Gunderloch’s 2011 Nackenheimer Rothenberg Riesling Grosses Gewachs leads with pungent, piquant, yet suggestively sweet scents of orange rind, peach kernel and Szechuan pepper. Softer in feel than the corresponding Pettental, it nonetheless projects a flatteringly clear, juicy personality, finishing with a stimulating hint of salinity, if not – for now at least – the diversity of mineral reference points possessed by the corresponding Pettenthal. I have a suspicion this needed to put more distance between itself and its bottling date – six weeks before I tasted it, unfortunately as yet for the only time. I don’t doubt it will prove worth following for at least a half-dozen years. I kept company in their tasting room a precious share of Fritz and Agnes Hasselbach’s 2011 harvest in the form of two small stainless tanks and a tiny glass balloon whose contents will probably eventually inform both a T.B.A. (incorporating the latter lot, picked-out near the beginning of harvest) and a B.A. (which would incorporate some of the rest, harvested – as so often at this address – very late). There is no gold capsule Auslese this year, and Fritz Hasselbach’s explanation – “the quality of our Auslese has gotten better and the main harvest so selective” as to obviate two tiers – suggests that this may be a policy choice going forward. The harvest here began already in the third week of September and continued through October. The resultant wines are as a group noticeably low in acid but manage to adapt themselves and display distinctive virtues. Most of the Gunderloch 2011s were bottled in April, the exception being their Grosse Gewachse, in mid-summer.Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596- 9463