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