Selbach himself is convinced it will be more impressive after a few years of shedding youthful fat. Selbach’s block-harvested, tank-raised 2009 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Anrecht superbly showcases what he considers the sweetest spot in the Himmelreich Einzellage, here picked in mid-November. Peach, pear, and papaya exhibit the ripe concentration and supportive sweetness of a typical Selbach Auslese. The sense of both tropical and northerly fruit essences here is accentuated by the wine’s creaminess of texture and honeyed glaze on the one hand and its glorious persistence of bright fresh fruit and tartly chewy fruit skin on the other. But then, diverse levels of ripeness are essentially what picking en bloc is designed to achieve. This displays palpable density yet irrepressible lift, finishing with luscious, lip-smacking persistence, encompassing saliva-inducing salinity and vivid intimations of wet stone. I expect it to reward your attention for the next 20-25 years. And what was Selbach thinking when he priced this gem? It ends up representing absurd value! “The autumn was super, with little stress,” remarked Johannes Selbach, who is more often seen furrowing his exceedingly high brow when describing even a highly successful harvest! What there was of botrytis, he reports, came late, and he reported that what rain there was in November was of negligible significance. Where many 2009 collections disappointed slightly as they reached the limits of possible vintage Oechsle, the Selbach-Oster collection proceeded from strength to profound strength. Most of the wines were bottled in May, but some of the dry and nobly sweet lots were very late even to finish fermenting and a few had not yet been bottled even when I tasted in September. True to an intention he stated last year, Selbach has bottled without Pradikat the fruits of block-pickings from his three top parcels, each named on its label. (For more about the principles involved, consult in particular my note on the 2005 “Schmitt” Auslese – in issue 169 – and that on this year’s dry “Schmitt” Spatlese below.) This year’s collection continues the trend for wines from Zeltingen’s Schlossberg to shine with special complexity and elegance after the many years in which they seemed destined at this address to take a back seat to those of Sonnenuhr. Not only were the vineyards of Zeltingen among the most celebrated on the Mosel during the 19th and early 20th century, but Karl Heinrich Koch epochal survey of 1881 places the Schlossberg as among the Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer’s top 11 sites, and one can appreciate this while savoring a wine like this year’s “Schmitt” trocken.Importers: There are a few regional importers of certain Selbach wines, but the majority (and those whose prices are noted above) are Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
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