Thursday, May 23, 2013

Selbach-Oster


Johannes Selbach will be presiding over our June 22nd tasting.  He will lead us through a guided tasting of his wines.  Mr. Selbach’s wines are some of the finest Rieslings from Germany and some of the finest whites produced anywhere.  This will easily be the event of the year.

His family has been cultivating grapes in Germany since 1600.  In Terry Theise’s 2012 German catalog (Theise is the importer for Mr. Selbach), Mr. Selbach says that he prefers to make moderate wines rather than fruit bombs.  Here is a very brief overview of his portfolio taken from Mr. Theise’s catalog.

Regional Wines:

Most people scoff at regional wines and while I’ve never tasted one of Mr. Selbach’s regional (negociant wines) wines, I’m sure they are up to his high standards.  All of his regionals are 100% Riesling and he purchases them from growers whom he has known for many years.

Mr. Selbach’s Vineyards:

Mr. Selbach’s wines are crafted with grapes from the following vineyards in the Mosel:

Bernkasteler Badstube
Zeltinger Schlossberg
Wehlener Sonnenuhr
Graacher Domprobst
Zeltinger Sonnenuhr    

Mr. Selbach’s portfolio includes a variety of prädikat levels from these vineyards.  His 2011 offerings include a Zeltinger Himmelreich Kabinett Halbtrocken, a Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese and even a Zeltinger Schlossberg Spätlese Trocken.  Mr. Selbach also crafts over a half a dozen wines from micro blocks within each vineyard. 

Last year, I was fortunate enough to find a bottle of his 2007 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese.  The palate entry and mid palate showed a wonderful, creamy, citrus flavor that was a bit tart but in a good way.  The finish was very minerally and the citrus flavors echoed into a long finish.  It was a wonderful wine and more in the classical, Spätlese style.

I am counting down the minutes until this tasting… 

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