Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Auf Der Lay

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The legally trocken, auctioned Emrich-Schonleber 2009 Riesling A.de.L – for something about whose vineyard of origin (Auf der Lay) consult my note in the 2008 in issue 187 – was harvested early and finished at 13% alcohol, despite this site’s high elevation. Werner Schonleber suspects rising thermals at this location which he can’t explain must largely account for Riesling’s early ripening. There is an intriguingly alkaline, marine mineral element in the nose that continues to thread its way across a rather broad and subtly creamy palate further informed by winter pear, nut oils, fresh lime, and lime peel. While this is analytically extremely dry, its ripeness of fruit and sheer sense of extract engender a pleasing sense of subtle sweetness. It should be fascinating to follow over the next 7-10 years, though in this vintage I don’t expect it to ever remotely approach either Schonleber Grosses Gewachs for complexity or stimulation. 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

From shy-bearing, virus afflicted old vines acquired in 2003 in an unusually cobbled soil in the Auf der Lay section of Halenberg, the Schonlebers’ dry 2008 Riesling AUF der Lay (whose initials also spell Adel noble) was auctioned-off exclusively in magnum and larger formats. This is strikingly pronounced in salinity and in its savor of fresh scallops and shellfish reduction and had me salivating from the first whiff. Bright, smoke-tinged grapefruit, lime, and red currant are accented with smoky black tea and cherry pit. The wine offers a seamless sense of textural richness and bonding of fruit and mineral elements while at the same time radiating energy and citric brightness. The overall impression is slightly less winsome than that of the Halenberg Grosses Gewachs but utterly formidable. This should be worth following for 10-12 years if not longer especially since you’ll have magnums, not 750s!. 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