This was my final bottle. For a while I had been hesitant about opening it for this very reason – the eternal dilemma of an amateur wine lover. This time I threw caution the wind.

The exotic Ecuadorian bird hanging in my office, plus a bottle of Scheurebe.

Pfeffingen, Scheurebe SP trocken 2009, Pfalz
I’m glad I did open it – the impression it made will provide me with plenty of mental sustenance and consolation now that drinking the 2009 vintage of this wine is an experience I most likely will never be able to repeat.

Golden in appearance. Initially grapey, minty and slightly lemony on the nose. There is only a very slight hint of wood to begin with, and even that melts away completely after a while. If truth be told, I’m searching in vain for the descriptor that does justice to what I can smell, but coriander and/or fennel and/or root veg also spring to mind. Close my eyes and I find myself adding Riesling-esque peaches to the equation.

Despite this, I wouldn’t necessarily brand the wine as excessively aromatic or loud. It retains a certain ‘breed’ throughout, as it were. My impressions on the palate bear this out: above all very grapey, with a mix of fine fresh herbs such as mint and coriander again, as well as a squeeze of lime. According to the producer, the white wines of the Loire were a source of inspiration for the wine. One third of the juice fermented in American oak. However, the woody notes are fully integrated now. That is to say, you know they are there but you barely notice them, if at all. Instead, they add a backbone or an added layer of savoury, tactile complexity, while complementing what to me screams of chalky minerals. Essentially, the wine is also quite powerful and ripe – but not overripe – in the mouth, yet imbued with great freshness. It leads into a very long finish that reminds me on the one hand of a top German Sauvignon Blanc (think von Winning) and, on the other, of an equally good Weissburgunder from Baden on account of its sheer grapiness. All this may sound a little high-octane, but this Scheurebe is that good.