At a full percentage lower alcohol than their corresponding Grosses Gewachs (not to mention at a considerably lower price) the Josts’ 2009 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Spatlese trocken offers a lovely alliance of luscious peach, grapefruit, and papaya with metaphorically cooling herbal essences on a silken-textured palate, further accompanied by billowing inner-mouth suggestions of floral perfume and underlain by nut oils, salt, wet stone, and a saliva-inducing savor of lobster shell-reduction. Here is the sort of balance and refreshment which – amid so many warm recent vintages – has too often been missing from Rieslings of the steep, sun-drenched Hahn. Expect it to excel for at last 8-10 years. For an account of some recent developments at this estate, please consult my report in issue 187. Interestingly, it was the wines from their Rheingau vineyards that suffered especially from sheer ripeness and consequent high alcohol; whereas the Josts’ best 2009s from their near-monopole Hahn escaped such difficulties and performed well indeed. Incidentally, every wine of the Josts’ save for their Grosse Gewachse – and that includes their two Pinots (which I don’t usually taste) – is now closed with screwcap, and they are among several growers I spoke with who intend to bottle their Grosse Gewachse with screwcap as well, as soon as the relevant bottles are available with the embossed Arabic numeral “1” and stylized grape cluster that identifies this category.Bill Mayer Age of Riesling Selections, Imported by Valley View Wine Sales, Glen Ellen, CA; tel. (510) 549 2444; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463