2011 - Maximin Grunhauser Abtsberg Riesling Auslese Nr87, Von Schubert

The 2011 Maximin Grunhauser Abtsberg Riesling Auslese Fuder #87 (the A.P. #9) was picked out of the exceedingly steep upper, central portion of the Abtsberg that is in the process of being replanted. Here we have an especially creamy and confectionary performance, featuring marzipan, vanilla cream, caramel and white peach preserves studded with white raisin, but thankfully harboring just enough sense of juicy citricity to lend energy and genuine refreshment without engendering a sense of bifurcation. The impression of levity here almost defies gravity and the creaminess leads to a sensation soothing even by the textural standards of this vintage. Plan to luxuriate in this elixir anytime through 2040 and probably beyond. Beginning with the late 1990s, I have tracked the dip in quality – following the retirement of veteran vineyard manager and cellar master Alphonse Heinrich – and then the gradual return to form of the von Schubert estate, one that during the second half of the 20th century arguably enjoyed as consistent a rate of vinous successes as any German wine producer, and whose vineyards’ prowess has been undisputed since the Middle Ages. That return to form – under the direction of Carl von Schubert (at the helm here since 1981) and Stefan Kraml (about to conclude his first decade as cellar master) is still ongoing – as those following my recent reports will recognize. It has been accompanied by some changes in style and labeling for certain bottlings, as well as by a slimming of their formerly huge numbers. (In the 1980s, virtually every possible combination and permutation of site, Pradikat and degree of dryness was represented each vintage.) There has been significant replanting, too, most recently the regrettable if perhaps inevitable grubbing up of some of the oldest vines in the Abtsberg (representing around 15% of the Einzellage). But any new vines at this address represent the estate’s own massale selections and the slate itself in these replanted