The wine is Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Spatlese 1971, von Schubert, A.P. Nr. 3 536 014 1872. The wine is, of course, a Riesling. Many in the M-S-R region at one time did not bother to state that on the label, as everyone knew that top estates such as this only use Riesling for their quality wines. The wine was properly stored since release, the cork was sound, and the fill was still quite high. The color is now light lemon. The two word description is perfect balance. Even though only a spatlese, the wine likely can take 5 to 10 more years of age, although it is fully mature. There is still good clean acidity to balance a moderate amount of sweetness. The harshness that wines from cooler regions often have when young is now nicely rounded. The fruit is a complex mixture of citrus and temperate stone fruit. There is a bit of mineral character. Although 1959 and 1976 perhaps had more top BAs and TBAs than 1971, the 1971s had better balance from the lowest to highest levels. I only had the one bottle of spatlese, and most of my other 1971s are auslese and above. At least for the M-S- R region, if a 1971 auslese+ from a top estate is not still holding well, the wine likely was stored poorly. Of course there were and still are plenty of people in the region who make a very ordinary and short-lived wine even in the best years.
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