2005 Alfred Merkelbach Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese

Community Tasting Notes (27) Avg Score: 90.5 points

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  9/5/2023 - jlm wrote:

  This seems like it has now entered early maturity. The bouquet shows underripe strawberry, yellow apple, and lime zest. The palate is finally a little more delineated, with rich ripe apple fruit and maturing flavors of marmalade to complement the Spätlese creaminess. There's an underlying acidity that gives a zesty touch to the finish. Overall very nice, and just at the front end of a good drinking window.

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  8/10/2022 - Mon.Maultiere Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Drunk for dinner with seafood risotto. Bright golden with a greenish tinge. The sweetness has really settled down now to make this just off-dry with good acidity to create a well balanced food-friendly wine. There are notes of greengage, jasmine flower and orange blossom, ripe green apple, lime and a little petrol station aroma. Nice length with a rich mouthfeel. It has become more interesting as it has aged and I suspect is nearing its peak, although it will last for a long time yet. Definitely showing greater complexity than 10 years ago but perhaps not quite as much as the very best.

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  8/2/2021 - GrapeScott wrote: 88 Points

  Pretty simple, but has aged gracefully for a $13 wine, and quite enjoyable sipped on the beach. The sweetness is quite noticeable, probably on the high end for a spatlese, but balanced by nice acidity. Not a lot of minerals, but lots of stone fruits (peach, nectarine) and lemon rind. Tasty, if not one-dimensional.

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  5/10/2021 - jlm wrote:

  This bottle showed more of the lightness and complexity of flavors I recall from this bottling in its youth. More expressive than the previous bottle 9 months earlier. I'll let remaining bottles have a little more time after this check-in. This and other recent '05s all indicate that the vintage is maturing slowly and/or is still marked by its ripe fruitiness. This particular bottle gives me hope that they will come through the other side nicely though.

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  9/15/2020 - jlm wrote:

  Medium straw to pale lemon color. This is not particularly expressive aromatically, thought it does show some citrus fruit. The palate has a beautiful pillowy texture, i.e. on the lower end of the acidity spectrum for Mosel Riesling, though it's not at all blowsy or flabby. Just not the crisp expression other vintages might have. The flavors on the palate are a little richer, with strawberry and orange making an appearance. And the finish shows similarly: candied orange, lime zest, and a touch of mint. This is remarkably youthful for a 15-year old Spätlese, as it's not really showing signs of maturity at all. I would guess that it's in a bit of an awkward transitional phase, waiting for the next set of flavors to emerge. Or maybe not. But I still have three more, and I think I'll wait a few years before I open another.

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