95 / 100 Robert Parker Keller’s 2008 Westhofener Abtserde Riesling Grosses Gewachs – for considerable detail on whose terroir and history, consult my report in issue 185 – smells mysteriously musky in its evocation of narcissus, orchids, nut oils, and white truffle, which are accompanied by more predictable – even prosaic – but nonetheless lovely scents of pit fruits and citrus. Succulent, creamy, richly nutty and pit-fruited on the palate, it is saturated with the sort of diverse and in part ineffable intimations of things mineral as were encountered in the Hubacker. At the same time, there are tension and a sense of interplay as well as a sheer juicy generosity here reminiscent of the Kirchspiel. The finish is not only lusciously loaded with ripe white peach and piquant cardamom, white pepper, toasted almond, and lemon zest, but also as lip-smackingly saline as you are likely to encounter in any Riesling. Here is a union of intensity and elegance that I predict will stand the test of 12-15 years in bottle. Keller refers to the pristine transparency of a great Mosel Kabinett as “like glacial water,” and the same metaphor occurred to be in swallowing my first sip of 2008 Abtserde and of a very long day.
187, The Wine Advocate
