2018 Riesling Alte Reben

Christian Ebert only began picking his tiny bit of Auxerrois on September 17, 2018 and says he didn’t get going in earnest with Riesling until the last week of that month. When he did, he had to some extent “reversed the usual order of things, harvesting the main hillside first and lesser locations afterward.” Nevertheless, even the ostensibly top dry (or dry-ish) wines this year tend toward noticeably low acidity and elevated alcohol, and overall the 2018 Schloss Saarstein collection wants a bit for cut, focus and animation. “There wasn’t really any rot, noble or otherwise,” reported Ebert, insisting that even this year’s Beerenauslese – a memorable high point, as it happens – issued from healthy albeit largely shriveled grapes. (For more about this estate, its recent evolution, and its labeling practices – which do invite some explanation – consult especially the introductions to my reports on their 2014 and 2015 collections.)