2017 Uhlen Roth Lay GG

Bottled in March 2019, this leads with pungent scents of thyme, lemon peel, crushed mustard and coriander seeds, struck flint and crushed stone. There is surprisingly bright juiciness of lemon and white peach on the silken, palpably lees-enriched palate, which also exhibits the sort of complex interplay between herbal and mineral elements that was anticipated on the nose. The finish is vibrantly sustained, bell-clear and, despite its justifiable grand cru aspirations, does not neglect its primary duty to refresh.

Tasted as a sample ready to be bottled, the 2017 Uhlen R Terroir Roth Lay VDP Grosse Lage is fascinatingly wild and intense on the opening, with notes of iron, herbs and crushed stones. On the palate, this is a silky, crystalline, precise, intense and concentrated Roth Lay with a long, tight, intense, complex and very persistent dry finish. Highly promising. A mouth-filling yet precise and salty Roth Lay with warm, lush fruit and a coolish crystalline and flinty soul. This was filtered in early March and was set to be bottled at the end of March, about a week after my tasting on 20 March 2019.