With peach, vanilla, a whiff of white raisin, and a resinous, caramelized note that suggests maple syrup, the Kerpen 2006 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese comes to the palate polished, creamy, honeyed, and sedate. Yet, a clear, fresh apple and peach dimension emerges, and is nicely complemented by saline and slate stone notes. Here is one of those instances where the botrytis of 2006 is intricately woven into the wine’s fabric as a subtle enrichment. The finish offers sheer refreshment, along with complexities of fruit, flower, and mineral worthy of chamber music, rather than the orchestral sonorities one might expect from a year of rampant botrytis and mega-must weights: once again we meet the contradictory complexity of the vintage. Feel free to follow this for 20 years. Martin Kerpen and his vines had a hard act to follow after their successes in 2005 but were more than up to the task, confirming the hypothesis that these always excellent wines have crossed a new quality threshold. Still, the last place I would have imagined 2006s keeping pace was in the range of trocken.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300