Johannes Selbach was in town and pouring his wares at Solano Cellars. He is a phenomenal ambassador for his wines—I think this was a better introduction to his wines than my visit to the estate in 2008, where I had a very positive experience with an underling. He is entertaining, incredibly personable and conveys more information in two minutes than most folks will do over the course of an entire evening. Very, very cool guy. And the wines! The 2004 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett was slurpingly delicious—fantastic and ready to go on the nose, and crisp, mineral, delicious and refreshing. You can quaff this, but I'm guessing there's even a bit more development coming. But this wine is what Kabinett is all about—only wish I ran into peak Kabinetts like this more often. The 2007 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese was more of peach and syrup, but with a touch of spritz to lighten things up. A bit green right now, this one needs time. The 2007 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese comes from the more barren slopes of the Sonnenuhr compared with the chipped soil of the Schlossberg. The wine was more creamy, more savory, more laid back, and maintained a pretty good balance. Sweet tangy tangerine. The 2007 Selbach-Oster Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese had a weirder, more complex nose, at first I thought mineral, but then maybe not. Lighter, fluffier, ethereal to some degree, more simple at the moment. Johannes indicated that the thicker soil cover of Graach holds more water and the wines usually require more time to develop. He noted more botrytis in this wine, but I wasn't sensitive enough to pick it up. This seemed to just barely be showing itself, but I liked what I saw.
The 2007 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Rotlay comes from a subplot within the Sonnenuhr that is surrounded by rocky cliffs that form a sort of ampitheater to reflect the heat. Since 2004, Selbach-Oster has been bottling this plot separately as their flagship, and this wine was the result of a single harvest rather than multiple pick-thrus. Johannes indicated this will likely require a dozen years or so to show itself, but the wine is already amazing. Lumbering flavors, dense, the faint glances I got were amazing. No good descriptions except my takeaway that this is a stunning wine. The 2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese Schmitt was way weirder—tasted incredibly of blackberries and smelled of cranberry wax candle. Playful and summeresque—I'd be easily convinced this was actually a berrywine rather than a grape wine. Fun, but could I take it seriously? The 2006 Selbach Riesling Trocken is made from purchased grapes and is punchy and simple—crunchy. Nothing wrong, nothing exciting. The 2003 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese Trocken **, on the other hand, fermented for 15 months and offered a stellar interesting nose, thicker texture, great balance, crispy yet rounded, fiery great grip, fantastic, and I mean fantastic finish. A finish worth remembering. Wow.