Sybille Kuntz, Riesling Spatlese Trocken Mosel 2018

94 points John Gilman, View from the Cellar
"The bouquet jumps from the glass in a youthful blend of lime peel, tart orange, a nice touch of wild yeasts, botanicals, a beautifully complex base of slate, a hint of menthol and a lovely topnote of citrus zest. On the palate the wine is pure, fullbodied and youthful, with a rock-solid core, excellent mineral drive and cut, snappy acids and lovely focus and grip on the long, vibrant and very promising finish. This will demand some cellar time to really open up and start drinking with generosity. It has enormous potential. 2027-2075."

Jancis Robinson
"Quite deep honeyed straw colour. Miraculously pungent and concentrated. This is as like a traditional Mosel Riesling as an Amontillado sherry is. Such concentration and extract! But not obvious alcohol. The slaty slope and nothing but the slaty slope. Enjoy Sybille's story in the new film about women in wine. There is sheer hard work in this wine. Floral and mineral tincture. For food – or you could just sip it and marvel at what well-tended biodynamic Riesling can do. 17.5/20 points."

Vinous Reverie Notes
Roy,
So glad you encouraged me to try Sybille’s wines! Her 2018 Spätlese leaped immediately to the top quartile of my personal Riesling list, and is the first Mosel wine in that space. I like this wine a lot and will buy more. I like its slate-y base, its solid core, its bracing cut, firm structure and sober presentation of fruit and aromatics. I like that it is not flashy, even if I also love a lot of flashy Rieslings from (mostly) limestone-based soils. Sybille’s wines appeal in a different way. I also like some of her presentation choices. Like the use of a hyphen between Mosel and Riesling. At the end of the 19th Century, Riesling from the Mosel was usually written as one word – Moselwein – which helped distinguish it from Rheingau wines that were stylistically different. I also like her juxtaposition of “Spätlese” with “trocken” — once upon a time in the Mosel, Auslese was trocken naturally, as were a few Spätlesen as well. I have promised myself that I will henceforth approach Sybille’s wines with great respect, and look for new vintages with happy anticipation! ~ John Haeger
This Spatlese comes from the third picking, all from old vines - many 1920’s era - in the Grand Cru of Niederberg-Helden. This is bottled under cork and represents around 10% of the estate’s total production. It’s also Sybille and Markus’ pride and joy.