2004 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshohle Riesling Spätlese 10

The 2004 Neiderhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese A.P. #10 displays a positively supernal aroma, combining distilled strength berries, herbs and pit fruits with mysteriously carnal and pungently mineral suggestions. Rich, dense and meaty, plush and creamy in texture, yet bright, animated and rivetingly complex on the palate, this wine offers a bonus of beautifully integrated, exotically spicy, estrous notes of botrytis. (The botrytis berries in the Brucke were picked out to inform Auslesen – not so here.) The nearly endless reverberating finish reminds me of the complexity of overtones produced when a second set of hands depresses ten additional keys while you strike a full chord on the piano. On reflection, I was amazed to realize that no wine had so far surpassed a Spatlese from Norheimer Dellchen. But I was even more amazed to be offered at this point yet another wine of the same name! Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300