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

MOSEL WINES
50
THE SPÄTLESEN
GSO-262 2005 Selbach-Oster Riesling Spätlese
GSO-262H 2005 Selbach-Oster Riesling Spätlese, 12/375ml
Again a fragrance oddly like Dönnhoff’s Kirschhecks; this could actually pass for a
Dönnhoff wine; flowery and silvery and juicy and yummy. Only problem is it’s too good.
SOS- 2 (9-25 years)
GS0-270 2005 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese ++
And so we arrive at the first of the great masterpieces. We also arrive at the inescapable
conclusion that something was UP in Bernkastel, as you’ll see. This is the purest most
gorgeous Cox-Orange aroma you’ll ever see, with subtle nuances of licorice and cherry;
the palate is chalky and dry-ish but a lusciously taut fruitiness arrives on the midpalate;
a wonder of gloss, soul, length and echo.
SOMMELIER ALERT! SOS- 2 (9-25 years)
GSO-271 2005 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese* +++
I never saw Johannes high-5 before, but when he asked me what this wine reminded
me of and I answered “The 2004 Rotlay” he did the deed. That Rotlay was my Auslese
of the vintage last year, and this is another supernal Mosel wine which takes all that we
love best about them and distills it to a point almost unbearably beautiful. The perfection-moment
came to me here. “How can anything be more sublime?” I wrote; it has
every aspect and scintillum of beauty; the palate is in constant motion, not fidgeting but
gliding; the texture pushes and pulls between juicy and taut; the flavors open in a nimbus
of spectral light — there is something of divinity here. I had to wrench myself away
from it to taste the next wine.
SOS: 3 (9 to 25 years)
GSO-263 2005 Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese +
GSO-263H 2005 Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese
CORE-LIST WINE. Again the best vintage ever for this! The usual herbal deep-woods
balsamy complexity; granular, crunchy and juicy - you do not want to spit this; the
body revolts. I double-dare you not to fall in love with this frisky cheerful puppy.
SOMMELIER ALERT! SOS-2 (8-23 years)
GSO-273 2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese +
This is a genial aristocrat, a guy who has to wear a suit but would much rather not.
There’s a chewy intensity here — old vines, small berries — and a real ancient-tasting
wild “heirloom” apple fruit. I’m trying to stay nice and calm; we haven’t even started
with the Ausleses yet . . .
SOS-2 (10-27 years)
GSO-274 2005 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese* +++
Uh-oh; here it comes. Though less mealy and seamless than the Badstube 1-star, this
has even more delineation and digital precision, and a back-palate apple-lavenderslate-ROCK
that seems to never stop melting; all the while the wine is in ceaseless
manic motion - and this from a sample bottled last week! An apotheosis of sweet balsam
and aloe and a lime crème-brulée.
SOS-3 (10-27 years)