Weingut Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs Trocken, Nahe, Germany

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Schonlebers’ 2010 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs mingles scents and flavors of raspberry and grapefruit, toasted nuts, green tea, cress and wintergreen. Rich and satin-textured, its emerging savory, broth-like sense of mineral, marrow, and herbal concentration makes for a palate of depth and downright mystery. Animated and elegant; refreshing and invigorating; thought-provoking and entertaining, this superb Riesling projects an uncanny sense of transparency of one flavor to another in a kaleidoscopic performance that should prove riveting for the next dozen, perhaps more, years. ”Look, the acid levels were almost this high in 1994 – though with much higher yields,” relates Werner Schonleber of 2010, “and yet 1994 was probably my most individual year of the 1990s,” a judgment in which, incidentally, I concur. Musts of extremely high acidity (a couple had pHs under 3.0) were de-acidified – “very cautiously,” notes Frank Schonleber, “l(fā)eaving plenty of leeway in case one or the other went into malo,” which several Riesling lots spontaneously followed the lead of the estate’s Pinots in doing. Despite high levels of potassium (not to mention, of course, tartaric acid) and a cold winter, there was relatively little precipitation of tartrates at this address. Early picking of the Schonlebers’ Auf der Lay parcel, already with significant botrytis, militated against there being an “A.de.L” bottling this year such as had been essayed – exclusively in magnum – in the two preceding vintages. This is really a year, chez Schonlebers, for Fruhlingsplatzchen as a site to shine, though neither they nor I can offer a hypothesis. Regarding the gap or jump in this year’s line-up from “regular” (though in fact, fantastic) Auslesen to Eiswein, Werner Schonleber commented that given the quality and the paucity of fruit available, “Attempts to segregate a gold capsule Auslese were going to make for (“regular”)Auslese in which something was missing. And we scarcely thought ourselves capable of a Beerenauslese this vintage; the attempt wouldn’t have gone well. We had lovely botrytis, but by no means such concentrated berries.”Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463

Grapefruit, lime, peat, peach kernel, and a kelp-like and alkaline as well as saline intimation of things maritime combine for aromas and flavors of utter intrigue and mysterious enticement from Schonlebers’ 2009 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs. There is a nearly explosively dynamic of fruit and mineral elements in this luscious, bright, densely-concentrated yet buoyant and refreshing Riesling. I found my salivary glands pumping and my tongue fluttering after reluctantly spitting this remarkable libation, and its head-scratching complexity of (for lack of another collective expression) “mineral” elements should prove utterly engrossing for at least the next 10-12 years. Werner and Frank Schonleber harvested through nearly the entire month of October, and noted that levels of sugar and total acidity remained fairly constant, while flavors kept improving and malic acid diminishing in favor of tartaric. Speaking of improving, it’s hard for these two vintners to much-improve their by now phenomenal batting average, but no Riesling lover is likely to suffer the least disappointment by buying bottles of Emrich-Schonleber 2009s. Especially at its dry end, this is a collection to describe which seems to call for an extended mineral vocabulary that doesn’t even exist in English or German! And in nobly sweet echelons, the small amount of Riesling the Schonlebers rendered is strikingly successful and informed by an ample if mysterious measure of sheer juiciness. About the absence of Eiswein, Frank Schonleber notes: “We had the feeling that ripeness had simply advanced too far in 2009 to justify leaving any grapes hanging in anticipation of frost.”Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463

Quince, white peach, and hints of red currant and framboise and gentian distillates alluringly scent the Schonlebers’ 2008 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs, which displays distinctly fusil and stony notes along with pit fruit and red berry freshness on the palate. There is an underlying sense of density and a plushness of texture that one would not ordinarily expect in a wine so bright. Almond cream and quince offer a soothing suggestion in the finish while red berries and white peach offer vivacious refreshment, for a lingering, contrapunctal effect. This refined, subtly complex Riesling should be worth following for at least the better part of a decade. Werner and Frank Schonleber are another Nahe dream team whose amazing performance in 2007 has been equaled in 2008. “I wouldn’t call it a vintage with the emphasis on fruit,” says Werner Schonleber, “but rather on a pronounced, saline minerality. And there was no great selection of nobly sweet wine this year, because every three or four days it would rain at least a little bit.” He offers as “a very simple explanation” of this pronounced minerality the classic one adduced by growers (whether or not scientifically supportable) that the vines better “assimilate mineral stuff” when mild weather and plenty of moisture grease – as it were – the wheels of plant metabolism. And such vintages always boast measurably high levels of dry extract; the question remains, has that – as most growers believe – anything to do with their expression of flavors for which we feel compelled to employ mineral vocabulary?Importers: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463