Hiedler’s 2010 Riesling Urgestein lives up to its name with a peppery, pungent, tactile sense mineral impingement, albeit in the context of a slightly angular as well as invigorating palate impression. Fresh lime, nut oils, salt, and iodine make for a delightfully savory and mouthwateringly persistent finish, with fruit pits and pips reinforcing an already piquant penetration. It would be nice to find more of a fruit and floral dimension emerging, but this wine will certainly entertain you – indeed, wake you up – over the next several years. Ludwig Hiedler – whose overall account of vintage 2010 can be found leading-off my introduction to this report – notes that “given such a small crop, ripeness wasn’t that bad once you got into October; and we started picking relatively early so as not to risk further crop loss and so as to avoid botrytis. All that was left to pick in November was the Heiligenstein and Maximum Riesling; Weissburgunder and Chardonnay; and the Kittmannsberg (Gruner Veltliner),” that last a good thing, since Hiedler has for years bottled its fruits under the name “November Harvest” (recently shortened to “November”)! Hiedler has taken an increasingly passive and leisurely approach to fermentation and elevage – as described in my introductions to his 2005 and 2006 collections in issues 160 and 177, where further details on the sites he farms will also be found. His wines tend to undergo malo-lactic transformation as a matter of course, not to mention enjoy long lees contact, and thus his approach to ameliorating 2010’s high acidity was already a foregone conclusion.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300