2006 Emrich-Schonleber - Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Tasted in December 2017, the 2006 Nahe Riesling Monzinger Halenberg Spätlese (picked at 101° Oechsle) offers a rich and spicy bouquet with caramel aromas. Lush and elegant on the palate, with remarkable finesse but also generosity, this is an intense and mouth-filling Spätlese with fine tannins (from the cork?). It is less stimulating than the Spätlesen from the last few years.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
The Schonleber 2006 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese features honey-glazed nectarine and red berries in a seductively creamy, subtly caramelized and bitter-sweet melange. Rich nut oil and saline and wet stone mineral notes emerge in the long, refined finish. There is no significant sacrifice of clarity or purity to the wine’s evident botrytis. This can be revisited with pleasure for the next 15 years at least. “The Nahe had the capability to render really good dry wines this year,” asserts Werner Schonleber. “Elsewhere, the botrytis was problematic, or the ripening took place too quickly. But we caught the whole spectrum here.” He proceeded to prove this memorably in the glass, with the finest collection I have ever tasted at this address (as well as – improbably – one in which Fruhlingsplatzchen outperformed Halenberg). Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463
Restrained floral/citrus notes overlaying archetypal Nahe minerality. Very fluid and soft yet alive with fresh acidity. Moderate length and medium dry finish. (JH)
Rich fruit on the nose – even ripe apples and pears. Perfect balance and fresh chord draws out the finish. Just a little grip on the finish