The Emrich-Schonleber 2007 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling trocken – corresponding to the former Spatlese trocken – smells flinty, fusil, and pungently herbal and zesty. Satiny in texture and with a lovely counterpoint of lime, red raspberries, and herbs with nut oils and shellfish, it finishes with outstanding sappy, saline intensity, verve and length, and ought to be worth following for 8-10 years. To say that Werner and son Frank Schonleber have been on a roll lately must count as an understatement (and that applies to 2008, too). Two heads are better than one, no doubt, plus the advantages of accumulated wisdom and acreage – the family is filling-in what was once a decidedly, in places depressingly patchy landscape by buying up prime parcels from retiring vintners – are obvious. The Schonlebers went over their vineyards in early October to pull out some botrytis that had already accumulated and to thin their crop, and began seriously harvesting Riesling after the 10th. The estate’s vines were largely spared savage but capricious hail that rained down on parts of the Fruhlingsplatzchen. Werner Schonleber draws a stylistic comparison with the 2002 vintage, which he convincingly demonstrated with several bottles.Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also imported by Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA tel. (877) 389- 9463