Peony and ripe peach in the nose of the Kreydenweiss 2009 Riesling Kastelberg migrate to a lush, silken palate subtly suffused with anticipated wet stone alkaline notes as well as a surprisingly Pinot Gris-like smokiness. There is a sense of fruit and mineral interaction in this Riesling’s satisfyingly juicy finish that transcends the vintage norm, and I would expect it will merit revisiting over at least the next 7-10 years, though probably not cellaring long-term like its 2008 counterpart. When Antoine Kreydenweiss – who was on his own calling the shots in Alsace for the first time – called his father in Nimes in the first days of October, 2009 to announce not only that he was going to start picking but that he thought Kastelberg Riesling should be first on the block, he says this was greeted with considerable skepticism, but the results have proven him savvy. Incidentally he thinks the evolution of this 2009 might resemble that of the corresponding 2001, which I tasted alongside and which is now fascinatingly mineral-dominated. The 1983 – opulently ripe, but more energetic in its youth than the 2009 – is gorgeous today. Antoine Kreydenweiss is now running his family’s Alsace domaine on an ongoing basis, while his father Marc concentrates on their property in the Costieres de Nimes. I was dismayed – especially in view of such high-quality 2009s and 2008s – to learn that this justly-renowned domaine for the time being no longer has a U.S. importer. Most of the 2008s received 15 months’ elevage. The 2009s were all harvested early even by vintage standards and harbor nuances not found in most Alsace wines of their vintage, being at times capable – as Antoine Kreydenweiss had remarked of his 2008s – of projecting a sense of their sites without obviously revealing their varietal identity. I did not taste several slowly-evolving 2009s, including a Clos Rebberg Pinot Gris that was still fermenting when I visited last November.No current U.S. importer.