99
score
Robert Parker
December 23, 2011
The Muller 2010 Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese A.P. #8 is sedate and quiet at first sniff after the riot of brightness and opulent generosity of most of the wines that preceded it in the present collection; but this initial restraint goes hand in hand with a harmony of quince, white peach and mirabelle preserves; white raisin; pistachio and almond cream; salted caramel; fresh citrus; herbal essences; and floral perfume, not to mention a balance of acidity and sweetness, viscosity and levity, such as is seldom witnessed even in the realm of great, ennobled Riesling. This is almost endlessly fascinating, seductive, and long-finishing; and probably nearly ageless, as well. I’ve had much more assertive, even shockingly intense young Egon Muller T.B.A.s, but none with such early harmony and self-assuredness – or any finer. Following usual estate practice, Muller insists that both this and his second 2010 T.B.A. (which had not finished fermenting when I visited and tasted) were selected entirely at the vine and in the vineyard, not in the press house. He relates that before the second half of the twentieth century, a wine such as this – which, in the event, was vinified and aged in small stainless steel tank and glass balloon – presented a dilemma because the concentration of sugars caused the humidity to be stripped from wooden staves, resulting in leakage and a ruined barrel, if not ruined wine. “We followed this as old vintners’ wisdom,” says Muller. “Then, in 1989, we got to test that wisdom, because we had so much rich botrytis wine that there were not enough vessels available and we put some of it in a barrel. It leaked, and had to be retired.”
Egon Muller scored a collection of striking successes in 2010, albeit at the price of tiny yields, comparable, he notes, to those of hail- and botrytis-ravaged 2006. This paucity of juice, combined with high ripeness, is reflected in the, for this estate, very surprising presence of only one Scharzhofberger each of Pradikat Kabinett and Spatlese, consisting of an amalgamation of several tiny lots. Nor need collectors fret about the identity of A.P. #s ... save when it comes to Trockenbeerenauslese, since a second one of those was fermenting at the time of my visit. (The 2009 vintage T.B.A. reviewed in Issue 192 now carries this year’s A.P. #11 and achieved at auction last September a record price of 5300 Euros for 750 ml.) Picking began October 14, “already with beautiful botrytis,” Muller notes, and was finished before the end of the month to respect the crew’s All Saint’s holiday weekend and because – although he indicates that there was negligible rain here at the beginning of November – Muller perceived scant likely benefit to postponing passes on an already extremely light-bearing vineyard. “We picked out what little botrytis-free fruit there was intermittently through the course of the harvest,” he adds, “and de-acidified musts selectively as seemed warranted, independent of the quality (i.e. Pradikat) level in question.”
