2010 Scharzhofberger Spatlese

Effusively scented with peony and heliotrope; quince, white peach, and Persian melon; as well as ethereal herbal distillates, the Muller 2010 Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese – sole wine so-labeled in this year’s collection, surprisingly – delivers persistent inner-mouth perfume allied to an uncanny sense of lift and buoyancy as well as transparency of its silken, decadently musky and floral nectar to salt and stone. It’s hard to imagine a much greater contrast – within the parameters of this estate – than that between the present extraordinary as well as extraordinarily rarified wine and its severe, almost strident Braune Kupp counterpart. “If you looked at the analysis of this,” says Muller (but without offering it for inspection), “you simply wouldn’t believe that you could be tasting what you’re tasting.” Look for this to remain glorious for at least three decades. Egon Muller scored a collection of striking successes in 2010, albeit at the price of tiny yields, comparable, he notes, to those of hail- and botrytis-ravaged 2006. This paucity of juice, combined with high ripeness, is reflected in the, for this estate, very surprising presence of only one Scharzhofberger each of Pradikat Kabinett and Spatlese, consisting of an amalgamation of several tiny lots. Nor need collectors fret about the identity of A.P. #s ... save when it comes to Trockenbeerenauslese, since a second one of those was fermenting at the time of my visit. (The 2009 vintage T.B.A. reviewed in Issue 192 now carries this year’s A.P. #11 and achieved at auction last September a record price of 5300 Euros for 750 ml.) Picking began October 14, “already with beautiful botrytis,” Muller notes, and was finished before the end of the month to respect the crew’s All Saint’s holiday weekend and because – although he indicates that there was negligible rain here at the beginning of November – Muller perceived scant likely benefit to postponing passes on an already extremely light-bearing vineyard. “We picked out what little botrytis-free fruit there was intermittently through the course of the harvest,” he adds, “and de-acidified musts selectively as seemed warranted, independent of the quality (i.e. Pradikat) level in question.” Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700