Vinified in a new 1,200-liter Stuckfass rendered by renowned barrel-maker Hosch from one of the Hexamers’ own ancient Meddersheim oaks, their 2009 Weissburgunder trocken S mingles lanolin, vanilla, and brown spices with lightly-baked apple and lightly-toasted hazelnut. Creamy yet refreshing, this preserves a gorgeous sense of extract-sweet succulence that is enhanced rather than diminished by the effects of new wood. If you want to employ new oak, here is an example of the way to go! Of course, arguably the oak in question is pretty extraordinary (as well as long-air-dried). Legend at least has it that the wine growing residents of Meddersheim and Sobernheim discovered in the waning 20th century only after they got the broker drunk, that prestigious French tonneliers were the ultimate destination for oaks being pulled from their forests. Harald Hexamer continues to expand his acreage in response to what I can well appreciate are almost irresistible offerings, and the latest round of sell-offs by one of the Nahe’s best-known and once-renowned estates at the beginning of 2011 is I suspect going to test the limits of Hexamer’s ambition and abilities to absorb yet more vineyards. (The number of 2009 vintage wines I have had to reference with A.P. #s due to there being alternate bottlings is in itself testimony to the rapid expansion of this estate.) No one who has followed this young grower over the past decade, though, can accuse him of lacking seriousness, and he has been subjecting his stylistic ideals and his accomplishments to rigorous examination, knowing he must balance the potential value of experimentalism with the need to focus both his attention to individual wines and his stylistic range. These latest results reveal a grower increasingly sure in touch and displaying a defter sense of balance at both the dry and sweet ends of the spectrum. By a considerable margin, they constitute this estate’s most consistently excellent collection in my experience. With the exception of a couple of partial lots of generic dry Riesling, no 2009s were de-acidified, and a majority of the dry wines kicked into spontaneous fermentation, although Hexamer brought cultured yeasts to bear in order to promote dryness. Both an Eiswein and a T.B.A. from the Rheingrafenberg were still fermenting in September and I’ll have to report on those along with Hexamer’s 2010s.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300