2017 Riesling Ürziger Würzgarten Spätlese

In what would turn out to be his last year of hands-on management at both Joh. Jos. Christoffel and the Mönchhof estate formerly owned by his family, Robert Eymael reported having faced the most labor-intensive and hence expensive harvest in his four decades. Picking, which lasted from September 25 to mid-October, had to be very selective. Kabinetts harvested well into the legal range of Auslese have figured in Christoffel collections back into the 1990s – long before Hans-Leo Christoffel leased his vineyards to Eymael, with what had been a family estate effectively becoming a brand – and 2017 offers further examples of conservatism in assigning Prädikat. Eymael freely admitted that, at least nowadays, this approach is driven by marketing considerations. Auslesen are automatically not big sellers, whereas there is a consistent demand for Mosel Kabinett. Marketing also drove Eymael’s decision to bottle no legally dry or even dry-tasting 2017s under the Christoffel label, the “entry-level” of an abbreviated lineup being represented by sweet Kabinetts. The fruit selectivity incumbent on dry wines was exercised under the Mönchhof label (which has a major presence in the German market, where trocken Riesling is de rigueur), whereas the Christoffel name has long been largely associated with unapologetically sweet wines. And in any case, there was only half the usual volume of juice to ferment, given major losses to the April frost and to ignoble rot. Rolling with rather than fighting against the ripeness of 2017, and incorporating whatever share of botrytis, has largely not resulted in blurring or bitterness. The best wines preserve animation and refreshment as a function of vintage-typical acidity. Still, they represent a disappointment relative to their vintage 2016 counterparts, let alone to the quality associated with the name Joh. Jos. Christoffel back when it was an estate, or in the early years of collaboration with Eymael when Hans-Leo Christoffel was still personally involved. (For much background on Hans-Leo Christoffel’s former family estate and his collaboration with Robert Eymael, consult the introduction to my report on the Christoffel 2014s; for information about a recent change in ownership and what it might portend, see my introduction to notes on the Mönchhof 2016s.)