2006 Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Spatlese

The 2006 Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Riesling Spatlese feinherb is dramatically different in personality from the corresponding Kabinett. An alkaline and wet stone mineral cast hangs over the nose and runs through the finish. There is plenty of stuffing, but slightly less clarity. Red currant and gooseberry are backed by hints of honey (as well as the wine’s 20 grams of sugar) and sappy, tart berry and faint bitterness of citrus oil make for admirable persistence. Enjoy this over the next 5-7 years; I doubt it will prove to be a real keeper. After the sensational array of Riesling (particularly at the nobly sweet end of the scale) that Christoph Tyrell fielded in 2005, 2006 was perhaps destined to be overshadowed, but in fact it proved problematic. The harvest began on 2006’s red letter date, October 3rd. “We were prepared to harvest very, very quickly,” relates Tyrell, “because from botrytized material, you can’t make good dry wines,” a lesson he said he learned already in 1989. “And I’ll even admit, I put a machine to work harvesting in the flatter, upper portions of our vineyards, in order to save time” for the hand labor urgently required elsewhere. Tyrell elected not to bottle any 2006 Auslese trocken – his own personal favorite category. “Anything that was sufficiently ripe for this demanding category,” he explains, “was influenced by botrytis. Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463.