St Urbans-Hof Schodener Saarfeilser Marienberg Riesling Spatlese Feinberb

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Gooseberry, redcurrant, and mint mark the nose and invigorating palate of Weis’s 2008 Schodener Saarfeilser Riesling Spatlese feinherb, from a unique, drought-prone, cobbled site along the Saar that is shared with the Lauer and Loch estates. (The full name of the site – for more about which, consult previous reviews of its wines – now appears in small print on the back label. The wine has typically been referred to chez Sankt Urbans-Hof – and, indeed, for most of the 20th century – simply as “Saarfeilser.”) An overt sense of wet stone sets off peach and tart berry. Bittersweet suggestions of iris perfume waft throughout, while faintly fusil and chicken broth notes remind me of Chablis. Weis indicates that he employs skin contact to “succeed in capturing the almost Muscat- or Traminer-like character that Riesling can achieve on the Saar, but without that maceration engendering bitterness.” This offers a fine example of concentration along with elegance and refinement, its residual sugar serving to keep the alcohol down to 10%, yet without engendering any significant sweetness. I would expect it to keep well for at least a dozen years. Sankt Urbans-Hof, notes proprietor Nik Weis, experienced a good ten degrees Oechsle difference in 2008 between its ripest Saar fruit – bottled as Spatlese – and that of the Mosel, which reached Auslese level even without stringent selection of botrytis fruit. “We find this a terrific vintage,” remarks Weis – who compares its style with 1998 – “inasmuch as at long last we again have the clear differentiation between Kabinett as it should be, Spatlese, and ennobled Auslese.” Remarkably, there is only a single trocken bottling here this year (from Mehring) which I did not taste and which was destined for the Landhaus Sankt Urban restaurant of Weis’s sister and brother-in-law.Importer: H. B. Wine Merchants, New York, NY; tel. (917)-402-0456