- 2021 Alfred Merkelbach Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (3/28/2024)
Merkelbach is one of the small handful of wineries that made me a Riesling lover. Another is Selbach-Oster, who have now taken on the production of the Merkelbach wines. Now that the transition is complete it’s interesting to taste the wines and consider how or if they have changed. Perhaps a year like 2021 is not the best for that assessment, as higher acid vintages tended to make the best Merkelbach wines even when the brothers were making them, so less potential variation to see.
Anyway, long story short, this tastes like a Merkelbach wine. It’s correct in scale, rather than being super-sized. Sweetness is appropriate to its pradikat, and best of all it tastes like it comes from the Wurzgarten, with all the stones, strawberry fruit and spice that signals the site. It’s comforting to see the results of a new regime be as familiar as the old.
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Nice. Have you tried the 2021 Urz Wurz kabinett yet? Got a couple bottles sitting in the fridge.
My note from a year ago:
- 2021 Alfred Merkelbach Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (4/1/2023)
There has been speculation about what would happen to the Merkelbach wines now that the folks at Selbach-Oster have fully taken over from the aging brothers. If this wine is any indication the answer is not much. If I did not know that there had been a change I don’t think I would have suspected one. It tastes like a Merkelbach wine. It’s old school in terms of size. It carries the weight of a Kabinett from the pre-2003 era (a year that to me marked the beginning of the super-sized German Rieslings, declassified from well into higher pradikats). It’s also well mannered in terms of its acidity. Certainly bright and fresh, but by no means aggressive, it leaves the enamel on my teeth, and is easy to drink with or without food, showing the typical red berry, white peach and spice flavors of the Wurzgarten.
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What’s the g/l sugar level?