Weingut Ratzenberger Bacharacher Kloster Furstental Riesling Eiswein, Mittelrhein, Germany

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Picked on December 30, their 2008 Bacharacher Kloster Furstental Riesling Eiswein is the latest in a long-running streak of this genre that – along with their often superb Sekt – is what Weingut Ratzenberger is best-known for inside Germany. There have been some notoriously enamel-effacing youthful exemplars, so I have to admit that when my nose was hit by a blast of prickling lemon rind, wood smoke, black pepper, and horseradish, I was almost wishing I could dip my big toe and not my tongue into the glass of this. But my anxiety proved groundless – well, ask my dentist about that, I suppose, but – at least aesthetically. Luscious if bright lemon and pineapple abound, although the combination of incisive citricity with huge sweetness is not for now resolved, and the finish is as sweet-sour as it is penetrating; suggests both persistent smokiness and an almost a metallic sheen; and packs as much black and white pepper as ever did any Syrah or Malbec. “This really displayed elegance and finesse before it was bottled,” insists the younger Ratzenberger, “and I think it’s a bit cranky right now.” I can perceive the potential for grace in a certain lift, and undeniable – indeed, undying – energy. As so often with this genre, it will be a gamble to cellar it, but if served young it will be a gamble to arrive at the good dessert pairing it seems to deserve.When you taste a collection like this year’s from the two Jochen Ratzenbergers, you have to wonder why their wines’ consistent quality; track record for aging; and frequently stellar performances do not make this one of the most talked-about estates in Germany. (Maybe I shouldn’t wish that on us!) In fact, they are quite well-respected at home, but I think there is a certain snobbishness that rebounds against even the best Mittelrhein Riesling because this region’s precious half-timbered villages and crenellated slopes spell “tourist country” to most German wine lovers.Importer: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644

Ratzenberg advertised his 2007 Bacharacher Kloster Furstental Riesling Eiswein as having come from healthy fruit, but smoky, nose-prickling emanations from the glass suggest rot, not just frost to me. On the palate, this is very sweet, suggesting peach preserves, caramel, candied citrus rind, and vanilla-licorice candies, with enough fresh lemon and pineapple to leaven it and to generate piercing back-end brightness. It needs to harmonize a bit, and I think I would want to revisit it before pronouncing on its life expectancy, but its sheer intensity is formidable, and it will certainly continue to make a big statement in the glass over at least the next decade. Jochen Ratzenberger Jr. expressed delight with his 2007s, and even though I’m straining to recollect a vintage with which he wasn’t pleased, the truth is, he and his father comprise one of the most consistently high-performance teams in German viticulture, and their 2007 collection is consistently impressive. Both of the Ratzenbergers’ 2007 vintage Grosse Gewachse – in what has been fairly typical behavior – finished fermenting only in mid-August, and were immediately bottled with barely enough time to appear at the annual Berlin Presentation of Germany’s collective wines in this genreImported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644

The Ratzenbergers harvested their 2006 Bacharacher Kloster Furstental Riesling Eiswein on January 26. Pineapple, coconut, and lemon candy aromas are shot through with both nippy horse radish-like and slightly acrid, sweaty notes. Jochen Ratzenberger insists that less than half of the fruit had succumbed to botrytis, but the palate is certainly full of honey and caramel, albeit with the icing-like character familiar from Eiswein. The result is overbearingly sweet and rather undifferentiated. No doubt this could have its uses as a young dessert wine, and permits the streak of Ratzenberger Eiswein – many of these among the greatest of their genre – to continue. But I would not bet on the prospects of long-term cellaring. Without spraying against botrytis, Jochen Ratzenberger Jr. insists that the proper management of the family’s vines and greening between the rows kept rot at bay, but 30% less than a normal volume was harvested. The Ratzenbergers began picking on Septermber 25 and were done on the 12th of October.Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644

The fruit for a 2004 Bacharacher Kloster Furstental Riesling Eiswein was picked – not December 21, as was nearly universally the case this year – but rather the majority on January 3, and the rest not until an improbably late February 28. The Kloster Furstental is the site from which the Ratzenbergers harvest healthy, high-acid grapes for their often outstanding Sekt, and of which they then routinely leave a portion hanging for Eiswein. A piquant, salty, radish-like note on the nose mingles with aromas of mango, yellow plum, pink grapefruit, and Chartreuse-like floral and herbal distillates. Plums, tropical fruits, and mint-laced pink grapefruit fill the mouth. This exhibits a combination of delicacy, lightness and lift as well as enticing juicy ripe citrus on the one hand and tropical fruits, plum paste, nut oils, and honeyed richness on the other. It seems as though one can distinguish the two harvests – the second of which, Ratzenberger Jr. acknowledges, “did not taste very Eiswein-like” – as they intertwine. The long, billowing, refined finish does not fail to include distinctively mineral components. This level of quality for an Eiswein picked so late is rare in my experience and an Eiswein this thoroughly delicious and ingratiating in its first year (to say nothing of immediately after bottling) is also remarkable. In six or eight years, Ratzenberger and I predict it will have become even more interesting and delicious. The Jochen Ratzenbergers – father and son – seldom fear letting the acidity of their Rieslings hang out, and they also craft wines that often need a couple of year’s bottle age to blossom, so my verdict on their 2004s may well require upgrading. Acid levels in the grapes stayed high, but Jochen Ratzenberger Jr. reports that the estate has never experienced such unprovoked precipitation of tartrates as this year, which significantly diminished the finished acids.Importer: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ tel 856-608-9644