2017 Felseneck GG 22 18

In no previous vintage has Felseneck found Stromberg breathing down its neck to the same degree; but Schäfer-Fröhlich’s flagship rises to the challenge and once again emerges with top honors. Penetratingly pungent but also hauntingly, bittersweetly-perfumed notes fill the nose: grapefruit, white currant, struck flint, violet and iris. The satiny but fundamentally firm, indeed, almost implacably dense palate presents a vibrantly tangy welter of citrus with crunchy tart berry and coriander seed, smoky, fusil and otherwise mineral nuances, and striking inner-mouth florality, all underlain by wet stone. Savor of fleur de sel improbably paired with bitter chocolate, adds to a mouthwatering, vibratory, dizzyingly complex finish that just won’t quit.

The Felseneck and I have changed, so subtly that hardly anybody has noticed. The Felseneck does not appear quite so extreme anymore in its expression of funky sulphur aromas. In exchange my sensory perception has become more tolerant for the wilder side of herbaceous vigour. A rocky minerality carves its way into the palate, fruit covered by stone dust, a cool herbal breeze takes charge of the finish. The big polariser! (MS)