2009 Chateau Bela Riesling

Conveying sappy impressions of pear and cherry cider, the Muller 2009 Riesling Scharzhof deploys its generous juiciness on a silken-textured, buoyant stage and without any impression of superficial sweetness. There is a sense of energy and of stone-fruit interplay as well as a sheer persistence to the finish here that I have seldom experienced with this basic Scharzhof bottling (which is sourced from a variety of vineyards, but especially from sites in Saarburg). It ought to remain delightful for at least 4-5 years. While Egon Muller harvested into November, he noted that the best results were mostly achieved before that, with "the Spatlesen and Auslesen picked in the early passes, which captured what there was of botrytis" on his vineyards, and the collection he fielded from 2009 is not merely notable for the extraordinary quality of select cuvees, but also for its outstanding consistency. Muller draws parallels with 1971, 1990, and 1997, while noting that his 2009s are higher in acidity than the estate's sensational 1997s. A comparison with 2007 also strikes me as inevitable, and I personally take Muller's self-deprecating remark that "in 2009 we tried to rectify certain failures of 2007" with a large grain of tartrate salt. Asked to clarify, he referred to his having in that year been less perseverant or conscientious ("konsequent") in the search for berries of top Auslese or T.B.A.-grade. (To whatever extent that was true of 2007, Muller certainly fooled me!) This year's litany of individual Kabinett bottlings represents a volume approximately equal to that of the collective Spatlesen; and despite Muller's decision to bottle his entire 2009 collection later than usual, one of those Kabinetts – an A.P. #2, and his sole lot of this vintage that represents an amalgamation of two fuders – had already been shipped from the winery without remainder by the time I visited in September. (As ill luck would have it, I learned too late to remedy this deficiency by press time that precisely this wine – at a suggested retail price of $60 – was the Kabinett being sold by Muller's national U.S. agent.) This year's Auslesen, notes Muller, tend to each represent the picking of one particular day from across numerous parcels. (As always, Muller wines from his monopole Braune Kupp are bottled under the Le Gallais label, but in my reports and our database, we do not treat Le Gallais as an independent estate, since it and the Scharzhof have for more than half a century operated as one.) Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY (212) 355 0700