2009 Herrenberg Riesling Eiswein 82

Harvested on December 19 and pressed until on the 20th juice finally began running, the 2009 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg Riesling Eiswein represents what flowed later and under less solidly-frozen conditions. Candied lemon rind, gooseberry preserves, and white raisin in the nose set the somewhat sweet-sour tone for the entire performance here, with nostril-tweaking pungency signaling frozen concentration, and – to my nose at least – a measure of botrytis as well. This is almost grotesquely viscous and sweet, while at the same time bitingly sharp and persistently pungent. But there is something unforgettably awesome about its sheer extremity and audacity. I am most intrigued at the thought of how this might evolve, perhaps settling down enough to become more attractive and interesting as well as less taxing to the palate. It definitely deserves to be reassessed. Proprietor Carl von Schubert and cellarmaster and vineyard manager Stefan Kraml continue to make strides in bringing this great estate back to its long-standing exemplary form, albeit incorporating some stylistic innovations (for more about which consult in particular my reports in issues 183 and 187). "We picked from between the 18th of October and the 6th of November," reports von Schubert, "and although there was intermittent rain, the weather only really turned worse after we had finished." He points out that photographs from earlier eras at Grunhaus routinely show vines entirely denuded of foliage by the time they were harvested, just the way they looked this year, and while the early October frost aggravated him at the time, he did not think in retrospect that it had any negative repercussions. One probable effect of those barren branches was relative paucity of botrytis, and von Schubert opined that only at the level of his fuder-numbered Auslesen – and then only by dint of extreme selectivity of bunches and partial bunches – did noble rot become a significant factor. A third fuder-numbered Auslese – other than the two canvassed in the present report – represents, in Carl von Schubert's words, "the attempt to vinify a distinctly botrytized and rigorously selected Auslese in barrique" and will only be bottled and presented for tasting next year. It's degree of sweetness? "Only a bit more than the 'Superior,'" he says! There is also a Beerenauslese and a Trockenbeerenauslese which had not been bottled and which von Schubert was similarly not eager to show yet when I visited in September. Other than for nobly sweet wines, fermentations here are normally finished by the end of December and this year, says von Schubert, was no exception; even while relying entirely on ambient yeasts he had more than enough casks go to legal dryness to satisfy his needs, some even ending up as few as two grams residual sugar and as high as 13.5% in alcohol (although these were blended-out with other, lighter lots). In each instance where I was made aware of multiple bottlings which required reference to an A.P. # in order to disambiguate, note that I tasted only one of those bottlings. Incidentally, a new fuder-vinified 2009 "Schloss Grunhaus" Pinot Blanc struck me as too-dominated by wood, and its 13% alcohol precluded much sense of levity or refreshment. Importer: P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. (918) 622-0424