2005 Winninger Rottgen TBA

Bottled in April of 2007, the 2005 Winninger Rottgen Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese displays white peach preserves and honey-glazed pineapple and kiwi. On the palate, lime citricity introduces a welcome cool note and helps guarantee a juicy, refreshing side to this viscous elixir. Silky in texture, it displays a clarity, poise, billowing elegance, and gravity-defying lift that are particularly striking in the company of 2006s. Endless in fascination and finish, this pinnacle of an unforgettable vintage chez Knebel should be handed off (depending on your age) to your children or grandchildren. Beate Knebel worried that her 2006s would all be “heavy weights” as nothing was harvested below 100 Oechsle, and the tradition here is for primarily dry wines. As the 2007 harvest approached, some 6,000 liters of precious Riesling from its low-yielding predecessor were still fermenting! But in the end, nature virtually dictated a predominance of wines with at least taste-able residual sweetness. A Hamm Spatlese was rather misleadingly bottled as “feinherb” that had 33 grams of residual sugar ... at 15% alcohol! (Nor was it as grotesque as its analysis suggests.) Asked why she did not begin picking until October 15, Knebel insisted that “despite high levels of sugar, before then the grapes really weren’t ripe.” Importers: Mosel WineMerchant, Manhasset, NY and Trier, Gemany, tel. +49 (0) 651 14551 38 and Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463