Pineapple; quince and white peach preserves; and the sweet perfume of gardenia, heliotrope, and lily all headily scent Muller-Catoir’s 2009 Haardter Mandelgarten Riesling Spatlese, then reemerge on a glossy, subtly creamy, lush, and expansive palate. Candied lime and marzipan add to the near-confectionary impression conveyed by this decidedly sweet Riesling, yet its prodigious finish retains almost infinitely juicy refreshment of fresh citrus, along with the invigoration of lip-licking and saliva-inducing salinity. In the great tradition of rich residually sweet Riesling that goes back nearly four decades at this address, yet possessed of a refinement and sense of clear flavor delineation that is seldom equaled even by any of winemaker Martin Franzen’s fellow Moselaner, this promises to be well worth following for the next 25-30 years, and moreover to become even more rivetingly complex in the process. (I tasted it twice at a four month interval, and a bottle opened for three days seemed to, if anything, gain stamina.) “Despite sporadic rain at harvest time,” notes Martin Franzen about the 2009 harvest, “cool weather kept botrytis completely at bay. Frankly,” he adds, “it was hard to make disappointing wine with raw materials of this caliber.” But it was also impossible to achieve nobly sweet results save from Rieslaner, with its notorious penchant for spontaneous desiccation even in the absence of botrytis. This is the first vintage, incidentally, for which this estate has claimed organic bona fides, and Franzen – even if predictably – claims to find additional depth in his wines thanks to that conversion. (Not that this estate has ever been anything but entirely circumspect in any use of herbicides or pesticides.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300