Yeast

St. Urbans-Hof 2007 Leiwener Laurentiuslay Riesling Spätlese 028 08 (Mosel) – SULFUR! SULFUR!! SULFUR!!! This wine, Keith Richards-like, is apparently designed to live forever. Is there anything else? Yes: buried deep, deep within are tropical fruit (pineapple-dominated) and a very rough, vaguely quartz-like finish. But this much sulfur could make your average JJ Prüm point and laugh. (5/10)

Piesporter control

St. Urbans-Hof 2005 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese 026 06 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Minted peach blossom, plus thick orangesicle laden with vanilla. Reticent at its core, but delish around the perimeter. There’s no real value in drinking this now, considering the potential upside as it develops some muscle and flesh. (4/09)

Graben a handful

St. Urbans-Hof 1990 Wiltinger Schlangengraben Riesling Kabinett 19 91 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Dusty, as if tasted in an old, wind-blown tunnel. Biting green apple. This is good, and I enjoy it (there isn’t a lot of 19-year-old kabinett in my drinking queue), but I’m not sure I wouldn’t have liked it more a few years ago, because the bones are definitely showing. (4/09)

Dennis Hof

St. Urbans-Hof 2002 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese 034 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Less weird than previous bottles, showing wind-blown slate and a touch of makrut lime leaf, covered with a faint patina of sweet apple. It’s very delicate, perhaps almost fragile, and doesn’t yet seem to be in a drinking mood. (5/08)

Urban decay

St. Urbans-Hof 2006 “Urban” Riesling “Nik Weis Selection” (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Fruity and lush, with some rubber and lime juice. Good, basic fruit and acid. (2/08)

Piesporter control

St. Urbans-Hof 2006 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett 10 07 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Light and pretty, but pure, with great acidity and abundant steel flakes. Fun. (2/08)

Ernie Bock

St. Urbans-Hof 2006 Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese 13 07 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Beautiful peach and thick apple with floral notes. Flawless balance, with length and purity. (2/08)

Piesporter creek

St. Urbans-Hof 2005 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese 26 06 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Gorgeous sweetness, crisp-ripe rapple, green grapes. Balanced and incredibly acidic, but the weight of the fruit more than makes up for it. Clear and crystalline finish. Gorgeous. (2/07)

Laurentiuslay Stallone

St. Urbans-Hof 2005 Leiwener Laurentiuslay Riesling Spätlese feinherb 28 06 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Ripe and sweet green apple, elegant, soft, yet very long, with hidden concentration. There’s a great future here. (2/07)

Piesporter control

St. Urbans-Hof 2005 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese 13 06 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Flowers, banana, papaya. Very youthful. (2/07)

Doc Ock Bock

St. Urbans-Hof 2005 Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Kabinett 14 06 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Sulfur, melon, and gravel. Clean and hard. Like a waterfall over rocks. (2/07)

Keith & Dennis

St. Urbans-Hof 2006 Riesling 45 06 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Banana cream, strawberry, and Rainier cherry. Not my kind of riesling. (2/07)