By Eric Tuverson, Associate Specialist

It is interesting for me to write about Weingut Emrich-Schönleber twenty-two years after my only visit, because I remember still much about that day.  Chiefly, the work required to make exceptional wine was a year-round task, and no better example was set that cold February afternoon than seeing Wilhelm Schönleber dressed in two overcoats as he trimmed the canes in Frühlingsplätzchen.  You see Frühlingsplätzchen, like the neighboring  Halenberg, was a mosaic of bare earth, young vines, mature vines, and the tangled mass of long abandoned vines.  Werner Schönleber, his father Wilhelm, and son, Frank, were able, willing and even excited to do the painstaking work required to pull great wine from these storied vineyards.  Where others in the Monzinger community were unwilling to tend to the long-ignored vines, the Schönleber saw the potential for greatness.  

 Frühlingsplätzchen Grosses Gewächs is a Grand Cru wine; noble, limitless, brilliant, and electric just like the great wines of Les Clos, Bâtard or Corton.  And like those Burgundies, it is capable of long, slow evolution.  The wine today is intense.  It attacks the palate with potent acidity and stark minerality; concentrated lemon and yellow peach notes coincide with a bouquet of white flowers and fennel frond.  The finish is long but not overly aggressive, a hallmark of wines of this caliber.  You may drink them at any time with gusto and no regret.  At $85 this is a stark reminder that greatness doesn’t have to cost hundreds or thousands.