The 2008 Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese A.P. #8 - unlike the corresponding A.P. #4 - represents a single cask rather than an assemblage, but Muller elected this year not to auction a Spatlese. Apple blossom, linden, and rowan make for an unforgettable arboreal bouquet, complimented by pear, white peach, and quince on a delicate, yet richly-textured, silken palate. The inner-mouth floral profusion here is contrasted with a palpable sense of crushed stone and saline mineral residue that however in no way weighs down the buoyancy or obscures the air-dried delicacy and transparency of the wine's ripe, northerly orchard fruits. Hints of vanilla and botrytis honey emerge on the long, ravishingly refreshing, needle-nosed, and dynamically complex finish. This is the most musical of Muller's 2008s as well as among the most refined and memorable wines of its vintage. I suspect it will be well worth following for a quarter century, though no owner should resist the temptation to savor some now. Egon Muller finds merit in the comparison of 2008 with 1988 - or perhaps, as I suggested of his collection specifically, to 1969, a vintage with which, as he pointed out, the youthful 1988s were frequently compared. He notes that -half the 2008 harvest became Kabinett, and most of the rest Q.b.A.- but most of these Kabinetts would have been classified a grade higher in the, for its time, -classic Spatlese vintage- of 1988. That said, Muller and his team - who, unlike most of their Saar neighbors in search of a balance of dry and nobly sweet wines, do not spray against botrytis in summer - managed some superb selective harvesting this year, for which, he relates -the last week in October was the best time. At the end of October, it rained a bit again, and the botrytis was no longer so good. And that's why there is so little nobly sweet wine this year.- Apropos Kabinett, Muller takes a dim view of creeping residual sugar in wines so-labeled - confessing that he did not prove immune to that temptation - and is now bottling in the 30-35 gram range. He is always at pains to point out that he views and styles such wines in the manner traditionally associated with so-called Naturwein rather than in a manner especially associated with capital--K- Kabinett. Nonetheless, 2008 is one vintage where the Muller Kabinett bottlings exhibit precisely the delicacy that many of us consider the essence of that post-1971 category. For the most part, these 2008s - which, as a group, constitute a summit of their vintage - were bottled significantly later than the estate norm. (As always, Muller wines from his monopole Braune Kupp are bottled under the Le Gallais label.)Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY (212) 355 0700
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