Picked between October 15 and 30 and after the first frost nights, the 2009 Heerkretz Riesling GG represents a vintage that is often called "warm." In fact, winter was very long and cold and spring was short before turning warm in mid-April. However, cooler, rainy days with thunderstorms delayed the flowering until the end of May. Summer months were choppy and saw many thunderstorms. Another Indian Summer with moderately coolish night temperatures saved the vintage. The 2009 Heerkretz opens with a clear, intense and complex, elegant and coolish rather than warm bouquet of ripe fruits and crushed iodine. Elegant and refined on the palate, this is a medium to full-bodied, intense, quite bitter and phenolic finishing Heerkretz that is still young and ageless. It is an impressive wine that possibly wouldn't be made like this today, though. The grapes saw a lot of sun at that time, I guess, but they are kept more in the shade today, which gives finer Rieslings. 13% stated alcohol. Tasted at the domaine in August 2023.