2006 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Auslese

Wintergreen and ripe cherry scent the 2006 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Riesling Auslese, which comes to the palate honeyed, subtly creamy in texture, yet brightly citric and with suggestions of ginger spice, sage, and smoky pungency that place this as typically red slate Herrenberg rather than Abtsberg. Lip-smacking and persistently honeyed, bright, spicy, and mineral-tinged, I suspect this has the potential to evolve interestingly over a 15-20 year period. There is not a hint of any coarse aspect of botrytis, but only a lovely overlay of honey. After witnessing last year a definitive return to their traditional top form at Grunhaus under the direction of owner Carl von Schubert and cellarmaster and vineyard manager Stefan Kraml, I harbored hopes that vintage 2006 would demonstrate continued excellence, and the evidence did not really dampen them. The fact that there are not so many outstanding wines this year must largely be laid at the door of the weather, of which the team appears to have made the best, considering results on the Ruwer as a whole. No one can accuse Kraml and von Schubert of risk aversion: they did not begin picking until October 10, -as late as we could,- says Kraml, -which turned out to be almost too late. But the fruit was simply not ripe sooner. The berries all developed tiny fissures, though, so you can imagine what happened in these warm temperatures and persistent humidity and how strictly we had to select. I would never have imagined that good wines could come from grapes that looked so awful. You had to determine what looked bad but was good, and what looked bad and really was bad.- Around 10-15% of the fruit was simply discarded. The roughly 50% of dry wine production was harvested almost entirely in the first week. I found the Abtsberg favored by nature this year across the range, and the trocken wines - though well-made - a bit lean and marginal in ripeness. Importer: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. (918) 622-0424