2019 Egon Muller, Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese, Mosel

The 2019 Scharzhofberger Spätlese is brilliant, digitally precise and spicy on the clear, elegant, deep and terroir-typical nose with mango and papaya aromas. Tropical fruit aromas on the juicy, elegant, refined and seamless palate lead to a salty-piquant, mouth-watering and stimulating finish with great finesse and precision. This is Scharzhofberger at its very best and a Spätlese close to perfection! Tasted in April 2020.

“Here the picking was a bit later than for the main portion of Scharzhofberger Spätlese,” said Lintner of the 2019 Riesling Scharzhofberger Spätlese A.P. #10, “but, as usual, the decision to bottle separately and auction was based on the distinction that it exhibited during assessments from cask.” (This bottling was auctioned. The “regular” Scharzhofberger Spätlese from this vintage, which I have not tasted, bears A.P. #6.) Almond and white peach are concentrated and ripe but very fresh on the nose as well as on a silken palate. But a faint hint of white raisin emerges that reprises all the way through this virtuoso performance. Floral perfume – chamomile, lily-of-the-valley, heliotrope – along with mint, Ceylon tea and smoky and herbal elements gradually build and billow inner-mouth. The finish – multilayered and almost endlessly vibratory, yet wafting and somehow delicate – introduces a marine salinity that sets the salivary glands pumping even as the heart beats a bit faster.