The Barmes-Buecher 2004 Riesling Steingrubler is from young vines and combines an upper (granite) portion of this site with a chalky portion. (And yes, Barmes employs the Umlaut, which I was not even aware was a legal spelling for this grand cru – but he hasn’t altered the spelling of “Buecher”!) Plum distillate and plum bit aromas, chocolate-covered orange rind, and marzipan make for a striking and rather flamboyant aromatic display. A voluminous, rich palate offers spice-tinged, plummy fruit underlain by toasted nut and chocolate character, leading to a distinctly sweet, faintly warm, but impressively enveloping finish to this on the whole rather Burgundian Riesling. The affable Francois Barmes vocally advocates biodynamic viticulture and earlier harvesting to achieve balanced wines of juicy fruit and digestabilite. That said, more than a few of those I tasted were big-bodied to say the least, and certain of them could not handle their alcohol.Importer: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also, a Thomas Calder Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29.