SR | Fascinating in its mix of terroir and fruit expression, this pure, elegant, and complex 2020 Schoenenbourg already shows its salinity on the nose, which its reminiscent of crushed stone plates. Perhaps a tiny bit reductive (which I personally appreciate), but still very precise, refined, and elegant in its fruit expression. Dense and elegant on the palate, this is a round and semi-sweet expression of the terroir and the vintage. I am curious to learn whether the fermentation was stopped to balance the acidity with residual sugar, or the yeasts eventually gave up. The wine could have been drier for my personal taste, but the finish is savory, finely tannic, rich, lush, and aromatic, and many years from now this could be an epiphany. 95
AJ | Quite a full gold against its peers. Complete, settled, and harmonious aromas: apricot and nectarine fruits, with some jasmine freshening; some planty and leafy notes, too. But you have to peer about to tease out the elements; the whole is very uniform, if detailed. Soft, round, comely, mouthfilling, and finally spicy, even fiery, Riesling; Riesling that almost wants to be Furmint! This sort of thing would be impossible up on Schlossberg, I suspect; the flesh levels are very Schoenenbourg. There's a huge amount of flavor action and I just love this exciting, harmonious yet at the same time poundingly, almost throbbingly, articulate wine. The "mineral density" of this wine is magnificent, and it actually shows better than the Rangens we are looking at on this occasion. Glory to Schoenenbourg! 95
AR | Starting to evolve toward a light gold in color, this is showing some evolved citrus and floral notes in its aromas, and when you taste, you get an initial shock of sweetness on the tongue, as if it's trying to seduce; and while I think that that sweetness, which verges on the off-dry, is to an extent a crowd-pleaser, for me it's excessively alcoholic and it doesn't quite have the balance I'm looking for in a young grand cru Riesling. 88