Mirabelle, grapefruit, and myriad herbs scent the Von Winning 2009 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling trocken (A.P. #25, lest it be confused with the corresponding Spatlese trocken bottling, A.P. #21), then migrate to a palate of infectious juiciness, silken texture, and fine length. The new 500-liter barrel employed here made up 30% of the assemblage and is quite harmoniously integrated into the resinous, herbal elements already typical for Ungeheuer, but there is a faint sense of diffusion and earthiness that I also often experience with this site, even in an instance like this (or the corresponding Burklin-Wolf bottling) where we are dealing with the best portions of this heterogeneous site. I expect this will be worth following for at least 5-7 years. (There were eleven different lots to select among from this estate’s extensive acreage of Ungeheur for three eventual bottlings, which as Attmann reminds me explains why Ungeheuer will never be bottled by him as a Grosses Gewachs as long as the Pfalz VDP forbids the bottling of vineyard-designated dry wines supplemental to a Grosses Gewachs bottling from the same site.) For an account of recent changes of ownership, winemaker, and style at this estate, I urge readers to consult my reports in issues 185 and 187. To repeat as regards issues of labeling, the top dry wines here are being bottled – sans Pradikat – under the “Von Winning” label that in fact corresponds to the new official name of this estate, while a second range that includes some residually sweet Rieslings continues to be labeled with the more familiar designation “Dr. Deinhard.” It’s possible also that some dry wines may be bottled in part with one label and partly with the other. The best I felt I could do to avoid confusion is to refer in the text of my tasting notes to the label under which I tasted each wine, but to treat “Dr. Deinhard - Von Winning” as the estate’s name for our purposes and ask readers to look-out for either designation on the label. And look-out you should, because passionate young arriviste Stephan Attmann and veteran (though still young) vineyard manager Joachim Jaillet are putting some head-turning quality into bottle. Incidentally, the vines personally farmed by Attmann’s mentor, long-time Muller-Catoir cellarmaster Hans-Gunter Schwarz, on the villa of multi-estate-owner Achim Niederberger will be incorporated after 2010 (in a manner to be determined) into the production of Deinhard and Von Winning. A very small volume of 2009 vintage wines will be bottled by Schwarz under the Villa Niederberger label, but I did not taste those. (For my report on the corresponding 2008s – which were never exported – see issue 187) The team here harvested Riesling until October 29, and the integration of one new 500 liter French barrel into each of the top dry bottlings – an expedient in lieu of large fuders – has met with a success that one can now compare with that scored by similar means at the newly-launched Immich-Batterieberg estate on the Mosel (for more on which, consult my issue 192 report on their outstanding 2009s). Attmann – a self-confessed wine geek whose range of experience astounds me – professes to admire in white Burgundy the “cool touch” of Meursault from Fichet, Jobard, or Roulot, and it’s not just on account of the use of French barrels that one finds fascinating parallels between his dry Rieslings from the great vineyards of the Mittelhaardt and some top wines of Meursault or even Chablis.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300