Half of the 2007 Birkweiler Mandelberg Riesling Spatlese trocken was fermented spontaneously in cask, while the remainder was fermented in tank with cultured yeasts just as were the majority of wines in Gies-Duppel’s line-up. This wine takes the character (some would say terroir signature) of the Muschelkalk to a new level of clarity, complexity, and textural nuance. Subtly creamy yet almost delicate in its buoyancy, persistently juicy, and ultimately refreshing, this mingles grapefruit, apricot, inner-mouth floral perfume, and subtle suggestions of cask, all the while revealing underlying suggestions of stone and chalk. It should ages well for at least 8-10 years. Volker Gies took over his family’s domaine in 1999, and is relentlessly and successfully pursuing quality and site-specificity while offering (at least, based on ex-cellar pricing) some of the finest values I have tasted in German wine over the past several years. Some potentially exciting new vineyard sites have recently been cleared for planting it is clear that, as impressive as these wines are, there will be much more excitement up ahead. Although it had been in the bottle 18 months when I tasted it last September, Duppel’s well-concentrated but rather awkwardly woody, rough 2005 Pinot Noir represented at that time his current offering. But red wines represented the only disappointment of any sort at this address, and even here there is promise. Like his more famous neighbors Rebholz and Wehrheim, Giess renders a range of site-specific Pinot Blancs.Importer: Tartaglione Fine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 216-3356