Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelreich Anrecht Riesling Spatlese, Mosel, Germany

澤巴赫塞爾廷仙境園安爾特雷司令遲摘白葡萄酒

點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)：3631

Selbachs’ 2010 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Anrecht – like each of this vintage’s installments of their three block-picked bottlings from top locations – is most like a sweet Auslese if one had to compare it with a wine of Pradikat. Caramel apple, mint candy, and glazed pineapple convey a confectionary impression while the wine’s bright (13 grams!) acidity and cress-like nippiness remain slightly detached. There is a palpable, pithy, chewy sense of high extract here and a persistent wet slate cantus firmus, elements that may well help bind the elements together with time. Heaven knows this wine’s sense of finishing energy grabs your palate and your attention, if in a jumpy way. Recommended for oenophiles with steady nerves, it should be quite a fascinating and intermittently stimulating experience to follow this over the next couple of decades. “From the look of the grapes in early October,” relates Johannes Selbach, “it seemed we would have green, hard-edged wines this year. But the saving grace” – that three-word description spoken in English, incidentally – “was that if you waited, the weather cooperated just long enough, and eventually real ripeness and interesting aromas developed. At that point, we picked in a hurry, finishing in early November.” Reacting to the high-acid nature of 2010 material – much of it double-salt de-acidified as must – Selbach finished nearly all of his wines with significant residual sugar, and it was literally half by accident that any of these ended up with a profile that could be called “Kabinett.” Otherwise, this is a vintage dominated by sweet Spatlese and Auslese to an extent that in its relative stylistic homogeneity compels me to recollect my earliest experiences with this estate and the dominance in certain mid-’1980s vintages of off-dry Kabinett and Q.b.A.! The high ripeness and botrytized complexity that characterize this collection is reflected in the fact that the estate’s three by now familiar and no longer Pradikat-designated, block-picked parcel bottlings were served me after I had tasted the wines labeled “Auslese,” and there was not the least awkwardness to the transition (although for now this vintage looks to have rewarded selection at least marginally over block picking). “The two most unusual botrytis vintages of my career,” remarks Selbach, “have been 2006 and now 2010. But whereas the 2006s were opulent, 2010 delivered sleek, thoroughbred racehorses built for the long haul.” Hang on for a quite possibly wild ride, then, because as impressive as these wines are, just as Selbach intimated, they are highly unusual and their future track record correspondingly inscrutable. If 2009 was clearly a year for Schlossberg to shine, 2010 is a year of more predictable favoritism toward Zeltinger Sonnenuhr.Importers: There are a few regional importers of certain Selbach wines, but the majority (and those whose prices are noted above) are Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Selbach himself is convinced it will be more impressive after a few years of shedding youthful fat. Selbach’s block-harvested, tank-raised 2009 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Anrecht superbly showcases what he considers the sweetest spot in the Himmelreich Einzellage, here picked in mid-November. Peach, pear, and papaya exhibit the ripe concentration and supportive sweetness of a typical Selbach Auslese. The sense of both tropical and northerly fruit essences here is accentuated by the wine’s creaminess of texture and honeyed glaze on the one hand and its glorious persistence of bright fresh fruit and tartly chewy fruit skin on the other. But then, diverse levels of ripeness are essentially what picking en bloc is designed to achieve. This displays palpable density yet irrepressible lift, finishing with luscious, lip-smacking persistence, encompassing saliva-inducing salinity and vivid intimations of wet stone. I expect it to reward your attention for the next 20-25 years. And what was Selbach thinking when he priced this gem? It ends up representing absurd value! “The autumn was super, with little stress,” remarked Johannes Selbach, who is more often seen furrowing his exceedingly high brow when describing even a highly successful harvest! What there was of botrytis, he reports, came late, and he reported that what rain there was in November was of negligible significance. Where many 2009 collections disappointed slightly as they reached the limits of possible vintage Oechsle, the Selbach-Oster collection proceeded from strength to profound strength. Most of the wines were bottled in May, but some of the dry and nobly sweet lots were very late even to finish fermenting and a few had not yet been bottled even when I tasted in September. True to an intention he stated last year, Selbach has bottled without Pradikat the fruits of block-pickings from his three top parcels, each named on its label. (For more about the principles involved, consult in particular my note on the 2005 “Schmitt” Auslese – in issue 169 – and that on this year’s dry “Schmitt” Spatlese below.) This year’s collection continues the trend for wines from Zeltingen’s Schlossberg to shine with special complexity and elegance after the many years in which they seemed destined at this address to take a back seat to those of Sonnenuhr. Not only were the vineyards of Zeltingen among the most celebrated on the Mosel during the 19th and early 20th century, but Karl Heinrich Koch epochal survey of 1881 places the Schlossberg as among the Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer’s top 11 sites, and one can appreciate this while savoring a wine like this year’s “Schmitt” trocken.Importers: There are a few regional importers of certain Selbach wines, but the majority (and those whose prices are noted above) are Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Alluring aromas of slate, peach and mango are followed by celery root, herb and savory notes as this complex white develops across the palate. There's fine snap on the lingering peach and mineral aftertaste. Drink now through 2025.??–BS??Region: Germany / Mosel Select to Add