I recently bought a 2015 Selbach Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Auslese from a store (the store bought it from a private cellar). When I did some googling, most results show “Schmitt” on the label for this vineyard.
From what I understand, after a bit of due diligence, Schmitt is a specific parcel owned by Selbach Oster in larger vineyard of Zeltinger Schlossberg?
Just curious if anyone knows why my label is different? Curious if anyone knows what’s going on here or has any info at all on the wine!
by WorriedAssistance208
2 Comments
They make both a Auslese and “Schmitt” Auslese from the same vineyard. You bought the non Schmitt one.
Im 90% sure your middle paragraph is correct. Schmitt is a parcel within the ZS vineyard and is a historical parcel. My assumption is that the borders or amount of vine plantings may have changed in that vineyard over time but the parcel has stayed the same.
As for the Schmitt vs Auslese bottle you have, they’re actually different wines (if you were using CellarTracker or WineSearcher the label search feature is okay at best).
What you have is from the wider ZS vineyard but only Auslese-level berries. Schmitt is a different approach, they don’t do picking passes for Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, etc. instead they pick once and make a wine from the mixed grade berries. I’ve had a 2008 Schmitt recently that was lovely and no too sweet. Your Auslese bottle will be quite sweet (and delicious)!