Frank Schönleber in the vineyard

Nahe Nobility: Emrich-Schönleber

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The Germans are coming, the Germans are coming!  This time from the Nahe, it' the 2021 GGs  from Emrich-Schönleber: Frühlingsplätzchen and Halenberg. To make up for the glaring paucity (just a case of each), I am including his Riesling Mineral. A blend of younger vines from both of the Grand Cru sites, this represents maybe the greatest value at the estate - 80% of the Grand Cru wine for 50% the price. It is a shrewd investment that drinks well over its price point.

For those who aren't familiar with the wines of the Nahe, the holy trilogy is considered to be the wines of Dönnhoff, Emrich-Schönleber and Schäfer-Fröhlich. As per the distributor, Emrich-Schönleber lies stylistically in the middle: "They are neither as baroque and lavish as Dönnhoff, nor as fiercely angular as Schäfer-Fröhlich. There is a balance that is about as perfect and meditative as Riesling ever gets: texture and glycerin matched to a chiseled, yet glossy and ultra-fine architecture." As far as understanding the upper Nahe itself where Emrich-Schönleber is located, " it's a very cold region and if there is a parallel, it is not the cool limestone-riddled Rheinhessen, where Keller is, but the Saar with its slate. Even just 20 years ago, many wrote off the extremes of the upper Nahe as only good for Sekt, so cold was the climate. The upper part of the Nahe is a world of slate, both blue-gray and red.

The Halenberg vineyard

The Halenberg is largely the former, with blue-gray slate that shapes a wine of rigor, density and power. This is perhaps the more mineral, more ageworthy of the two Grand Crus. The Frühlingsplätzchen has veins of red slate and always seems more expansive, diffuse, lighter and finessed. It is a wine with a stunning florality and vivid aromatics and more expressive in its youth.

The Frühlingsplätzchen vineyard

The 2021ers are a pinnacle expression of a cool-climate vintage; these are chiseled dry wines the likes of which are not likely to come around all that often as we proceed further into a warmer world. As with the 2004s and the 2008s, which the 2021ers at Emrich-Schönleber most closely resemble, these will be epic wines... though they will require time." So grab a couple to lay away and if opening during the upcoming holidays, decant several  hours prior! Giselle Hamburg

THE WINES ARE PRE ARRIVAL AND WILL BE AVAILABLE NEXT WEEK IN STORE.

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Emrich-Schönleber 2021 Nahe Riesling Halenberg Grosses Gewächs

"Monzingen's smallest vineyard is planted exclusively with Riesling vines, most of which belong to us. Facing south with gradients of up to 70%, Halenberg has stony blue slate and quartzite soils that put our vines through their paces - making them struggle in the summer for every drop of water. As a result, the grapes in this vineyard stay smaller and develop an especially exquisite aroma. Halenberg has an inherent, finely structured, minerally saltiness. It often reveals aromas reminiscent of ripe grapefruit and other exotic fruits. After a little ageing, it takes on its characteristically spicy, herbal personality." Frank SchönleberSimilar élevage to Frühlingsplätzchen. Great integration of extract, powerful but with fantastic life on the finish. Cari Bernard

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  • $99.99

Emrich-Schönleber 2021 Nahe Frühlingsplätzchen Riesling Grosses Gewächs

"The Frühlingsplätzchen vineyard has a southwest-to-southeast exposure. At its steepest point, it has a 70% incline. Its soils mostly consist of red slate and gravel, frequently interspersed with the red-coloured loam referred to as Rotliegend. Even at a young age, Frühlingsplätzchen will seduce you with its playful, spring-like fruit character. Its aromas are often redolent of peach and ripe apple, while fine herbal notes also tend to emerge. A few years of cellaring will lend a more pronounced minerally quality that makes Frühlingsplätzchen wines increasingly electrifying with age." Frank Schönleber

Gently crushed, 3-5 hr maceration, pressed into a mix of 1200-3000L barrels. Really wonderful, slightly more body and concentration in 2021…Cari Bernard



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  • white
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  • $69.99

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Emrich-Schonleber 2021 Nahe Riesling Mineral Trocken

"MIneral is sorta a legend – or maybe it’s just that it should be? Or it will be? Either way, this is both a “young-vine” selection from the Grand Cru sites – in this way it is very similar to Keller’s “von der Fels” – AND a curated blend to showcase the mind-blowingly diverse soil types of the Nahe. The point of this wine is to be a razor-blade / hammer of a wine – a slate-volcanic-rock-guillotine. And this it is. For purists, mineral-heads and acid-freaks, few wines overdeliver like this wine over delivers." Vom Boden  Mineral sees about 25% oak, the rest is stainless tank. The  2021 is very tart and bright, quite drying with  extract, green apple skin, lemon salt . Cari Bernard

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  • $36.99

  • Organic