For now at least, the Schonborn 2011 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Beerenauslese seems cut from the same cloth as this collection-s Pfaffenberg Auslese, in as much as it reveals the sharp, pungently spicy and high-toned side of noble rot. Peach and quince preserves mingled with honey, caramel, white raisin and vanilla cream offer a luscious, even luxuriant matrix, but the jabs of citric tartness, prickly smokiness and piquancy remain. This is penetratingly persistent, even formidable stuff, but far from winsome or harmonious. For any with the luxury of owning a few half bottles, I would revisit this in a decade, because it-s hard to say whether it will really reward long-term cellaring or instead merely demonstrate that it is still alive by displaying the same sweet-sour bifurcation that is so noticeable today. In recent reports, I have ascribed the significant positive developments at Schloss Schonborn to Peter Barth, who was named "winery director of the year 2009" by the Gault Millau, wine guide within Germany. However, Baarth was dismissed by Count Paul Schonborn in autumn of 2012 after the State of Hessen brought charges against him for violations of German Wine Law based on analyses that allegedly demonstrated he had illegally concentrated musts; blended wines in ways incompatible with their labeled geographical attributions; and added distilled spirit to T.B.A.s (presumably to push them past the 5% alcohol requisite for wine). The charges involved 20 wines (Seven of them Pinots) and around 20,000 bottles, mostly from vintage 2011, all of which the winery - acting decisively, if ultimately with little choice - destroyed or has sought to buy back from trade or private owners so that they can be destroyed. As of early 2014, the case has yet to come to trial. Steffen Roll, who replaced Barth soon after the latter's dismissal, will be responsible for a newly-assembled viticulture team as well as for wine-making, and there is little doubt among those who have observed their vineyards first hand that the level of care these received under outside management - along with their sheer vastness - was a weak point of the Schonborn estate, whether or not consequences of that weakness played any role in a temptation to transgress wine law in the cellar (which I tend to doubt). As it happens, I got an especially distressing glimpse of the estate's rot-endangered flagship Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg and other nearby vineyards during the warm, rainy third week of September, 2011, but Barth had not yet ordered any significant picking and expressed confidence that if the rain soon stopped, he would still be able to select both healthy and botrytized bunches capable of excellence, which is exactly what happened. "Many people failed to learn the relevant lessons from 2003," he insisted, and for that reason ended up with overly-alcoholic and acid-deficient 2011s. Among other procedures, musts were immediately pressed; rapidly and radically chilled; then rigorously settled. This is one of several Rhine estates whose lighter dry 2011s I found more expressive and better-balanced than their Grosse Gewachse. My tasting notes on this occasion reflect no experiences subsequent to Barth's indictment for wine fraud, but I have placed a parenthetic asterisk (*) after the names of any wines I reviewed that were evidenced in those charges, and added a parenthetic note on the infraction in question. As usual given the huge extent of this estate - and even allowing for its many distinguished vineyards whose fruit informs only generic bottlings - I did not taste more than two-thirds of its vintage offerings. Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596 9463. Until recently, though, various importers, including Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389- 9463; Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. (203) 239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700, and Winesellers, Ltd., Niles, IL; tel. (847) 6

Dustily pungent as well as overtly fungal manifestation of botrytis on the nose of von Schonborns late- and sporadically-picked 2009 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Beerenauslese follow onto a viscous, rather sweet-sour palate, its sharp lemon citricity not restraining its superficial sweetness. This has to be seen as a wine to cellar for 2-3 decades in hope that its sheer sweetness will back-off sufficiently, but in the end I dont think well be rewarded with more noble expressions of botrytis than are evidenced now. That said, there is impressive richness and sheer persistence here to be sure. The latest collection from Peter Barth and his team further demonstrates the high standards that now prevail at this venerable estate. “The window for optimal harvest seems to keep narrowing,” Barth notes, and the relatively high finished alcohol levels on this years dry Schonborn Rieslings certainly testifies to that fact, leaving the 2008s at this address with a distinct edge over their 2009 counterparts. Despite the ravages of hail in Hattenheim and Erbach – including the loss of nearly one-third of the estates anticipated crop of Marcobrunn – the number of different bottlings from that site and from the monopole Pfaffenberg is still considerable. Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389- 9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. 203-239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700, Winesellers Ltd. Niles, IL; tel. (847) 647-1100

Representing a mere 150 half bottles picked out (at the winery) from the corresponding Auslese, when the grapes for Schonborn's 2008 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Beerenauslese were pressed, they revealed Eiswein-like 12.9 grams of acidity. Yellow plum and peach preserves drizzled with fresh lemon and sprinkled with salt are both the primary aromatic and palate impressions one takes away from this ultra-bright yet enormously sweet concentrate. Touches of fruit skin and pit offer further contrast to the sheer sweetness, and a sense of nut paste emerges as the wine opens. This creamy, enveloping, and buoyant B.A. manages to retain a sense of primary citrus freshness for all of its botrytis richness. I suspect it may never achieve quite the complexity or uncanny balance of the corresponding Auslese, but then, it's even earlier days - comparatively speaking - for this wine, which could be expected to last for at least three decades. An April, 2009 visit to this estate - my first in many years - convinced me of Peter Barth's seriousness and talent, and revealed many wines worthy of the great potential of the vast von Schonborn acreage. Last September, I was thrilled by an even finer collection. The number of separate and vineyard-specific bottlings here (as explained - along with other recent developments at this estate - in issue 185) is nowadays intentionally limited. Additionally, in 2008 Barth adopted a very conservative approach, essaying few nobly sweet wines, and while finding his best fruit from top parcels worthy of Erstes Gewachs bottlings, he did not render parallel Spatlese trocken bottlings from the same sites as in other recent years. -Our late start picking this year, with the first Riesling on October 17,- Barth points out, -would have been considered entirely normal 15 years ago. But honestly, by the time we started, I think more than half of the Rheingau had already been picked, a lot of that wines with green, unripe notes and resulting in wines that were then de-acidified.- Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389- 9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. (203) 239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

Split personality seems to have become the order of the day with Schonborn's upper-end nobly sweet wines of this vintage, as their 2007 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Beerenauslese exhibits gooseberry jam, fresh lemon, and honey; displays tooth-jarring acidity 12.4 grams exactly along with not only caramel, but burnt sugar; and finishes with a strident, dynamic interplay of sweet and sour. it's not, to be sure, as though such high acidity is either unknown in botrytized 2007 Rieslings or inherently inharmonious. But here it simply sticks out, at least at this youthful year-old stage. Incredibly intense, unruly, this may yet be great wine, but only someone with lots of disposable income, patience, and his or her own high life-expectancy will ever find out, I fear. This wine was effectively the negative selection culled-out to in the process of making T.B.A. Peter Barth took over cellar duties in 2001, and direction of the entire, fabled Schonborn estate in 2006. I had not visited in all that time - only heard rumors of a revival (tales of a sort that are too often false alarms when it comes to large, underperforming, noble Rheingau estates) - so I am happy to report that the renaissance of Schloss Schonborn is for real. Ten years ago, I found Schonborn's dry wines too austere and their sweet wines exaggeratedly so. Examples of these extremes have not been eliminated, but there are plenty of gorgeous and without doubt age-worthy wines that steer a steady stylistic course. Although - like most large German estates - Schonborn has pruned the number of single-vineyard wines and styles on offer when compared with the enormous annual line-ups that prevailed until a decade ago, this has been done with sensitivity to synergistic blends, and allowing plenty of room for each of the domaine's most celebrated vineyards - in particular their monopole Hattenheimer Pfaffenberg with 12 bottlings this vintage! and Erbacher Marcobrunn - to show-off. Various importers, including Dee Vine Wines San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463, Slocum & Sons, North Haven, CT; tel. 203-239-8000, Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700