Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 55

YEAR'S BEST MOSEL RIESLINGS
88 | Friedrich Wilhelm
Gymnasium

$17

2016 Mosel Fritz Willi Riesling QbA Feinherb (Best Buy) ^ With juicy, honeysucklescented fruit and refreshing acidity, this is
fresh and charming. It's just fruity enough
to be generous, while structured enough to
be elegant. § Schmitt Söhne, Millersville, MD
226083

88 | Karp-Schreiber

$15

88 | Peter Lauer

$21

2016 Mosel My Karp Riesling QbA Feinherb (Best Buy) ^ Crisp herbal notes and salty
mineral tones pique this wine's sweet lime
fruit, a yin-yang balance that makes it especially palate-whetting. § Winesellers, Niles, IL
226432
2016 Mosel Barrel X Feinherb (Best Buy) ^
Saar-based grower Florian Lauer calls this
Barrel X as it's a blend of grapes from three
of his vineyards-unlike his single-parcel
wines, which sport a barrel number as well
as the vineyard name. Like all of his wines,
it's fermented spontaneously; the 2016 is
fresh and generous, with sweet-tart notes of
lime and verbena, and a creamy texture that
makes it terrifically easy to drink. § Vom Boden
Wine Importers, NY
226840

87 | Dr. Fischer

GROSSES GEWACHS
226946

95 | Clemens Busch

$64

2015 Mosel Marienburg-Fahrlay Riesling GG ^ One look at the slippery slope of
blue-slate shards covering Fahrlay, and you
have to wonder why anyone would be crazy
enough to tend vines here. This wine provides an answer. Clemens Busch farms his
own-rooted vines biodynamically, and vinifies this wine slowly, with ambient yeasts in
large casks, creating a riesling with kaleidoscopic flavors. It's tangy and salty, mineral notes playing off of a mix of citrus and
orchard fruit, with green notes that recall
aloe in their mellow richness. Try not to
drink it all at once, so you can watch the flavors evolve over the course of a week. That
might be challenging, however, as the wine is
so silky that it's immediately inviting. § Louis/
Dressner Selections, NY

87 | Reichsgraf
von Kesselstatt

$18

86 | Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler

$15

2016 Mosel Graacher Riesling QbA
Trocken (Best Buy) ^ A full-bodied riesling,
this fills its middle with orange and peach flavors, then ends savory, the ripeness turned
into lasting spice. § Winesellers, Niles, IL
226149
2016 Mosel Dry Riesling QbA (Best Buy) ^
Citrus and mint notes make this light, tart
riesling feel refreshing. For summer drinking. § Winesellers, Niles, IL
226159
$12

2016 Mosel Noble House Riesling QbA
(Best Buy) ^ Lightly sweet and simple, this
is a clean, lemony riesling with pretty floral
scents. For aperitifs. § Winesellers, Niles, IL
225228

86 | Max Ferdinand Richter $16

2016 Mosel Mulheimer Sonnenlay Zeppelin Riesling QbA (Best Buy) ^ This is light
and tangy, with the zip of lemon and the

226918

93 | C. von Schubert

$64

2016 Mosel Maximin Grünhäuser Abtsberg GG Riesling ^ After C. von Schubert
joined the VDP in 2015, Carl von Schubert
and winemaker Stefan Kraml discontinued their Alte Reben (old vine) bottlings of
Abtsberg and Herrenberg, and instead put
that fruit toward Grosses Gewächs ("great
growths"). Vinified from botrytis-free grapes,
macerated before fermentation and aged in
casks, the GG from the blue-slate slopes of
the Abtsberg is tight and energetic, a ball of
potential right now. The fruit serves only to
highlight the firm, mineral flavors, a spritz of
lime over stone; the acidity holds the flavors
in dynamic tension. As tempting as it is to
drink now, this is built to age. § Loosen Bros.
USA, Salem, OR
226945

92 | Clemens Busch

wines, vinified without any inputs, this is a
vivid, dynamic riesling. The fruit feels almost
crunchy in its freshness, with grapefruit acidity invigorating the yellow-plum flavors; they
flow briskly over mineral notes as cool and
smooth as river stones. § Louis/Dressner Selections, NY
222941

91 | Dr. Loosen

$54

90 | Fritz Haag

$52

90 | Reichsgraf
von Kesselstatt

$51

2015 Mosel Graacher Himmelreich GG
Alte Reben Riesling (Best Buy) ^ Ernst
Loosen started making dry wines in the style
of his grandfather in 2008, fermenting them
spontaneously in 1,000- or 3,000-liter casks,
and leaving them undisturbed on the lees
for the next year. The lees lend this 2015 a
Münster-cheese note that persists even after
decanting, but they also add a nutty richness
that fills out the pear flavors, building a sense
of grandeur. Still youthful, this needs time in
the cellar to let the lighter notes of citrus and
dried flowers come to the fore. § Loosen Bros.
USA, Salem, OR
226893
2016 Mosel Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr GG Riesling Trocken (Best Buy) ^
Think of all the components in really good
honey that aren't sweet-the beeswax notes
and sweet florals, the bitter herbals and a
hint of tannins-and you'll get an idea of
this wine. The texture is rich and smooth yet
the wine is savory, the breadth of flavor supported by a stony, saline tang on the finish. §
Loosen Bros. USA, Salem, OR
225999

$18

2016 Mosel Riesling QbA (Best Buy) ^ Dry,
scratchy acidity drives this wine's juicy, sweettangerine flavors into a vegetal realm, so that
it ends on notes of celery root and earth. It's
unusual, and might match a root-vegetable
couscous. § Frederick Wildman and Sons, NY
226306

86 | Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler

bitter crunch of underripe peach-a palate
refresher for warmer months. § Massanois
Imports, NY

$50

2015 Mosel Marienburg GG Riesling (Best
Buy) ^ This comes off the gray-slate sections
of Clemens Busch's Marienburg vineyards,
the vines 22 to 30 years old. Grown under
biodynamic principles and, like all of his

2016 Mosel Nies'Chen GG Riesling (Best
Buy) ^ A big wine, this is powered by alcohol,
its warmth radiating spice through the dense,
earthy flavors. Rather than feeling heavy,
however, the alcohol seems to vaporize the
flavors, leaving them suspended in fragrance.
Give the wine time in the cellar and it's likely
to find a happy middle road. § Opici Wines,
Glen Rock, NJ

KABINETT
223878

94 | Grans-Fassian

$40

2015 Mosel Trittenheimer Riesling Kabinett ^ This is riesling in Technicolor. Catherina Grans and her father, Gerhard, selected
this from plots planted in the blue-gray slate
around Trittenheim, on the right bank of the
Mosel. While it's not their most ambitious
wine, it might be their most profound, a wine
that presents its generous, multilayered flavor with a selfless ease. It smells like heaven,
if heaven were filled with flowers and ripe
WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2018

55
http://www.vonschubert.com/en/
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2018
