Tasting the Rieslings of Selbach-Oster with Johannes Selbach and George Miliotes MS

After his discourse on the Selbach-Oster environment, Johannes Selbach charted a course through the vineyard management and winemaking practices before turning his full attention to guiding us in the tasting of the estate's wines.

Selbach-Oster specializes in Riesling and experience, plus extended residency, are key inputs to their continuing success. The estate is farmed organically and sustainably with a goal of high quality through low yields. Grapes are hand-picked at optimal ripeness in multiple passes on the steep slopes (Grapes from the Anreicht, Schmitt, and Rotlay crus are block-picked in a single picking very late in the season.).

Johannes Selbach and George Miliotes MS

According to Johannes, winemaking at the estate is "super simplistic." Grapes are fermented by wild yeasts in fudres and stainless steel tanks. No enzymes or fining is employed during the fermentation/aging process.

Now on to the tasting.

Johannes feels that Riesling is misunderstood and under-appreciated by the general public because much of it is grown outside of the areas within which it does best. Selbach-Oster makes all styles of Rieslings with balance being a common thread. I have included the vineyards-holdings map from the prior post in order to provide context.

Flight 1

• 2012 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese Trocken
• 2016 Selbach-Oster Zetlinger Schlossberg "Bömer" Riesling

According to Johannes, these two single-vineyard wines are presented to show the contrast; Bömer is a cru (deep soil of decomposed slate) in its parent vineyard.

The Sonnenuhr was aged in old fudres. It showed citrus, honey, sweet grapefruit, and lime. Viscous and textured. Lengthy finish. Moving out of its primary phase. The Schlossberg shows passion fruit, florality, nuts, and a touch of honey. Elegant. Broader base than the Sonnenuhr and not as intense. More open on the palate. Delicate, spicy finish.

Flight 2

• 1983 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken
• 2005 Selbach-Oster Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese Halbtrocken

Johannes indicated that 1983 was a classic vintage in Mosel. The Schlossberg had a honeyed nose with accompanying notes of nuts, fresh herbs and mint. Elegant. Balanced, with a lengthy finish.

2005 was also an excellent vintage which yielded "super-ripe" grapes that were fermented slowly in cool conditions. The Graacher Domprobst was nutty with oxidative notes surrounding honey, citrus, cocoa, and caramel. Caramel on the palate.

Flights 1 and 2 lineup

Dungeness Crab Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Flight 3

• 2016 Selbach-Oster Mosel Riesling Kabinett
• 2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett
• 1985 Selbach-Oster Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett

The 2016 Mosel Riesling Kabinett is the estate Kabinett and the estate's best-selling wine. The grapes are picked early to keep the potential alcohol in check while providing great fruit and acidity for the backbone.  Slate, sweet ripe fruit, citrus, and minerality on the nose along with a hint of yeastiness. Fruit and acidity notable on the palate along with salinity. Rich. Beautiful.

The Schlossberg had a rich golden color. Oxidative notes, butterscotch, and lime on the nose. Thick, rich, and nutty on the palate with umami in the mid-portions. Juicy. Long, rich, mineral finish.

The Graacher Himmelreich was the product of a classic late-ripening vintage. Herbaceous, with lime and blackpepper present. Rounder on the palate than was the case with the stablemates. High acid levels. Lime, herbs, and a savory character on the palate.

Flight 3 lineup

Riesling-Braised Veal Short Ribs with
Wild Mushroom Risotto

Flight 4

• 2009 Selbach-Oster Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese
• 2001 Selbach-Oster Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese
• 1990 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese
• 1976 Selbach-Oster Wehlener Hofberg Riesling Spätlese

The year 2009 was warm, with a bright autumn and longer hang time for the grapes. Peach, apricot, lime, and herbs on the nose. Bright, young, sweet and succulent on the palate. Primary fruit phase. The acidity provides the structure to carry the wine's weight.

2001 was a classic vintage. Herbs, tobacco, and lemon on the nose. Younger on the palate. Acidity engages salivary glands. Some hardness on the fruit but definitely ripe. Limey finish.

1990 was a great vintage with weather originating from the Russian plains and no instances of botrytis. The vintage was characterized by fantastic ripeness and great acidity. The wine shows some resemblance to the 1983 and 1985 in relation to herbaceousness. Thick, rich, honeyed nose with nuttiness, mint, rosemary, and dried herbs. Acidity, leanness, and limeskin on the palate. Beautiful wine.

1976 saw tons of botrytis and very little Spätlese in the region. Eucalyptus and mint on the nose and palate. Salinity, acidity, and eucalyptus define the palate.

Flight 4 lineup

Flight 5

• 2016 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelrich Riesling Auslese
• 2006 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Beerenauslese

2016 was a good vintage. A warm summer, with last-minute rain, and a fall without rain meant no botrytis. The wine was delicately fragrant. Elegant. Fresh and succulent. Great acidity. Balanced, with a lengthy finish. Johannes does not see this wine being sweet enough to pair with heavy desserts but, in his opinion, it is a classic Mosel Auslese that will age for 50+ years.

Johannes thinks that 2006 was the greatest vintage ever and this particular wine was the best sweet wine in all of Germany in 2008. Botrytis, beeswax, honey, golden buttered caramel. Layered. Balanced complexity of sugar and acidity. Salivary glands exercised intensely.

Flight 4 lineup

Apple Bread Pudding

This was an excellent tasting on all fronts:

• The environment was well-suited to the event with the openness providing lots of light but also a nice flow of air into and through the space
• There was a wide range of wines from across the producer's portfolio and an excellent mix of older and newer wines
• The estate principal was present and provided a true Masterclass. This was a very informative session
• The food was absolutely phenomenal. I have been to this venue a number of times now and I am still to come across a dish that I did not like.
• The wines were excellent. With the exception of the 1976 Riesling Spätslese (I wish the acid level was a little higher), I found these wines to be balanced regardless of the sweetness level on the label. A number of them were truly elegant. 

Thank you George for putting this event together. Thank you Johannes for producing such excellent wines and presenting them in the authoritative -- yet fun -- manner that you employ.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

A Riesling tasting with Johannes Selbach (Selbach-Oster) and George Miliotes MS: The environment

The excitement was palpable in Wine Bar George's Barrel Room. Attendees had gathered for a much-anticipated tasting of the wines of Selbach-Oster, said tasting to be led by the current principal Johannes Selbach. I was happy to see the overwhelming response to George's continuing effort to bring back high-quality, estate-principal-led tastings to the Orlando area.

The tasting was titled "An Epic Afternoon of Riesling with Johannes Selbach and George Miliotes" and the advertised lineup of wines pointed to it being so. The tasting would include 13 of the estate's wines in four flights, with some of the wines issuing from watershed vintages.

In his opening remarks, George remarked that he had been friends with Johannes for over 30 years and what a pleasure it was to have him here in person to helm the tasting. At the conclusion of his remarks George turned the floor over to Johannes.

George's opening remarks

Johannes thanked us for being there and then launched into a description of the Selbach-Oster environment. His family has been making wine in the central part of the Mosel for over 400 years. The 24-ha property is populated with mostly old (some up to 100 years old), ungrafted (55%) Riesling (98% with the remainder being Pinot Blanc), the indigenous variety of the region.

Johannes Selbach

Riesling, according to Johannes, is adapted to cold and the long growing season. Mosel is the largest growing region in the world, thanks in large part to its soil and microclimate. The soil is a slate called Blue Devonian and originates from ocean-floor deposits laid down bertween 440 and 400 million years ago. This soil is similar to the soils found in the Douro (Portugal) and Priorat (Spain).

Mosel has a northern continental climate and this, in combination with the river, provides a microclimate that is advantageous for grapegrowing. The river wends its way through the region and reflects the suns rays, supplementing the ripening effect of direct sunlight on the fruit. The river also serves as a store of heat during the day and releases that warmth back into the vineyards during the nighttime. The hillsides bordering the river are very steep -- up to 60% in some cases -- and mostly south-facing, allowing direct sunlight for the better part of the day.

By Friedrich Petersdorff - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 de,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8938732

The soil is rocky and meager, forcing the vines to send their roots deep in search of water and nutrients. The soils are endowed with slate stones which, like the river, provide both reflective and warmth-storage functions. These conditions, according to Selbach-Oster, permit a "long, gentle growing season and a markedly late harvest" with concomitant benefits to the fruit and wine.

Turning from the general to the specific, we see that Selbach-Oster owns five key sites on the right bank of the heart of the middle Mosel and, further, three highly rated crus within the first three of these. the details of these holdings are featured in the figure below.

Once Johannes had completed his overview of the Selbach-Oster environment, he pivoted to the actual tasting. I iwll cover that phase in a subsequent post


©Wine -- Mise en abyme