Amid the admitted vagaries of this years collection at Kloster Eberbach, the tiny amount of 2009 Steinberger Trockenbeerenauslese they bottled doesnt just stand out for its excellence; it will also stand as a glorious milestone in that monopoles illustrious, 900 year history. Comparisons with the legendary 1953 are even now not out of place, as I can testify from having tasted them on this occasion back-to-back. Unlike that 1953, though, it did not take two years for this 2009 to ferment sufficiently to become wine! Apricot and quince preserves laced with honey, caramel, and fresh lemon offer some superficial (and impressive) similarity to a Tokaji Esszencia. But there is as an almost cuddly, subtly creamy, velvety texture, and this Rieslings remarkable levity is both ethereal and exhilarating. Chartreuse-like floral and herbal essences are woven into an uncommonly rich, dense, complex fabric and the finish invigorates, genuinely refreshes, and positively soars. Heres hoping this 2009 is as fresh (and still jam-like) 55 years after becoming wine as was that 1953! Alas – as I discovered only well after having penned the above note – there are fewer than 40 liters of this amazing elixir.Director Dieter Greiner, oenologist Ralf Bengel, and estate manager Stefan Seyffardt are by now presumably fully at home in their vast and sophisticated new facility. A couple of additional and striking changes have occurred in the Hessian State Domaines line-up since last year, include screw-cap bottling for virtually every wine regardless of style or Pradikat, and a drastic reduction in the number of individual bottlings, so that now – much more even than, say, at Schloss Schonborn – generic cuvees are blended from across an enormously wide range of sites that must count as fabulous in any estates hands but no longer receive dedicated bottling at this address; and many combinations of site, style, and Pradikat that have venerable predecessors here are now unlikely ever to recur. As a capitulation to practical, economic realities, this latter development is understandable, but I confess to some sadness that it has to be so, especially in light of the immense and potentially intricate technical capabilities of the estates new cellar. (For earlier – but still recent – important changes in this huge estate and its wine nomenclature, consult issue 185. The brand designation “Crescentia” appears on a range of single-vineyard bottlings – though I have mentioned it below only in connection with the non-vineyard-designated Pinot – and the term “Cabinetkeller” on the ostensibly best wines, an allusion to the once widely-used approbation “Cabinet,” which originated at this address in the 18th century but was outlawed from German wine labels in 1971.) One consequence of a reduced number of bottlings is that the wines I was able to taste in September and on which I am reporting here comprise not a selected subset as before, but rather virtually the entire vintage collection, including all of its major Riesling bottlings.Importers include Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463 and P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. 918 622 0424
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