Bitter-sweet notes of cassis and huckleberry and lemon zest in the nose of Kreydenweiss’s 2005 Riesling Kastelberg lead to a much juicier, more ingratiating mouthful of fruit and minerals than its 2004 counterpart, glossy and polished in texture, then saturating the palate in equal measure with long-lasting berry stains, citrus oils, and dusty, stony apparent essence of schist. Marc Kreydenweiss might seem like less of an Alsace maverick now that so many of his fellow vignerons have joined him in embracing biodynamic methods, but his wines still possess a style of their own, dry and influenced by malo-lactic fermentation and long lees contact. There can be few vintners who so often convey their intentions in poetry – although Olivier Jullien immediately springs to mind – and few who bottle more eloquent vinous poetry, either. Each bottling here – and they all feature artistic works commissioned for the purpose – has an evocative nickname on its label (often a French rendition of the old Germanic place name), some of which I have mentioned parenthetically in the text that follows. There simply aren’t enough expressions, though, to do justice to the different sensations of minerality – however distinct and intense these are – that Kreydenweiss somehow manages to conjure out of his sites and into the glass.Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661.