2015 Marienburg Riesling Fahrlay Grosses Gewachs

This offers a beautiful nose of grapefruit puree, candied lemon and bergamot-infused herbs. The wine coats the palate with attractive flavors of herbs and spices and leaves a superb feel of herbs and minerals in the long and hugely impressive finish. There is quite some power here but at no moment does one get a feeling of over-power or heat. This is still reduced but should turn into a great wine full of character at maturity, and there is even some upside potential. Sep 2016, www.moselfinewines.com, Drink: 2025-2035

This is still a bit funky from the long fermentation and gross lees contact. Licorice, white chocolate, and a hint of grilled artichoke notes make this very distinctive. At first this is quite rich and juicy, then the acidity drives through with the force of a huge truck hurtling along at top speed. Try to be patient for this long-term wine. Sep 2016, www.jamessuckling.com

The 2015 Pündericher Marienburg Riesling GG Fahrlay is clear, fresh and very pure on the nose, and combines smoky flavors with ripe tropical fruit aromas. Gorgeously fruity on the palate, this is a lush but also pure and piquant dry Riesling with a lot of finesse and mineral tension. The aftertaste reveals nice grip and aromatic length. Excellent! || 2015 was "a super vintage," says Clemens Busch. "We had a perfect vegetation period and a perfect autumn. The flowering was early but very good, with just a bit of color. The summer was hot and dry but in September we had a bit of rainfall, which was perfect for the grapes. We started harvesting on September 25 and we finished November 11. During that time we did not have any rainfalls and harvested perfectly ripe and healthy grapes. We selected for several styles and quality classes and could really do what we wanted to do – except of noble sweet wines. There was simply not enough botrytis, so there is nothing above Auslese in from 2015." Nevertheless, 2015 was the best yielding vintage since 2011 at Clemens Busch. The wines have high extracts and ripe acidities, are concentrated and very clear. "Since I wanted to keep the wines clear and lean, I sulfured earlier than usual to avoid the malolactic fermentation. If it occurs in the last weeks of the fermentation the wines tend to get too broad. I prefer a leaner, purer, fresher and stimulating style for our grands crus, though," explains Clemens. The alcohol weights of his 2015 grands crus are between 12 and 12.5%, only Raffes and Felsterrasse, both from extremely steep and warm spots and absolutely spectacular in 2015, finished at 13% alcohol. There have been many great 2015s produced at Clemens Busch and even the recently released 2014s are more than positive highlights of this difficult vintage. Feb 17, www.robertparker.com, Drink 2019-2032