2019 Niedermenniger Herrenberg Spatlese feinherb Herbert Deutschen 17 20

As usual, the 2019 Riesling Niedermenniger Herrenberg Spätlese feinherb A.P. #11 issues from old vines in the parcel nicknamed Meyer Nepal (a jocular reference to the site’s high altitude) and that site nickname now appears in fine print on the label. Apple, white peach and lime laced with mint and freesia inform the nose and the delicate, infectiously juicy, seductively silken palate. With a day or two open, a haunting aromatic alliance of vanilla, peach and honey suggestive of a nobly ripe vintage like 1966 or 1975 joins in. An undertone of wet stone runs throughout, and the finish bursts forth in a dazzling shower of flowers, citrus juices, crystalline stone and salt spray, to which, after a couple of days in a half open bottle, is added salinity, as well as tang and piquancy of peach flesh close to the core, all of which set my salivary glands palpitating. Sweetness, incidentally, is modest and entirely supportive. Here is a combination of vivacity, cut and buoyancy – not to mention irresistible refreshment – such as one seldom encounters from the 2019 vintage, albeit quite consistently at this address. (There are four other vintage 2019 Herrenberg Spätlese feinherb bottlings – one representing a mere half-fuder – but I did not taste them.)