Weingut Seehof, Westhofener Morstein, Scheurebe Beerenauslese Goldkapsel, 2007

In the early 20th century the Germans embarked on a mission to create a genetically modified race of - no, not über-soldiers, but grape varieties. They were also not so much genetically modified as traditionally cross-bred, but the idea was to create varieties that could handle bad weather better, were robuster or addressed some other actual or perceived flaws in existing varieties. Scheurebe ("Scheu's vine") was created in 1916 and was for a long time thought to be a cross between Silvaner and Riesling, but has only recently been revealed to be a cross between Riesling and a wild vine.

Aromatic and with some similarities to Riesling, Scheurebe is often used to create complex sweet wines, and - while not exactly grown on large scale - is increasingly popular with some of Germany's top winemakers.

Our Scheurebe was grown by the Seehofs, a fifth generation family of winemakers who own parts of the Morstein, a famous vineyard in Westhofen. As is not unusual with German sweet wines, the Scheurebe comes in a 0.5l bottle. It is a "Beerenauslese", i.e. made from hand-picked, over-ripe grapes. As you'd hope for such a wine the colour is a beautiful gold.

The nose is as intense with lots of fruit, including passion fruit and grapefruit - rich, sticky fruit with that bit of sharpness to make it interesting. There is also honey, a little bit of cough tablets and then rich, grainy bread; not just any bread, think fruit bread with apricot, peach and raisins. On the tongue it is deliciously, mouth-fillingly sweet with lots of fruit such as caramelised tin peach. All of that is nicely balanced by good acidity that keeps the wine from being cloying; and then there is a very long finish.

If you look for a really delicious sweet wine, for instance for a lovely dessert with fruit elements such as raspberry coulis, the Seehof Scheurebe is a winner.