Critic ratings
robert_parker
2006
Rating:
93
–93
The Schonleber 2006 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs predictably features citrus, white peach, and red berries. Silken in texture and voluminous without becoming hot or heavy, this coats the palate with peach and nut oils while preserving the tingling brightness and invigoration of berries, citrus, and mineral “stuff.” The complex exchange of fruit, nut, and hard-to-pin-down mineral notes in the finish is riveting, and there is a brothy, savory, saline depth analogous to that of great Chablis. The overall effect is sedate and laid-back, as if to say “I don’t need to strain or flaunt what I’ve got.” And I don’t think the wine is bluffing: there will be much – as yet in reserve – to reward at least a decade’s cellaring.
“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
2006
Rating:
94
–94
Tasted in December 2017, the 2006 Nahe Riesling Monzinger Halenberg "Grosses Gewächs" offers a super intense but fine, beautifully matured bouquet with flint and caramel aromas intertwined with ripe baked apple aromas. Highly elegant and finessed on the palate, this is a full-bodied, complex, very mineral and intense Halenberg that is still young and powerful. Absolutely no need to hurry.
robert_parker
2006
Rating:
94
–94
The 2006 Monzinger Halenberg "Grosses Gewächs" is a beauty on the nose, which is concentrated yet pure, fresh and lemony as well as spicy and herbal or leafy, displaying lemon skins and grapefruit aromas. Rich and creamy on the palate, this is a powerful and concentrated, intense and salty-flavored Halenberg with a fiery and concentrated character. Very dense and powerful but also tight and tensioned, it's a long-distance runner with great vitality. Enormously powerful. Great wine. Tasted in July 2019.
robert_parker
2004
Rating:
88
–88
As its price and designation as “great growth” would suggest, the 2004 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs is a step up in concentration of both fruit and minerals, offering salty, briny, and wet stone aromatics, along with scents of peach, peach kernel, distilled raspberry and lemon zest. The middle weight palate offers juicy, bright citrus and salty minerality. The finish however displays faint heat and roughness despite its obvious concentration. What will a few more months in the bottle bring, I wonder?
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
2021
Rating:
97
–97
The 2021 Halenberg Riesling GG is coolish, fresh, pure, extraordinarily deep and complex on the ripe and concentrated yet precise nose that reveals notes of crushed stones and iodine. Powerful, rich and complex on the palate, this is a full-bodied, dense and very intense Riesling with a concentrated fruit core and a firm (mineral) structure that holds and even uplifts this giant that a will develop into an iconic German Riesling over the years in the bottle. It is still tight and youthful but possibly the greatest Halenberg I have tasted in more than 20 years. Natural cork. 12.5% stated alcohol. Tasted at the domaine in August 2022.
robert_parker
2020
Rating:
96
–96
The 2020 Halenberg GG is pure, precise and fresh on the nose that offers flinty notes of crushed stones, herbs and lemons. Crystalline, refined and juicy on the palate, this is a dense and intense, tightly structured and persistently salty Halenberg with fine tannins and great purity. Tasted from a bottle that was opened three days before, the bouquet is deep and intense but pure and salty with ripe lemon and crushed stone aromas. The palate is full, dense and tight, with serious tannin structure and lingering salinity. The combination of both wines is amazing and combines purity and freshness with complexity and elegance. The salty finish is the leitmotiv of all three versions. 12.5% alcohol. Tasted at the domain in July 2021.
robert_parker
2019
Rating:
95
–96
Schönleber's 2019 Halenberg GG is ripe and intense on the nose and indicates a rich and powerful yet elegant and complex Riesling with darker tones and flinty aromas that become more evident with aeration, while the initially intense fruit aroma gets reduced. On the palate, this is a rich and textured, pretty juicy but structured Halenberg with fine tannins and a long and intense finish. Compared to the Frühlingsplätzchen, the Halenberg is always late in its development, but as in 2018, I tend to prefer the former from the 2019 vintage at least in its very youth. For now, the Halenberg seems to be very ripe and rich and is structured by tannins rather than the crystallinity of the terroir. Tasted as a sample in May 2020 and I’m already excited to learn how the wine will develop in the coming weeks.
robert_parker
2018
Rating:
95
–95
The 2018 Halenberg Riesling GG is super precise, pure and fresh on the intense and stony, still reductive nose, with its notes of candied lemon and lime (that means: slightly greenish). On the palate, this is a rich and concentrated yet elegant, silky-textured, vital and powerful, persistently salty and tensioned Halenberg that is far too young to discover its full potential today. It's rich and elegant, refined and slightly tannic and needs time to develop its full potential. Tasted in July 2019.
robert_parker
2017
Rating:
94
–94
The 2017 Halenberg Riesling GG is deep, ripe and intense on the flinty, still-reductive nose. On the palate, this is a rich and creamy, tight and mineral dry Riesling with lots of salt and tension. It's elegant and salty, fresh and crystalline but also a bit austere at this moment. A classic that needs its time to shine. Be patient! Tasted in July 2019.
robert_parker
2016
Rating:
94
–94
The 2016 Nahe Riesling Halenberg "GG" is lovely, pure, fresh and refined on the smoky nose, where crushed stone and grapefruit aromas are displayed. Round, lush and juicy on the palate, this is a gorgeously finessed and balanced Halenberg with great elegance and tension on the long, crystalline finish. An impressive Halenberg! Tasted December 2017.
robert_parker
2015
Rating:
95
–95
The 2015 Riesling Monzinger Halenberg GG offers a very deep, cool and complex bouquet with smoky, herbal and lemony flavors. Full-bodied, rich and intense on the palate, this is a dense, well concentrated and aromatic Halenberg with a tightly woven mineral structure, a long and intense finish with melting stones and lingering salinity. The Halenberg does not have the filigreed and finessed nature of the corresponding Frühlingsplätzchen, but it has more power, concentration and a rather male character. This wine will need some years to show its nature at its best.
robert_parker
2013
Rating:
94
–94
Showing as an intense citrus color in the glass, the 2013 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs opens to very ripe citrus aromas accented by healthy raisins and really dense, rich and concentrated baked yellow apple notes. There is more purity and minerality on the palate, but this is a powerful and rich, juicy and monolithic wine that will develop over 10 years or more.
robert_parker
2011
Rating:
94
–94
The Schonlebers’ 2011 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs delivers a complex nose featuring alkaline, saline, stony, and faintly fusil mineral intimations along with green tea, citrus zests, greenhouse-like suggestions of foliage, and bittersweet, iris-like floral perfume. All of these elements – the perfume as if chomping on flowers – inform a rich, enveloping palate that nonetheless harbors a sense of tension and dynamic not detected in the more static corresponding Fruhlingsplatzchen. I suspect this will retain interest for considerably longer, but probably be best enjoyed within 10-12 years.
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
2010
Rating:
95
–95
The Emrich-Schonleber 2010 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs projects a more severe sense of penetration than its Fruhlingsplatzchen counterpart, with smoky and overtly stony mineral notes as well as fruit pit piquancy playing against a field of white peach, almond, and citrus. Polished and palpably extract-rich, this finishes with a flourish of energy and unexpected buoyancy as well as nuanced complexity, hints of vanilla, toasted nuts, thyme, and white pepper adding to the already mentioned litany of flavors. Look for a dozen or more years of distinction. (A bottle open for three days displayed even more depth than that freshly opened.) Interestingly, some of the legally halbtrocken “R” lot of Halenberg was blended into the lot originally harvested as Grosses Gewachs to achieve the present result (which had consequences noted in my review of that 2010 “R.”)
”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
2009
Rating:
96
–96
The Schonleber 2009 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs captures a marvelous sense of primary juiciness of grapefruit, pineapple, lime, honeydew melon, and white peach such as one seldom encounters in its genre, and holds this through a finish of consummate refreshment and gravity-defying levity. At the same time, there is a complexity of mineral elements here that leaves you scratching your head; a silken texture and glycerin-richness that leave your palate seductively soothed; and tart fruit skin as well as subtly bitter fruit pit notes that add to an insistent sense of invigoration. Elder flower, narcissus, and orange blossom contribute an alluring floral dimension that wafts all the way through the long finish. An unforgettable purity of fruit, transparency to mineral and floral nuances, and levity such as one scarcely encounters among Grosse Gewachse should keep this remarkable Riesling a source of riveting fascination for the next 12-15 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
2008
Rating:
94
–94
Intriguingly saline, marine and crustacean notes rise from the glass of Schonleber 2008 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs and continue throughout. Chablis-like chicken stock and shellfish reduction combine with red currant, sour cherry, lime, and grapefruit on a tart yet luscious, glossily-textured yet refreshing palate The superbly satisfying and stimulating finish offers a dynamic exchange between the wine’s saline, animal savor and its bright citrus, accompanied by suggestions of nut oils and hints of fruit pit bitterness. This energetic and multi-dimensional Halenberg should be worth following for more than 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
2007
Rating:
95
–95
You might well think, “If his Halenberg Riesling trocken is really as good as Schildknecht maintains, then how much better can Schonleber’s 2007 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs be?” Well, as a matter of fact, in instances (which used to be more frequent) where there is both a Grosses Gewachs and a non-Grosses Gewachs (a.k.a. Spatlese trocken) rendition of the same site, I have often found the former to be less well-balanced and sometimes insidiously influenced by by German vintners’ “we too” minority complex and corresponding attempts to make a Big Statement . In the present instance, though, such is hardly the case. Pungent, bitter-sweet intensity and an oily, creamy texture point to wine more concentrated, richer, and higher in alcohol, but one that preserves lively interplay of flavors, elegance, and sheer refreshment. Freesia, apricot, blood orange, grapefruit, and red currant rise from the glass. Apricot kernel, red currant, and citrus inform a lushly-textured, enveloping, yet still invigorating palate, with subtle suggestions of sweet fruit and floral perfume, accompanied by obvious saline, stony, and crustacean notes and piquant toasted nuttiness that carry into a superbly long finish. In the final analysis, this is still less charming than the regular Halenberg, but undeniably more complex. It would be fascinating to compare their evolution over the coming decade (or longer), and anyone who can afford this Grosses Gewachs should try to pick up some bottles of its ostensibly lesser sibling as well.
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
