Great German Riesling is beloved by sommeliers because drinking it is both a sensual and intellectual exercise. Perhaps no other wine challenges what you think you know about the subject quite like the type of Riesling we’re offering here: Normally, we think of the relationship of sugar and acidity as an inverse one, but not with German Riesling.
And then there’s the difference between actual sweetness and perceived sweetness, which not only varies from taster to taster but changes over time. This wine carries the spätlese designation, which, unless you also see trocken (‘dry’) on the label, guarantees you some perceptible sweetness in the wine. And yet this wine from Dr. Wagner, from an acclaimed vineyard site along the Saar River, seems to have gotten less sweet as it has aged in the bottle (another way Riesling defies convention). So, what we have here in this 2008 “Saarburger Rausch” Riesling Spätlese is a heady, soil-expressive, palate-coating white wine that doesn’t really read as a ‘sweet’ wine, nor as a conventionally ‘dry’ wine, but as something curiously, deliciously in-between. This is a white wine experience every wine lover should have, and at this (shockingly low) price, everyone can. I go crazy for this stuff, as longtime subscribers know—and I’m confident that you will, too!