2003 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Kabinett

If there is a more consistently excellent set of 2003s in Germany than that of Johannes Selbach, I haven't met up with it. I was wrung out after tasting through this collection-which took several hours even though incomplete-then rose at 6:00 the next morning in order to review the lot, which was rather like pinching myself to make sure they were all real. If you aspired to quality this year, says Selbach, "either you had deep soils or old vines, or you carried water. " He deployed a combination of all three. Selbach did one small picking at the end of September and after tasting the juice ordered a halt and put his crew to work the next couple of weeks hunting and gathering desiccated botrytis berries. By mid-October, real flavor ripeness set in, and this was followed by what Selbach called a more "normal" outbreak of botrytis. (Terry Theise) Also recommended: 2003 Riesling Kabinett, 2003 Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett,2003 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese, 2003 Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spatlese, 2003 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlesei.