From ungrafted 80- to 120-year-old vines from several plots on sandstone, slate and mixed soils, the 2016 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Alte Reben (Steinmetz und Hermann) has an intense yet clear, flinty and spicy/floral-scented bouquet of tropical fruits, herbs, walnuts and very fine slate aromas. Full-bodied, rich, round and intense on the palate, this is an elegant, densely textured and juicy grand cru with firm tannins. Picked enormously late and with 98° Oechsle, the wine fermented in stainless steel in Stefan Steinmetz's cellar in Brauneberg, ending up with 12% alcohol and 17 grams of residual sugar. Bottled in June 2017. Total production: 3,600 bottles. Tasted February 2018.
93+ points, Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate (Issue # 236 - Apr 2018)
The bigfoot of Mosel Riesling! Packed with peachy fruit and ripe and bold on the palate. A seriously powerful wine that needs some time to harmonize. Better from 2018 and should drink well until 2025.
93 points, James Suckling (Jun 2017)
A slightly cheesy “Mosel stink” has to clear before Würzgarten-typical strawberry and kiwi emerges on the nose, along with suggestions of ripe papaya and banana that reflect grapes picked at 102 Oechsle in late October. Seventeen grams of residual sugar engender subtle, supportive sweetness, while also guaranteeing that the wine doesn’t become alcoholically freighted. The feel is broad and lush, in part reflecting the wine’s mere 6.8 grams of acidity (comparable to that of the two “Alte Reben” bottlings under Christian Hermann’s “Dr. Hermann” label). A cooling, juicy influx of mint-tinged honeydew melon adds to the luscious appeal of a soothingly sustained, subtly stone-lined finish. This bottling from Hermann fruit raised in the Steinmetz cellar will hardly make one forget the gorgeous 2015, but it is quite seductive in its way, and will be even finer once the aromatics evolve. There were 2,700 bottles of that 2015; there are 3,500 of this 2016.
91 points, David Schildknecht, Vinous (Jan 2018)