- 98 points -

A super-elegant dry riesling for the hot and dry 2018 vintage! Brimming with kafir-lime, mirabelle-plum and dried-mint aromas. Great underplayed power on the medium- to full-bodied palate. The concentration seems to build with the chalky minerality at the overwhelming finish! From organically grown grapes.

- 97 points -

From the Osterberg (60%) and a particular Geisberg plot (40%), the 2018 Riesling Frédéric Emile offers a very concentrated, intense and saline nose due to deeper, more clayish soils. Full-bodied, rich and intense yet elegant and refined on the palate, this is a concentrated, persistently saline and powerful Riesling with a long, impressive and powerful finish. The FE has more salt and tension than the 2018 Geisberg and is definitely the more complex wine. Tasted at the domaine in April 2024 and again on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Clos Ste Hune at the beginning of November when the wine was beautifully fragrant, refined and elegant, even pure and precise on the remarkably coolish nose, given that dry and very warm vintage. This is an enormously complex Riesling with a dense and fleshy texture of fully ripe fruits and a firm tannin structure. Promising!

- 95 points -

Poured from a magnum, this age-worthy wine is snappy and precise in texture, offering abundant minerals, orange zest and white peach in the aroma and crisp, stony flavors on the palate. Focused, invigorating and still young, it will drink best from 2028.

- 94 points -

#55

This shows signs of development, with very subtle notes of beeswax and white truffle, but its core is packed with juicy Korean pear, lemon verbena and orange zest. Crackling acidity holds the firm structure, while sea-salt notes add to the intrigue. It ends with a lip-smacking finish

- 94 points -

This shows the gentility of age, with spiced apple, pear jelly and quince flavors held aloft by lemony acidity and a solid foundation of chalky mineral. Lime zest, fennel seed and cool gravel line the compact, savory finish, which is slightly grippy in feel, giving impressive textural complexity.

95+ Points

Bright straw. Clean, vibrantly mineral and racy aromas and flavors of green apple, pear and lime. Ripe yet brightly acidic, this exhibits a penetrating quality on the long, juicy, ginger- and mineral-accented finish. Very compact, dense and still youthful Riesling. Outstanding.

95+ Points

Vibrant straw-green. The penetrating, explosive nose offers yellow apple, musky ginger, flint and chamomile. Dense, sappy and highly concentrated; peach and balsamic flavors are complicated by a hint of crystallized citrus peel. Displays lovely balance from start to very long finish. This is a noteworthy step up in concentration and complexity from Trimbach’s Mandelberg and Schlossberg Rieslings, however delightful those last two wines are in 2015. In keeping with the hot, dry 2015 vintage, this strikes me as sweeter than usual for the Fréderic Emile, though by the time it goes on sale in seven or eight years, it will taste less sweet than it is today. Clearly, the berries and bunches were extremely small in 2015, and so the wine is especially concentrated, rich and glyceral, all of which contribute a dimension of sweetness. However, the small berries didn’t give much juice and only 26,000 bottles were produced in 2015, instead of the more usual 40,000. Always a blend of grapes grown in the Geisberg and Osterberg sites, the wine’s makeup in 2015 is about 60/40 in favor of the Osterberg, but not surprisingly, the Geisberg’s presence really comes through in a hot year like 2015. I personally like it more when the Osterberg stands out, but that said, this is a really outstanding wine in the making, one of the best young FEs I have memory of.

95+ Points

The 2015 Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile is clear and intense but highly refined on the nose that perfectly blends mineral with concentrated lemon and smoky flavors. Round, concentrated and very elegant on the palate, this is a slightly sweeter than normal Riesling, but it is highly finessed, well-structured and perfectly salty with a long and tension-filled finish. Fine tannins reflect the limestone/marl terroir of the Geisberg Grand Cru with the southeast-facing Osterberg Grand Cru. The 2015 will not go on the market earlier than 2022.