Kruger-Rumpf Munsterer Pittersberg Riesling Auslese, Nahe, Germany

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The Rumpfs’ 2010 Munsterer Pittersberg Riesling Auslese is loaded with pear and quince nectar, herbal essences, green tea, and sweet lime, all accented by a savory, scallop-like mineral dimension such as also informed this year’s Scharlachberg Spatlese. Satiny in texture, soothing and captivatingly buoyant, this finely balanced Auslese was picked right from the vine without further selection. (Some fruit from Pittersberg was left hanging for Eiswein, but wild boar beat the frost – not to mention the Rumpfs – to it. Incidentally, this Auslese’s superb 2009 counterpart – lauded in my issue 192 report and the best I can recall from Kruger-Rumpf, only recently reached the U.S. market.)Stefan and Georg Rumpf’s 2010 collection was one of those, whose stubbornly-dry trocken Rieslings more than just occasionally tended toward an angularity, bitterness, and tartness that I doubt they will entirely outgrow. The Rumpfs de-acidified selectively, sometimes in must and sometimes to young wine. Skin contact was favored as a check on acids, though that may arguably have reinforced bitterness. Bottling times were pushed back by about a month, though in the context of such late harvest that means essentially the usual length of elevage. Incidentally, I found the Rumpf’s two 2009 Spatburgunder bottlings to have been diminished by the quality of barriques employed and/or the wine’s length of exposure to wood, specifically by faintly rancid overtones and a tendency toward drying in the finish.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Ripe and rich, with concentrated peach, golden raisin and apricot flavors that are accented by an exotic spiciness. Tropical fruit notes of mango and baked pineapple linger on the seductively creamy finish. Drink now through 2040. 15 cases imported.??–KM??Region: Germany / Nahe Select to Add

From a single parcel of six year old vines and virtually botrytis-free bunches, the Rumpf’s 2008 Munsterer Pittersberg Riesling Auslese smells of kirsch, quince preserves, herbal elixir, and blood orange. Polished and creamy in texture; buoyant and delicate, it achieves the family’s stated goals for it, albeit at the price of considerable superficial sweetness. The finish is caressingly soft and somehow dreamy, including the slight lack of focus that implies. If one wanted to wait patiently for the sweetness to begin backing off in a decade or so, this could be interesting to follow.The Rumpfs seem in 2008 to have had to struggle less to avoid the greenness that was observed in certain of their 2007s. “There was just nothing you could do this year,” comments Georg Rumpf, “except let the fruit hang a long time on the vine.”Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The Rumpf 2006 Munsterer Pittersberg Riesling Auslese is another one picked “right off the vine” (unselected). Apricot and brown spices, black currant and fresh lime set your mouth up for a succulent, lusciously juicy, and not at all obviously botrytized mouthful of berries and pit fruits drenched in lime and honey. Clear, refined, and elegant, with a hint of creaminess, this finishes with vivid, lime-laced cassis and apricot underlain by nut oils and lip-smacking salinity. And you read somewhere that 2006 is the year of over-the-top, flaccid Riesling that self-indulgently forgot its mission? This proof to the contrary should be worth uncorking anytime in the next 20 years. Stefan Rumpf’s collections may still – as I wrote of it previously – be “sprawling ... at times hit and miss.” But his aim becomes ever more accurate. (Son Johannes is now intimately involved.) This year, the Rumpfs decided to take advantage of their enhanced acreage of a variety that they would probably have given up on ten years ago had it not been for their importer, and bottle a dry Scheurebe. The timing was perfect, because not only did this estate make some of the only noteworthy Scheurebe of the vintage, but in the Pfalz – even when growers are not challenged as they were in 2006 – Scheurebe is more and more getting marginalized as a “supplemental variety,” destined solely for some of that region’s rare wine of residual sweetness.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The 2004 Munsterer Pittersberg Riesling Auslese displays aromas of pink grapefruit, musk melon, sweet florals and honey. The palate is silky and creamy, teeming with flowers and flowing with juicy citrus. Distilled herbs, smoked meat and botrytis pungency also enter the picture as the wine breaks into a long satisfyingly rich, honeyed finish. This should be a good candidate for at least 12 or 15 years in the cellar. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300