2004 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Spatlese

The 2004 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Spatlese marks a welcome jump in quality and expressiveness. The nose offers a bouquet of honeysuckle, ripe peach and red raspberry. In the mouth, the wine delivers that delightful counterpoint of fruit and salty minerality, middle weight with sheer flavor intensity, and fresh bright acids along with creaminess of texture that virtually only Riesling from an excellent site can deliver. Peach, raspberry, almond paste, and flowers saturate the palate and linger lip-smackingly. There was not a lot of time or leeway, relates Werner Schonleber, between the onset of complete ripeness and that of negative rot, so once the harvest started in mid October, it was necessary to “give it some gas” and not waste a single dry day. For the most part, there was not sufficient late warmth or sun to steer the botrytis that was present in a noble direction. But the array of clean, rot-free, wines with mineral and fruit concentration this year is certainly formidable, thanks among other factors to the excellent ventilation of these steep sites, the Schonlebers’ careful canopy management, and of course considerable selectivity at harvest. Various importers including: Chapin Cellars – Billington Imports, Springfield, VA; tel. (703) 455-4700 and Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ tel 856-608-9644