2002 Dönnhoff Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spätlese
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Tasting notes
The 2002 Riesling Spatlese Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg explodes from the glass with sweet onion and black raspberry aromas. This decadent wine offers a goose-down duvet texture as well as wide, lush waves of juicy cassis fruit, sea salt, and flint. Powerful, edge-free, pure, and magnificently long, this medium-bodied beauty is a candidate for drinking between 2008 and 2025. All Hail the King of Spatlese! Donnhoff’s line-up of Spatlesen is second to none. For the second year in a row, Helmut Donnhoff has left me shaking my head in wonder. Having tasted the greatest wines in the world, year in and year out, as a wine merchant and as a critic, did not prepare me for the awe-inspiring experience of tasting through Donnhoff’s 2001s and 2002s. They are magical, emotional, breath-taking. My words cannot do them justice. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Tropical fruits and nut oils in the nose had me thinking Piesporter Goldtropfchen for an instant. Pear, red fruits, tropical fruits, citrus fruits - and that's just the f-words. Mineral here is spelled salts, smoke, stone and spice. The overall length is sensational. We opened up a bottle of 2001 alongside and, in Donnhoff's words, "watched these two strong boys have at it. " Perhaps there could be no ultimate decision, but I found the refinement and complexity of the 2002 compelling when compared with the more obvious density and breadth of its predecessor. 2 stars.
Tight knit and dense. Quite broad on the palate. Definite sweetness, but not that much tension. (JR)