The Schonborn 2008 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Spatlese - from some of the estate's younger vines in that famous site, but in a prime location for ripening - smells extravagantly sweetly of gardenia and almost over-ripe peach; slathers the palate in honeyed glycerin-rich essence of peach, vanilla, and liquid floral perfume; and finishes with hints of peach kernel adding some counterpoint to the wine's sheer sweetness. This is not a 2008 characterized by dynamic interaction of flavors, but rather, emphasizes the soothing, caressing side of the vintage. it's quite lovely now even if a bit overly-sweet for my sense of balance, but I would expect it to have some magnificent moments over the next quarter century or more. An April, 2009 visit to this estate - my first in many years - convinced me of Peter Barth's seriousness and talent, and revealed many wines worthy of the great potential of the vast von Schonborn acreage. Last September, I was thrilled by an even finer collection. The number of separate and vineyard-specific bottlings here (as explained - along with other recent developments at this estate - in issue 185) is nowadays intentionally limited. Additionally, in 2008 Barth adopted a very conservative approach, essaying few nobly sweet wines, and while finding his best fruit from top parcels worthy of Erstes Gewachs bottlings, he did not render parallel Spatlese trocken bottlings from the same sites as in other recent years. -Our late start picking this year, with the first Riesling on October 17,- Barth points out, -would have been considered entirely normal 15 years ago. But honestly, by the time we started, I think more than half of the Rheingau had already been picked, a lot of that wines with green, unripe notes and resulting in wines that were then de-acidified.-Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389- 9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. (203) 239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700
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