The 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese smells of candied lemon, apple jelly, vanilla, and peppermint. Quite delicate in the mouth, while at the same time viscous, this positively exudes quince preserves and mint and apple jelly in its long, rather superficially sweet, but nevertheless – thanks to its lift and lightless – still refreshing finish. This amazingly concentrated essence of a famous site should be well worth trotting out 25 years from now. Despite slightly disappointing dry wines, and Kabinetts and nobly sweet wines that do not reach the heights established in those genres by this estate’s 2005s and 2006s respectively, Ernst Loosen and his cellar-master Bernard Schug have nonetheless scored considerable success in 2007, a vintage they describe as temperamentally between 2005 and 2004. As regards style and success rate, the comparison with 2004 seems about right to me. Harvest began already in the first week of October, but as usual at this address with its enormous acreage of top-notch vineyards, the early phase was taken up principally with highly selective picking for nobly sweet wine. “From the first day to the last,” comments Loosen, “each picker gets two tubs” for separating qualities of fruit. “And there were shriveled, TBA-quality grapes already on the first day this year,” adds Schug. Importer: Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR tel. (510) 864-7255