The Emrich-Schonleber 2008 Riesling trocken Mineral incorporates fruit from parcels in the lower Halenberg and adjacent sites. Already in the nose it indeed leads with mineral themes, in this instance a very Chablis-like combination of fusil and struck stone notes. A palpable sense of extract and satiny texture combine with luscious peach and grapefruit to keep the wine’s sense of stoniness and hints of gooseberry tartness from pulling it into austerity. This impressive Riesling isn’t as winsome today as the two other generic Rieslings, but it will prove deliciously versatile over the next 4-5 years and probably be more generous early this year than it was when I saw it last September. Werner and Frank Schonleber are another Nahe dream team whose amazing performance in 2007 has been equaled in 2008. “I wouldn’t call it a vintage with the emphasis on fruit,” says Werner Schonleber, “but rather on a pronounced, saline minerality. And there was no great selection of nobly sweet wine this year, because every three or four days it would rain at least a little bit.” He offers as “a very simple explanation” of this pronounced minerality the classic one adduced by growers (whether or not scientifically supportable) that the vines better “assimilate mineral stuff” when mild weather and plenty of moisture grease – as it were – the wheels of plant metabolism. And such vintages always boast measurably high levels of dry extract; the question remains, has that – as most growers believe – anything to do with their expression of flavors for which we feel compelled to employ mineral vocabulary?Importers: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463