$89.99
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Region: Mosel, Germany
Grape: Riesling
First glance: Medium-sweet Mosel Riesling
The Brauneberg vineyard is a historically significant site in the central part of the region called the "Mittel Mosel" - site of the iconic and often dramatically inclined slate-rich hill sides, the origin of some of the worlds finest Riesling. The slopes in this site inclines up to 80% in the steepest areas. Take that in. The term "heroic viticulture" is often used here, and for good reason.
Grapes for the Spatlese style are picked later in the season (after Kabinett, and thus a grade sweeter) to allow the fruit to accumulate extra must weight from sugar content. Apart from allowing more residual sweetness, this also allows for deeper flavours of richly ripe fruit into floral honey tones. Though dry Spatlese does exist, most commonly it will be a medium-sweet style, which can be enjoyed on its own, but also pairs beautifully with an array of Asian cuisines, especially those incorporating fresh aromatic herbs or stronger chilli flavours.
The Review:
94 points, James Suckling
(2020 vintage)
Very youthful and expressive, with so much mandarin, white peach, nectarine and honeysuckle, this is a beautiful Spätlese, in which the succulent sweetness is beautifully balanced by the lively, lemony acidity. And beneath all this is a mineral core. Drink or hold.
