readers will indeed be hard pressed this year to find another address with this many consistently outstanding wines, and when has there ever been a more diverse and at the same time magnificent array of Auslesen? In their upper reaches, the Selbach 2005s seem – like Zilliken's, but in their own unique way – to chart a trajectory beyond the normal course for their vintage. The harvest here extended from mid-October to mid-November.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300