The Rumpfs’ 2008 Munsterer Pittersberg Riesling feinherb represents a lot of potential Grosses Gewachs that stopped fermenting just above the legal limit for that category (i.e. for trocken). “We could have blended it in,” says Georg Rumpf, but they liked it as is. I do, too. In fact, to my palate, this makes an excellent case for the intelligence of leaving behind some residual sugar to better balance the wine, which in this instance exhibits a riper, more succulent, juicier sense of fruit (grapefruit, cherry, rhubarb); greater (glossy) textural allure; as well as more lift and elegance and less bitterness thanks to lower (11.5%) alcohol. Heaven knows, this wine is still bright, tart, and invigorating enough, and any German consumer, not seeing the label, would take it for trocken. Suggestions of toasted nuts as well as wet stone and salt add interest to a lip-smacking finish. This will prove quite versatile at table (more so than its trocken counterparts) over at least the next 6-8 years. The corresponding 2007 – reviewed in issue 185 – was bottled as “Spatlese halbtrocken” – at least, on its back label, and with the Greek letter Pi on the front. The Rumpfs seem in 2008 to have had to struggle less to avoid the greenness that was observed in certain of their 2007s. “There was just nothing you could do this year,” comments Georg Rumpf, “except let the fruit hang a long time on the vine.”Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300