Egon Muller, Scharzhofberger Kabinett ’Alte Reben’ 2023

From vines planted between 1895 and 1905, the 2023 Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alte Reben (Auction), bottled as AP #4, is a superb, legendary Riesling that is absolutely worth the 300+ euros it fetched in the last auctions in Trier. Until the 2008 vintage, the Kabinett for auction has always been the best foudre of the vintage, and in fact, only a single foudre could be produced from this ancient parcel in most of the years. In 2015, however, there were two foudres. The 2023 shows a very delicate, elegant, finely spicy and rather coolish nose with notes of wet stones. The wine is very mineral, savory and spicy on the palate, as well as densely structured, very saline and even finer than the regular Scharzhofberger Kabinett (AP #3). It is a finesse-rich and stimulatingly saline Riesling with no perceptible sweetness due to the pronounced mineral character, which makes this the most classical Scharzhofberger of the vintage. "The grapes were full of taste in 2023," reports Egon Müller, and yet there is so much finesse and lightness in his 2023s. This is again an iconic Kabinett, and there won''t be many in Germany that can compete, if any.