TN: 2002 Pfeffingen Ungsteiner Herrenberg Scheurebe Auslese Gold Cap

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As often seems the case with crossings, the results are oblique to the grapes crossed, i.e. there’s no linear sequence of getting Riesling-flavors-plus-Silvaner-flavors. You end up with new flavors you couldn’t have predicted. Scheurebe ripens 7-10 days ahead of Riesling, and has a little less acidity, but it’s essentially a Riesling structure, i.e. firm and citrussy. It does indeed like sand but doesn’t give its very best results; the wines tend to be 1-dimensionally tangerine-y.

Great Scheurebe unfolds a truly kinky panoply of flavors and aromas. Indeed, Scheu is to Riesling what “creative” sex is to missionary-with-the-lights-out. Start with pink grapefruit. Add cassis; I mean pure cassis. Then add sage leaves you just crushed between your fingertips. Then lemon grass. If it’s extremely ripe you can talk about passion-fruit and papaya. If it’s underripe you will certainly talk about cat piss. Scheurebe is capable of great finesse and stature. Yet it’s becoming an endangered species. Why?

First, it’s been lumped together with a genre of crossings to which it is manifestly superior. It’s the proverbial baby being thrown out with the bath water. Then, Scheurebe likes vineyard conditions which Riesling likes as well. Scheu will hiss at you if you plant it in the wrong place. This you don’t want. But by planting it in good Riesling sites, you have a wine which fetches less money than Riesling. Not good.

Growers who maintain their Scheurebe recognize its beauty and uniqueness. If anything it’s almost more attractive at table than Riesling, working with boldly flavored dishes (especially Pac Rim) for which Riesling is sometimes too demure.

Scheurebe keeps very well but doesn’t age as dramatically as Riesling. Ten-year-old Scheu is only a little different than 1-year-old Scheu.

Tastes differ, of course, and what’s sizzling and emphatic to me might be blatant and vulgar to you, but we who love Scheurebe are truly in a kind of thrall to it. It has little of Riesling’s spiritual depth, but neither does Riesling have Scheurebe’s erotic power. We need both for a balanced diet! Riesling may indeed represent All That Is Fine And Good, but Scheu offers All That Is Dirty And Fun.

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