Maximin Grunhaus Abtsberg Riesling Spatlese 2018
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Spirits
Wine & -
Spectator
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Abtsberg is the premier site on the Grunhaus hillside, it’s deep blue slate adding an extra dimension to the Riesling grown here. High toned aromas of white peach, Bosq pear, lime juice and sweet chives. Classic Spatlese sweetness with flavors redolent of dried apricot, guava, and a distinct herbal/smoky character.
Drink with spicy, full flavored foods like baked ham, venison, paella, bouillabaisse, ripe cheeses.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
This moves up a gear from the Herrenberg in terms of concentration. This offers a very intense, lime and herb nose and fresh minerals, delivering a very harmonious impression. The depth and sense of seamlessness here is incredible. This has a super pure feel with juicy and intensely ripe fruit on offer. Such length and purity. Drink over two decades.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Maximin Grünhaus Abtsberg Riesling Spätlese opens intense yet pure and floral/herbal on the nose, with delicate yet intense dark flinty slate aromas. The palate is lush, round and highly stimulating with its delicate, crystalline and salty acidity, which lends remarkable finesse and length. This is delicious and fabulous in its weightless but nobly refined character and endlessly salty, playful but also long and mineral finish.
-
Wine & Spirits
This just sings. A late-harvested selection of riesling off vines averaging 40 years old, fermented with ambient yeasts in large oak casks, it tastes like yellow plums and peaches at the height of ripeness. The texture is luxurious, a satin ribbon of fruit sweetness carried aloft by equally vibrant acidity. It lasts with bell-tone clarity, approachable now with or without food, and structured for aging as well.
-
Wine Spectator
Rich, concentrated and almost waxy, with a vanilla-tinged core of lime and yellow apple flavors. Turns savory and stony as this drives through the piquant aftertaste. Light-weight, but mineral-driven and intense overall, displaying complexity and length. Best from 2021 through 2035.
Other Vintages
2022-
Suckling
James
-
Spectator
Wine
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Panel
Tasting -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Panel
Tasting
-
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Spectator
Wine
-
Spectator
Wine
-
Spirits
Wine &
-
Spirits
Wine &
-
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Spirits
Wine &
-
Guide
Connoisseurs' -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spirits
Wine &
-
Spectator
Wine
-
Spectator
Wine
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.