2016 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling GG, Mosel

2016 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling GG may be my favourite wine of the 2016 releases.This was a surprise and a half. At first quite closed, with some lemon oil and a touch of verbena emerging. That quickly morphed into a riot of citrus, moving into a gorgeous mineral and gentle acid finish.

"Scents of lime, cassis and walnut oil usher in a firm but polished palate featuring invigorating tartness of juicy citrus, apple, white peach and seedy, thick-skinned dark berries. The impressively sustained finish perpetuates this wine’s brightness (surprising, considering its analytically very modest acidity) for invigoration and consummate refreshment. It further benefits from piquant, smoky nut oils, underlying wet stone, saliva-liberating salinity and a cooling sense of green herbal infusion. Here is the closest (two weeks after mid-July bottling) that any of the formidable 2016 Schloss Lieser Grosse Gewächse comes to lusciousness of fruit. But nobody could claim that it stints on mineral elements or lacks structural rectitude."

93 points vinous.com David Schildknecht