There is only one vintage 2018 Hermannshöhle Spätlese from Jakob Schneider, but its nickname honors his grandmother's having turned 85. While I taste with Schneider in a modern ambience, "Oma Liesel" is usually assisting customers in the diminutive adjacent tasting room (resembling a cross between an office and a parlor: precisely its origins) just as she and her famously loquacious husband Hans did back when I first visited this estate in 1984. Quince, lime and lingonberry are tinged with fennel and mint on an enticing nose and a glossy, luscious, coolingly herb-tinged and tangy palate. While unapologetically sweet, this Spätlese doesn't approach cloying or (as the corresponding Kirschheck did) syrupy, and the finish introduces unexpectedly invigorating, vibrantly interactive complexity by way of nippy cress and crystalline stony impingements. With time, it should prove even more impressive.

The 2018 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese Edith Elisabeth is delicate and generous on the flinty-scented and nicely reductive nose. Intense and juicy on the palate, this is a rich and elegant, smooth and generous Spätlese that is still a bit sharp on the finish. Tasted in July 2019.