The 2005 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese smells of fresh apple and lemon cream. Concentrated to an almost liqueur-like degree on the palate, it also displays the counterpoint of creaminess with insistent fresh fruit acidity that charms again and again in Kerpen’s 2005 collection. Nut cream and vanilla meld with invigoratingly fresh, sappy apple, salts, resins, and citrus in this wine’s clinging, lip-smacking, seamlessly pure finish. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

This year’s “one star” variation of 2005 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese* brings us into the realm of botrytis. A strikingly creamy, oily, rich, quite sweet and almost fat palate impression along with aromas and flavors of caramelized apple, yellow plum, and vanilla is matched by a vividly bright, bracing citricity and wet stone slate character. The acidity had dropped quite a bit below Kerpen’s usual norm here, yet – as with some of the most successful 2003s, he insists – the wine does not lack for tightly-coiled springs of vivacity which he believes it will retain over the seven or ten years it will take for the overt sweetness to back off. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300