2016 Riesling Krettnacher Euchariusberg Auslese

“In my 40 years, I’ve never seen such extreme weather as in 2016,” related Erich Weber, “or such an extreme turn in weather: continual rain almost all the way through the summer, then a dream September and sun into November. What looked to be a catastrophe turned grandiose, with wines of such clarity, refinement and levity – I imagine filmy lingerie fluttering suggestively on a clothesline. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a fine collection as this,” he concluded. I am not going to contradict that verdict, and would especially point to the consistency with which these 2016s succeed.

Like most other German Riesling growers, the Webers had to struggle against peronospora, but they retained their usual generous canopy, removing leaves on a strictly surgical basis, a strategy whose benefits include protection from extreme sun exposure, which proved critical when the weather turned. The harvest here began with Pinot Noir on October 3 and the last Rieslings came in on November 4, with ample opportunities along the way for strategizing, scrutinizing and pausing. A very few parcels got picked twice, with an early pass to remove sunburned or rot-tinged grapes, but this culling was minimal and reflects a scrupulousness on Erich and Johannes Weber’s part that very few growers think they can afford. As usual, fruit from selected parcels was sold off in bulk, which this year included any from younger vines that had been stressed by the hot, dry late summer. (One lot from young vines in the Zuckerberg sector – the “Schilly” parcel – was vinified for a Kabinett trocken “House Wine,” A.P. #21, that would have prompted an extravagant and enthusiastic tasting note if promising not to publish one hadn’t been the price for letting me taste it!) Also typical was the presence in certain relatively predictable parcels of grapes full of flavor despite low must weights – a combination that the Webers are able to achieve even at very low crop loads, and by no means just from early pickings – so that a range of Kabinetts, both dry and off-dry, could be rendered. And as outstanding as this year’s collection is in aggregate, three of its most thrilling wines, both dry and residually sweet, are in fact Kabinetts. The Webers’ vintage 2016 Rieslings are also high in acidity, on paper in some cases almost frighteningly so – approaching 11 grams even in dry or near-dry wines – but the effects are utterly engaging. “It’s nearly all tartaric acid,” observed Weber senior, “and you can taste that.” Even allowing for perhaps slightly more sell-off of picking lots deemed less than ideal, thanks to some recently added parcels – as notably reflected in this year’s proliferation of bottlings from the Euchariusberg – production from 2016 amounted to an unprecedented 20 fuders (the 19 wines reviewed below, plus the aforementioned “House Wine.”)

Beginning with this vintage, the Webers have elected to register the cadaster name “Ober Schäfershaus" to designate wines from an especially favored, diabase-dominated portion of the Krettnacher Altenberg. But although they are acutely attentive to, and at pains to showcase, the particularities of each of their parcels, and they like to refer to their wines by parcel nicknames – some locally established, some devised by them (often with tongue in cheek) – they say they don’t want to get carried away registering individual lieu-dits. (For a great deal more about this estate and their sector of the Saar, consult the introductions to my coverage of their 2014s and 2015s. But here is a review of a few critical facts: the Webers’ wines ferment spontaneously in fuder. Each fuder’s contents reflect a single picking from a single parcel – very occasionally concurrent pickings from two parcels – and are separately bottled, directly off the full lees.)