Critic ratings
robert_parker
2008
Rating:
92
–92
Quince, white peach, and hints of red currant and framboise and gentian distillates alluringly scent the Schonlebers’ 2008 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs, which displays distinctly fusil and stony notes along with pit fruit and red berry freshness on the palate. There is an underlying sense of density and a plushness of texture that one would not ordinarily expect in a wine so bright. Almond cream and quince offer a soothing suggestion in the finish while red berries and white peach offer vivacious refreshment, for a lingering, contrapunctal effect. This refined, subtly complex Riesling should be worth following for at least the better part of a decade.
Werner and Frank Schonleber are another Nahe dream team whose amazing performance in 2007 has been equaled in 2008. “I wouldn’t call it a vintage with the emphasis on fruit,” says Werner Schonleber, “but rather on a pronounced, saline minerality. And there was no great selection of nobly sweet wine this year, because every three or four days it would rain at least a little bit.” He offers as “a very simple explanation” of this pronounced minerality the classic one adduced by growers (whether or not scientifically supportable) that the vines better “assimilate mineral stuff” when mild weather and plenty of moisture grease – as it were – the wheels of plant metabolism. And such vintages always boast measurably high levels of dry extract; the question remains, has that – as most growers believe – anything to do with their expression of flavors for which we feel compelled to employ mineral vocabulary?
Importers: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463
robert_parker
2009
Rating:
94
–94
Grapefruit, lime, peat, peach kernel, and a kelp-like and alkaline as well as saline intimation of things maritime combine for aromas and flavors of utter intrigue and mysterious enticement from Schonlebers’ 2009 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs. There is a nearly explosively dynamic of fruit and mineral elements in this luscious, bright, densely-concentrated yet buoyant and refreshing Riesling. I found my salivary glands pumping and my tongue fluttering after reluctantly spitting this remarkable libation, and its head-scratching complexity of (for lack of another collective expression) “mineral” elements should prove utterly engrossing for at least the next 10-12 years.
Werner and Frank Schonleber harvested through nearly the entire month of October, and noted that levels of sugar and total acidity remained fairly constant, while flavors kept improving and malic acid diminishing in favor of tartaric. Speaking of improving, it’s hard for these two vintners to much-improve their by now phenomenal batting average, but no Riesling lover is likely to suffer the least disappointment by buying bottles of Emrich-Schonleber 2009s. Especially at its dry end, this is a collection to describe which seems to call for an extended mineral vocabulary that doesn’t even exist in English or German! And in nobly sweet echelons, the small amount of Riesling the Schonlebers rendered is strikingly successful and informed by an ample if mysterious measure of sheer juiciness. About the absence of Eiswein, Frank Schonleber notes: “We had the feeling that ripeness had simply advanced too far in 2009 to justify leaving any grapes hanging in anticipation of frost.”
Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463
robert_parker
2010
Rating:
96
–96
Schonlebers’ 2010 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs mingles scents and flavors of raspberry and grapefruit, toasted nuts, green tea, cress and wintergreen. Rich and satin-textured, its emerging savory, broth-like sense of mineral, marrow, and herbal concentration makes for a palate of depth and downright mystery. Animated and elegant; refreshing and invigorating; thought-provoking and entertaining, this superb Riesling projects an uncanny sense of transparency of one flavor to another in a kaleidoscopic performance that should prove riveting for the next dozen, perhaps more, years.
”Look, the acid levels were almost this high in 1994 – though with much higher yields,” relates Werner Schonleber of 2010, “and yet 1994 was probably my most individual year of the 1990s,” a judgment in which, incidentally, I concur. Musts of extremely high acidity (a couple had pHs under 3.0) were de-acidified – “very cautiously,” notes Frank Schonleber, “leaving plenty of leeway in case one or the other went into malo,” which several Riesling lots spontaneously followed the lead of the estate’s Pinots in doing. Despite high levels of potassium (not to mention, of course, tartaric acid) and a cold winter, there was relatively little precipitation of tartrates at this address. Early picking of the Schonlebers’ Auf der Lay parcel, already with significant botrytis, militated against there being an “A.de.L” bottling this year such as had been essayed – exclusively in magnum – in the two preceding vintages. This is really a year, chez Schonlebers, for Fruhlingsplatzchen as a site to shine, though neither they nor I can offer a hypothesis. Regarding the gap or jump in this year’s line-up from “regular” (though in fact, fantastic) Auslesen to Eiswein, Werner Schonleber commented that given the quality and the paucity of fruit available, “Attempts to segregate a gold capsule Auslese were going to make for (“regular”)Auslese in which something was missing. And we scarcely thought ourselves capable of a Beerenauslese this vintage; the attempt wouldn’t have gone well. We had lovely botrytis, but by no means such concentrated berries.”
Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463
robert_parker
2011
Rating:
93
–93
The Emrich-Schonleber 2011 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs mingles fresh peach, red currant, pink grapefruit and passion fruit with piquant toasted nuts and fruit pit in a penetrating aromatic display as well as a polished and broadly expansive yet juicy and buoyant palate performance. Smoky, stony notes add counterpoint to the multifaceted and piquantly sustained finish of a Riesling apt to reward at least 6-8 years of attention.
Veteran Werner Schonleber stresses the role played in 2011’s high quality by tiny drought-impacted berries as well as, naturally, the growing season’s early start; generally cool nighttime temperatures; and five weeks of ideal weather from mid-September on. That small berry size obviated any green harvest, but there was a substantial “pre-harvest” of Riesling – destined largely for generic bottlings – from September 26, with the two Pinots being picked immediately thereafter. The main harvest for Riesling commenced October 3, lasting for two weeks. Like many estates, botrytis arrived here directly on the heels of the heavy rain that fell around September 10-12, but dried to ideal purity and fineness to serve for ennobling concentration without overtly fungal character or less desirable concurrent infections.
Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463
robert_parker
2013
Rating:
93
–93
Ripe, rich and yeasty on the nose, Schönleber's 2013 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs is a very ripe, rich, and intense wine with a juicy palate and citric/mineral aftertaste. Quite powerful and monolithic in the mouth it needs at least 3 or 4 years to develop its true character. Slightly dry in the aftertaste at the moment of tasting, so give it some years to age in bottle.
robert_parker
2004
Rating:
86
–86
This wine was recommended, but no tasting note was given.
There was not a lot of time or leeway, relates Werner Schonleber, between the onset of complete ripeness and that of negative rot, so once the harvest started in mid October, it was necessary to “give it some gas” and not waste a single dry day. For the most part, there was not sufficient late warmth or sun to steer the botrytis that was present in a noble direction. But the array of clean, rot-free, wines with mineral and fruit concentration this year is certainly formidable, thanks among other factors to the excellent ventilation of these steep sites, the Schonlebers’ careful canopy management, and of course considerable selectivity at harvest.
Various importers including: Chapin Cellars – Billington Imports, Springfield, VA; tel. (703) 455-4700 and Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ tel 856-608-9644
robert_parker
2006
Rating:
94
–94
The Schonleber 2006 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs is subtly tart and bitter, its red berry and citrus mingling with toasted walnut, peach kernel, and wet slate. But that is not to suggest the flavors are less than ripe. Furthermore, even though around 13% in alcohol, it displays an almost chiffon-like lightness on the palate quite contrasting with the Spatlese trocken. Here, too, we have a diversity and subtlety of mineral notes in the finish that are worthy of a geologist, as well as rich nut oils and a yet sappier, more vivid though tart red berry character than in the corresponding Spatlese trocken. “I’m not dogmatic” about yeasts, says Schonleber, but at least this year, the Fruhlingsplatzchen bottlings for the most part (and including this one) fermented without the addition of cultured yeasts, whereas the Halenberg were yeasted. Fruit from the old vines in this rocky parcel on red sandstone bore golden, botrytis free fruit, says Schonleber. This should be worth following for 10-12 years in bottle.
“The Nahe had the capability to render really good dry wines this year,” asserts Werner Schonleber. “Elsewhere, the botrytis was problematic, or the ripening took place too quickly. But we caught the whole spectrum here.” He proceeded to prove this memorably in the glass, with the finest collection I have ever tasted at this address (as well as – improbably – one in which Fruhlingsplatzchen outperformed Halenberg).
Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463
robert_parker
2007
Rating:
93
–93
The Schonleber 2007 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Grosses Gewachs offers a sweeter red berry and peach tone and more opulent texture than its Halenberg counterpart, with salted, toasted almond notes adding interest to its long finish, and an ample sense of brightness and refreshment too often absent from this genre. Here, too, there is a fascinating savor poised between mineral and animal, and the wine should be worth following for a decade or more in bottle.
To say that Werner and son Frank Schonleber have been on a roll lately must count as an understatement (and that applies to 2008, too). Two heads are better than one, no doubt, plus the advantages of accumulated wisdom and acreage – the family is filling-in what was once a decidedly, in places depressingly patchy landscape by buying up prime parcels from retiring vintners – are obvious. The Schonlebers went over their vineyards in early October to pull out some botrytis that had already accumulated and to thin their crop, and began seriously harvesting Riesling after the 10th. The estate’s vines were largely spared savage but capricious hail that rained down on parts of the Fruhlingsplatzchen. Werner Schonleber draws a stylistic comparison with the 2002 vintage, which he convincingly demonstrated with several bottles.
Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463