Schloss Johannisberg : Ex Bibliotheca Cuvée 100 Spätlese

It’s really hard to wrap your head around this unique wine that tastes properly dry, but is actually a multi-vintage blend of wines that were all more or less off-dry. The dried fruit and flower complexity is married to a nobly austere balance. This is drinking history. A limited-production cuvee of Spatlese wines going back to the 1915 vintage. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

The NV Riesling Schloss Johannisberg Ex-Bibliotheca Subterranea Cuvée 100 Spätlese was made to commemorate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the discovery of Spätlese here in 1775. It is a multi-vintage blend of wines from 1915 to today, kept in perfect conditions in Schloss Johannisberg's vaulted cellar. Just 1,000 bottles were made. The wine is golden in the glass, presenting notes of wax and a lift that combines the essential oils of lemon, mint and chamomile. All is subtle on the nose but so lifted, so ethereal, so fine. The palate is like balm. This is such a smooth, youthful substance that speaks of the younger wines in the blend, but it possesses the distinct patina of age in the flavors of smoky honeycomb, tea leaf and gentle, dignified sweetness. This is bright, mouthwatering, lasting, brilliant and beautiful—and unusual. It shows that age has nothing, nothing at all, on Riesling. It finished at 62.5 g/L of residual sweetness and 7.6 g/L of acidity. (Sweet)