Also recommended, but no tasting note given. Dr. Werner Michel and his daughter Catharina Mauritz obtained mixed results in 2011. He describes conditions in late summer as “almost tropical,” though the estate held off picking until late September and then worked rapidly. It was necessary, Michel testifies, to remove rot ahead of time throughout their vineyards, rendering this for them – as for so many German Riesling growers – among the most expensive harvests ever. And I speculate that perhaps the demure personality of certain wines in the present collection might in part be a function of how thoroughly they were charcoal-fined, a common practice among German Riesling growers in rot-threatened vintages like this (to say nothing of 2006 or 2000), and which many of them have proven is in itself no impediment to impressive quality. Various U.S. importers, including Chambers & Chambers, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 642-5000; Classic Wine Imports, Inc., Boston, MA; tel. (617) 469-5799; Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland, OR; tel. (503) 236 9378; Slocum & Sons, Inc., West Haven, CT; tel. (203) 937-6430