Weingut Toni Jost Hahnenhof Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Spatlese Trocken, Mittelrhein, Germany

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The Josts’ 2010 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Spatlese trocken delivers lime, grapefruit, and apple in refreshingly juicy abundance, yet with attractive palate glossiness. There is greater sheer length here than in the corresponding “Devon S” bottling and one has an impression of welcome transparency of finishing fruit yet, as with that sibling, at most the faintest wet stone suggestion of anything mineral. Still, the balance here is impeccable and nobody can say that de-acidification has robbed the wine of vintage-typical brightness. I would tentatively plan on enjoying this over the next 3-4 years, though by then it might well demonstrate a few more years’ potential. Jost’s musts - largely from late October picking - were all double-salt de-acidified, and certain lots, including the Grosse Gewachse from both Mittelrhein and Rheingau, also underwent malo-lactic transformation in the course of unusually long fermentations. “We should culture and sell whatever powerful bacteria managed this,” notes Cecilia Jost jocularly, considering the low-pH medium in which they worked even after double-salt treatment. High acids also prompted some experiments in extended lees exposure and skin contact, though I fancy the latter might in some instances have accentuated a tendency toward bitterness. (Cecelia Jost had acquired some experience with all of these approaches from her time in New Zealand.) Residual sugar was left higher, and alcohol lower than usual in the majority of these 2010s.Bill Mayer Age of Riesling Selections, imported by Valley View Wine Sales, Glen Ellen, CA; tel. (510) 549 2444; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463

At a full percentage lower alcohol than their corresponding Grosses Gewachs (not to mention at a considerably lower price) the Josts’ 2009 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Spatlese trocken offers a lovely alliance of luscious peach, grapefruit, and papaya with metaphorically cooling herbal essences on a silken-textured palate, further accompanied by billowing inner-mouth suggestions of floral perfume and underlain by nut oils, salt, wet stone, and a saliva-inducing savor of lobster shell-reduction. Here is the sort of balance and refreshment which – amid so many warm recent vintages – has too often been missing from Rieslings of the steep, sun-drenched Hahn. Expect it to excel for at last 8-10 years. For an account of some recent developments at this estate, please consult my report in issue 187. Interestingly, it was the wines from their Rheingau vineyards that suffered especially from sheer ripeness and consequent high alcohol; whereas the Josts’ best 2009s from their near-monopole Hahn escaped such difficulties and performed well indeed. Incidentally, every wine of the Josts’ save for their Grosse Gewachse – and that includes their two Pinots (which I don’t usually taste) – is now closed with screwcap, and they are among several growers I spoke with who intend to bottle their Grosse Gewachse with screwcap as well, as soon as the relevant bottles are available with the embossed Arabic numeral “1” and stylized grape cluster that identifies this category.Bill Mayer Age of Riesling Selections, Imported by Valley View Wine Sales, Glen Ellen, CA; tel. (510) 549 2444; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389-9463

Fresh apple, mango, and grapefruit, peony and salt spray alluringly scent the 2008 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Spatlese trocken, whose citrus, salt, wet stone, and inner-mouth florality offer considerable interest, but miss quite the juiciness or lift of its “Devon S” counterpart. As with many of the dry wines at this address – and contrary to vintage tendencies – this exhibits richness and density at the expense of a bit of elegance or refreshment that I, for one, would prefer. I’m not convinced it should be held for long. Young Cecilia Jost is taking charge of the cellar here. In 2008, though, she was tied up with a commitment to harvest in Austria, so Peter and Linde Jost were still calling the shots. Given the ripening tendencies of the Jost’s great, steep, near-monopole Hahn (which is the reason Josts have now planted a site high above it to try to get back to real Kabinett) as well as the lees contact that Peter Jost favors, the 2008 vintage offered a possible antidote to high alcohol, lack of transparency or massiveness that are occasionally exhibited at this address, while permitting a later harvest than Josts have “enjoyed” (assuming you consider that the right word) in some years, lasting until November 10.Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The 2007 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Spatlese trocken makes for a rather austere amalgam of lemon zest, salt, and crushed stone, wreathed in bitter-sweet floral perfume. Like its immediate predecessor (which, at 13.5%, had marginally more alcohol) this betrays scarcely any heat and shows plenty of sap in its finish, which nonetheless tends toward slight bitterness and prominent acidity (strict concentration is Peter Jost’s preferred description) even as if offers suggestion of the sort of tropical fruit character that is a signature of this site. Much as with its predecessor, I would be inclined to serve this within the next 3-4 years. The 2007 vintage was immensely satisfying for the Josts, combining as it did high must weights (but less so than in most recent vintages); ripe acid-retention; ample precipitation (for a flagship site so notoriously dry that it is among the very few in Germany to have been approved decades ago for drip lines); perfect botrytis; and a bumper crop (after several straight years of penury). All of that noted, I was still marginally disappointed by this year’s dry wines. I cannot help but wonder whether the Hahn simply promotes too much sugar in its Riesling grapes for ideal balance at legal Trockenheit. Peter Jost continues to follow a distinctive approach to nobly sweet success – honed only over the past several years – of rigorously removing and discarding in September any botrytis that might not later at harvest be distinguishable from fresh botrytis, and of favoring lower residual sugar and correspondingly higher alcohol in the finished wines than is nowadays fashionable.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The 2006 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Spatlese trocken is a tropical explosion of fruits, with an opulently rich, full palate full of mango, papaya, and pineapple. Sleek and polished, it betrays none of its 13.5% alcohol. But I suspect this fruit bomb will be best enjoyed over the next 2-3 years. The normally dry and always steep and well-ventilated Hahn certainly enjoyed advantages in a rain-plagued vintage like 2006.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300