Grown in Ribeauville, the Ostertag 2007 Riesling Clos Mathis – for more about which consult my report in issue 175 – smells of citrus oils, fusil oils, and distilled pit fruits, saturating the palate with bright, pungent citrus; the bitterness of pit fruits; and overt chalkiness. Aggressively intense and voluminous (despite its modest 13.5% alcohol), this is certainly more formidable than loveable today, and likely to need 4-6 years to blossom, if it does. These gypsum-rich soils have a reputation for birthing reductive, youthfully fusil, and stubbornly backward Riesling. Andre Ostertag was like most of his region’s best growers very selective about what he chose to bottle in 2006. He is especially enthusiastic about his uncompromisingly intense 2007s and the sense in which the Rieslings resemble a throwback to the moderate must weights and refreshing acidity that was common in Alsace before the string of warm vintages that has been nearly uninterrupted since 1988. I was surprised to find myself as impresses as I was with the 2007 Pinot Gris bottlings here, but Ostertag says it was simply unfair until very recently to compare his results with that grape to those with Riesling, because the vines of the former were too young. They’ve passed 20 years of age now, and that, he opines, is why they can start to show their real potential (and, I would add, stand up to Ostertag’s use of barriques). While I hate to take up space with this matter, readers should be aware that wines from this estate that formerly bore the village name “Epfig” will now merely be coded with the capital letter “E” because of certain limitations that the authorities have now imposed on the use of village designates and the definition of “village level” names. (Frankly, I wouldn’t even want to understand the regulation if I thought it would prove intelligible!)Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524