Ansgar Clusserath Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spatlese Feinherb

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An Ansgar Clusserath 2011 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spatlese feinherb delivers a more piquantly nutty and cyanic as well as more rustically textured, opaque and apple skin-tinged impression than its vintage stable mates. That said, it brims with sappy apple and white peach fruit and leaves a persistent and stimulating finishing impression you have to lick hard to get off your lips. Perhaps on another occasion it will display more clarity and finesse, but there is plenty of depth here and the stamina and constitution, I suspect, for at least a half dozen years’ interest. Eva Clusserath has seldom if ever shown me a more consistently fine collection than from this vintage and it’s too bad that until now only a small representation of her wines – this year bottled in mid-summer – has shown up Stateside. Rather than do a green harvest, Clusserath elected to instead organize a massive “pre-harvest” the third week in September that thinned her vineyards of bunches that had been affected by August hail, but whose results otherwise proved serviceable. Most of her best material, though, was picked close to a month later.Importer: Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York, NY; tel. (212) 279-0799

One of the lots destined for her Steinreich bottling stopped with 20 grams of residual sugar, and became Clusserath’s 2007 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spatlese feinherb. Cherry, almond, and high-toned herbal notes in the nose put me in mind of the Saar. With an alluring combination of lively fresh fruit and creaminess of texture, this impeccably balanced, silken-textured, virtually dry-tasting Riesling finishes with lip-smacking persistence of juicy melon, licorice, flowers, nut oils, mineral salts and orchard fruit distillates. There is more than enough extract on hand here – you can feel it – yet the wine has only 11% alcohol and is more buoyant than even that figure suggests. Why can’t there be more Mosel Rieslings with precisely this sort of balance and versatility at table?Despite the ravages of hail in her Altarchen vineyards, Eva Clusserath triumphed in this vintage. (Due to a technical difficulty in taping them, my notes on her residually sweet wines will be added at a later date as a supplement to my report on 2007 vintage German Rieslings.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300

The Ansgar-Clusserath Clusserath’s 2006 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spatlese feinherb suggests spiced apple, fresh apricot, grapefruit, and subtle floral perfume in the nose. With clear and fresh orchard fruit, citrus, brown spices, and underlying wet stone, this sets off a lovely interplay on the palate. Subtle creaminess of texture and a palpable sense of extract lend this both charm and a sense of seriousness. The long finish is still dry, but residual sugar has meant that the alcohol drops from consciousness too, and there is a much more evocative, refined, long finish than in any of the three legally trocken ones in this collection. This model of balance and Mosel refreshment should prove a versatile delight over at least the next decade. Eva Clusserath keeps going from strength to strength, and made a success of 2006 (if one overlooks very small yields). This year, parcels of old vines she has acquired in Piesport and Dhron supplement her portfolio. The bad news is that she did this to compensate for many wonderful old vineyards she lost as part of the just-completed communal restructuring and replanting in Trittenheim. A prohibition is now (at least temporarily) in place against planting ungrafted vines, and there is not enough old plant material available. Even were clonal selections that she could have planted today to reach maturity (and she late middle age!), says Clusserath, they would never approach the quality of what she lost.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300

Like virtually all of her wines this vintage, Clusserath’s 2004 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spatlese feinherb was very slow to ferment – well into Spring – but was permitted to run its natural course without intervention. Prominent grapefruit and lemon as in most of the 2004s are supportive of the fruit, and the wine evinces a sense of clarity superior to its trocken counterparts, perhaps in part on account of lower alcohol. The overall effect is still pulpy, sappy, and full of stuffing and seemingly mineral extract. This is not the first vintage in which I have preferred Clusserath’s feinherb or halbtrocken Riesling to her more numerous trocken bottlings. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300