The Selbach-Oster 2009 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese displays obvious botrytization in its nose of apple jelly, white raisin, and pungent brown spices. Yet, like its Schlossberg counterpart, this retains a fine sense of pure, primary fresh fruit sappiness that helps make its long finish memorably lip-smacking. This offers admirable textural polish and refined integration of sweetness and botrytis tone. It ought to be fun to follow for at least the next two decades. “The autumn was super, with little stress,” remarked Johannes Selbach, who is more often seen furrowing his exceedingly high brow when describing even a highly successful harvest! What there was of botrytis, he reports, came late, and he reported that what rain there was in November was of negligible significance. Where many 2009 collections disappointed slightly as they reached the limits of possible vintage Oechsle, the Selbach-Oster collection proceeded from strength to profound strength. Most of the wines were bottled in May, but some of the dry and nobly sweet lots were very late even to finish fermenting and a few had not yet been bottled even when I tasted in September. True to an intention he stated last year, Selbach has bottled without Pradikat the fruits of block-pickings from his three top parcels, each named on its label. (For more about the principles involved, consult in particular my note on the 2005 “Schmitt” Auslese – in issue 169 – and that on this year’s dry “Schmitt” Spatlese below.) This year’s collection continues the trend for wines from Zeltingen’s Schlossberg to shine with special complexity and elegance after the many years in which they seemed destined at this address to take a back seat to those of Sonnenuhr. Not only were the vineyards of Zeltingen among the most celebrated on the Mosel during the 19th and early 20th century, but Karl Heinrich Koch epochal survey of 1881 places the Schlossberg as among the Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer’s top 11 sites, and one can appreciate this while savoring a wine like this year’s “Schmitt” trocken.Importers: 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

A spicy version, revealing orange, vanilla and loads of mineral. This is also racy and electric, with a structure that holds it all together like a steel coil. There's terrific length on the aftertaste. Drink now through 2040. 130 cases made.??–BS??Region: Germany / Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Select to Add

Selbach’s 2007 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese – picked two weeks earlier than the corresponding Sonnenuhr – smells of grapefruit marmalade, white raisin, and pineapple. Ravishingly honeyed yet juicy; rich in flavor yet delicate in weight, this exuberant and invigorating expression of Domprobst by no means stints on the site’s characteristic toasty nuttiness, nor on minerality, expressed here in saline and wet stone forms. A hint of vanilla also follows into the long, lifted finish. Plan to follow this for up to three decades. The Selbach crew did some pre-selection at the end of September, leading directly into a main harvest that lasted until November 10. Johannes Selbach says he often had to find things to keep his crew occupied while waiting for what he judged the optimum moments to pick. After having been through 2006, he was determined to have everything and everybody ready should circumstances suddenly dictate haste, which of course they never did. Selbach was delighted – as a self-proclaimed defender of “true Kabinett” – to have some genuinely light-weight yet intensely-flavored wines this year, and he was the first to acknowledge that not only the prevailing weather but also the abundant crop (even allowing for thinning) helped make ripe-tasting yet relatively low must-weight Riesling possible. He notes that there was relatively little botrytis, and then late. In view of that assessment, I was surprised at the extent to which this year’s Spatlesen evinced evidence of it. As for the dry and nearly-dry wines in this year’s collection, “it’s like a homecoming,” remarks Selbach, “to get back to wines with stuffing but that are sleek, anything but heavy, and inviting of the next sip.”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.

Candied berry and citrus aromas and flavors are detailed and persistent as this Riesling unfolds on the palate. It's concentrated, lingering with a peach and lime aftertaste. Drink now through 2030. 9 cases imported.??–BS??Region: Germany / Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Select to Add