Weingut Pfeffingen Scheurebe Spatlese Trocken, Pfalz, Germany

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”It cost me nerves,” reports Jan Eymael of his 2009 Scheurebe Spatlese trocken “because the fermentation was very slow,” and in fact this rather low-acid wine barely qualified for the imprimatur trocken. (Bear in mind though, that fermentations are normally over at this address before Christmas.) Mint and pink grapefruit rind on the nose are joined by succulent honeydew melon on a lush palate whose soothing texture and cool sense of mintiness offers a satisfying foil for the pungency of grapefruit and melon rinds. Like the corresponding dry Gewurztraminer, this is surprisingly low-key for its variety, but will offer lots of appeal as well as potential at table over the next 3-5 years. Jan Eymael elected to perform significant leaf-removal in order to permit his crop – especially the Scheurebe – to hang free, with the result, he explained, “that botrytis never really could establish itself” and the range of nobly sweet Scheurebe one generally looks forward to at this address is absent from 2009. Total acid levels are moderate this year, but the low pH levels in the grapes led Eymael to give his dry wines longer skin contact than usual to help buffer them. “Bear in mind that we’re one of the warmest spots in the Pfalz,” notes Eymael in connection with this year’s early, September 28, commencement of his Riesling harvest, though picking continued for nearly three weeks.Imported by Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. 800 596 9463

Lemon grass, lavender, and hints of the more familiar mint and sage scent the Eymaels’ 2008 Scheurebe Spatlese trocken, which hits the palate like shafts of sunlight in its white grapefruit and high-toned, pungent herbal concentration. This wine picked already in the first days of October displays the lift and refreshment characteristic for the vintage but that one does not so often encounter in dry Scheurebe. Actually, one doesn’t encounter dry Scheurebe that much these days, period. The Eymaels at one point reached 80% sweet wine from this variety, but they are attracting a new clientele, and now the roughly 50% of their Scheurebe production that is trocken sells out quickly, almost entirely within Germany. The wine continues to come from the Herrenberg, but inside Germany, Eymaels have eliminated the Pradikat names from their non-Riesling wines, and in the case of this wine, from all of its labels. It threatened to become another 2006, said Jan Eymael of the mid-September, 2008 rain, but even in the warmest parts of the Pfalz the weather stayed relatively cool, and he did not pick the first Rieslings until September 30, then continuing off and on for three weeks. The later it got, the better the grapes became, comments Eymael. Another month on the vine allowed for the November 18 picking of two magnificent nobly sweet Scheureben.Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463