German Catalog 2006 USE THIS ONE.qxp - Michael Skurnik Wines

MOSEL WINES
48
A Look At The Vineyards:
I find my notes are shorter the past two years as I didn’t want to repeat the basic adjectives
that depict vineyard characteristics. I wish I had a dingbat I could use each time I want to
say “slate and apple!” So below are general descriptions of the Selbach sites.
BERNKASTELER BADSTUBE is a small Grosslage; the component single-sites are distinct from one
another, but one can organize them thus: LAY stands alone. DOKTOR-GRABEN (at least the good
parts of Graben!) stand together, and MATHEISBILDCHEN-BRATENHÖFCHEN stand together,
and give us what we see now; heavier understructure, not quite as tensile, due to richer soil, and
signature flavors of kirsch and almost Pouilly-Fumé flint; the piquant exotics of the Mosel. Typically,
they are medium in body.
ZELTINGER SCHLOSSBERG is mineral to the MAX! Now back in production after the catastrophic
hail of 1996, I think it’s time to give this vineyard its due: I think it’s a great Grand Cru site, fully
deserving the status of a Wehlener Sonnenuhr or Erdener Prälat. The pity is most of it is worked by
the small growers of Zeltingen, among whom standards aren’t particularly high. Selbachs have
shown time and again the potential of the site. Flavors are a borealis of slate, buttressed by lime and
grassy aspects. Mosel-apple is present but discreet. Medium bodied. If you love Mosels for their
cussed Mosel-ness, grab these wines and hang on for dear life!
WEHLENER SONNENUHR is like Zeltinger Sonnenuhr feminized, slimmed down, and refined. It can
show a ravishing elegance. Butter-vanilla, very delicate slate and equally delicate apple, now with a
slightly herbal tertiary flavor. I would say light-to-medium body, but the beauty in these wines
resides in class and actual flavor, and not in size or fullness.
GRAACHER DOMPROBST: I doubt there’s a better site on the “great ramp” (as Hugh Johnson terms
it) between Bernkastel and Zeltingen. Domprobst is invariably starched and magnificent; its flavors
are always standing at attention. It has a particularly emphatic slate statement, with nuances of pistachio
or pecan, cassis and quince. Medium-bodied, high-bred and snappy, coltish and itchy to take
off full-gallop.
ZELTINGER SONNENUHR is the Premier Grand Cru. Basically All Of The Above; slate, lime, apple,
butter-vanilla, rich, almost chewy earthiness, great depth. Some parcels are prized by locals as the
best sites in the entire Bernkastel-Zeltingen ramp—DOKTOR notwithstanding! These wines are fullbodied.
Selbachs are now the primo owners in this great site, and have inaugurated an era of selective
harvesting and a quality potential such as we have never before seen. Meanwhile, you’ll see by
the number I offer that the wines had me in a weak-kneed thrall, and - redundancy be damned—I
just couldn’t walk away from any of these.
A large estate by Mosel standards means many
selbach-oster at a glance:
wines to choose from. The ambitiousness of
Johannes Selbach has made this estate the region’s most prominent rising star. Since 1989,
always among the very best wines in this collection, and 2005 is no exception.
how the wines taste:
There is a striking conciliation between brilliant acids
and a kind of leesy plushness. There’s plenty of minerality,
but it seems somehow deeper than a literal depiction of the soil. There can be fruit
of almost unbearable purity and loveliness. Finally, they are often among the most
charming wines on the Mosel, yet they are never frivolous.
DRY WINES AND KABINETTS
GSO-272 2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese Trocken
This was the finer and more suave and digital of two Trockens; lovely fragrance of
peonies; the palate is on the stern side but spicy and long, and no more “austere” than
the (few!) remaining truly dry Alsace Rieslings.
SOS-0 (now to 3 years, or 9-14 years)