The 2004 Haardter Herrenletten Riesling Spatlese trocken smells of tart but ripe plum and lemon. In the mouth, its fruit and citrus flavors are clear, pure, and precise, with a suggestion of creaminess of texture that helps ameliorate a tendency to austerity exhibited by all of these young 2004 dry Muller-Catoir Rieslings thus far. Subtle wet stone and tactile minerality lend the finish an exceptional intensity and feel, but also austerity. You have to be a mineral freak to love this the way that I do. Franzen insists – and is not alone among canny vintners in so doing – that a certain amount of youthful austerity in his dry Rieslings must be ascribed precisely to the generous lees contact given them that will gradually play textural and fruit-conserving dividends. “Wines like this aren’t supposed to be radiant in their youth,” he asserts. Since the arrival of young Mosel-born Martin Franzen at this great estate so long associated with the wisdom and artistry of Hans-Gunter Schwarz’s 36-year tenure as cellar master, I have been struck by a degree of qualitative continuity and stylistic affinity with the ancient regime that other commentators seem not to have noticed. In a very real sense, the legacy of Schwarz – “activism in the vines, minimalism in the cellar” – has seeped indelibly into the fabric of nearly every top winery in the Pfalz. How then could it be otherwise precisely at Mandelring #25? And although Franzen and a largely new team were forced, to a considerable extent, to rediscover the keys to these vines and sites, they are the same vines and sites so carefully tended, trained and conscientiously replanted over the past decades by the then team of Catoir and Schwarz. In 2004, Franzen has unlocked from them astonishingly numerous and improbably fine vinous treasures such as one has come to associate with the name “Muller-Catoir” in the nearly four decades since a very young Heinrich Catoir inherited this estate and decided to make a statement.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300