From: Mosel, Germany
Varietal: Riesling
Taste: The 2019 Selbach-Oster Riesling Brut offers a captivating experience for the senses. It is clear yet intense and bright on the nose, exuding cool, precise, and elegant notes. Upon tasting, it reveals a lush and piquant roundness, the dense and textured Kabinett underpinned by a crystalline mineral structure. It's a wine still in its early years, promising a beautiful evolution.
Pairing: As for food pairing, the 2019 Selbach-Oster Riesling Brut is a versatile companion. Its balance of acidity, minerality, and fruit intensity makes it a delightful partner to spicy dishes, Asian cuisine, and Indian curries. Some examples include Laard Gai, Dan Dan noodles, butter chicken, Dal with split peas, and chicken vindaloo. Try it alongside your Easter Glazed Ham or elevate a fondue party with its sparkling presence for a holiday touch. The wine's precision cuts through the richness of creamy or fried foods, making it a sublime match for dishes such as Lemon Risotto with Mascarpone Cheese, Gougères, or Crispy Baked Chicken served with lemon-chive sour cream.
Café China’s Dan Dan Noodles
Recipe from Shaoyan He
Adapted by Alexa Weibel
About. The esteemed Selbach-Oster estate, nestled within the beautiful landscapes of Mosel, Germany, proudly continues its four-century winemaking legacy, inextricably tied to the vine-covered slopes of Mosel. The 2019 Selbach-Oster Riesling Brut is a shining demonstration of this enduring heritage, meticulously crafted in perfect harmony with nature through elaborate, manual work and care.
Riesling has reigned supreme in the vineyards of Selbach-Oster for centuries, with its distinct, unmistakable character contributing to the reputation of high-quality Mosel wines globally. A staggering 92 percent of their vineyards are planted with Riesling, allowing Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir to share the remaining spotlight. What sets Selbach-Oster apart is the presence of a rare treasure within many of their vineyards: ungrafted, century-old vines that yield small, highly aromatic fruits, adding a layer of unique complexity to their wines.
Their terroir and vineyard locations are essential in producing excellent, distinctive wines. The long growing season on the Mosel, particularly in these river-adjacent vineyards, gives rise to a vital ally for their winemaking process - noble rot, aka botrytis. This benign fungus contributes to the production of their noble sweet wines (the 2018 Selbach Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Rotlay Riesling Auslese being a great example of Auslese with botrytis that's beautifully balanced- not cloyingly sweet at all), characterized by a captivating blend of aromatic variety, depth of taste, beautifully integrated sweetness, and stimulating elegance.
The Selbach-Oster Riesling wines showcase their high aging potential, with their complex profiles further enriched over the years by developing secondary and tertiary aromas. The geological character of the Mosel region complements the wine's inherent longevity. The river's water surface acts as a reflector and heat accumulator, while the dark, blue Devonian slate soils store daytime heat, releasing it at night. Moreover, the steep slopes - reaching inclinations of up to 55° - intensify solar radiation, enhancing the resulting wine's complexity.
At the heart of Selbach-Oster's vineyards is the Zeltinger Himmelreich - the largest of their three locations and the origins of this sparkling brut. A characteristic feature of this site is its medium-sized, fine clay slate weathered soil enriched with a high proportion of humus. These specific conditions, combined with a south-southeast orientation, contribute to the creation of their captivating Kabinett wines, which strike the palate as more "masculine," strong, and fruit-driven, backed by lively acidity.