This is bright, with a saline intensity to the apple, quince and grapefruit flavors. All the components are here, needing time to mesh. There's fine harmony and length. Best from 2011 through 2020.??–BS??Region: Germany / Mosel Select to Add

Serving his 2008 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett after the superb corresponding Kabinett as Johannes Selbach did certainly runs a risk, but this is so effusively floral – redolent of heliotrope, wisteria, and musky narcissus – and lusciously sorbet like in its expression of fresh apple and lime that it’s like something delightfully midway between a palate-cleanser and a (barely sweet) dessert. The perfume that wafts all the way through perfectly fits the sense of lift and delicacy in a finish that also delivers utterly intriguing nuances of nut oil, wet stone, and brown spices. This utterly ravishing and terrific value Kabinett should delight for a dozen or more years. Johannes Selbach responded to the high energy and acidity of the 2008 vintage by giving most of the wines extra fine-lees contact and later-than-usual bottling. As a champion of (in his words) “genuine Kabinett” and “drinking wine, not trophy wine” and a resister against the encroachment of high must weights and residual sugar to which the weather in most recent vintages has left even him susceptible, Selbach was predictably overjoyed both with the refreshment, delicacy, and infectious drinkability made possible by vintage 2008, and with its preponderance of Kabinett and Spatlese. Several single-parcel, block-picked (i.e. the whole crop at once), vineyard-designated wines were essayed (that from the Anrecht – within Zeltinger Himmelreich – being new this year) although at Spatlese rather than, as usually in the past, Auslese Pradikat level. In fact, it remains Selbach’s intention to very soon remove the already small-print reference to Pradikat from these special bottlings, whose focus is intended to be entirely on reflecting terroir and vintage. (Ironically, though, the reference to the sites themselves remain in very small print, because the authorities are testy about the use of geographical designations other than those of the official Einzellagen singled-out – or, to put it more appropriately, assembled – in 1971.)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

The Selbachs' 2005 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett offers spiced apple jack in the nose, along with site-typical vanilla and pungent notes of lime peel and ginger. Bright, vigorous, and obviously extract-rich, and persisting in formidable, almost spirituous intensity, this is surprisingly lacking in charm or delicacy, probably because of sheer extract and intensity. But there is no denying it is impressive as far as it goes and needs to be visited again after it has relaxed and evolved a bit. “For me, 2005 is a singular vintage in my career,” says Johannes Selbach, “in that it is ripe, multi-faceted, and has excellent acidity. You can pick any of the other recent classics – 1975, 1990 ... . Each of the benchmark years is great in its way, however here you have a combination that is fun to drink now, ten years from now, and in thirty years as well. It remains to be seen, but I think 2005 is in another league.” Readers will indeed be hard pressed this year to find another address with this many consistently outstanding wines, and when has there ever been a more diverse and at the same time magnificent array of Auslesen? In their upper reaches, the Selbach 2005s seem – like Zilliken's, but in their own unique way – to chart a trajectory beyond the normal course for their vintage. The harvest here extended from mid-October to mid-November.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Still in cask (when I tasted in August), a 2004 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett smells of fresh apple, lime, and vanilla. The palate is delicate and refined, with an interplay of tart, fresh citrus, apple, and salty, stony minerality. The finishing flavors are a touch austere, yet the impression is generous in its lip-smacking juiciness. Despite 30 grams of residual sugar, this wine tastes halbtrocken. Incidentally, between sales to the States and a reservation by a major airline, there was not a single bottle to be had for me to taste of this year’s Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300