The Schmid 2009 Riesling Sunogeln is prominently peppery, and lime and lemon rind adds further bite and pungency to what is nonetheless an expansive and sweetly peach- and melon-fruited performance. As in several other instances, the 15 year old vines in this warm site offer fullness at the expense of focus, and rustic rather than refined phenolics. And while the alcohol is not analytically high, one catches a hint of warmth, perhaps for lack of buffering mid-palate extract. All that said, the amplitude and persistence of flavor on display are undeniable, though I would plan on drinking the wine within the next several years.I last met with Schmid in order to taste his 2007s (on which I reported in issue 181), and my visit this June confirms him as a source of some seriously delicious and well-priced wines. He opened for me a few of his 2009s as well as his most recent collection. Schmid claims to have had only one-third of a normal crop in 2010 from his 40 acres (which are spread over some 50 parcels). “Some of my old vines didn’t even have any crop on them this year,” he notes.A Monika Caha Selection, New York, NY; tel. (212) 877-3558 with various importers, including Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700