2018 Wolfer Goldgrube Spatlese

From very old, ungrafted vines in the Portz plot, the 2018 Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Spätlese is generously intense on the nose that displays a clear and coolish flinty/crunchy slate bouquet with saffron notes and super ripe and elegant fruit. Lush and round on the palate, this is a mouth-filling and textured, beautifully salty and mouthwatering Spätlese with stimulating salinity. Due to its texture and flavors, this is Riesling's answer to lobster, and it is absolutely fabulous, piquant and long. 8.5% alcohol. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.

From the swift-ripening Portz and Reiler sectors, this leads with effusive, heady and alluringly sweet-musky perfume of lily and peony, accompanied by very ripe quince and white peach. The lusciously fruity, liquidly perfumed midpalate is creamy and delicate, adding ripe Persian and honeydew melons to the mix. Amazingly, although acidity here is just 7.5 grams, 86 grams of residual sugar manage not to come off as overly sweet, and an improbable lick of fresh lime enhances the lingering, pure-fruited, persistently perfumed and mouthwateringly salt-tinged finish. (I have not tasted a Spätlese Goldkapsel that Vollenweider produced in small volume from his oldest Portz vines.)

Complex aroma of wet slate and wild smoky herbs. Cool and finely judged between that wild sense of adventure and the creamy caress of ripe lemon. Lemon chunks on the finish. (JH)