March 3, 2015: News, Wines of the Month
This month, we highlight another delicious Spätlese by a producer who fared particularly well in the 2013 vintage.
(image: courtesy Weingut St. Urbans-Hof, all rights reserved)
The zest of the 2013 vintage suited the style of the St. Urbans-Hof Estate particularly well. As you can read in the Issue No 26 (Oct 2014), we were quite impressed by the whole collection: All wines show purity and presence, paired with a gentle racy side so typical of textbook Mosel Riesling.
The wine we highlight from the collection comes from a rather atypical vineyard for the Saar: the Schodener Saarfeilser Marienberg. It is one of the few full south-facing vineyards overseeing directly the Saar River (most are tucked into side valleys). Its soil includes a high proportion of sand and gravel on top of a stony slate bedrock.
(image: courtesy Weingut St. Urbans-Hof, all rights reserved)
This gives the wines from this vineyard a characteristic elegance which is, quite frankly, very hard to resist. It is therefore no surprise that “Feilser” wines, as they were known in the old days, have been highly regarded since the 19th century.
This 2013 Saarfeilser Spätlese captures the subtle finesse of this terroir admirably well. Nik Weis and his team must be doing something right about this vineyard: This is the second time that we highlight one of their wines from this vineyard!
2013er
St. Urbans-Hof
Schodener Saarfeilser Marienberg Riesling Spätlese
22 14
92
An inviting nose of bergamot, white peach and herbs leads to a gorgeously zesty and spicy feeling of fruits and minerals on the palate as well as a multi-layered touch of smoke in the finish. This is a great success in the vintage. 2023-2043
© Text by Mosel Fine Wines "The Independent Review of Mosel Riesling ... and beyond!"
Disclaimer: Mosel Fine Wines is an independent publication and has no commercial relationship with any Estate, association or organization featured in this article.