The 2006 Hochheimer Stielweg Riesling Alte Reben offers (as advertised and anticipated) more refinement and elegance than the Domdechenay, with nary a trace of its 13.5% alcohol in evidence. The texture of this cherry-almond and citrus-scented Riesling is plush, and its sense of extract palpable, yet it harbors lovely primary, sappy juiciness of peach, grapefruit, orange, and cherry fruit. Smoky, chalky inflections really cling in the finish. Enjoy this over the next 5-7 years. In 2007, Kunstler re-released some of the 1997. A stubborn wine in its youth, it then showed impressively. One can’t say that Gunther Kunstler has enjoyed the best of luck in recent years. This year’s move into a spacious and superior cellar coincided with the earliest and most precipitant ripening of Riesling grapes in modern history, and accomplishing the harvest and move both in timely fashion was an enormous challenge. But the bottled results show that the challenge was well met. The green harvest was as intensive and expensive as many a genuine harvest of the past, Kunstler relates, and even after rigorous triage, musts were charcoal-filtered (as has been the case in other rained-on vintages).Imported: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463