"(AG=94) Deep golden-yellow. Marmalade and botrytis notes complicate honey, guava, canned pineapple, candied mango and sweet spices on the nose. Then pure and seamless in the mouth, with harmonious acidity lifting the rich tropical fruit, truffle, pear schnapps and caramel flavors. Boasts marvelous texture and a very long finish. This is a knockout wine. The vines grow on calcaire soil on the other side of the Mandelberg grand cru, opposite the Clos des Trois Chemins. The wine has amazing acidity for a Gew’_rztraminer (160 g/l residual sugar and 7 g/l total acidity) and is less marked by noble rot than an SGN from the Sonnenglanz might be because this terroir doesnŠ—Èt botrytize as easily; in fact, only 50% of the grapes used to make this wine were hit by noble rot. Bott also told me he picked a little earlier here than he did in the Sonnenglanz to help preserve acidity. (RP=89) Marzipan, quince jelly, butterscotch, litchi, and honey dominate the Bott-Geyl 2008 Gewurztraminer Schloesselreben Selection de Grains Nobles along with its nearly 170 grams of residual sugar, for an impression almost excessively confectionary for my palate. Thank heavens that even here there is at least a deeply-buried rivulet of primary juiciness such as characterizes the vintage, and a smoky, faintly bitter note of black tea offers some push-back against its sweetness. But this wineŠ—Ès acidity is no higher than that of the Š—“regularŠ—� grand cru bottlings in the present collection, and I suspect that is simply too little for its sugar. I donŠ—Èt doubt that this will keep for at least 12-15 years, but I strongly suspect that it will still be overly sweet at that point."