Vinified in large oak and stainless steel, the 2021 Weissburgunder trocken (or Pinot Blanc in the export markets) shows clear and ripe, bright and lush fruit on the nose. Round and juicy on the palate, this is a textured and finely grippy Pinot Blanc with good substance ripe acidity. Stimulating finish. Tasted as a sample ready to be bottled in July 2022.

The 2020 Weissburgunder trocken is clear and coolish on the flinty/slatey, still a bit reductive nose. Lush and pure on the palate, this is a medium-bodied, round and aromatic, crystalline and saline-finishing Pinot Blanc with stimulating grip. 13% stated alcohol. Screw cap. Tasted in July 2022.

Planted in 2003 in good vineyards in Wehlen and Zeltingen, and thus too ripe for the production of sparkling wine, the 2014 Weissburgunder Trocken is a medium-bodied, fresh and elegant wine with a nice finesse and fine juiciness. There is a very delicate phenolic structure that makes this an excellent wine with food. "The Pinot Blancs were picked partly later than the Rieslings, because they stood the rain much better," says Selbach.

Harvested in the last days of September, Selbach’s 2011 Weissburgunder trocken struggles to deliver the juicy and refreshing side of Pinot Blanc, but buttressed by 13% alcohol it succeeds admirably in exhibiting the expansive, creamy-textured virtues of which this grape is capable. What’s more, its aromas and flavors are downright intriguing. Ashen and smoky notes atop sweet, nutty toastiness of wheat germ lend the nose a Burgundian aura clearly influenced by a fuder that still has flavors to donate. But there is also a very Pinot Blanc-typical, piquant suggestion of sour corn mash (to which the hint of charry smokiness adds yet another whisky allusion). Not only is there just enough sense of freshness to leaven this, but notes of apple and lemon pit offer tiny bursts of bitterness just sufficient to engender a sense of invigoration. It should prove interestingly useful over at least the next several years. (To keep down the alcohol, the Selbachs’ crew scrupulously picked out the small number of bunches that were nobly botrytized, and these informed a Weissburgunder T.B.A. that was still fermenting as of last autumn.) Picking for Riesling began chez Selbach in the first days of October and finished already on the 26th. “We harvested consistent with a principle on which I put ever-greater emphasis: to pick ripe, but not overripe,” remarks Johannes Selbach. “The luxury we had is that not only did the weather remain stable, but we did not have to deal with volatile acids or acetification” of grapes on the vine. Fruit was typically crushed for the dry wines, but not permitted skin contact, although Selbach emphasizes that his usual practice of encouraging relatively long stays on the fine lees for every style of Riesling he crafts was critical to donating structure, complexity, and a sense of stuffing to these products of a relatively low-acid, high-yielding vintage. Two T.B.A.s and a B.A. were still fermenting as of last autumn and will have to be assessed in connection with my vintage 2012 report. 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

The Selbach 2010 Weissburgunder trocken delivers refreshing, tart apple and lime topped with oregano, as well as pronounced nuttiness and wet stone appropriate to this grape and the slate soil of Himmelreich in which it grows. One could quite easily mistake it for a Riesling; what’s more, its 12.5% alcohol could be mistaken for 11.5%. Salt and browned butter contribute saliva-inducing savor in a buoyant, satisfyingly refreshing finish. This will prove adept company at table over at least the next half dozen years. “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