The Kunstler 2006 Hochheimer Holle Riesling Erstes Gewachs A.P. #13 is marked by plenty of stuffing, creaminess of texture, chalkiness, and peach, cherry, and lemon fruit. Its impressively long finish is also tinged with pungent spiciness as well as peach kernel and citrus rind bitterness, but lacks quite the clarity of the corresponding Kabinett (let alone the Stielweg) and evinces a trace of heat. I would revisit this in 2009. One can’t say that Gunther Kunstler has enjoyed the best of luck in recent years. This year’s move into a spacious and superior cellar coincided with the earliest and most precipitant ripening of Riesling grapes in modern history, and accomplishing the harvest and move both in timely fashion was an enormous challenge. But the bottled results show that the challenge was well met. The green harvest was as intensive and expensive as many a genuine harvest of the past, Kunstler relates, and even after rigorous triage, musts were charcoal-filtered (as has been the case in other rained-on vintages).Imported: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA; tel. (800) 596-9463