The 2007 Riesling Lenz represents Schonleber’s legally halbtrocken generic Riesling as well as, once again, an outstanding value. It lives up to its name (meaning “springtime”) with a profusion of flowers and herbs in the nose, joined by ripe pear on a lilting and refreshing palate. (With 11.5% alcohol, it acts more as though it had 10.5%.) Salty, stony, smoky, and tart berry notes point to characteristic features of Riesling from Monzingen’s sites and add interest and invigoration to a lip-smacking finish. Enjoy this over the next 5-6 years. To say that Werner and son Frank Schonleber have been on a roll lately must count as an understatement (and that applies to 2008, too). Two heads are better than one, no doubt, plus the advantages of accumulated wisdom and acreage – the family is filling-in what was once a decidedly, in places depressingly patchy landscape by buying up prime parcels from retiring vintners – are obvious. The Schonlebers went over their vineyards in early October to pull out some botrytis that had already accumulated and to thin their crop, and began seriously harvesting Riesling after the 10th. The estate’s vines were largely spared savage but capricious hail that rained down on parts of the Fruhlingsplatzchen. Werner Schonleber draws a stylistic comparison with the 2002 vintage, which he convincingly demonstrated with several bottles.Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463