Eva Clusserath delighted in her feinherb Spatlese of last year as much as did I, but there just wasn’t a cask this year that fit that profile, so we have “only” one 2008 Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Spatlese. Spice peach and pineapple; prickly smoke; and lemon zest, as well as a honeyed overlay, all signify botrytis even in the nose. The fine mineral edge of buoyancy of the corresponding Kabinett are absent here, and in the final analysis – at least for now – there is a bit of superficial sweetness, but this nonetheless displays an impressive combination of relative delicacy with sheer flavor intensity and a long, soothing, subtly spicy finish. Give it a few years for the full implications of its botrytis to be worked out, and plan on its being with following for at least 12-15 years. Ansgar Clusserath’s acreage has been expanded into Dhron, Piesport, and Muhlheim at the expense of Trittenheim because, as Clusserath wistfully admits, after the communal grubbing-up, restructuring, and near-total clonal replanting of Trittenheim’s steepest slopes (a process collectively known as Flurbereinigung), she could not hope in her lifetime to make more of the sorts of Riesling that come from old, ungrafted, selection massale vines. That said, her new vineyards left her a bit in the lurch this year, inexplicably plateauing in Oechsle in November, whereas her remaining old vines in Trittenheim benefited from a late-inning surge in ripeness.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
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