Busch’s 2007 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Falkenlay grown on grey slate smells exotically of Persian melon, coconut, buddleia, and heliotrope. Imposingly rich and creamy on the palate, with strong nut paste and coconut milk character and persistent, wafting floral perfume, this is has the positive aspects of a seamless Auslese, but with barely a hint of sweetness, and none of the roughness or aggressive ripeness of the corresponding Fahrlay, even though Busch readily confirms that the impression of boyrytis here does not deceive. Grapefruit citricity serves for a sense of liveliness, and – along with the very faint bitterness of botrytis in the finish – serves to keep the formidably long tropically rich, subtly zesty finish here from tasting at all overtly sweet. This is a formidable example of the combination of volume and richness that can if a grower chooses be expressed in Mosel slate, yet all the while projecting elegance and refinement. Clemens Busch – among the Mosel’s few organic vintners, and the undisputed champion of the Lower Mosel’s steep Pundericher Marienburg – is also rapidly demonstrating that he is simply one of the collective Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer’s exceptional talents, not to mention stylistically free spirits. Most of his top wines are labeled with their old pre-1971 site names. Nature thrust on him in 2006 an unprecedented 9 Auslesen (many distinguished only by number), 3 Beerenauslesen, and single T.B.A. (most of which were reviewed in issue 179). In 2007, an at least slightly more normal – not to mention more marketable – balance of dry-tasting (though not always legally trocken) wines was restored, but success, Busch insists, was possible only by dint of great patience and then, when the time was ripe for picking, in great haste. A considerable number of overtly nobly sweet wine was picked in the process, as there was no lack of botrytis in this fungicide-free zone.Mosel Wine Merchant selections (various importers), Trier, Gemany; fax 011 49 (0)651-14551 39; also imported by by Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR tel. 888 274 4312