2016 Riesling Zeltinger Himmelreich Auslese Anrecht

The Selbach wines are once again a beacon of clarity. The dry wines are paradigms of elegant understatement, superbly clean and soaring with aroma, while the off-dry and sweet wines are marvels of balance. This is a real achievement in 2023, as Johannes Selbach does not hold back: “It was a hell of a vintage, a rollercoaster, but it had a happy ending. It was extremely challenging. The first half of the vegetative period, we had heat and dry stress, then the weather turned in July and the rain came. Combined with heat, this meant that everything caught up quickly. The grapes swelled and were tight on the bunch, squeezing each other. Fruit flies came, and rot set in. I have never seen such a challenging harvest. We selected until it hurt.” Selbach explains that his experienced team of harvesters, the same people who return year after year, can tell good from bad botrytis, but this year put everyone to the test. “Had the harvest not finished, there would have been mutiny. The more the harvest advanced, the more we had to discard,” he remembers. Selbach estimates that on average, he lost 25% of his yield, with relatively little in the beginning and big losses towards the end. The Selbachs also produce the Merkelbach wines in their time-honored style. In 2023, the Merkelbach wines are old-school but shine with their light touch and ease—however, quantities are tiny.

“All the way back to the 18th century,” said Sebastian Selbach, “there always was a Selbach somehow involved in wine, making or selling it. The Oster name comes from the other side of the family.” The union of the families worked as the Selbachs specialized in trade, while the Osters owned vineyards. The negociant side of the business lives on under the name J. & H. Selbach, founded in 1920/1921. The Selbach-Oster wine estate itself was founded in its current form in the early 1960s to create a distinction between the wine estate and the negociant business – but the Selbach family runs both. Notably, the Selbachs are commissionaires at the Trier and Bad Kreuznach auctions. Johannes Selbach joined his parental estate in 1989 after stages with Bischöfliche Weingüter in Trier, studying economics in Cologne and business at Penn State University and a work stint in the US. He took over entirely in the early 1990s. His American connections ensured that the estate was always focused on export – because even his mother, Sigrid Selbach (née Pauly), spent an exchange year in the US in 1953 as part of a US-sponsored program for young citizens of the newly founded Federal Republic of Germany – traveling there by boat from the port of Genoa, Italy. Sebastian Selbach joined the business in the summer of 2019 after training with Dönnhoff in the Nahe and Müller-Catoir in the Pfalz, a business degree followed by an oenology and viticulture degree from Geisenheim and further stages at Hofstätter in Alto Adige and Jim Barry in Clare Valley, Australia. Today, the business is run by Barbara (née Grüter), Johannes and Sebastian Selbach. They farm 24 hectares of vineyards, mostly in Zeltingen (Sonnenuhr, Schlossberg, Himmelreich) as well as in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Graacher Domprobst and Himmelreich and the Bernkasteler Badstube and Graben. Wines are made in both stainless steel, Fuder and Doppelfuder (2,000L) in the old cellar in the Uferallee in central Zeltingen-Rachtig. The new building on the outskirts of the village houses both the negociant business and the tasting room. Plantings are 93% Riesling, followed by Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir and Gewürztraminer. Pinot Noir plays an increasing role ever since the Selbachs bought a 1990-planted parcel in the Zeltinger Himmelreich in 2016. They initially thought the grapes would make it into their Sekt but made a red wine in 2016, sold under their negociant label. As of 2017, they sold it under the estate label. Since then, they have added a further parcel in the Kinheimer Rosenberg and in 2018, they planted the Hell parcel in the Zeltinger Himmelreich. “We are now all fully on board with Pinot Noir,” says Johannes Selbach. “We see huge potential, and we love it because Pinot Noir is a variety that lives off nuance.” I share his enthusiasm and cannot wait to taste more. The track record of this estate and the brilliance of the Rieslings – dry, off-dry and sweet – is dazzling. They are amongst the best. There are some special bottlings from single parcels. Johannes Selbach explained that these wines originate from a competitive experiment: “Anrecht, Schmitt and Rotlay are the result of the spirit of the early 2000s, which was dominated by the idea of bigger, better, faster, more.” Johannes Selbach and his father competed on who could make the best wine, the former insisting that the best parcels had completeness, while the latter maintained that the best wine was made from a selection of grapes only. The son’s wine was, in his own words, “big, a sumo wrestler rather than a ballerina.” He conceded immediately to his father’s more balanced, nuanced wine, harvested en bloc from the single, outstanding parcels. The idea, said Selbach, is “no anti-selective harvest because this kind of non-selective harvesting [of various ripeness grades] only works in the very best parcels of the best sites.” They are always made from the same parcels, almost invariably the last to be harvested. The 2022 harvest started on 5th September with Gewürztraminer. “But what rescued the harvest for us,” said Sebastian Selbach,” was the rain in mid-September. The harvest itself was relatively unproblematic, and we finished on 18 October.” Two thousand and twenty-two saw no skin contact for the Riesling grapes. During my visit, I tasted the full range of 2022 Rieslings, a Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir from 2020 and a Pinot Noir from 2021.

The Selbachs began picking Pinots (and Gewürztraminer) on September 4 and then launched almost immediately into Riesling. Even so, they did not manage to harvest a residually sweet Kabinett from the Wehlener Sonnenuhr – though there are two others – because fruit in that site was deemed already too ripe to suit the genre. Yet despite the shockingly early start, harvest here only concluded on October 18. This is among the few addresses in 2018 where botrytis led to a large and impressive array of nobly sweet bottlings. The damming of the Mosel at Zeltingen makes for an especially wide, still stretch of water underneath the Zeltinger and Wehlener Sonnenuhr Einzellagen from which rising mists can infiltrate the bunches, but the catalytic factor in 2018 appears to have been a very localized enhancement of September rain, and one can certainly not discount the determination of a team specialized in the art of botrytis selection and given ample time to operate. In keeping with a recent retro fashion, Johannes Selbach reactivated a basket press with which he recalled his father having let him process a child’s first Beerenauslese back in 1975. Decidedly non-retro is a spacious new processing facility – adjoining the estate’s first-ever tasting room (really a huge hall) – that includes a much larger grape-cooling chamber (though even so, Selbach reported his first-ever use of dry ice to supplement) and an additional press, features ideally suited for addressing 2018’s warm September weather and bumper crop. “Bumper” applies equally to this collection’s nobly sweet offerings. “In that sense, too, this is an exceptional year,” observed Barbara Selbach, “because usually we have Beerenauslesen or Trockenbeerenauslesen only in homeopathic quantities, but here we were even able to split the Sonnenuhr TBA into two lots, one of which was raised in a 500-liter cask.”

If one adds in the estate’s usual three block-picked and parcel-designated bottlings that are officially Auslesen, there are at least nine Selbach-Oster wines of that Prädikat from 2018! Vintage 2018 Selbach-Oster wines that I was not given an opportunity to taste and was unable to subsequently procure very unfortunately include not just the Pinot Blanc, the Gewürztraminer and two generic Rieslings, but also the Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese, both “one-star” and “no-star,” and the Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Beerenauslese. I’ll try to make up at least some of those deficits on another occasion. The aforementioned cask-raised Sonnenuhr TBA was deemed not yet ready for presentation at the time of my last, late November 2019 tasting session. (For an extended account of this estate’s recent history, its top sites and the evolution of its viticultural and cellar methodology, consult the introductions to my accounts of the vintage 2014 and vintage 2015 collections. Some important updates can be found in my introductions to subsequent Selbach-Oster coverage.)

Johannes Selbach is among the minority of Mosel to report a successful rebound of secondary growth from an April frost that he acknowledged struck even steep sites where he had never before experienced frozen buds. Selbach’s team had already started harvesting Riesling on September 17, but he didn’t feel in any rush (the last day of picking was to be October 24), reporting that thanks to an early weeding out of less-than-desirable botrytis, subsequent fruit was either clean or quite nobly rotten – as witness a TBA, two BAs, and no fewer than nine different Auslesen, if one includes the three annual parcel-designated results of en bloc picking that are legally Auslesen even though the estate doesn’t refer to them by that name. So confident were the Selbachs in the fundamental healthiness of their late-ripening fruit that one parcel in Himmelreich was even left hanging for Eiswein and abandoned only when, come early January, a suitably deep frost had still not arrived. Selbach is keen to emphasize his sector’s having experienced just enough summer rainfall in 2017 to stave off drought stress or shutdown. “Sure,” he admitted, “it would have been nice if we’d gotten the big late summer rain two or three weeks earlier instead, but you can’t have it all.” Those last five words could also apply to a relative paucity of legally dry bottlings as well as a low total volume of off-dry Kabinett, a category that Selbach champions; but there are notable successes this vintage in nearly every category, and Selbach unhesitatingly characterized his 2017 collection as among the finest, if not the finest, in more than a quarter-century heading up his family’s estate.

I was not offered an opportunity to taste three of this collection’s Auslesen – a Schlossberg, a Wehlener Sonnenuhr and a “two-star” Zeltinger Sonnenuhr – nor a “no-star” Zeltinger Sonnenuhr BA. On a more prosaic note, I also missed out on the generic Kabinett and Spätlese. A “three-star” 2017 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese*** trocken, released in 2019, will be reviewed as part of my next report. (For an extended account of this estate’s recent history, its top sites and the evolution of its viticultural and cellar methodology, consult the introductions to my accounts of their vintage 2014 and vintage 2015 collections. Some important updates can be found in my introduction to coverage of the Selbach-Oster 2016s.)

Johannes Selbach reported having experienced “absolutely no stress” during the 2015 harvest, and after a late September “pre-harvest” thinning and culling of Riesling across much of his 52 acres, he settled down to serious and methodical picking beginning on September 29. Despite the lack of pressure, he was finished picking in four weeks, there having been virtually no days meteorologically unsuited for the purpose. Musts were almost universally healthy and spontaneous fermentations unproblematic. In an extension of Selbach’s long-standing determination to dial back residual sugar so as to achieve what he calls “genuine Kabinett” and “drinking Auslese” – and also in response to an emerging demand in Germany for such wines – he elected, to an even greater extent than in 2014, to finish a number of non-trocken 2015s with significantly lower residual sugar than prevailed in years past and to label them feinherb. (Interestingly, though, the estate’s long-standing Zeltinger Himmelreich Kabinett halbtrocken remains this estate’s sole wine either labeled with or qualifying for that taste descriptor.) “Just at the end,” related Selbach, “we got some genuinely noble botrytis, though not much.” It sufficed for quite a few Auslesen as well as one TBA (from the Zeltinger Sonnenuhr) that was accidentally oversold and of which Selbach could consequently not open a bottle for me. Bottling was staggered over an extended period, with the first residually sweet Kabinetts being filled in late February, a preponderance of wines of all sorts going to bottle in April and May, but selected lots remaining in barrel or tank into summer. (And one lot of Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese trocken still fermenting when I visited to taste in September 2016.)

For an extended account of this estate’s recent history, its top sites, and the evolution of its viticultural and cellar methodology, consult the introduction to my account of their vintage 2014 collection. But one technicality is worth repeating: the trio of site-specific wines from prime locations in Zeltinger Himmelreich (“Anrecht”), Schlossberg (“Schmitt”) and Sonnenuhr (“Rotlay”) that the Selbachs pick en bloc, i.e., all at one time and without selection, are technically Auslesen and labeled as such in small print, although you will often see those wines described without attribution of Prädikat and the Selbachs themselves prefer not to think “Auslesen,” since that very word means “to select,” which is precisely what is not done in these three instances. But utilizing the term “Auslese” does prepare consumers who might otherwise be perplexed for the richness and unabashed sweetness of the wines in question, and perhaps also for their justifiably relatively high prices.

“I am very pleased with the 2013s,” explained Johannes Selbach. “It was a lot of work for only a fraction of a normal crop,” he told me as we were retasting some of his Rieslings earlier this year, “but they have matured even better than I had thought at harvest.” After the excellent 2012s, this is another good effort from this estate in Zeltingen, capped by two Ausleses from small plots in his finest vineyards, Anrecht and Schmitt, and a stunning Trockenbeerenauslese. Like Ernie Loosen, Selbach also spends a lot of time on the road talking to consumers, which has enabled him to discern between expressed and actual preferences. That's why his Kabinetts remain light, pure, barely sweet and very fairly priced.

This is one of the best vintages I have tasted at this estate in years, capped by three ausleses from small plots in Johannes Selbach's finest vineyards: Anrecht, Schmitt and Rotlay. Actually, he doesn't even write auslese on the label, preferring to see the wines as pure expressions of each individual site. As they are not nearly as sweet as many ausleses on the market today, they work almost off-dry in comparison. All will certainly age well but need a bit of bottle age before they begin to show their true charm. (www.selbach-oester.de) Also recommended: 2012 Pinot Blanc ** (86), 2012 Zeltinger Riesling Kabinett Trocken (85), 2012 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese Trocken (87), 2012 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken (85), 2012 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese Feinherb Alte Reben (87), 2012 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese (89), 2012 Zeltinger Himmelreich Anrecht Riesling Auslese (92), 2012 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese (90), 2012 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Eiswein (92). Other wine tasted: 2012 Riesling Trocken.

Johannes Selbach's rieslings are generally crisp, pure and delicately light.He understands only too well that wines are not meant to be praised but drunk.That said, after rich 2009s here, the 2011s are again more full-bodied, a reflection of the warm vintage.They will certainly age well, but need a bit of time in bottle before they begin to show their charm.The eiswein and trockenbeerenauslese that Selbach only now released from 2010 highlight just what enormous potential that vintage has. Also recommended:2011 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese Trocken (87), 2011 Riesling Spatlese Feinherb (87), 2011 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett (86), 2011 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese (88), 2011 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Auslese ** (90), 2011 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese (91), 2011 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese ** (91+?), 2010 Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Eiswein (94), 2010 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese (95).Other wines tasted:2011 Riesling Trocken, 2011 Riesling Feinherb.