Busch’s 2007 Riesling Vom Roten Schiefer is an almost dry wine from as its name suggests iron-rich red slate portions of the Marienburg. Pungent brown spices and citrus zest in the nose lead to a glossy, rich, ample (12.5% alcohol), subtly creamy palate. This finishes with persistent spice and a dusty, crushed stone mineral impression but with a slightly sweet-sour disharmony, and nothing resembling the clarity or uncanny expressiveness of the “two star” dry Spatlese. That said, the richness and intensity of flavor here are admirable and I would be inclined to follow it for a couple of years and see what transpires. Clemens Busch – among the Mosel’s few organic vintners, and the undisputed champion of the Lower Mosel’s steep Pundericher Marienburg – is also rapidly demonstrating that he is simply one of the collective Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer’s exceptional talents, not to mention stylistically free spirits. Most of his top wines are labeled with their old pre-1971 site names. Nature thrust on him in 2006 an unprecedented 9 Auslesen (many distinguished only by number), 3 Beerenauslesen, and single T.B.A. (most of which were reviewed in issue 179). In 2007, an at least slightly more normal – not to mention more marketable – balance of dry-tasting (though not always legally trocken) wines was restored, but success, Busch insists, was possible only by dint of great patience and then, when the time was ripe for picking, in great haste. A considerable number of overtly nobly sweet wine was picked in the process, as there was no lack of botrytis in this fungicide-free zone.Mosel Wine Merchant selections (various importers), Trier, Gemany; fax 011 49 (0)651-14551 39; also imported by by Ewald Moseler Selections, Portland OR tel. 888 274 4312