2017 - Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese, Egon Muller

There is just this one vintage 2017 Müller Scharzhofberger Spätlese, and it reflects formidable botrytis influence via a combination of dried fruit concentration, singed-edge smokiness, honeyed richness and an oily, almost plush texture. Happily, a lusciously fresh layer of white peach and apple is also present, and as with so many other top exemplars of this site, particularly in 2017, there is an invigorating bite of pepper cress curiously but delightfully allied with cooling mintiness. The acids here – at eleven grams, the highest in this collection save for the T.B.A. – are pitted against residual sugar and buffered by dry extract to the point where tingling tartness or bright citricity are absent, yet their effect is felt in the sheer penetration and vibratory sense of energy conveyed on the wine’s prodigious, strikingly undulating finish. “For me,” remarked Veronika Lintner, “this Spätlese encapsulates the 2017 vintage.” It does the best of it, anyway.