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

impression of remarkable depth and solidity. Their flavors
may fall like little flakes, but they settle like big
snow.
It’s always a challenge to taste here, especially if it’s
the final appointment that day. There are simply too many
great wines. Early in the sequence the palate becomes
alert; it sniffs beauty in the air. Later as you ascend
through realms of richness, the sensitized palate feels as
if its nerve-endings are tingling. Suddenly it isn’t just
wine anymore. It’s as though ALL OF BEAUTY is flooding
into your heart. As you grope for words to convey
this strange experience you find the only words are
mushy, and maybe you feel a little embarrassed. But
don’t. There’s a rigor beneath all that showering loveliness
that you can trust. Beauty is real, and has nothing to
do with sentiment.
“The vineyards, the grapes, play the decisive role in
determining quality,” says Christoffel. “Our vinification
isn’t so different from the norm. We lay high emphasis on
freshness and raciness. At home we drink everything
from dry to sweet, from QbA to Auslese; it only has to be
good! It should be spicy, fruity and lively, with noticeable
acidity. I’d like to think our customers like to return to
our wines after drinking others, and that they feel good
the next morning even if they’ve peered a little too
deeply into the glass the night before!” Christoffel identifies
the section of the Ürziger Würzgarten that lies
among the rocks as his best.
This is a matter of exposure, and of the very old
vines he has planted here. There’s no question that soil
has its own role to play. “The higher the slate proportion,
(therefore more porous) the finer and more elegant the
wines are. Sometimes even too delicate. “What’s ideal is a
slate soil with enough fine-earth to hold water and give
the wines more extract.”
Most of the vineyards are “Würzelecht,” literally
root-genuine, i.e. not grafted onto North American rootstock.
“I have two parcels of grafted wines,” Hans-Leo
told me, “which is two too many!”
THE MATTER OF STARS: the whole star thing came
about because Mosel growers had to find a way of distinguishing
the pecking orders of their various casks of
Auslese. You can’t describe them in terms like “Feine
Auslese” or “Feinste Auslese” any more, and that makes
sense; there are already too many rungs in the quality
ladder. The stars—or any other glyph a grower might
care to employ—are a quasi-legal expedient, and a better
alternative than asking consumers to memorize A.P.
numbers or capsule designs.
For many of us this presents a problem. As soon as
you establish a hierarchy you inadvertently push people
toward the “best,” or the perceived-best. That’s because
we seem to see things from the top down, rather than
from the bottom up. Nobody wants to tell his customers
“I have the second-best cask!” No, you can’t hold your
head up unless you have the big kahoona. It’s a truly shitty
way to look at wine. It has in fact nothing to do with
wine, only with a commodity that happens to be wine.
With Schaefer and Selbach-Oster, the “big three”
christoffel at a glance:
among the Mosels I offer. Everything one can wish
from great wine is lavished on these: depth, clarity, complexity, buoyancy, purity and
ineffable beauty.
Dashingly aromatic, brilliant luster of flavor, inchoate
how the wines taste:
depth which begs for study. The kinds of wines you
keep adding to your notes on; each sip reveals another facet, the second glass differs
from the first, the very last sip is still saying fresh new things. There’s a jewel-like firmness
here; these aren’t leesy or plush. In general, the Erdeners are thicker and more
thrusting; they show better younger. The Ürzigers are refined, fastidious and sleek.
GJC-144 2005 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett
CORE-LIST WINE. In bottle two weeks when I tasted, and it’s bloody difficult if you
want to know the truth. The Auslesen manage OK, they have the density, and another
grower making wines with more stuffing has less to fear from bottle-sickness. But these
very keen silky digital wines just go into a biting tantrum of petulance. The outer surface
of the wine looked spicy, high and glossy, with the expected slatey berried tartness.
But who knows what lies below?
GJC-145 2005 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett
Used to be the Erdeners showed better early on, but then Flurbereinigung came along
and now all the vines are young. It’s a little fleshier on the palate, and there’s fruit and
length to be discerned. Yo, guys: either bottle the wines in early February or can I please
taste cask-samples?
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MOSEL WINES