Representing the available portion of botrytized as well as more spontaneously-shriveled berries, Muller-Catoir’s 2009 Gimmeldinger Schlossel Rieslaner Trockenbeerenauslese was selected-out from the same harvest that resulted in the B.A. Dramatically buttery in texture like that sibling, it simultaneously displays a bright citricity and sharp, radish- or Eiswein-like intensity, leaving an impression enervating, if by no means headed anytime soon, toward harmony. Brown sugar, salted caramel, and milk chocolate offer deeply-confectionary finishing satisfaction, while suggestions of melon liqueur and pineapples in syrup add a soothing, metaphorically cooling layer, and crystallized ginger delivers invigorating, mouth-watering counterpoint. It’s almost impossible to break free from the gravitational attraction exerted by this phenomenally persistent elixir, one that should go down in the long, crowded annals of Rieslaner greatness from Muller-Catoir and repay attention for the next 40 years.“Despite sporadic rain at harvest time,” notes Martin Franzen about the 2009 harvest, “cool weather kept botrytis completely at bay. Frankly,” he adds, “it was hard to make disappointing wine with raw materials of this caliber.” But it was also impossible to achieve nobly sweet results save from Rieslaner, with its notorious penchant for spontaneous desiccation even in the absence of botrytis. This is the first vintage, incidentally, for which this estate has claimed organic bona fides, and Franzen – even if predictably – claims to find additional depth in his wines thanks to that conversion. (Not that this estate has ever been anything but entirely circumspect in any use of herbicides or pesticides.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The 2006 Gimmeldinger Schlossel Rieslaner Trockenbeerenauslese boasts an ethereal, intense nose of honey, lychee, brown spices, and floral distillates, with a smoky note that carries into a singed, caramelized peach character on an oily, rich, fiendishly spicy palate. Rieslaner is known for its acid retention, as well as for spontaneous shriveling but relative resistance to botrytis. In this instance, the acid retention is blatantly on exhibit in the form of a rampaging citricity, but the berries had completely succumbed to noble rot, and these two elements are far from resolved – in fact, neither is giving quarter. Without the rigorous strategy of green harvesting and selection put in place as a matter of course, it would have been impossible, Franzen assures me, to have harvested any truly noble sweet wine like this in 2006, and as it is, more than three quarters of the fruit left at the time these were harvested was cut to the ground.Muller-Catoir’s vineyards were twice ravaged by hail, so a small harvest was guaranteed even before the roller-coaster of 2006 temperatures and precipitation was taken into account. Martin Franzen followed the long-standing tradition at this address of labor-intensive green harvest, selectivity, and unwillingness to compromise, in this case in the face of rapidly encroaching botrytis that – as he readily admits – rapdily turned ignoble. The upshot is a largely successful collection, much-reduced number, generally late-assembled but early (March)-bottled.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300.