Wine Spectator 90
"An off-dry, succulent version, with great balance between notes of warm hay, spiced apple and savory dried green herbs. Hints of nutmeg and wet stone line the concentrated finish, powered by juicy, lemony acidity. Drink now through 2026. 1,500 cases imported."

ZELTINGER SONNENUHR: is the Premier Grand Cru. Slate, lime, apple, butter-vanilla, rich, almost chewy earthiness, great depth. Some parcels are prized by locals as the best sites in the entire Bernkastel-Zeltingen ramp-DOKTOR notwithstanding! These wines are fullbodied. Selbachs are now the primo owners in this great site, and have inaugurated an era of elective harvesting and a quality potential such as we have never before seen. This is a tremendous value.

About the Winery:
Today, Johannes Selbach and his wife Barbara, with the increasing help of son Sebastian, manage their vineyards and winery with passion and respect for the estates long held traditions. 50 of their 21 hectares of vines are on their original rootstocks, in Zeltinger Himmelreich, Schlossberg, and Sonnenuhr; Wehlener Sonnenuhr; and, Graacher Himmelreich and Domprobst. These vineyards of weathered Devonian slate are on a steep, contiguous slope facing south-south west and represent some of the most prestigious sites in all of the Middle Mosel. In fact, the wines from these sites were valued not only by having the highest ratings on the Prussian tax maps of 1868, but also by Thomas Jefferson, who visited and praised their high quality in the 1780s. The Selbach-Osters heritage in the area dates to the 1660s: Selbachs ancestors shipped their estate wines along the Mosel in their steamship, the wine carried in oak barrels made by cooper Matthias Oster, the great-grandfather on the paternal side of the family. Thus, the winery developed as both a top estate producing some of the regions best wine, and also as a ngociant and brokerage firm, consolidating the production of smaller growers.

Johannes has slowly been reviving the use of traditional oak fuder in his cellar, bringing in new large casks every few years. Vinification is carried out in a combination of fuder and stainless steel, and predominantly with wild yeasts. Selbach aims for a typical modern Mosel style, which reflects the minerality of the rocky Devonian slate soils, as well as the elegance and finesse of the Riesling fruit in clear, crisp, elegant, low-alcohol, yet full-flavored handcrafted wines, says Stephan Reinhardt, in The Finest Wines of Germany.

The hallmark of the estate are 3 old parcels that Selbach-Oster harvests en-bloc; or, as single pickings, with no selections pulled from the vineyard prior to harvesting. The Rotlay (in the Zeltingen Sonnenuhr, rich in iron ore), the Schmitt (in the Zeltingen Schlossberg), and the Anrecht (in the Zeltingen Himmelreich) are all old parcels high on their respective slopes and post trained on their original rootstock. Typically, Auslese is selected by successive passes through the vineyardpicking fruit for Kabinett and Sptlese first and leaving the healthiest berries on the vine to concentrate. For the en-bloc wines selection of this type is avoided, in order to maintain a holistic flavor profile that contains that of ultra-ripe grapes, optimally ripe, and of lesser-ripe ones which has the ability to reflect a complete terroir of both place and moment. Because his approach in winemaking is minimal, Johannes Selbach will allow his wines to ferment naturally, as slow or as complete as manifest, resulting in dry wines in some vintages and fruity in others. " ~ Winery notes
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