The 2006 Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Spatlese Eisendell emphasizes melons, pears, and honey, giving a rich, lush, drippingly juicy and sweet, yet delicate palate impression, and finishing with impressive refinement and wet stone, smoky, tingling intimations of minerality. It was picked in the same parcel as the dry Spatlese but a few days later, and before significant encroachment of botrytis, says Hexamer. Enjoy this beauty ideally at anywhere from 5-15 years’ age. Harald Hexamer has made major strides since I last described his operation in these pages in issue 161, refining his approach in the vineyards and cellar, and acquiring astonishingly many new parcels, so that he now has three – and a majority share – in Schlossbockelheimer In den Felsen, and owns or has under contract one-third of the entire Rheingrafenberg (including nearly all of the Eisendell). Hexamer sacrificed some of his remaining crossings in order to insure the harvest of healthy Riesling. His earliest-picked material tasted marginally under-ripe, but he did not finish until the 19th of October, and by then had amassed the finest collection I have tasted thus far at this address.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300