Yet another dazzling wine chosen by Steven Spurrier at this special 2018 masterclass. The magnificent Schloss Vollrads, at 800 years' old, is the oldest wine estate in Germany. It's situated at the heart of the Rheingau and is today run by Rowald Hepp. This 2004 Spatlese, made from non-botrytised grapes, is in wonderful shape. It's almost amber-gold in the glass, exuding classic citrus and peach aromas. It's exquisitely precise, with sweetness, tang, ripeness and high acidity all perfectly balanced. There’s just the merest hint of bottle age starting to emerge alongside beguilingly complex flavours of peach, honeycomb and minerals. The alcohol is just 8% and the wine has 74g/l of residual sugar, but such is the taut, tensile natural acidity that the wine finishes dry. Utterly sensational.

From "the best grapes from the Spätlese vineyard," according to Rowald Hepp, the 2013 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Spätlese Gold Capsule fermented with destemmed grapes and whole berries, "so with the really ripe but healthy grapes." The must was kept cool for 4 days before the fermentation started. The resulting wine offers very delicate fruit aromas on the nose whereas on the palate this is a salty, piquant and really simulating Spätlese with a good grip in the finish.