Selbach Oster Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken 2019
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Wine &
Spirits -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
This perennially outstanding wine is an especially slatey rendition. What was always a wacky fun wine became quite a bit more lovely and serious when Johannes began introducing more sponti and fuder casks into the assemblage.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Halbtrocken, or “half-dry,” is often more confusing than helpful as a designation, but it fits this wine perfectly: On one hand, it’s as juicy as a fresh-picked apple, with a plump button-mushroom earthiness underneath; on the other, it’s lean and driving, with electric acidity and salty minerality. The combination is palate-whetting and powerful enough to stand up to a creamy mushroom fricassee.
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James Suckling
Where are the salads? Where is the pasta? Brimming with red apples, this is crisp and extremely animating with a pretty dry balance, the harmonious finish totally food-friendly.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken is clear yet intense and bright on the coolish, precise and elegant nose. Round, lush and piquant on the palate, this is a dense and textured Kabinett with good concentration and a crystalline mineral structure that leads to stimulating acidity. Still baby-young and reductive but a gorgeous wine.
Other Vintages
2021-
James
Suckling
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Wine
Spectator -
Wine &
Spirits
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Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling
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Wine
Spectator
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Robert
Parker
Since 1661 the Selbach family has owned vineyards in the Mosel region. Their main treasure is simply what nature presents us with: excellent vineyard-sites, and old, ungrafted vines on steep, south-facing slopes planted on heat-retaining, mineral-rich, rocky slate soil. Their philosophy of winemaking is "hands-on" in the vineyards and "hands-off" in the cellar. Most of Selbach Oster wines are still fermented and matured in the traditional oak "Fuder"-barrels supplemented by a small number of stainless-steel vats. They do not use new oak for Rieslings to preserve the delicate structure of subtle fruit and crisp acidity as purely as possible
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.