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92 WA.
"The 2015 Trarbacher Hühnerberg Riesling Spätlese * Trocken opens very pure and flinty/stony on the nose. Perfectly ripe, intense and concentrated on the palate, this is an elegant, finessed and powerful dry Mosel Riesling with lots of salt, great grip and complexity. The wine shows super fine and structuring tannins as well as a long and complex finish. This is another remarkable selection from the family quasi monopole. If you think Markus Molitor's range of wines is confusing, you have never met the wines of Martin Müllen. Compared to Müllen, Molitor's portfolio is as clear and organised as a chessboard. At Müllen, things should normally be easier since he is cultivating much fewer different single vineyard sites (only in Kröv, Traben and Trarbach), and he is only rarely producing noble sweet wines above Auslese. However, Müllen is producing four classes of Spätlesen and Auslesen, which are distinguished by (up to three) stars on the wine label and, of course, in different styles from dry to sweet. Some of the wines enter the markets rather early; others are kept in the cellar for further bottle aging for years. So, you never leave the tasting room with having tasted just one vintage because there are always aged vintages on the sales list, too, and if you don't say "Stop!" Martin Müllen will open great Rieslings until midnight. I have never had a wine from this producer that was over-aged or weak. In fact, Müllen Rieslings, even the dry ones, seem to be ageless. As we all know, Riesling isn't an easy grape variety due to its versatility and wide range of styles. However, Riesling combined with sorting maniacs such as Martin Müllen or Markus Molitor can become hopelessly complicated but at the same time as exciting as a new planet. You don't know anything about it, but you are happy to explore all its dimensions. Regarding the 2015 vintage, it brought ripe and relatively healthy grapes, and the resulting wines are fruity and rather light-bodied in terms of alcohol. But, they have power and intensity. Due to the old, mostly ungrafted vines, there were no problems with drought stress for Müllen, whose youngest vines are located in the Kröver Paradies and were planted by Müllen in 1985. Harvest in 2015 started around the middle of October and was finished around the 9th of November. The fermentations went relatively straight, and the first dry wines were ready to be bottled already in February/March. The finest 2015s I have tasted here in February were the dry Spätlesen from the Trarbacher Hühnerberg." Wine Advocate #230, Apr 2017 |