From six-year-old vines, the 2019 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** is very intense yet feminine and charming on the nose, like a naked Rubens woman in oil on canvas. The wine reveals perfect botrytis or overripeness that doesn't take anything away from the precision and finesse. It is round, gorgeously lush and voluptuous on the palate yet with crystalline, highly refined acidity and structure. This is a spectacularly intense, warm and ripe Auslese that is opulent yet lean, racy and piquant, finishing with stimulating salinity and precision. A fabulous wine, a showstopper if you so will. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.

2010 年份的這款 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 是 Selbach 的一款二星級葡萄酒。該酒與同款酒 Spatlese 風格一致，有著不同尋常的微妙之處。當然，其應(yīng)有的乳脂感在這款酒中也非常明顯。甜蜜的風味中帶有蘋果果凍、蜜餞酸橙皮和香草糖霜的味道，甜潤適度，因而悠長的余味也不顯過分甜膩。從整體上講，這款酒是一款令人愉悅的高熱量甜酒，甜潤的口感掩蓋了部分酒精的味道。在接下來 20 年左右的時間里面仔細觀察這款酒是怎么樣繼續(xù)熟成的會是一件非常有趣的事，相信有更多精妙之處會出現(xiàn)。

Effusive, tropical aromas of pink grapefruit, mango, papaya, lily, and musk in the nose of Selbach’s “two-star” 2009 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese** are mingled with vanilla, lanolin and spice that suggest oak, although this was raised entirely in tank. The correspondingly extroverted, lusciously-fruited and lasciviously spicy palate performance persists into a decadently ripe, almost confectionary, white raisin- and caramel-tinged finish. This lacks the elegance, finishing fresh-fruitedness, or sense of interplay common to most Selbach wines of its vintage, but it makes quite an opulent even voluptuous show that ought to be worth following for 20-25 years. “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