An herbal tea-scented wine, the 1999 Riesling Brand is an elegant, medium-bodied offering. A success for the 1999 vintage (which was not particularly kind to Riesling), it reveals a tangy character with excellent depth of mineral-laden white fruits. Drink it over the next 5-6 years. For years, The Wine Advocate has been clamoring for readers to take advantage of Alsace's fine values in white wine. It often appears that our words fall on deaf ears, yet Bernard Sparr, this firm's export director, informs me that his US sales have gone from 9,000 cases in 1998 to 25,000 in 2001. As other Alsatian estates also report significant growth in US sales, it would appear that our entreaties, and those of several colleagues, are being heard.Importer: William Deutsch and Sons, White Plains, NY; tel. (914) 251-9463