Scheurebe
An aromatic 1916 Riesling crossing marked by vivid blackcurrant and grapefruit. Excels both dry and as sweet, botrytised late-harvest wine.
About Scheurebe
Scheurebe was bred in 1916 by Georg Scheu, director of the grape-breeding station at Alzey in Rheinhessen. Long thought to be Silvaner × Riesling, DNA analysis eventually confirmed its parents as Riesling and the aromatic old variety Bukettraube. It shares much of Riesling's racy acidity but adds an unmistakable exuberant nose of blackcurrant, cassis leaf and pink grapefruit. Grown mainly in the Pfalz and Rheinhessen (and in Austria as Sämling 88), it demands warm, ripe sites; picked underripe it turns aggressively herbaceous. When fully ripe it is one of Germany's most rewarding aromatic whites, superb as a taut dry wine and outstanding when botrytis concentrates it into honeyed Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. A connoisseur's grape rather than a commercial one, it retains a devoted following.
Variety profile
Editorial notes
Choose ripe, warm-site examples; underripe Scheurebe can taste green and catty. Sweet botrytised versions age beautifully.