2022 Weingut Selbach-Oster Riesling “Rotlay” Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, Mosel, Germany.
The exotic, deeply rich and thrilling 2022 Rotlay block collection Riesling from Selbach-Oster comes from the cru Zeltlinger Sonnenuhr vineyard set on Devonian slate and vines up to 100 years old, and that were trained on single poles adjacent to the Mosel. I’ve been admiring these limited block selection wines from Johannes Selbach for more than a decade now, and this 2022 vintage is one of the best yet with a pale gold hue and a full luxurious palate of ripe apricot, candied pineapple, lemon curd, apple, lime sorbet and tangerine, along with smoky crushed flint, rosewater, lychee and lingering honey. At around 7.5%, these wine is very Auslese like, but definitely not a dessert wine, as it drinks much drier and mineral intense. than the residual sugar would suggest. I believe, that Selbach, included a high percentage of botrytis grapes, which seems very case when drinking, though there’s a great finesse here and a good cut of natural acidity that tames the sweetness and a complex savory element too, making it a wine that can be paired nicely with spicy Asian cuisine.
Johannes Selbach of Weingut Selbach-Oster does a special series of Rieslings that come from carefully select block in his best cru sites, like this Rotlay, which has an Auslese like richness, texture and feel in the mouth, but with less sweetness, more Spatlese level, if you can relate and the depth and length are exceptional. This wine comes off mainly old vines in the famous Zeltinger Sonnenuhr vineyard that Selbach feels gives the most interesting terroir characteristics and flavors. These special block wines, Bömer (Zeltinger Schlossberg), Schmitt (Zeltinger Schlossberg), Anrecht (Zeltlinger Himmelreich) and the Rotlay (Zeltinger Sonnenuhr) are hand picked everything at once, as Selbach notes, once optimal ripe, but including green berries, yellow berries, and botrytis berries, and he ferments them spontaneously in Fuder. This he says represents a traditional style and a true expression of terroir. The high sugar levels on the Oechsle (must weight) scale, as noted, well up into the Auslese echelon, means these wines, which I discovered in the 2010 vintage, are rich and luscious, as this 2022 Rotlay is, but also wonderfully detailed and elegant, they some of the most interesting and pleasure filled wines of the Mosel.
($65 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive