The Selbachs turn out some attractive and affordable negociant bottlings under the J. & H. Selbach label, but their 2009 Saar Riesling Spatlese – sourced, somewhat improbably, from a highly-reputed grower and vineyard in that region both of which will remain nameless – is negociant wine designed to play in the same league with Selbachs’ estate wines. Pink grapefruit, pineapple, apple, and quince are effusively deployed, with the wine’s high residual sugar nicely integrated not only thanks to ample acidity but also to extended time on the lees. There is a nice hint of creaminess lending counterpoint to a sense of refreshment enhanced by tart impingement of apple skin and rhubarb. This will probably become yet more interesting as it sheds baby fat and perform well over at least a 15 year period – not that many who read this (let alone any who don’t) will put that prediction to the test. “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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