2016 Piesporter Schubertslay Spatlese

Picked well below the must weight at which most Mosel growers I visit harvest their Kabinetts, this reflects the relative warmth of Schubertslay’s exposure and the heat retention of the associated rock outcropping, both in its earlier date of picking and its marginally lower (albeit still 8.5 grams) acidity when compared with the collection’s wines from other sites. Scents of Normandy pear and apple ciders anticipate the luscious fruitiness on a polished palate. The sense of tenderness and buoyancy here and the mouthwateringly scallop-like sweet-saline savor all put me in mind of the corresponding Kabinett. But the vibrant finish delivers more tingling citric brightness and shimmering sense of fruit/stone interaction, which perhaps indicates that it has marginally more energy from which to draw as it matures.