2017 Riesling Ockfener Bockstein Auslese

Andreas Barth related that 2017, at least in the von Othegraven vineyards, was destined to be a relatively small crop even before factoring in losses to frost (which actually played little role here), to an eventual low juice-to-skin ratio and to the culling of rot-tinged fruit at harvest. Picking began in the last week of September with fruit for Kabinett, but also with nobly botrytized material, and as his vintage collection demonstrates, despite not having finished up until the end of October, Barth experienced neither excessive must weights for dry wines nor overripe flavors for sweet ones, and no ignoble botrytis that could not be removed by pickers exercising scrupulous selectivity. In fact, a notable feature of the 2017 collection here is the clarity, buoyancy and vibrancy of the dry wines – traits that were not so conspicuously evident in von Othegraven collections prior to 2016. This year’s superb quartet of Kabinetts ranges from 8% to 8.5% alcohol and mid-50s to low 50s in grams of residual sugar – pretty typical contemporary parameters – but the sense of sweetness this engenders is entirely supportive and doesn’t inhibit transparency to a wealth of nuance. Although this year’s Auslesen had finished fermenting by the end of March, around 50 liters each of Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese from the Altenberg were still fermenting at the end of August 2018 when I tasted the rest of Barth’s 2017s. (For details concerning this estate’s recent history, consult especially the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)