Kiwi and strawberry preserves, pungent herbs, candied citrus rind, and honey dominate the Christoffel 2008 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Auslese two star, which comes to the palate creamy and rather superficially sweet – far less refreshing than either its “one-star” or 2007 counterparts – but with a distinct sense of wet stone and promising invigoration of pungent herbs in the finish. This has excellent 20-25 year potential, and I would personally forget about it in the cellar for a decade. Hans-Leo Christoffel can continue to point out that an abundance of ripeness has made for “Pradikat inflation”, yet even he will admit that his and partner Robert Eymael’s 2008 vintage Kabinetts would have been top-notch Spatlesen during the 1980s, but not Auslesen. Speaking of which, not only did Christoffel and Eymael offer a complete range of 2008 Auslesen, they also did not begin picking any of them until late, insisting that there was not enough rain during harvest to dampen and diminish the value of botrytis as it collected on the grapes. Noble rot affected around 20-30% of the base material for those wines, an impressive group if not (in its early days, at least) on the stellar level often reached at this address.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300