Weinbach Alsace Grand Cru Schlossberg Sélection de Grains Nobles Riesling 2017

Dry. The Schlossberg hill has long been revered as one the world’s greatest Riesling vineyards. It’s a granitic outcrop that rises north of Kaysersberg and Kientzheim and sits at an altitude of 230-350 metres. The quality of Schlossberg’s wines was well known as early as the 15th century and it was the first vineyard in Alsace to receive grand cru status in 1975. With 8-hectares, the Faller family are the largest owners in the Schlossberg and craft an extraordinary family of dry Riesling, parceled and bottled according to vine age and altitude. This wine is cropped from three parcels of the highest vines that the family own, at the very top of the slope. Here the soils are shallow, rocky and therefore very mineral – with the granitic scree giving the soils here a distinctive reddish tinge. This combination of altitude, poor soils and low yields is a potent one and gifts a deep but always dry and mineral Riesling with an intense freshness to balance the wine’s flesh. The 2017 was harvested on 27th October at a remarkable 13.3% natural and offers a Riesling masterclass in the balance it offers between power and delicacy. It’s rich and layered but also floral and bright and throws a complex array of aromas and flavours at the drinker – from tangerine and pink grapefruit through to jasmine and nettle. Impossible to stop drinking, this is simply a class act.