772 | Wine | Riesling, 91 to 95, 2010

"Peaches, tropical fruits, honey, and botrytis aromas. ...lead to a viscous, vibrant wine with superb natural acidity that frames the fruit brilliantly. This wine is all about pleasure; how long it will last is difficult to say but there is no rational reason to defer your gratification. By the way, it is also an outstanding value in sweet dessert wine."

"This firm white is focused by a backbone of racy acidity, offering kumquat, grapefruit zest, apricot and melon flavors, with honey and apple blossom hints. Shows lovely balance, with a mineral note lingering on the finish."

"A rich, dry white, with the luxurious, tactile texture of raw silk, this offers a spicy mineral base and layered flavors of green melon, pink grapefruit zest, honey, fleur de sel and macerated peach, all structured by firm, mouthwatering acidity."

"Rich and juicy, with lively acidity to focus its apricot, nectarine, apple and salty lime essence. Terrific balance and harmony, followed by a long finish, makes for a winning combination."

"Kesselstatt’s 2010 Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese introduces a musky, honeyed overlay both on the nose and on a glycerin-rich palate, signifying the noble appearance of boytrytis on the stage. Invigoratingly pungent smoky and saliva-inducingly saline elements add further compelling intrigue and sensual appeal to a matrix of nearly overripe peach and herbal essences. There is elegance and lift here as well as a marriage of textural creaminess with vivacity that really display the grower’s and vinifier’s art as well as the uniqueness of a great site and of a style of wine unapproachable anywhere else on earth. Moderate residual sugar reinforces the fruit and moderates any tendency the botrytis might have had toward bitterness but a the same time stays in the background so that while this beauty will no doubt keep well for a quarter century, it is not one of those “sweet” Mosel Rieslings that needs years in bottle to prove versatile at table."

"A lovely wine, with a minerally undertow and finely tuned acidity framing apricot, kumquat, acacia blossom, smoke and crystallized honey notes that show a hint of lychee. A zesty thread of spice winds through the wine and lingers on the subtle finish."

"Tight, with layers of mineral and slate that are closely packed and accented by notes of ripe peach, white cherry and Golden Delicious apple. Very spicy on the finish."

"Orange and lemon blossom and oily zest dominate the nose and firm, almost sharply bright palate, with supplemental floral perfume as well as pungent herbs emerging as the wine opens up. The finish is piquant and intensely invigorating, offering a reverberative interplay of citrus, bittersweetly floral perfume, apricot pit, citrus pip, crushed stone, salts, and mysteriously ore-like mineral presence. For sheer palpable sense of density and extract this surpasses most Kamptal Rieslings of its vintage, and in terms of sheer energy, it finishes not far behind. This ought to prove exciting to follow for the next 8-10 years, if not longer."

"Creamy and rich, with vibrant apple, ripe citrus, white berry and currant flavors that are focused and refined. Plush midpalate, with a lingering finish of ripe spice and mineral. Lusciously elegant."