Weingut Herbert Messmer Selektion Schawer Riesling Spatlese Trocken, Pfalz, Germany

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Lime, grapefruit, kiwi, and fresh apple scent the Messmer 2008 Burrweiler Schawer Riesling Spatlese, which positively billows like a sail on the palate, refreshing and invigorating, spreading a broad coating of citrus oils, pit fruit essences, and sheer fructose, then playing its fruit off against saline and stony notes that persist into the finish. Further complexity might be revealed if this weren’t so prominently sweet, but then perhaps it wouldn’t be quite so amazingly delicate. I would personally treat it as I would a corresponding top-notch Mosel, not revisiting for a decade and counting on a couple of decades’ longevity. It had been too long since I’d seen Gregor Messmer (although I am at his winery annually) and I was encouraged by witnessing him professing his rededication to his vineyards. That said, after a 2007 collection that was the best I had tasted here in a number of years, I found that some of these 2008s – which were harvested between the 18th and 30th of October – leaned rather sharply in the direction of leanness and Sauvignon greenness and shared with many of their fellow Pfalz trocken Rieslings an extremely tart brightness.Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

What a difference residual sugar seems to make: the 2004 Burrweiler Schawer Riesling Spatlese displays a substantial jump in aromatic intensity vis a vis its trocken predecessors. Vividly ripe nectarine, spiced white peach and sweet floral aromas set the stage of a palate of utmost poise, almost weightless yet saturated with nectarine, fresh lime, honey and wet stone minerality. Long, succulent and refined, this shows a fascinating, reverberating call and response of fruit and flowers with slate minerality. As in so many recent vintages, this wine is superb and will repay a couple of decades’ aging. (And also as in recent vintages, the residual sugar is remarkably high – 87 grams to be exact – yet the balance is superb.) The astonishingly high quality achieved at this estate in the last several vintages – near the apex of the Pfalz pecking order – represent a hard act to follow. There have been a few personnel changes: first Werner Sebastian and then Michael Leibrecht have departed as vineyard manager and cellar master respectively, and Gregor Mebmer’s brother Martin (who showed me the wines this year) has joined the team. For whatever reason, there were not as many exciting wines this year as in other recent years, although there is one, by now almost predictably, that must on no account be missed. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300