Max Ferdinand Richter 2018 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese 750ml

Apple jelly, Persian melon and candied lemon peel inform an effusive nose and a lusciously fruited, glossy, buoyant palate. The wine’s 90 grams of residual sugar are much in evidence, but there is enough sheer juiciness to the lingering finish to encourage the next sip. The wine is very close, analytically speaking, to the collection’s Helenenkloster Spätlese, but this would not be the first time that a Richter Riesling from the relatively unheralded and unpropitiously gentle slopes of Mülheimer Helenenkloster has outshone a sibling from some far more famous site. That said, I would certainly not be shocked if this Himmelreich gained in complexity and tasted better-balanced a decade from now.

Score: 90 points -- David Schildknecht, Vinous, 2019