2007 Müller-Catoir Breumel In den Mauern Riesling Auslese

Meaty, musky, as well as honeyed, apricot preserve, and kiwi aromas announce the 2007 Haardter Burgergarten Breumel In den Mauern Riesling Auslese, the first Auslese to be labeled for Muller-Catoir’s clos within the Burgergarten. As with its fellow-Auslesen, this pits fruit preserve and honeyed richness backed by viscosity, creaminess, and high residual sugar against efficacious, lemony acidity and pronouncedly chewy phenolics. Caramel and black tea weigh in on either side of this tug-of-war as the wine opens to air and on the palate. This finishes with an alliance of penetrating citric intensity and far-gone ennoblement that will make your head spin. How, when, or perhaps whether this wine’s elements will declare an end to strife I would not hazard to guess, although I am sure that whatever emerges here will be worth savoring 25 years from now. You had to play poker and take some chances this year, remarked Martin Franzen, and based on the vinous evidence, he repeatedly played winning hands. The stylistic evolution of wines under Franzen’s and proprietor Philip Catoir’s direction – which I honestly find it difficult to understand why so many commentators view as utterly discontinuous with the legacy of legendary former cellar master Hans-Gunter Schwarz – has run toward increasing refinement and subtlety in the Rieslings, for which conditions in 2007 – assuming (as one can, here) impeccable viticultural husbandry and patience at harvest – were ultimately ideal (even as they had been problematic in 2006). Franzen has turned out the first totally masterful Scheurebe collection of his career this year. And the nobly sweet wines – including, improbably, six tour de force TBAs, among which are the estate’s first-ever from Muskateller and Weissburgunder and first Scheurebe TBA since 1964 – dazzle with the audacity and at times raucousness that routinely accrue to nobly sweet Pfalz 2007s, and are at their best unsurpassed. Nearly all of this year’s collection (save for one refusenik Rieslander TBA) had been bottled already in April, a bold strategy considering how downright unsettled by nature some of them are. But capturing all of their energy in bottle seemed to be the governing metaphor. I cannot resist pointing out that – in keeping with a lamentable national trend – there is now not just no halbtrocken wine here, but no middle ground: every wine this year is either legally trocken or obviously sweet. Muller-Catoir is increasing their acreage of Pinot Blanc – in itself a welcome development, although partisans of Rieslaner will be dismayed to learn that it is coming at that variety’s expense. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300