Weingut Karl Erbes, Erdener Treppchen, Riesling Spätlese

Father-son team Karl and Stefan Erbes aren’t running a centuries-old winery, nor do they come from a long line of winemakers, but they are the real deal. My new go-to producer for value German whites, this 50-year-old family estate farms a handful of acres on some of Mosel’s steepest and most-prized sites. You all snatched up Karl Erbes’ Kabinett offering in 2017—to the point where it became one of our top-selling wines ever—so we recently dug deeper into their wonderful collection.After sampling through the lot, we couldn’t stop buzzing about today’s Spätlese. It’s everything you and I both loved about their ’15 Kabinett, except now it’s moved up a weight class without sacrificing an ounce of freshness or minerality. The increased concentration and depth of this spätlese is simply astounding—for only a few extra dollars. No matter how long I live, I’ll be scratching my head trying to understand how the complexity, mineral panache, and unequivocal deliciousness of Mosel wines can be so