The Muller 2008 Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese - their sole bottling of -non-gold capsule- Auslese (so reference to its A.P.# - 5 - is superfluous), and representing only one small lot - offers an amazing alliance of richness and energy. -Grilled peach and apricot laced with vanilla cream and caramel- may sound like a recipe for a decadent, soothing desert. It is, and this wine is. But at the same time, there are complex accents of blond tobacco, brown spices, and peat, along with a surprisingly firm texture, and a lively sense of refreshment that seems to come out of nowhere, levitating the flavors and driving them into a prodigious finish in which notes of peach kernel, singed fruit skin, and wet stone provide dynamic counterpoint. This too should be worth cellaring for three or more decades.
Egon Muller finds merit in the comparison of 2008 with 1988 - or perhaps, as I suggested of his collection specifically, to 1969, a vintage with which, as he pointed out, the youthful 1988s were frequently compared. He notes that -half the 2008 harvest became Kabinett, and most of the rest Q.b.A.- but most of these Kabinetts would have been classified a grade higher in the, for its time, -classic Spatlese vintage- of 1988. That said, Muller and his team - who, unlike most of their Saar neighbors in search of a balance of dry and nobly sweet wines, do not spray against botrytis in summer - managed some superb selective harvesting this year, for which, he relates -the last week in October was the best time. At the end of October, it rained a bit again, and the botrytis was no longer so good. And that's why there is so little nobly sweet wine this year.- Apropos Kabinett, Muller takes a dim view of creeping residual sugar in wines so-labeled - confessing that he did not prove immune to that temptation - and is now bottling in the 30-35 gram range. He is always at pains to point out that he views and styles such wines in the manner traditionally associated with so-called Naturwein rather than in a manner especially associated with capital--K- Kabinett. Nonetheless, 2008 is one vintage where the Muller Kabinett bottlings exhibit precisely the delicacy that many of us consider the essence of that post-1971 category. For the most part, these 2008s - which, as a group, constitute a summit of their vintage - were bottled significantly later than the estate norm. (As always, Muller wines from his monopole Braune Kupp are bottled under the Le Gallais label.)
