2011 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese

The Selbach 2011 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese mingles caramel, honey, marzipan, quince preserves and vanilla cream with lightly-poached apple for an exceedingly ripe, nearly confectionary, and texturally soothing and buoyant performance. Its actual sense of sweetness, though, is quite modest. Incursions of lime and fresh apple lend welcome refreshment in the finish but are, for now at least, not entirely in harmony or synergistic counterpoint with the wine’s creamy, confitured, and near-confectionary aspects. It will be fascinating to see how this impressively persistent Spatlese evolves over the coming decade or two. Picking for Riesling began chez Selbach in the first days of October and finished already on the 26th. “We harvested consistent with a principle on which I put ever-greater emphasis: to pick ripe, but not overripe,” remarks Johannes Selbach. “The luxury we had is that not only did the weather remain stable, but we did not have to deal with volatile acids or acetification” of grapes on the vine. Fruit was typically crushed for the dry wines, but not permitted skin contact, although Selbach emphasizes that his usual practice of encouraging relatively long stays on the fine lees for every style of Riesling he crafts was critical to donating structure, complexity, and a sense of stuffing to these products of a relatively low-acid, high-yielding vintage. Two T.B.A.s and a B.A. were still fermenting as of last autumn and will have to be assessed in connection with my vintage 2012 report. Importers: There are a few regional importers of certain Selbach wines, but the majority (and those whose prices are noted above) are Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300