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

MOSEL WINES
60
GME-135 2005 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese +
CORE-LIST WINE. This will be two consecutive 2-cask blends, the differences
among which were immaterial. And, it bears stating that Merkelbach’s Spätlesen are in
fact other growers’ Kabinetts. Rolf and Alfred don’t really do the whole “declassification”
thing. But this sizzly frisky bundle of Mosel joy will grab you and schwing your palate
around the dance floor!
SOMMELIER ALERT! SOS: 1 (7-23 years)
GME-136 2005 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese #3 +
There was talk of including this in the core-list blend but at last I couldn’t, because this
is the purest possible portrait of strawberry you can ever hope to taste from anything
that isn’t in fact strawberry. Amazing.
SOS: 2 (7-20 years)
GME-137 2005 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese #4 +
Heavenly nose, and on the palate a screaming blast of slatey Moselness; complex spiel,
fibrous, with even a hint of celeriac; but wow, what sting.
SOMMELIER ALERT! SOS:1 (7-23 years)
GME-139 2005 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese
Best to ignore the label: it tastes like a Spätlese and is priced like a Spätlese and I’d use
it as if it were a Spätlese; serenely crisp and dry; asian pear, lime, sea air; clear and precise;
it’s absolutely a table wine despite 55g.l. residual sugar and an acidity of 5.9!
Indeed it could almost pass for Halbtrocken.
SOMMELIER ALERT! SOS:2 (8-19 years)
GME-140 2005 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese #18
This is lean and smoky and also rather on the “feinherb” side of things; you get a finely
raw nubby granular sort of Mosel wine that might as well be dry; it’s a kind of
apogee of the currant-leaf sassafrass thing and awfully good if you drop any notion of
what the genre “Auslese” should taste like.
SOMMELIER ALERT! SOS:1 (8-23 years)
GME-141 2005 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese #14 +
The brothers sprayed late against botrytis in Uerzig, and produced neither BA nor TBA
—they don’t want to. This wine certainly is Auslese, albeit in the old-school: a classically
perfect slate aroma with flinty cherry highlights — almost feints toward Bernkastel —
palate is precise and finely spicy; no enormous grip but nonetheless a charming powder-puff
finish of lime and wintergreen.
SOMMELIER ALERT! SOS: 2 (9-25 years)