A wonderfully effusive nose of Normandy apple cider, heliotrope, and apple blossom in the Kerpen 2008 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese trocken Alte Reben leads to a creamy yet refreshing palate with deep nut oil and vanilla-tinged apple fruit. Cyanic hints of peach kernel and apple pit along with salt serve for invigoration and extension of a long, lip-smacking finish that is at the same time soothing thanks to this Riesling's remarkable textural allure. Here, too, is a remarkable transparency to inner-mouth floral suggestions and myriad mineral nuances of saline, stony, and alkaline nature that suffuse the wine's rich bath of fruit. The finest Kerpen trocken of my experience (and, I gather, his), this should be worth following for at least half a dozen years, but on no account ought one to miss out on its youthful pleasures. In recent years, Martin Kerpen has increasingly proven himself a master of dry Riesling, and the acid structure and relatively moderate accumulation of grape sugar relative to phenolic ripeness that characterize 2008 played into his skilled hand in that genre, in which, additionally, he relied increasingly this year on ambient yeasts. (Of course, he is adept with residually sweet Riesling as well.) it's interesting to study Kerpen's detailed map of vineyard parcels, incidentally, and to see how after the controversial Flurbereinigung or general vineyard restructuring and replanting that is now under way in Wehlen, he will end up with around 8-9 parcels - some identical to his current acreage - or about half the number into which his total landholdings are morsellated at present.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300