2018 Weingut Selbach-Oster, Riesling Feinherb, Zeltinger Schlossberg “Alte Reben” Mosel Germany -photo grapelive

2018 Weingut Selbach-Oster, Riesling Feinherb, Zeltinger Schlossberg “Alte Reben” Mosel Germany.
The whole collection of 2018 vintage wines from Selbach are masterpieces of purity and terroir, these are some of the best barrel samples I’ve ever tried and these wines are going to be a legendary set of Rieslings, and one that might get overlooked by traditionalists, but deserves your attention is Johannes Selbach’s old vine Zeltinger Schlossberg Feinherb, it is a do not miss! There is a lot of excitement at Selbach for their 2018 wines, which look to include their first true GG’s, though they might be labeled as Three Stars, the first being their awesome Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Trocken, it should be on your watch list, along with this 2018 Schlossberg Feinherb, with it’s off dry richness (though not sweet) proving very sexy in the glass. All of Selbach Oster’s Zeltingen vineyards – Himmelreich, Schlossberg and Sonnenuhr are all set on steep slopes and set on pure blue Devonian slate soils above the Mosel with great souther exposures allowing deep concentration and mineral complexity. When you look for the best in the region, Selbach-Oster joins Loosen, J.J. Prum, Monchhof, Molitor, Maximin Grunhaus and the impressive Loewen, and while Selbach is known for his classic Kabinett, one of the absolute best wines for the money in the world, his opulent Spatlese and his dense and regal Auslese, his drier style wines have always intrigued, usually selected from singular parcels, they are not wines that have been slaves to dogma or technical regulations and too be honest, most of the time their are better for having a little extra residual sugar in the must with this wine showing that extra RS in the form of graceful textural rather than any perception of sweetness. This Zeltinger Feinherb, and find you this is just a barrel sample, is gorgeous with incredible extract, it’s wonderfully detailed Riesling with forward layers of beautiful stone fruits and candied citrus along with hints of apricot, yellow peach, tangerine, quince, flint rock, saline, chamomile, white flowers and crystallized ginger. With air you get classic green apple, lime and creaminess of mouth feel, though a touch of savory wet stones and a touch of lemongrass add contrast to this tasty stuff. The natural acidity and steely mineral tones certainly keeps the energy high and the balance of form is masterful, under the hood is plenty of depth that leads me to believe that this will be a fantastic wine to lose in the cellar for a decade, it will reward both the patient and those that demand instant hedonistic pleasure!

Selbach Oster, with a long storied history in the Mosel, dating back to the 1600s, is run by Johannes Selbach and his wife Barbara, with the increasing help of son Sebastian and daughter Hannah, they, as importer Terry Theise says, manage their vineyards and winery with passion and respect for the estate’s long held traditions. Never one to stand still, Johannes added Christian Vogt in the cellars, he was the winemaker at Kartauserhof for many years, giving even more talent to this winery. Theise adds that, Johannes, like his late father Hans, has continued the use of traditional oak fuder in his cellar, bringing in new large casks every few years. The vinification is carried out in a combination of fuder and stainless steel, with low intervention in an hands-off manner with no fining, and predominantly the wines are done with wild yeasts or Sponti. I have always loved these wines, especially the Kabinett offerings, with the recent vintages 2015, 2016 and 2017 all performing great in the bottle, but these 2018’s are next level and Riesling lovers will want to pre-order as many as possible, in particular the value priced bottlings, like the Zeltinger Himmelreich Halbtrocken, the regular Mosel Kabinett, the Sonnenuhr Kabinett and the Saar negotiant offerings, along with the more serious Graacher, Wehlener and Zeltinger cru stuff, like this one. I was thrilled to catch up with Johannes at a recent tasting and hear about the 2018 vintage, a vintage that Terry Theise is super excited by as he confided to me as well, the wines all were outstanding and in his own humble way seemed really proud of this set, and interestingly in this vintage he guided me towards his Schlossberg wines, my favorite vineyard of his, in contrast to his usually pushing me to give more time and thought to Sonnenuhr! I concede that he was right about that, though for whatever reason I am drawn to Schlossberg and in this vintage I am overjoyed by the quality of this very special vineyard, with the Spatlese as well as this one being in particular explosive with a glorious expressive personality which shines through. Also, I would be amiss without mentioning Selbach’s fabulous and smoky/stony dry Pinot Blanc, one of the best examples of this grape I’ve ever had. (Note: Tasted from Barrel Sample, the finished wine should be released later this fall or winter)
($42 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive

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