Weighing in at 13.9% alcohol even with residual sugar close to the upper limit for trocken, the Schonborn 2007 Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg Riesling Erstes Gewachs still manages to offer some genuine refreshment thanks to strong, ripe acids. Its rich, site-typical tropical fruit character and piquant underlying nuttiness are no doubt in part supported by high glycerin and alcohol, albeit at the price of a certain degree of gum-numbing. This exhibits some of the same elusive muskiness, but lacks the textural allure of its Auslese trocken counterpart – a wine Barth is willing to concede is closer to a classic dry Rheingau style, although both were fermented in fuder. I would not be too confident about how this will handle its alcohol as it matures, since I don’t sense the sort of stuffing and texture than might ultimately ameliorate it. But certainly one could reasonably expect at least 4-6 years of interesting evolution.
Peter Barth took over cellar duties in 2001, and direction of the entire, fabled Schonborn estate in 2006. I had not visited in all that time – only heard rumors of a revival tales of a sort that are too often false alarms when it comes to large, underperforming, noble Rheingau estates – so I am happy to report that the renaissance of Schloss Schonborn is for real. Ten years ago, I found Schonborn’s dry wines too austere and their sweet wines exaggeratedly so. Examples of these extremes have not been eliminated, but there are plenty of gorgeous and without doubt age-worthy wines that steer a steady stylistic course. Although – like most large German estates – Schonborn has pruned the number of single-vineyard wines and styles on offer when compared with the enormous annual line-ups that prevailed until a decade ago, this has been done with sensitivity to synergistic blends, and allowing plenty of room for each of the domaine’s most celebrated vineyards – in particular their monopole Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg with 12 bottlings this vintage! and Erbacher Marcobrunn – to show-off.
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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