“Whereas you complain that there are no more halbtrocken Riesling,” says Schonleber, addressing me, and presenting a bottle of his 2006 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling R, “we have two years of this in the cellar and are just releasing the 2005. I wanted to send a message that such wines need time.” Unlike Schonleber’s intended audience, though, I personally have no compunction about drinking a young wine that’s not labeled “trocken,” and in this case the level of residual sugar is so low that the wine already tastes virtually dry. This fermented without added yeasts. “The best part is that the wine has the freedom not to complete its fermentation,” jokes Schonleber. But for many German growers that thought is heresy, if not a nightmare. Lime, apricot, raspberry and floral perfume dominate in this wine of satiny texture and glycerol richness, yet underlying firmness; palpably extract-rich, yet with a sense of levity and even delicacy. Its long finish features underlying malt and nut oils, with a hint of coffee-mocha. If Schonleber, the opinion of a majority of other experienced growers, and historical precedent are predictive, then this wine will be even longer lived (say, 12-15 years minimum) than the corresponding Grosses Gewachs, precisely because of its higher residual sugar. Yet, few growers are willing to vinify such a wine because it hasn’t the “trocken” imprimatur requisite for the German market. “The Nahe had the capability to render really good dry wines this year,” asserts Werner Schonleber. “Elsewhere, the botrytis was problematic, or the ripening took place too quickly. But we caught the whole spectrum here.” He proceeded to prove this memorably in the glass, with the finest collection I have ever tasted at this address (as well as – improbably – one in which Fruhlingsplatzchen outperformed Halenberg).Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463