2017 Donnhoff Spatlese Norheimer Kirschheck

The 2017 Kirschheck Spätlese is a lovely example of the vintage, offering up a very pretty bouquet of white cherries, apple, wild yeasts, a touch of sea salts, bee pollen, apple blossoms and a superb base of minerality. On the palate the wine is medium-full, pure and dancing, with a juicy core, great cut and grip and a long, vibrant and perfectly balanced finish. This is going to be delicious to drink in its youth, but will have no trouble keeping several decades. Drink 2018-2045. 93 points

Lily and apple blossom perfume on the nose liquefies on a silken, glossy, buoyant palate lusciously brimming with juicy fresh apple and chiffon-like strawberry. The finish, unabashedly sweet, yet delicate, is hauntingly sustained and incorporates a saliva-liberating pinch of sea-salt. `I don’t really want to make every sort of wine in every vineyard,` insists Dönnhoff, who is convinced that the talent of Kirschheck is and will remain in the realm of residual sweetness. `Besides,` he adds with a wink, `with the two new Grosse Gewächse we now have a full six-pack.` 92 points