Sweet floral perfume announces Weil’s 2007 Kiedricher Turmberg Riesling Spatlese, which comes to the palate surprisingly obvious in sweetness backing up plum and white peach fruit, but with an impressively chalky sense of mineral density allied to satisfying lift. A counterpoint of subtle creaminess and bright refreshment persists into a long, refreshing, strongly salt-, chalk-, and talcum-tinged finish. The overall effect here makes me think of this as the Wehlener Sonnenuhr of the Rheingau. It should be worth cellaring for at least a decade. Wilhelm Weil has doubled his press capacity after the 2006 experience, and in light of what he sees as an inevitable long-term truncation of the time available to harvest, given ever-earlier picking dates. But be that theory as it may, 2007 offered a full six weeks for the main harvest alone (nine weeks, if one counts “pre-harvest” thinning and Eiswein). The results – predictably, given the track record at this spare-no-expenses estate – were impressive from Q.b.A. to T.B.A., and included a generally better-balanced array of dry wines than 2006 had permitted. Since there are 22,000 and 27,000 bottles each of the two top dry Rieslings here, by the way, it’s not as though they are rare, even though many Grosses Gewachs bottlings – including from large, famous wineries – are produced in tiny amounts. Imported by Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596 9463; beginning in fall, 2009, imported by Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR tel. (510) 864-7255

Fruity, yet intensely flavored with apricot, nectarine and grapefruit notes. Sweet, elegant and deftly balanced, with a clean, refreshing finish. This will develop well. Best from 2012 through 2030. 50 cases imported.??–BS??Region: Germany / Rheingau Select to Add