The Barmes-Buecher 2006 Gewurztraminer Hengst Vendange Tardive offers an odd but interesting and delicious juxtaposition of candied lime peel, black tea, butterscotch, mint, and diverse pit fruit preserves. Like its Pfersigberg counterpart, this is flatteringly creamy, yet manages to come up with some primary juiciness – an impression that perhaps results from the higher acidity of these two more nobly than normal botrytized pickings – and the result is a finish of considerable length and complexity whose sense of sweetness is only modest. I would plan on checking this out again within the next year or two.There is as usual a lot of fascinating wine in Francois Barmes’ constantly shifting, hugely diverse as well as just plain huge 2007 collection, though the level of success was on the whole consistent. As in the past, though, I remained relatively unconvinced by Barmes’ way with Pinot Gris, despite its being a grape that elsewhere revealed special potential in 2007. I can’t say 2006 here represents an advertisement for Barmes’ conscientious and long-standing biodynamic practices, but then, in a year of rampant rot, surely the absence of anti-botrytis sprays has to have been sorely felt at many biodynamic estates. There were a couple of 2006s here too fungal to recommend, with the majority of what was a reduced line-up meriting mild recommendation provided they are drunk-up soon.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